7 Questions Before Hiring a Tree Service

WARNING! Never hire any tree service company to remove or trim your trees without asking these 7 questions.These questions will help protect your and your property.1.      Who pays for injuries or damages?Many “companies carry no licensing or Insurance. If any of these companies damages anything, or they are injured, you the homeowner can find yourself financially responsible, including if one of the workers falls and breaks a leg. Another tactic of fraudulent businesses is to start an insurance policy and not pay their premiums. They carry an evidence of insurance form that is not valid. Our Difference: Crider Landscaping is both licensed and insured. Our $2,000,000 Commercial Liability policy gives you and us protection for your home or business. Once we provide you with our evidence of insurance, we also provide the contact information where you can verify coverage. This is what every reputable company should provide.2.      Where do you get your employees?A secret fact is many landscape companies hire felons or illegals, those who cannot get jobs “anywhere” else. It is possible for homeowners to be penalized for allowing illegals to perform work on their property. In addition, with the close proximity to your property and family, felons may not be whom you want around your loved ones. Our Difference: Crider Landscaping only employs individuals who are licensed to work in the United States. Before hiring, our employees get a background check and have to be able to pass a drug test. We want to ensure that we can trust our employees and more importantly that you can trust us. We want responsible workers. 3.      How long have you been doing this type of work?One can claim to be a tree company with only a truck and couple of ropes and saws. They are typically going to “climb everything” rent a chipper and have little or no access to other equipment such as bucket trucks and cranes. Meaning year to year there are new “tree companies” that are in their first year of business with little to no experience and are learning on your property. Our Difference: At Crider Landscaping, our new staff is trained by our veteran staffers to ensure the best possible service. We have several staff members that have been working in tree care since their teens. Therefore, Crider Landscaping staff and employees have many years of experience in tree service. 4.      Will you leave my yard in a mess?Many companies say they will clean up but actually leave the brush for city clean up. This is an illegal practice and if the city believes that, a contractor did the work they will not haul it off. This will become another expense that can cost more than just having the mess removed in the first place. If the mess is taken care of in this “city” manner, then you get to spend an hour or two raking your lawn after this is finished. Our Difference:  At Crider Landscaping, we chip all brush, then blow and rake the area so your lawn is actually cleaner than before we arrived to do the work. 5.      How do you ensure my satisfaction, will you put it in writing?Many companies do not offer any contracts therefore leaving a lot of gray area when it comes to your tree removal and trimming services. Without contracts, you are not completely protected in what services you are supposed to be receiving and could end up dealing with a mess. Our Difference: At Crider Landscaping, we use carbon-copied quotes and contracts outlining exactly what services you can expect from us. With these agreements in place, you can be assured that you are receiving exactly the services you are paying for. 6.      How much of a down payment do you require?Many companies require deposits of 50% or more, and you hear many stories about the contractors that took deposits and never showed up. Do not be one of those stories. Companies that operate with sound business practices should not need any deposit, unless it involves an insurance claim and that should be no more than your deductible. Our Difference: Many times, we do not require any prepayments, because of our sound business practices and relationships with insurance companies that allow us to bill them directly. 7.      Why are you so expensive? OR Why are you so cheap?Many companies have to charge much more than us because most if not all of their equipment is financed, they work out of high profile offices with higher rents and are trying to act as if “corporate executives” while you the client pays for the additional costs. Our Difference: We operate our company on minimal debt; we rent equipment when necessary and work diligently on keeping our operating costs low. We do not have monthly debt payments that lead to higher operating costs, costs that are passed on to you. We also purchase equipment used when possible in order to lower equipment cost. However, we are a professional company who invests in quality equipment and employees to ensure a great job and a good experience for our clients. We also provide insurance, and worker’s comp, and Hiring a Tree Service.