Jan C Scow Consulting Arborists Llc

Jan is a knowledgeable, personable and straightforward individual. When arranging the meeting, he quoted a price that was a bit higher than what I had seen on Angie's list. I suspected it was because of added drive time (we are a ways out from his office). I asked him about it, and he explained that indeed it was, and further how exactly he determined his rates. Traffic can be dreadful, so I absolutely understood, but he still gave a small reduction and we arranged a time when we thought traffic would be nice and light. He was prompt. I wanted to know the names of all the trees on our new property and had some questions about the condition of some, the possibility of moving some, and of pruning an Oak to make way for a planned garage. I had taken a photo of everything so that I could write the names down and he was very patient an informative as we went all the way around the yard. Unfortunately, some of our trees are not in particularly good shape. He suggested further tests on a large magnolia that has some type of fatal fungus, and suggested that we might even be able to do it ourselves. As to the Oaks he indicated that if we were going to infringe upon them, we may need to submit an Oaks Report to the county in order to get the building permit. I asked if he did them. He said he had someone on his staff who did them and she wouldn't be available for a few weeks. But he said he'd send me a quote. He emailed me a couple of days later to say he was looking into the magnolia issue, and that an Oaks Report could run $1800, though he would try to keep it to less. My husband and I had a case of sticker shock at this -- in terms of an hourly rate, I simply had no idea that compiling such a report should take so long. But what we don't know about Oaks Reports is everything and we have found that everything associated with securing a building permit is more expensive than seems reasonable. If we do end up needing a report, we will probably get another bid or two just to make sure that these are the going rates. If they are, we wouldn't hesitate to choose Jan, as he certainly seems to know what he's talking about. Overall, as regards this visit, I feel we received good value for money, as it would have taken us hours of internet surfing and trips to the nursery to identify all of the trees and shrubs ourselves, much less to discern the condition of their health.

I have a giant Aleppo pine tree adjoining my house, & it gets all its water from the lawn. I've been debating about taking out the lawn, but wanted an expert to tell me whether it would jeopardize the tree. My brother has a Ph.D. in horticulture, which is a far more in-depth education than arborists get, but lives in the soggy Northwest & doesn't know our climate well. I found Jan on Angie's list, & while the experience was decent, it wasn't ideal. When I initially attempted to contact Jan, his website wasn't working, so I sent a direct email. He said he wasn't available by phone & asked me to again try his website. I filled out the same form multiple times, only to have it give me an error message each time. By then, I'd invested close to an hour -- not what I want if I'm going to pay someone $200 to answer a yes or no question. (His fee to come out is a $200, 1-hour minimum.) While we were scheduling, Jan said a couple of times that he needed to be paid on the spot. It seemed a little over a top, but I gave him a check immediately when he arrived to avoid any issues. It indeed took him about 2 minutes to say that my tree would be fine. We then filled the rest of the hour talking about root incursions & my other trees that ring the lawn. When I asked how everything would fare without a lawn, he responded, "I've been wondering the same thing" -- honest, but not what I want to hear for $200. He didn't give me a receipt, I forgot to ask, & it took a couple of email requests before he sent it. Jan is a nice guy & seems fairly knowledgeable, but $100 -$125 would have felt more appropriate. I understand there's travel time involved, but I'm also self-employed & would be thrilled to earn $200/hour. Not surprisingly, my brother is joking about consulting in LA now.

Very expensive! We used a different company

Jan arrived a bit early, and we walked all over my yard and looked at our trees. The one with storm damage needed to go, as well as another old tree, but he had tips on maintenance for the rest. He was quite knowledgeable and friendly and had lots to say about how the trees had been trimmed in the past and what we should do for them in the future. He told us which trees needed weight reduction trimming to prevent limb breakage, which needed restorative pruning (one that had unfortunately been topped by the previous owner), which didn't really need any pruning, and which needed fertilizer or other maintenance. I felt like I got a lot of good information from him.

Jan was excellent. He thoroughly examined several trees on our property that are having trouble, and explained what the problems are and how to remedy them in a clear and concise manner. Jan is a pleasure to work with, it is very obvious that he is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his profession. We will definitely hire him again when the need arises.

He was very knowledgeable and professional.

