Gregory Forrest Lester Inc

Difficult job performed to perfection.

We've had nothing but good experiences with this company. They just finished removing two dead trees, removing the stumps and even planted new ones that already look better. The crew was fast, professional, and did a good job cleaning up. Oliver Lester was great to work with and his knowledge of trees is extensive and detailed. I have no hesitation in recommending their services.

Fantastic. Crew came in on a scheduled day, but due to excessive rain (extremely wet yard this winter), they decided to reschedule and bring a crane to avoid yard damage. Second time around they came in on time and the job was done in 2h or less. very pleased with the outcome

The work required the use of heavy equipment to lift the trees over the house. The work crew was efficient, polite and very professional. The work was completed in a timely manner, though it was a challenging situation. The clean-up was exceptionally thorough. I would recommend this company withtout hesitation. I was very pleased

So far the tree is hanging on. They did a good job. They brought their chipper and chipped all the branches they removed and even trimmed some of my other trees. They cleaned up well and did a good job.

Over several sessions all services were delivered on time and at the agreed upon price. They cost a little more than some others but the work was excellent.

Absolutely wonderful experience with this company. I will always use them for all my tree needs. Thank you so very much.

Great. Kevin is always great to work with for estimates and planning. He is ISA trained arborist and really knows his stuff. Barry, team leader, and Sean, lead tree climber, trimmer, etc... is great, efficient, quick, hard working, etc... as are all the crew members. We've used this service many times and will do so again in the future.

They seemed to really know what they are doing.

They had a coupon in reach and they honored the coupon. They were very professional and we were pleased with their work. This was the first and only time we've used their service.

The tree removal went very well with job being done in one day and work was professional. Yard was left in fairly good shape, with some minor cleanup still to be done by me. The landscaping part of their work, a few months later, was a complete and total disappointment and frustration with absolutely no customer empathy "after the sale". We had about 14 large Arborvitae bushes put in, along with 3-4 other smaller bushes and one small tree. In a nutshell, at least 3 of the large bushes are in very poor shape with missing areas of growth in different areas of each bush. The rest of still puny and show no new growth after being planted over a year ago. One of the flowering bushes has shown no signs of flowers throughout the 2016 season. The small tree was DOA from the start and never, ever showed any sign that it was alive to begin with. We have complained on numerous occasions to both the owner of the business Gregory and also to his son Kevin, who heads up the landscaping part of this business. They've been out a few times over the past year and simply said "everything you see here is a result of deer, whether it's because they've chewed on the trunks or leaves or because they've rubbed their antlers against the trunks". In essence saying "it's not our problem, this explains it, and we basically disregard any other possible reason that may indicate our plants might be to blame". They made NO attempts to offer replacement plants or money back or anything that might have reflected customer goodwill. It's simply not an option for Gregory or his son, period. It is interesting to us however that apparently deer are very choosy on which plantings they dine on. Oh, I should mention that Gregory, after the small tree was totally a brown stick in the ground in July, that we could go to a nursery in Sharonville and tell them that he sent us and we could get a very good "contractors" price to replace the tree...still of course at our expense however. We decided to go, reluctantly, and see what we could do to just get this tree replaced on our own. As it turned out, the company had never heard of Gregory Forest and basically told us they didn't know what we were talking about in terms of a discount because he directed us there. As a last ditch effort, since our "warranty" was expiring in November, I called Gregory personally on his cell phone one last time in October to ask him to please return to our home before the the expiration (after one year) and re-examine the plantings with me...because many just looked very bad and weak. He said he'd do that for sure, but to please call the office and leave a message on his machine so he would be reminded to call me back. I did that. Needless to say, he never has contacted me and the "warranty" has of course expired. I didn't give them an overall rating of "F" because the tree removal part of the service was done well. But the landscaping part of the business, in our opinion, is a total disregard for the customer after the sale. By the way, like many here, I was told on each visit that we have more "bad" trees that needed feeding and trimming......with quotes of $3K to $5K to do this. Thankfully I did not have any of this done. Please read the reviews here in total and make up your own mind. I personally will never use this company again.

