It’s easy to think that trees are among the few great things in life that are free. They increase our property values, provide us shade, show beautiful colors in autumn, and help cool and clean the air we breathe. But sometimes there may be a price. To keep your trees healthy or to get rid of dying ones, you may want the benefit of professional advice, skill, and labor. Our ratings of 35 area tree care services will help you find this help.

Read our article and findings (available exclusively to CHECKBOOK subscribers)

Back to Bay Area Consumers' CHECKBOOK Table of Contents.

Sample Subscriber Comments/Reviews About Tree Care Firms

CHECKBOOK provides subscriber comments on their experiences with the firms they use. Please remember that individual subscriber comments are informal. Subscriber comments may give you insight into the types of features and problems that exist in a service field, but are not the best basis for selecting or rejecting a specific firm. To assess the quality of a firm's performance, we recommend that you give more weight to the percentages of favorable ratings. Those percentages are generally based on much larger numbers of consumers' ratings (the number of consumer ratings is noted above).

As You Can See Below, Some Tree Care Firms Get High Praise from Their Customers. Some Others Don't. So Choose Carefully.
Here Are a Few Samples of the Thousands of Comments CHECKBOOK Has Collected on Hundreds of Different Tree Care Firms.

• Subscriber from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote Another Service: City Trees pruined two stree trees for me, one a Strawberry Tree in front of..........
• Subscriber from EL CERRITO, CA wrote Another Service: They are fantastic - exceptional work!.......
• Subscriber from POINT RICHMOND, CA wrote Another Service: Did not use them but got an estimate for removal of a tree and a..........
• Subscriber from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote Another Service: Very skilled pruners and nice people.......
• Subscriber from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote Another Service: The administrative support behind Costello's Tree Service is very poor and their management knows that...........
• Subscriber from SAN JOSE, CA wrote Another Service: I have used Mr. Geddes' company for a number of years. Always a pleasant experience..........
• Subscriber from ORINDA, CA wrote Another Service: The foreman was on the job all day, so the work was completed exactly as..........
• Subscriber from SAN JOSE, CA wrote Another Service: Very good.......
• Subscriber from PLEASANT HILL, CA wrote Another Service: Jack and his wife just go out of their way to make sure they get..........
• Subscriber from SAN LEANDRO, CA wrote Another Service: Took out very large, very dead Monterey Pine, with out damaging home, fence or neighboring..........
• Subscriber from LOS ALTOS, CA wrote Another Service: Have found that their price is fair - lower than most, and the service good........
• Subscriber from FOSTER CITY, CA wrote Another Service: Did a good job at a fair price (the middle price of 3 bids). Not..........
• Subscriber from CUPERTINO, CA wrote Another Service: He does very good work and Dan knows his trees. He's extremely reliable but he..........
• Subscriber from EL CERRITO, CA wrote Another Service: Removed one Dracena palm, cut stump low,remove all debris. Entire process went fast and smooth...........
• Subscriber from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote Another Service: The best. Also very expensive. You get what you pay for........
• Subscriber from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote Another Service: Some of their staff members go beyond call of duty to be helpful.......
• Subscriber from CONCORD, CA wrote Another Service: they are perfect. I will use them again next year........
• Subscriber from HILLSBOROUGH, CA wrote Another Service: EXPENSIVE BUT GOOD...........
• Subscriber from MILL VALLEY, CA wrote Another Service: This company illegally dumped branches into a creek on another neighbors property that I paid..........
• Subscriber from SAN MATEO, CA wrote Another Service: Upon calling to request an appointment for an estimate, David, the tree specialist, asked me..........
• Subscriber from MENLO PARK, CA wrote Another Service: I have used Dan'S group 4 times now and they are very good at what..........
• Subscriber from SAN JOSE, CA wrote Another Service: Over and over this company has shaped my Chinese Pistacio tree just right. The most..........
• Subscriber from LAFAYETTE, CA wrote Another Service: Nelson at 925.396.1018 or 510.781.9831.......
• Subscriber from NAPA, CA wrote Another Service: this group was great! very reasonable price. scheduled the job much sooner than I expected...........
• Subscriber from LAFAYETTE, CA wrote Another Service: Seem to know what they are doing........
• Subscriber from BERKELEY, CA wrote Another Service: We love this company. Found first through rating in Consumers Checkbook, Peter Rudy has been..........
• Subscriber from CUPERTINO, CA wrote Another Service: Made appointment; did not show-up or call to cancel........
• Subscriber from LOS ALTOS, CA wrote Another Service: Consultation with arborist was well worth the money........
• Subscriber from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote Another Service: they had to return to complete a job which turned to be bigger than expected.......
• Subscriber from SANTA CRUZ, CA wrote Another Service: Mr. Banning has worked twice for us. Not only was his work of high quality,..........
• Subscriber from SAN CARLOS, CA wrote Another Service: Talked to David Pasero on Monday, 7/9/2007 at noon, scheduled an onsite estimate for 10:00..........
• Subscriber from BERKELEY, CA wrote Another Service: After having used this company happily for several years, I was very disappointed in my..........
• Subscriber from UNION CITY, CA wrote Another Service: Price is very reasonable although work start date was an estimated day in the week..........
• Subscriber from SAN FRANCISCO, CA wrote Another Service: Love these guys. They are reliable and they are very reasonable........
• Subscriber from BELMONT, CA wrote Another Service: Very costly. Leon is knowlegable but I was able to save 50% by going with..........
• Subscriber from MENLO PARK, CA wrote Another Service: Great job. Extensive, delicate work removing deadwood on a 50+ ft. Douglas Fir and thinning..........
• Subscriber from BURLINGAME, CA wrote Another Service: The gold standard in arbor work.......
• Subscriber from HAYWARD, CA wrote Another Service: Knowledgeable. Good advice........
• Subscriber from OAKLAND, CA wrote Another Service: Sometimes, recommend more service than is needed.......
• Subscriber from OAKLAND, CA wrote Another Service: The owner, Hans, did a terrible job trimming our redwood tree. It will take years..........
• Subscriber from SUNNYVALE, CA wrote Another Service: Recommended for value and quality.......
• Subscriber from BELMONT, CA wrote Another Service: We used them to remove a very large pine tree. They arrived on time, did..........
• Subscriber from SARATOGA, CA wrote Another Service: The teams that do the work vary in expertise........
• Subscriber from MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA wrote Another Service: Excellent service; thorough, efficient, careful, and professional work; good cleanup. All work performed as agreed........
• Subscriber from , wrote Another Service: I love John McClenahan, the arborist here -- he gets top marks. The only reason..........
• Subscriber from BURLINGAME, CA wrote Another Service: We were very impressed with work done on our trees. The 4 man team was..........
• Subscriber from LAFAYETTE, CA wrote Another Service: They came out initially to diagnose a large, old, beautiful Japanese maple. The maple turned..........
• Subscriber from OAKLAND, CA wrote Another Service: Good at their job! Both Brende and Lamb are involved in important tree-saving activities and..........
• Subscriber from BRISBANE, CA wrote Another Service: Hope I am giving the correct company this survey info -- used to be Bill..........
• Subscriber from SAN MATEO, CA wrote Another Service: Overall I find Bartlett does what they say they will do. Their staff is younger..........