Contractors listed in our directory listing have submitted their businesses and their tree work to the Arboricultural Association for assessment and have been found competent to provide arboricultural contracting services to clients.

The Arboricultural Association’s assessment of Approved Contractors is not limited to their knowledge of trees and tree maintenance but also:

• Their understanding and practical application of current arboricultural practice
• Their compliance with legislative requirements of arboricultural contracting
• Their compliance with health and safety requirements of arboricultural contracting (endorsed by the CHAS scheme)
• Their high levels of service to clients through efficient business management.

Each Arboricultural Association Approved Contractor is required to identify a principal or manager who is responsible to the Association for the company’s standards. The standard required by the Association is very high and Approved Contractors are subject to reassessments at regular intervals to ensure that standards are maintained. The standards themselves are regularly reviewed to ensure that they reflect contemporary arboricultural research findings, legislative and health and safety requirements, business practices and customer expectations.

The Association requires that Approved Contractors within this directory must hold insurances to levels appropriate to liabilities that their work may generate, and in all cases Public Liability insurance to a minimum of £5,000,000 with a maximum excess of £250 in any one incident. Employers’ Liability insurance (as applicable) to an appropriate level commensurate with the size of the business is needed. Professional Indemnity insurance, to a minimum of £500,000, may also be required if the contractor provides independent written advice. 

Inclusion of a contractor within this directory should not be regarded as proof of current insurance cover. Before entering into any contractural agreement clients should satisfy themselves that appropriate insurance is in place by asking for evidence from the contractor and/or their broker.

Services typically required of an arboricultural contractor are:

• Tree maintenance operations including pruning, and related works to relevant British Standards (see our Tree Work Terminology page)
• Tree planting operations and aftercare/establishment programmes
• Tree felling, including dismantling of dangerous trees or trees in confined spaces
• Advice and guidance on the above.

In addition some contractors may undertake pest and disease (‘P&D’) identification and control, bracing, soil decompaction and amelioration, tree fertilisation, mulching and other operations, including hedge trimming, fruit tree pruning, veteran tree management. However, only those listed above are covered by the ‘ARB Approved Contractor Scheme’

These services are usually performed to an agreed specification which may come from:

• The contractor after discussion with the client, or
• A third party such as a Consultant employed, or
• The Local Authority Tree Officer if a Tree Preservation Order etc. is in place.

In either case it is prudent for clients to obtain a written specification for the work and to agree the specification and price prior to commissioning the contractor.

Further information:

The Arboricultural Association's official guide to choosing your tree surgeon