On time, deep experience and knowledge - Jan C. Scow is a registered arborist providing evaluation and recommendations. His firm does not provide pruning or landscaping services. His website is a great resource as well.

Jan was great - he examined the tree, gave us excellent feedback and made some recommendations. Jan weighed the value of the tree with the overall well being of our family in terms of the potential for the tree to fall and do considerable damage. I feel that it was money well spent and I would not hesitate to consult Jan again. Highly recommend/

Jan was punctual and informative. He provided detailed information regarding what was wrong, why the company that transported the (mature, field-grown) tree likely did a poor job during transportation, and how their lack of proper instruction contributed heavily to the tree's poor health. Unfortunately, he did tell us the tree is beyond saving. But, with his assessment - which he also graciously drafted and sent to us, promptly after our appointment - we're even more confident we'll be able to get our money back from the company that originally sold us the tree.

Jan showed up on time and was professional and friendly. He seemed very knowledgeable and genuinely interested in our tree and in his profession in general.

We engaged Jan's services to determine the health status of our trees and to advise us on additional trees to plant. He arrived early. Jan is very knowledgeable and has a friendly, professional manner. He proceeded to review our trees and provided information to help in our decision of what to keep and what to plant. I would definitely recommend Jan's services.

Contacted Jan through his website and received a call the next day to set up an appointment in the next few days. Arrived on time and was very helpful and thorough, answered all of our questions and stayed for a little over an hour. Very satisfied with his services, would definitely hire him again.

He did a very professional job and even gave me a break on his usual rates for such an inspection and report. I would recommend him to anyone in my situation. Keep in mind that the city has very strict guidelines for this situation and you can't just hire any tree service. Also, if you remove one of these trees illegally, the fines are ghastly. So, if you need this service, call Jan.

After figuring out what I needed (which was half the battle), I had contacted another company and didn't get a reply. I then found Jan through a normal internet search and he replied within the hour to my email and we arranged for him to come over the next week to look at my sick tree. He was on-time, knowledgeable and answered all of my questions. After talking about a plan for the sick tree, we had some extra time and he looked at all of my other trees (well, it's LA, so not so many) and provided some advise on what to do with them to ensure the best health. Well done and thanks.

I had the most fabulously, decent, knowledgeable, and wonderful person to do this service for me. He is an arborist and gave me the best advice on what I should do. If it weren?t for him, I don?t know what I would?ve done. After having Jan Scow come out and assess the situation with my trees, I called the city and they sent out a man. I told him that I spoke to an arborist and that he gave me paperwork describing the lean of 7 degrees. The man from the city told me that it?s leaning 1 degree and he countered everything that I was saying. He said to me that it was my responsibility to take care of the tree. Then, a stroke of luck happened. I called the arborist again and he came back to provide an extremely professional report with photos from 2 angles showing the lean of the 2 trees. Another man from the city came back and I showed him the reports. He was completely sympathetic and explained that he was going to be in a meeting with administrative people. He said that he was going to get back to me and it was extremely different and pleasant. When he got back with me, he said that they take this sort of thing very seriously and that they were going to replace it with a smaller, respectable young tree. They intentionally didn?t replace it with another liquid amber tree, which are notorious for damaging sidewalks. Jan Scow not only saved my sanity, but he also saved my block. The block goes straight to the park and I could not live with the thought of a tree falling over on my street with so many people parking on my block with their children. It would be absolutely horrible. When we had windy nights, I couldn?t sleep at night. He probably helped avert a disaster, as well as salvaged my sanity.

My experience with them was great. He is kind of a specialist with trees. I was happy with him. Though it was a little pricey, it was really worth it.

Jan arrived on time and we looked first at the trees which had motivated me to call him. I had a jacaranda that was a little loose in the ground and he said that this could result from three causes which he explained, saying that he ruled out two of the possibilities for this case. The remaining cause was that the tree had been improperly planted and that the root ball had not been broken up and spread out as it should have; this resulted in the tree being slow to establish strong roots into the surrounding earth. He said to take a picture of the tree (which was leaning slightly) with a vertical reference in the picture and to record the place I was standing when I took the picture so that I could take another picture in the same place in a year and see if the tree was leaning over further. If the tree continued leaning further and further, then that would mean it had not established sufficient roots and would have to be removed if it became likely to fall on the house or the street. We also looked at the rest of the landscaping and he gave me advice about a plum tree which he said was probably diseased, and what plants might be suitable to fill in some empty spots. I was very satisfied with his expertise and advice.