In 2013, we moved to a new home, and because we had 2 very large Ash trees, and 4 smaller Ash Trees, we wanted someone to take a look at these trees to see if we had Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). We called Gregory Forrest Lester, and the owner told us there was no sign of EAB, but he would do preventive treatment for us as the EAB is in the area and it was just a matter of time before our trees were infested.. We paid for treatment of all the trees, at a cost of over $2,000. Since treatment is recommended every other year, we had them come out again in the Fall of 2015 for a second treatment. This Spring and Summer, we noticed a big decline in the two largest trees-both over 40-50'. Limbs were falling, the leaves were not filling out as usual, and the bark was being chewed and there were some questionable D shaped holes in the trunks. . We asked Lester to take a look. The Owner left us a bill for over $3,000 to "Trim and treat the trees with a fungicide, and to inject them with a fertilizer." There was no mention of the EAB being present, but we were suspicious and called in two other certified arborists from two different companies to get a second opinion. Both of the two local certified arborists/companies confirmed that we had a heavy infestation of EAB, and that the trees looked like they had been treated one time (bark overgrowth of the holes), but no evidence of second holes on the larger trees that would indicate a 2nd treatment in 2015. They also told us that the ONLY way to diagnose if a tree is infested or not, is to look at the crown. Lester would have needed a very, very tall ladder for these Trees, and initially he simply looked at the trees and said "no problem here". We confronted Lester, and they were adamant the trees were treated. When we asked Lester for a record of the dates of treatment, the name and dosage of the insecticide used, they refused to provide those records, even when we had already paid them thousands of dollars for the two treatments. The owner called us some choice names, and said that the trees were treated, and he saw no evidence of EAB and we could sue him if we wanted. We realize that EAB treatments are not always guaranteed, but the recent $3,000 bill for fertilizers, trimming fertilizing, seems suspicious to us. IF they are in fact certified to treat EAB, shouldn't Gregory Forrest Lester, especially the owner, be able to diagnose EAB when it is present, especially a heavy infestation?? We feel that he is either incompetent or trying to take advantage of us by making more money with false claims that the trees only needed fertilizing and trimming. We will probably lose these trees. Now we have a very reliable company trying to help us to save them.

They explain everything and they are very thorough. They listen and answer all my questions. They are a little bit pricey.

Trees were removed and stumps ground out. However, we have landscaping and a small ornamental tulip tree in a garden front entry. At the estimate, Kevin indicated that he would reserve the flowers and magnolia/tulip tree by having their bucket lift back into the driveway and do a controlled limb drop- preserving our concerned area. Nope. No bucket. A ground worker- Damon, cut a notch and the first tree was felled in its entirety, and accurately across the driveway and fed into the chipper in about four passes, with the assist of Chris, the 3-team leader. The 2d tree, also notch cut from the ground, was a problem- landing on the forward bushes and phlox and entangled the front of the Magnolia/tulip tree (looking worse than it actually was) breaking only a small branch. BUT, Disappointing. While only minor, our decision to go with this provider was to prevent potential damage because of the caring approach. None used. The stump grinder sprayed chips off the front porch windows and storm door and throughout the front flower beds and into the neighbor's yard. The final chip clean-up was less than satisfactory. When the 2d tree fell, I called Kevin, the Estimator, and asked that he call me. He did not. As the crew finished, I went out to assess the site. I told them I thought the damage to the ornamental tree was not as bad as originally thought (we all thought). The stump chips were to be left, but raked into a mound on the two stump pads. Chips are still all over the place. I will take pictures and hire some neighbor boys to rake the yard. There was no step taken to control the huge broadcast of stump chips to my yard, my porch, my front windows, the glass storm door, or the neighbor's yard. I had to ask them to clean off the heavily-debrised front porch. After the crew left, I called and left another VM message on Kevin's cell phone and asked that he come to the site, or inspect it and verify that this was their normal and standard clean-up condition. It can't be. I was not pleased with how they left the front yard. I have yet to hear from Kevin. My message to him on his VM indicated that I was going to write a review on Angie's List, and would like to give him a chance to address my concern before I did so. He hasn't called- again. Thus, this poor rating review. The on-site crew was always courteous. The lack of planning, a safer approach, experienced oversight and lack of professionalism is my assessment and warning to others. I wish, now, I had gone with a higher-rated Angie's List service provider. Because the company made no effort- zero- to address my concerns (customer service) that I raised while the job was going on and immediately at its conclusion, I will not use, nor could I recommend this company to anyone, in the future. Next Day UPDATE: Kevin, the estimator, responded to my calls- the day after, and apologized and sent a crew out to clean-up my front yard, landscaping, flower beds and removed most of the widely broadcasted stump chips. The yard looks better. Pre-planning and anticipation of how things will fall is of utmost importance in felling trees and stump grinding. Better job oversight would certainly improve things. However, while their approach to felling the trees and controlling the direction of stump chip scatter needs improvement, and the minor damage already experienced could not be addressed, I do appreciate their effort to make up for their less-than-standard departure in order to provide some remedy to us. Thus, I have raised my original ratings. Character presents itself in times of crisis, or not. In this instance, I was pleased that in response to my concerns and their recognition of the company's less-than-standard performance, they responded most professionally and at least made the effort to "make things better." When methods need improvement, it is always good to hear and see an intent to do so demonstrated. They did that.

When I called I talked to a lady named Jennifer and she was extremely professional and knowledgeable in the work I wanted to have completed. I did not feel like just a customer when I talked to her I felt like family. She went into detail of what kind of work they would have to do to get the job completed. The crew arrived on time and when they said they would they cut the tree down quick and they cleaned up every little thing on the ground they dropped the crew was extremely professional. When my wife arrived home she could not believe how great of a job they did. They truly are experts in their service.

I didn't like them at all. They came to my house without giving me any warning. They recommended work that was unnecessary, too expensive, and they set me up for a program of automatically coming back out again, but I had to call twice to make sure that they did not do that.

They were on time & professional. They gave me tips on how to trim some of my bushes in the future. They cleaned up after themselves. When Greg came to give me the quote, he offered suggestions for other services and gave me referrals to other places that might save me money.

