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Soon after
moving in, we realized that
much of the repair work - the
leaking roof, the cracked north
wall, the apparent lack of a
proper foundation - depended
on us first removing the seven
Monterey Pines that were pressing
against the house on the north
side. The neighbor's house
is only 6' 8" away at the
upper part of our house, and
9' 7" opposite the "new
wing." Somehow there
were trees with 30" diameter
trunks between our two houses. The
branches overhung both houses
and both of us had issues. Our
neighbors were having dying
branches falling on their house
and knew that folks at their
front stoop were at risk. And
Rick, the prior owner of our
house, had mentioned that his
wife had actually been hit inside
the kitchen as a pair of pine
cones broke off from one of
the towering trees and crashed
through the skylight. So
the trees had to go. While
the cost would be split with
the neighbors, it was still
going to be expensive.
The first quote was from George Pecoraro at Happy Tree (415-380-8733). The price - $11,800 - sounded like a lot of money. The job would take a total of two weeks and he could begin next week. His contract had lots of small print about unforeseen nails and unforeseen pipes...
Tad, at Treemasters
(3175 Kerner Blvd. San Rafael,
CA 415-491-1009) spoke
with my neighbor. He quoted
$22,000 to $24,000. I think
it was he who warned my neighbor
about Happy Tree. I was
told to watch out for all sorts
of hidden costs, and was warned
that the owner was a lawyer...
Pedro, from
Pedro's
Trees (415-459-4083)
came and stared at them for
what must have been 40 minutes. He
came in with the lowest bid,
$9,800. I asked to see his liability
and worker's comp insurance,
and he couldn't produce. I got
nervous and passed on the low-cost
provider.
George Lindstrom, from Geos Tree Care Arborists (415-461-6492 / 415-305-7526) came by and quoted in the $20,000 range.
A few weeks
later I contacted Happy Tree
and told George about the gossip. He
commented that it was a competitive
business, and some of the competition
wanted to compete via innuendo. He
explained some of the bullets
in his contract, and I did like
the guy. Still - my neighbors
were paying half the price,
and they were unsure. George
came up with pricing that would
allow me to remove the trees
that were on my side, and safety-trim
the ones that were shared. He
said he could remove the three
upper trees for $6,600, and
safety-trim the remaining four
trees for $1,800.
Momentum on the tree work was disappearing when I found another vendor on Craigslist: Buena Vista Tree Service (PO Box 2081, Livermore, CA 925-449-1203 / 415-531-1247)
Trex, the owner,
seemed rock-solid, and his bid
was $12,500 - somewhat above
Happy Tree. He had insurance
and our neighbors liked him
too. We signed.
The tree removal
work was remarkable. First
the seven trees were "poled"
- stripped of their branches. Then
they were connected via ropes,
and 8' lengths were cut, and
lowered via the ropes in the
neighboring trees. Once
one trunk was a few cuts shorter,
the ropes were rearranged and
another trunk was worked on. I
raced home from work every day
to watch this remarkable process.
Since this
big tree job, I've had two more
tree-removal tasks. Each
time I've invited Buena Vista
Tree Service and Happy
Tree to bid. One time Happy
Tree bid $1,500 and Buena
Vista $2,800; the second
time the Buena Vista
bid was distinctly cheaper.
Summary:
A) I highly recommend both Happy
Tree and Buena Vista
Tree Service.
B) Have both of them bid - you never know who needs the work that week. |
