I had 3 elms and 1 cottonwood all in a sad state of neglect; overgrown with lots of dead and broken branches. The situation was made more difficult due to lack of easy access for equipment, two of the trees are right next to the house and hanging over my new roof, and there exists dense landscaping beneath all of the trees. Ron Matranga was recommended to me by the California Arborists Association Administrator, Denise Hodge. Denise gave me the names of other arborists, but she thought so highly of Ron, that he moved to the top of my list. Ron works out of Atlas Tree Service and every time I have called during business hours, the real and living person answering the phone was friendly, polite and helpful. I was happy to find that Denise’s respect for Ron was not misplaced. Ron was friendly, polite and knowledgeable. He also communicates well. We discussed at length what I wanted for my trees, what the trees needed, and then Ron came up with a game plan that fit both my needs and my budget. His estimate was inline with one other estimate, and came in below two other estimates I had received. Ron fully explained the process and advised that my landscaping below the trees would probably suffer some unavoidable damage, but that his crew would do what they could to minimize the damage. Ron assured me that the company was licensed, bonded and fully insured for both workers comp and liability. Important to know since someone was going to have to climb up my 70 foot trees with a loaded chainsaw. I had interviewed a number of tree guys, but I was so impressed by Ron that I hired him on the spot. He was able to schedule me within 2 weeks from his initial visit. My respect for Atlas only grew when I met their crew on the day of the job. Clearly, someone over at Atlas Tree knows how to hire quality. Besides being on time, every man on the crew was polite, quiet and respectful of both me and my property. They were an efficient and competent crew, and not once did I feel that the safety of either themselves or my property was ever in question. While a couple of bushes did suffer some, the damage was minimal due to the quick attention from the ground guys removing fallen branches, as well as the thoughtful cuts from the tree guys to lessen the weight. I certainly had expected worse and was pleasantly surprised to find most of the landscaping none the worse for wear. Bonus points to the guys for their good nature in tolerating my annoying paparazzi behavior. In my defense, I can only say that while this may have been just another day at the office for them, it was certainly an event for me. The guys were so thorough in cleaning up after themselves, after it was all over, you’d never know such a big job had ever taken place. The roof was cleaner than before they arrived, and the yard and landscaping completely clean of debris. From my research, I have learned that you can know a good tree trimming if it looks as though the tree had never been trimmed. That is certainly the case here. All four trees look naturally beautiful, balanced and healthy, and they look as though they have always been so. Thank you, Atlas, for giving my trees back their pride.