Jan showed up at our house right on time and spent a little over an hour looking at each tree, their trunks and the soil. He also took a look at our other trees. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was not good. This past winter had resulted in a lot of rainwater which due the slope of our backyard left the area around both trees in a very moist environment which increased the spread of oak fungus that has killed one of the trees and affected about 80% of the other. Although the news was not what we wanted to hear, Jan did take the time to explain different types of oak fungus resistance trees that we could plant once we cut down each tree and grind the old stumps (another Angies list search). Jan is very knowledgeable and is a professional. If you value your trees, he is the specialist to call.

We have 2 beautiful trees (liquid amber) use to stand vertically and were now leaning, which scared me, because if they fell they would have fallen on our neighbors house. He came over, took his time and was extremely knowledgable. He wrote up the official report to the city about the problem, along with photos, measurments and detailed descriptions. The city came over to take a look at the trees and agreed that the trees would have to be removed. Very professional and well knowledged in his field. He is very kind and nice.

I have a large Mulberry tree in the front yard of the house I just moved into. I wanted an evaluation of its condition, as it seemed badly pruned and had some other issues. Jan showed up promptly at 9, evaluated the tree, gave me pros and cons of maintaining vs. removing it. He also looked at some trees in the back yard, and even gave some observations on a neighbor's tree. His fee was right on estimate, and he told me to feel free to call him if I have any further questions. It was an interesting experience. Jan is obviously very knowledgeable and I would not hesitate to use him again, or recommend him to others.

I just called him, he called back, made appt. He came to my tree in my yard and did evaluation. That's it.

He was excellent. He looked the tree over. He took some kind of sample from the tree, the leaves or a piece of bark, to his lab to analyze. Then he decided that it was in good health but this was just an anomaly. He was very helpful. I have called him for additional things since then and he has again been very helpful. He is a highly trained specialist. He has a training that goes beyond the ordinary arborist. He has a special license and so I cannot compare what he charges to that of what the ordinary tree service providers would charges. There are few people around with this training and certification. His quality is high because of his education, licensing and experience. I don?t think it is comparable. I will continue to use his services in the future.

Jan looked at my tree carefully, starting with some digging to inspect the root crown, then climbing up the trunk a bit to peel back some bark. He talked about the various possible causes of the tree's trouble, and singled out what he thinks is the most likely one. Jan noted some lab testing that could be done--then helpfully suggested that I not spend the money, since a positive test result would probably indicate an incurable disease anyway. He then laid out a specific plan for trying to help the tree (watering schedule), a timetable for when it would be a good idea to give up, and lastly suggested some replacement trees if and when the sick tree has to go. Finally, he took a peek at other trees on the property and pointed out a problem I ought to attend to. Jan listens to the customer and explains things completely and clearly. I'm not an expert on trees, but my sense was that he is very knowledgeable. Also, I really like the basic concept of his business, namely that the person doing the diagnosing has no conflict of interest. He will recommend people to do tree work but that is not his own business. I would recommend Jan to anyone who has a tree problem and needs helpful expert opinion.

Jan does not do any physical work with the trees he evaluates the trees. I was concerned about two trees on my walkway, because it looked like they were leaning. He took some pictures while he was out and wrote up a detailed report afterward for an extra charge. He went over my concerns in great detail in his report. He gave me a very, very good picture of what could possibly happen although he could not predict exactly what was going to happen with them. Jan is very, very, very knowledgeable. There was one little thing about his responsiveness. I faxed him a question about something, which would not have taken a report just a short answer, and I did not get a response from him. I was surprised in view of the fact that at the bottom of his report he has a statement about contacting him with any questions. He was extremely professional.

Jan Scow was very easy to work with. He promptly returned my initial phone call, set up an appointment quickly and came to the appointment one time. He thoroughly investigated the situation and took photos. He also answered our questions and discussed tree issues we were concerned about. He was knowledgeable and professional. He then wrote a very thorough and helpful report which we received very quickly. Overall he did an excellent job and we would certainly hire him again.