Rob Boswell, the owner responded the same day to my initial cold call. He had glowing reviews, was near my house, and was owner-operated [usually owners who participate in their business care more about the quality].
He scheduled the work that day, it was for the following week, less than 6 days away [one very large tree was struck by lightning and a threat to the house], which was convenient for me. But there was one tree that stood alone not near the house, and Rob came out in 2 days and cut that one. I was not home. I came home to a nice clean cut and a new mailbox and post.
Rob explained that one long branch of the tree came down and grazed the mailbox at the curb. So Rob on his own, unbeknonst to me, went to Home Depot and got a new mailbox and cut and formed a new post that was identical to the original. And he did not charge me, or even bring it up.
For the main job, he showed up at the time he said he would, we walked around and discussed what else should be done; I solicited his opinion about some questionable trees, and he suggested very reasonable solutions [including, do nothing to 1 or 2 of them]. I added one more tree to be cut that was quite large, and he revised the estimate right there, and it seemed reasonable.
My next door neighbor is a lifelong resident of this county [in PA], and his father was an experienced tree cutter, and this neighbor is highly trusted by me [neighbors for 30 years]; he said the price seemed reasonable, and it was consistent with several other rough estimates I had gotten.
Rob himself rode the cherry picker up to the treetops and did the surgery needed to bring the trees down safely. The lightning struck tree could not be climbed [it was split], so he went to the top of a neighboring tree [my lot is wooded] and set up a lever system. So when he cut huge chunks of the damaged tree, he tied a rope around the piece to be cut, the other end of which was attached to the neighbor tree. So when the damaged tree was cut, huge pieces swung free like a huge pendulum, and then was lowered to the ground by his crew on the ground. He did not hit the neighbor tree, he did not slam the ground......it was interesting to watch, for sure. And beautifully done. No surprises, no "oops" moments....
When finished, they cleaned the yard, leaving it cleaner than when they arrived. They even blew leaves off my 2nd story roof while he was up in the cherry picker.
He is totally professional, easy to talk with, flexible, and did not come on strong - very polite.
I absolutely would recommend Rob Boswell's Tree service.