Eduardo the Tree Expert

Well, the white oak saga is now over, it produced no new leaves this spring and it was obviously totally dead. I had cards from 25-30 tree service companies who all assured me that they would do the best job at the cheapest price. I had written notes on their cards so I reviewed them and narrowed my search down to 5-6. I called them and asked them to return and give me their estimate for taking down two trees, for I already had a fifty foot dead tree in the back yard. I explained that they were in a competitive bid situation and told them to keep that in mind when they bid on the job.

Dead 75' white oak tree

 All but one made their appointments and gave me very competitive bids. The one who didn't show called and said he would be here later in the day. I told him to call when he was ready to bid. He didn't show and didn't call to explain. The next day he called and made a new appointment. Again he didn't show. His third call set up his third commitment for the following day. He didn't come when he said , but he called when at my house. I told him which trees and he immediately came back with an offer that was $300 higher than the others. I told him that I had better offers so he immediately lowered his price by $200. I told him he was in the ballpark but still higher than all the others. He left and I went back to work, and after 20 minutes he called and said he was back at my house and he would do the job for a $100 less than his last bid if I would let him start right then. If you haven't figured it out by now, I was totally unimpressed with his lack of timely responsiveness, integrity and pressure techniques. I paused for effect and then said, "I have no reason to trust that you will do what you say when you say and at the price you have quoted. No thank you, I have already decided to hire someone else." He replied, "You better make sure they have insurance and they show you their current policies." I thought to myself, 'I have already done that and who do think you are giving me advice when you have been totally unreliable'. "No", I said, "thank you" and I hung up.

I had two services that were equal in almost all aspects (one was $20 higher than the other). Both came with good recommendations and I liked the persons who would be doing the work. One had judiciously called back for several months and had repeatedly asked for the job. He is the one I selected. I liked his tenacity and I was impressed that he knew what he was doing. He had formerly  worked as a tree trimming contractor for Duke Power before starting his own company. I was rewarded with an excellent job, done exactly when promised and exactly as he said. I would recommend Eduardo to anyone. He had one helper and together they dismantled the 75 foot giant one chunk at a time.

Eduardo was a skilled climber and rope specialist. He carefully took off the limbs and then attacked the main trunk. I watched in awe as he skillfully roped himself off, roped the next piece to be removed, positioned his helper to pull the rope in the right direction and then precisely dissected the tree. He was expert, and soon felled the final 20' section to the ground. He used three different chain saws, switching when one ran out of gas. As he sawed the final trunk piece into 18" sections the cause of the tree's demise became apparent. There were two large (4") black spots that penetrated through each piece of the main trunk. Obviously lightening had struck the tree in late summer of the preceding year.



Over 60' up

Roped off, but fearless

Big chunk

Bigger chunk

Biggest chunk

T

I

M

B

E

R!

After cleaning up the waste material and raking the yard, he turned his attention to the back yard. This tree was a 50' hardwood but it had been dead for a couple of years. Eduardo didn't trust this tree to climb so he climbed a smaller 40' hickory tree that was 6' away from the dead tree. He attached his ropes to the top branches of the hickory and latched it to his harness, and then swung from one tree to the next as if in a Tarzan movie. He never put his weight on the dead tree, he was always suspended from the green hickory branches as he cut the top and then all the limbs off the dead tree. He lowered himself hanging from the hickory until he was back on the ground. He felled the final 15' of trunk and then he was done.

Climbing the hickory

Hanging from the hickory and cutting down the dead tree

Swinging from the harness



The last cut

 Eduardo is my tree man, he even cut down the two cedars that had obscured my mailbox for years. We are sad to lose our big white oak, but thankful that it isn't going to fall on our car or house. Thank you Eduardo for a job well done at a fair price and in a timely manner. His business card says "Tree Expert" and I would heartily agree.