Ananda and his crew have been out to our place four times now on a variety of different projects and have done a great job.
First they gave us some more light in our windows by taking off some of the lower branches of evergreens that had grown to touch the roof - they did a quick, tidy job.
Next they tackled the neglected apple and plum trees in the ancient orchard we just bought and did a very reasonable job with trees that were just generally a mess - not taking too much off for the trees to handle in one year, but well-prioritized trimming of the big ill-spaced branches with advice about what further steps would be the next year. (They didn't take off the stray twigs, so if you're looking for that level of aesthetic detail, you probably have to let them know - I think they try to be sensitive not to take up too much billable time with details that aren't structural.) The applewood chips they left us with - although they'll take your chips away if you don't want them - made delicious-smelling mulch in our landscaping.
The most recent project they took on was a demanding situation with two towering cedars that were topped decades ago, located in the exciting gap between our house and the power lines. The trees regrew branches that hung out to the sides and then resumed back upward, while the cuts from getting topped lay open and rotted. It was a recipe for the rot giving way and branches the size of whole trees breaking off in storms and landing on our roof. After one of those landed on our roof last year, we had them come in and remove the most dangerous danglers, which involved a lot of ropes, pulleys, chainsaws, and impressively large chunks of wood being carefully lowered to the ground. (If you have little kids who like things like firetrucks, this might be something they'd like to watch.) And they managed to do it all on a rainy Autumn day.
Overall, they did a great job. They were always conscientious of our priorities and our budget, and didn't mind negotiating their focus to help us get to the prices we could afford - letting us deal with cutting up our own wood, for example. We'll definitely be having them back next year. read more