Two sides of the same job

How tree work enquiries run in practice, from the customer's side and from an arborist buying leads through the network.

From a customer

A protected tree, a nervous homeowner, and a council process nobody wanted to start

Khandallah, Wellington

Service: Arborist report and crown reduction
Property: 1930s home on a sloping section
Constraint: Protected tree, consent required

The situation

The tree was close enough to the house that limbs were touching the roof in wind, but it was protected, which meant nothing could happen without an arborist report and council consent. The homeowner had put it off for two summers because the process looked opaque and every quote assumed they already knew what they needed.

What happened

The enquiry arrived with the tree height band, access, and the fact it was protected already answered, so the arborist could tell before visiting that this was a report-first job rather than a removal. They scoped the report, explained what consent would and would not allow, and quoted the reduction separately so the homeowner could decide after the report came back.

Why it mattered

Consent came through for a crown reduction rather than removal, which was the cheaper outcome and the one the homeowner preferred once it was explained. Work was done in a single day. The point of the case study is the sequencing: the report first, the decision second, the saw last.

From an arborist

An arborist who was turning down more storm work than he was taking

Tauranga

Trade: Arborist, two-person crew
Problem: Unfiltered enquiries after storms
Change: Enquiries matched to gear and patch

The situation

After a storm the phone runs hot for about a week. Most of it is jobs outside the travel radius, jobs needing a crane the crew does not own, or people ringing five arborists at once. Sorting the workable jobs out of that costs evenings, and the good ones are often gone by the time you call back.

What happened

Enquiries arrive with the height band, access difficulty, proximity to structures and whether stump grinding is wanted, and go to one arborist rather than five. That is enough to decide in a minute whether it suits the crew and the gear, without a phone call.

Why it mattered

Fewer enquiries, a higher proportion of them quotable. The measure that matters to a two-person crew is not lead volume, it is how many site visits turn into work, and how many evenings get spent on the phone instead of with family.

Whichever side you are on, it starts with one form

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