BAY AREA TREE SPECIALISTS

Just wanted to let everyone know about my experience with this company. My neighbor facing my back yard has a HUGE cedar tree that has been growing bigger every year and has so many large branches that have grown to cover about 20% of my back yard in shade. I knew my neighbor loves that tree and refused to allow us to cut the branches that were shadowing our yard, so I was surprised when Larry Van Groningen of Bay Area Tree Specialists rang our doorbell last evening and asked permission to enter our yard to clear out branches from the cedar that they were planning on trimming back today. Evidently, despite my neighbor's love for the tree, that love decreased when a huge branch fell and damaged his roof. I was elated that (finally) I would be able to get light into my yard but I was very concerned that the huge branches coming down would damage my back yard and, possibly, some of the utility wires. I have an Asian garden, Japanese Maples, water features and many delicate plants. Larry assured me that he would instruct the team to be careful. I set aside time from my workday so I could monitor the progress and make sure the minimum of damage would be done. Juan, who was in the tree with chainsaw and limb puller was masterful at removing branches and worked with Mateo to work with rope and cut down the branches into pieces that could be thrown back over the fence before they damaged my yard. I was still concerned, however, with some giant tree limbs that extended into our yard and were intertwined with one of our trees. I didn't see how they could be done without hurting my yard. I called Larry and he actually came back from a job in Foster City and talked with Juan on a strategy to get the branches down and not hurt the plants, wires, and yard. In an amazingly short time, Juan and Mateo maneuvered the branches with ropes and managed to get it done with a minimum f mess and virtually no damage. Thanks, Larry, Juan and Mateo for your caring and expertise. I am definitely calling them for my next tree needs.

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I have a street tree that need to be removed due to the major branch broken off and became structurally unsafe. Bay Area Tree Specialists is one of the registered tree care company in the city's list when I asked for permit from the city to cut down the tree. I called them and they came immediately to give me an estimate. The price is less than one half of the estimate from the city's contractor so I am happy. Since I was concerned that the other half of the tree may fall any time, they came the next working day (I called over a long weekend) and remove the tree. The stump removal need to wait until all utility companies marked their pipelines. They come after the markings are done (3 working days later) and finished the work promptly. All debris are cleaned up by the crew. I am very happy about the work and I will call them back to trim my other two trees later.

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Larry came out to go over the work to be done. We agreed to cut back the front branches that hung over my new swimming pool. Larry asked me if I wanted them to thin out the other branches. There were some dead branches that needed to be trimmed away and I agreed to have that done. The crew arrived the next morning and began cutting down the front branches. The next time I came out to see how it looked, the right side of the tree was missing. The guy was still cutting off everything around him. I yelled but he couldn't hear me and kept cutting. Another crew member finally got him to stop, but it was too late !! I decided I didn't want him to and quot;trimand quot; the other side. I had asked him to knock on the back door before cutting major pieces of the tree. He told me he forgot. He apologized. I called Larry to tell him what happened. He came out to see and agreed that it was aggressively cut and was a big mistake. He apologized but did not offer to give me back any of the money I had paid for the job.

If you need a tree cut down, these guys shouldn't have a problem.

If you want a tree and quot;trimmedand quot;, DO NOT HIRE THESE GUYS !!!!!

I have read other F reviews on Angie's List when providers haven't called them back. That's just part of dealing with these services. This company definitely deserves an F for destroying my $200,000.00 landscaping project. I am now left with a lop-sided 200 yr old oak tree behind my pool. Nothing I can do about.

The tree removal itself was satisfactory. All the people I dealt with were polite. However, they broke a flower pot, chipped a statue, and stained my driveway.

After calling them, they came back to repot the plant from the broken pot and they attempted to clean the scuff marks off my driveway. The driveway wasn't cleaned to my satisfaction and many of the stains remain. It is my feeling that they should use some kind of tarp if they must drag the branches over my pavers, especially if the tree tends to stain as perhaps a walnut tree does.

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I submitted a free estimate request online via their website. I received a call back the next day to arrange an on site visit to provide an estimate. The estimator arrived as expected for the estimation appointment.

We went over the details to insure everything I wanted accomplished was included in the estimate. I had particular days I wanted the trees cut down and the grinding completed. The estimator was able to meet the date for the cut down but was not able to meet the date for the stump grinding. However, the estimator was able to find an open slot a couple of days later that was acceptable to me for the stump grinding.

The crews showed up as expected for the cut down and later the stump grinding. They were on time, easy to work with, and completed all the expected tasks.

They were excellent. They were very professional, on-time, did good work, conscientious, and finished the job in one day like they said.