They indicated we should see results next spring. I called them on a Thursday and they were out within three days. They knew right away what the problem was.

I let the estimator know that I was surprised he was here and I wasn't expecting him. He looked at me like I had 10 heads and said the scehduler said he could come by 11am. I told him yes and let him know she also told me she would call and confirm and I never received that confirmation. I didn't mind that he came- I was frustrated at the lack of communnication twice in one week. I was disappointed he never apologized for the lack of communication or inconvenience, as obviously I wasn't expecting him. I told him since he was here we should proceed. I had an estimate to take down one large branch of an elephant ear tree & some pruning of other trees that were growing branches widly to rest on my garage of surrounding neighbors.Also, to take down a few branches of a tree on my property hanging low over my yard and my rear neighbors yard. His estimate came in at $1850. I informed him I was surprised at the high estimate as a tree I had removed before by his company was only $450 to take down (50ft Spruce tree), grind stump and remove. He said he could take $200 off the estimate if they didn't sweep and clean up loose branches that fell off in removal. To me, I am paying to have the tree taken down because it is outside my capability, but I certainly am not interested in leaving the branches and debris around to save $200. I'll continue getting estimates from others as $1850 seemed expensive for the taking down large branches that are all accessible.

I didn’t have any issues with them.

I have not received a phone call back from them. I have voice mail set up on my phone, and so I'm pretty confident that I did not miss any calls from them.

I needed a tree trimmed, so I called GFL. Jeff Lester came out, gave me an estimate on the tree, and recommended some other work, which I didn't take him up on, but he didn't give me the hard sell. The next day, or a few days later, his crew came out and did the work. No complaints -- they even hauled off some unrelated branches from the backyard, at no extra charge. The reason they get a D across the board is because of what they did to a friend of mine a few months later. Around Thanksgiving they had a job across the street from my friend's house. My friend was out of town for the holiday, and on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day itself, they put a notice on the windshield of his car -- legally parked right in front of his house -- saying he had until 9 the next morning to move it or it would be towed. His dogsitter saw the notice and informed my friend, but there was nothing they could do because my friend hadn't left his car keys (why would he have thought he needed to?). So his car was towed, to the tune of $200. He tried to take it up with GFL, but they thoroughly blew him off. He was able to figure out where the permit for the notice had been filed, went there, and found Jeff Lester's name on the paperwork. For more insight into these bad actors, google their name along with "Department of Labor."

I needed a tree trimmed, so I called GFL. Jeff Lester came out, gave me an estimate on the tree, and recommended some other work, which I didn't take him up on, but he didn't give me the hard sell. The next day, or a few days later, his crew came out and did the work. No complaints -- they even hauled off some unrelated branches from the backyard, at no extra charge. The reason they get a D across the board is because of what they did to a friend of mine a few months later. Around Thanksgiving they had a job across the street from my friend's house. My friend was out of town for the holiday, and on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day itself, they put a notice on the windshield of his car -- legally parked right in front of his house -- saying he had until 9 the next morning to move it or it would be towed. His dogsitter saw the notice and informed my friend, but there was nothing they could do because my friend hadn't left his car keys (why would he have thought he needed to?). So his car was towed, to the tune of $200. He tried to take it up with GFL, but they thoroughly blew him off. He was able to figure out where the permit for the notice had been filed, went there, and found Jeff Lester's name on the paperwork. For more insight into these bad actors, google their name along with "Department of Labor."

Work had to be done with heavy equipment. They came when promised and did an excellent job, avoiding damage to the yard just as much as possible, and cleaning up well.

We hired Gregory Forrest Lester, Inc., 6016 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, OH 45213, to remove a large sycamore tree that was too close to our house. While they removed it, a dead limb knocked out our power, so I called the power company to come out to fix it. They told us that there was damage and that several items would need to be replaced by a trained electrician. They recommended getting estimates for the job. They also put us on a 20-day notice to get this work done due to safety issues. When I relayed this information to Greg Lester the next day, he told us that he knew somebody at the power company who told him what was needed, so he'd get it fixed. Then he sent his tree trimers out to fix our electrical problem! They removed a rope that had been placed there by the power company and then left 5 minutes later. Since we didn't trust what the tree trimmers had done, we contacted the power company again and asked them to come back to let us know if it had been fixed. The power company came back and assured us that the repair work still needed to be done. We then contacted Gregory Forrest Lester, Inc. again and told them that an electrician needed to do the work and they had to pay for it. We were told to get 2-3 estimates, which I did. All 3 were BBB and Angie's List certified. Mr. Lester then relayed a message to me that he would send an electrician that he had dealt with for the last 30 years to do the repair work for the exact same cost as the cheapest estimate I sent him. When I asked to see his electrician's estimate so that I could check his references, too, I was later told that "his electrician was really busy and couldn't get to it for awhile" so we should go ahead and use the cheapest estimate that we had sent him. We were happy of use one of the companies that we had already contacted. They got the job done and Greg Lester paid the bill. This issue has been resolved. I will never use Gregory Forrest Lester, Inc. again.