Total Tree Service

prompt, professional, courteous, affordable

The company needed some oversight and guidance to make sure they completed the job to specs but in general it was a good experience.

I called Total Tree Service on a Tuesday morning and spoke with Curtis Proctor (owner) about getting an estimate for the tree removal. We set up to meet that same day at 2:00. He called about 10 minutes before he got there to confirm and arrived right on time. Curtis is very friendly, professional and easy to talk to and do business with. He gave me the estimate. I wanted to hire him on the spot, but I also wanted to get another estimate just for peace of mind. The second tree service came the following morning (Wednesday) and was over $1,000 more than Total Tree Service. I called Curtis back around 9:30 to let him know that I would like to have him remove my trees. I let him know that I would like it done as soon as he was available. He indicated that he may be able to start that afternoon, but that he had commitments for Thursday and Friday and they could finish Monday. I let him know that would be fine. I left for awhile and arrived home around 2:30. They had a crew of 6 guys that had already removed 3 of the trees. They worked until 8:00 that evening and got all but 1 tree down. They sent a tree climber out the next afternoon to take the remaining tree down. I was at work all day Monday and when I returned home the work had all been done. They did an excellent job cleaning up and even cut all of the logs to size for firewood as well as ground a stump that wasn't part of the estimate. If I ever have a need for more tree work, I will definitely hire Curtis and his crew. I am more than satisfied with the work and the price.

I selected Total Tree Service from several similar companies to remove trees on my property. Even during the estimate phase, Mr. Proctor was the only one who showed up promptly at the time he said he would and, as a certified arborist, he gave me valuable information about all of my trees as he completed his estimate for the removal project. A day or two later, I called him back and asked him to add stump grindings to my estimate, which he did without comment. On the day of the project, he and his crew showed up on time and immediately got to work. Shortly after his arrival, I took Mr. Proctor aside and again asked him to add more work to the project -- cut and remove two evergreens and one bush from the front of my home, and remove some large limbs from trees that would stay on the property. Again, he just smiled and said, "no problem," and got right back to work. They cut and removed 11 very large trees, one of which was leaning precariously over my neighbor's house, and ground out the tree stumps. They removed the evergreens and bush that I added that morning. I had a very large and dear Maple tree in back that needed a large limb trimmed, but I wasn't sure how much to cut. Mr. Proctor's knowledge as an arborist was extremely helpful in that matter, and I was able to safely retain more of the limb than I expected. Also, Mr. Proctor noticed that I had several low hanging branches over my roof that he thought should be trimmed up to protect my roof. While he was there he sent his crew up to trim those for me, at no additional charge. The crew did a nice job cleaning up during the project (chipping and shredding, hauling away the cut wood), and after it was completed (raked, used a blower and a broom). Finally, one of the crew member's noticed a large and dangerous split in a very large neighbor's tree that leans over my house. He suggested that, in a big wind storm or with enough snow and ice build-up, that tree will end up on my roof causing untold damage to my home. Not part of this project, Mr. Proctor and Total Tree Service will be back next week to give my neighbor and I an estimate on removing that tree as well.

In short, while it was difficult for me to part with my trees, they needed to go for several reasons. I am very happy that I selected Total Tree Service to do the work. They were prompt, courteous, professional, wasted no time on the job (they were fast!), took a short lunch break and no others that I saw, and every member of the crew was highly skilled and well trained in the work he was doing. The price was fair, the quality of their work excellent, and they are all just a great bunch of guys to work with.

In every area that Angie's List grades, Total Tree Service is outstanding! I will use them again when the need arises, and I will definitely recommend them to others as well.

POSTSCRIPT:

Never got the estimate for removing the neighbor's split tree, which did fall on our house last winter. We ended up having to replace our entire roof from the damage. :(

Sadly, the gorgeous Maple tree in my front yard that you see in the picture here has not bloomed since Total Tree Service was here in 2009. I had an arborist from Scott's come and look at it -- he couldn't find a thing wrong, i.e., no bugs, fungus, or disease. I then had an arborist from Michigan State University Extension Office come look at it -- she said the same thing. She told me that the only thing she could say is that the work of removing the pines on either side (heavy equipment in the yard) damaged the Maple's roots. I fertilized and watered for 3 years before giving up. It's now 3 years with a giant dead tree in my front yard, and time to admit that the tree is not coming back. It breaks my heart to have that tree cut down as it was the prettiest in the neighborhood and I have many memories of my sons and their friends in that tree. Makes me sick to lose it!! :(