Generally the engagement went alright except for the responsiveness. It took a few emails and calls to be able to setup an appointment, but once that was setup the arborist report was delivered very quickly.
The arborist report was missing a key component that we had discussed at the time of engagement (map location of tree). I've since emailed at least 3 times to make this addition, and have yet to receive a response about 3 months later.
I can't comment of the quality of their tree work, but the report itself was written well and it's evident Richard is an expert.

They did a fair to good job. They were scheduled to be here between 1-5pm and my husband wanted to be there while they were there, so he had arranged the afternoon off. They called at 10am and said they had finished early with another job and were on their way over. By the time my husband got home they were loading their equipment back onto the truck. He did have them do additional cleanup and trimming, but as they had already packed up he felt rushed and couldn't direct them the way that he had planned. I toured the yard when I got back and found that some things were trimmed well, where others weren't, and one of my Japanese maple trees had a number of branches that weren't so much as cut as they were broken off, leaving torn branches. What I noticed most was that they didn't pay attention to the growth patterns of the trees. Some trees only have growth and leaves on new growth, not stuff that is over a year old--so if they are not trimmed the trees will get taller, but there won't be any leaves or flowers down low.
We used them a couple of years ago with so-so results. This time was better, but could still be improved.

I got them through Angie's List. They were excellent! They were prompt, they were clean, they stuck to the proposal bid, they were courteous on our church campus, they took care of everything in the 2 days, and I definitely would recommend them to anyone. They were very good.

I had some issues but then the owner resolved it for me. It was satisfactory for me. They refunded 30% of the money. They wanted to refund 100% but I told them that's not what I want to do. I told them I was very disappointed with the job but the owner took actions. I am satisfied with his responses.

I was not too crazy about this company. The clean up was not great because I still have dead leaves laying around from the branches they did not pick up. They were great at responding and I thought the price was pretty good compared to a company I used before.

We contacted Bay Area Tree Service about removing a rather large tree in our backyard that was causing damage to our property and others. The tree was 88 inches in circumference and we needed a permit. Bay Area Tree Specialists filed the permit, wrote a report and we waited for the city to make their comments and grant a permit. Once the permit was granted and the waiting period expired, I got a call from to schedule the removal.
The crew showed up on time. The tree and some other smaller trees were removed in one day and the stumps ground/removed the following. The crew cleaned up after themselves.
We had excellent service throughout the entire experience and have no issues recommending them to others.

He was very professional and he quoted a price that he stuck to. He did what he needed to do with no problems and he did a great job.

Called the office on May 8 and could not be home the following day, so appt. was set for the 10th. Repair man Oleg came on time and was friendly, courteous and professional. Now unit is working fine.

I hired Bay Area Tree Specialists to remove 6 Redwood Trees from my backyard. They were in danger of splitting and falling on either my or neighboring houses. One tree had 3 trunks, another had 2 trunks, and subject to splitting and falling. Several other trees had significant slants. Most of the trees were 80 to 100 feet tall. Whoever planted them, planted them in an area of 18 ft. by 15 ft. - far too overcrowded.
I had been referred to them by a friend who had a positive experience in having some trees removed.
The owner of Bay Area Tree Specialists is a Certified Arborist. I found him to be very knowledgeable, courteous and professional.
I asked additionally to be quoted to have all the roots ground in addition to having the stumps ground.
After removing the trees and grinding the stumps, they clearly went the extra mile to remove the roots after my having found some after the job was thought to be complete.
They are a 1st cabin outfit and I highly recommend their services.
I contacted them at 408-836-9147.

We got a few estimates at Bay Area was the cheapest and we felt most comfortable with them. They worked with our neighbor below and actually had it totally removed without us being home. They were clean, efficient and excellent to work with.

Things I was impressed with - they were prompt, polite, and they were reasonably priced for the large amount of work we had.

Things I was not impressed with - evidently a lack of communication between the supervisor who left and the workers who were staying. When I arrived home, they had trimmed the wrong fruit tree agreed on, there were holes in our lawn from the ladders used to reach the top of my large trees.

Overall, I would use them again, but make sure I was there before, during and after to help supervise the work being done.

They had sent two guys and and I had to tell them what to do.

Came out and provided a detailed estimate. Upon agreement the crews came out and performed the work in two stages. Stage one was the trimming. Stage two was the tree root removal, and that is where things were tricky as the roots both damaged the pavement above it. They were able to remove the roots without problem and shave as necessary without damaging the trees. One of the roots was close to a sprinkler line which was damaged in the process. They offered to repair the damaged line, but in all fairness, the sprinkler system had other problems and was going to get overhauled anyway. So I did not want them to waste effort on something that was already broken and getting replaced. Overall, the experience was extremely professional, courteous, and pain free. In this day and age it is rare to come across an operation as pleasant to deal with as this one all the way from sales on thru to completion of work.

I am very pleased with this company. Everyone was professional, showed up on time and completed all work as promised. I feel the cost was very fair for the amount of work completed.