Emergency Tree Service: What You Need to Know Before You Sign

If a limb falls on your house, or, heaven forbid, a tree, you need help and fast. How do you make sure your job is handled in a responsible way? What to look out for:

1. NEVER, EVER DO THE WORK YOURSELF! Sometimes homeowners look at a limb fallen on their house, or a tree leaning on their house or fence and think, "Gee, I can climb up there and cut that down." Don't do it! If you think it's safe, look on YouTube for videos of people cutting down their own trees. (Sometimes it's even companies doing it.) People get killed every year trying to take down a tree--two men in the Seattle area were recently killed, and both were experienced. Here are links to the Seattle Times articles: DOT worker killed. Man killed by falling tree. Be safe. Stay on the ground.

2. Ask if the company is insured. This is MOST important. Licenses are easy to get--you just send your money to the state every year. A license tells you nothing. But insurance is essential. If someone gets hurt on the job, or if your property gets damaged (more likely in an emergency situation), you want the company insured.

3. Check to make sure the company is insured. Go to the Washington State Dept. of Labor & Industries and find the company. (We have a link directly on our website so our customers can see we have a $1 million insurance policy through Penn Star, and a $6,000 bond through RLI Insurance Co.) Do your research before putting your home at risk.

4. Find out how much experience the workers have with emergency situations. All tree work is dangerous, but none is as dangerous as an emergency situation. Uprooted trees, especially, are unpredictable and deadly. Do the workers have emergency experience? How much experience does the crew boss have? Do they all follow safety procedures?

5. Never give a deposit until after you have met with the company representative. In our experience, most tree service companies do not require a deposit (we don't), so we were floored when a potential client called to say she had made a non-refundable $200 deposit over the phone with a company--just to get the rep to her house to bid on the job. That's ridiculous! If you sign a contract with a company, then it is reasonable to place a deposit with them, but certainly not before meeting with them and getting a bid.

Blooma Tree Experts do emergency tree work, and we are very experienced (remember the Dec. 14 storm of 2006? We were there!). Call us 24 hours a day: 206.714.9835. Our estimates are free.