Arbor Express VIC

Arbor Express VIC is a consulting arboricultural practice rather than a cutting crew. Robert de Jong started out with Discount Tree Services in 1993, built it into Canberra's largest arborist firm, sold it in 2011, then set up Arbor Express with his son Alexander. The practice carries more than 30 years in the industry between them, and the team spans AQF Level 3 through to Level 9, with Walter Chan holding a Master of Science in Arboriculture.

Arborist reports for developments are the core work, written to what Victorian councils actually want to see, and they are fast tracked: reports delivered within five days. A preliminary arboricultural report sits at the front of that process, for people testing whether a site will work before they commit to it. The practice also handles Clause 52.37 tree removal permits.

Tree management plans and tree protection plans are the documents councils ask for once a permit comes back conditional, setting out what gets retained and how it survives the build. Project arborist engagements cover supervision during construction, where someone qualified has to be on site any time work happens inside a tree protection zone. Tree root mapping and investigation answers where the roots actually run, which is rarely where the plans assumed.

Risk is the other half of the practice. Tree risk assessment for health and safety covers the standard case, and tree structural testing goes further, putting numbers on whether a trunk will hold rather than leaving it to a visual call. Schools and high traffic areas get their own assessment stream, since a failure there is a different order of problem. On-site tree consultation handles the one-off question, and ecological consulting extends past the single tree to habitat and vegetation.

Coverage runs across all 31 municipalities of Greater Melbourne, from Camberwell, Kew and Canterbury through Footscray, Werribee and Moonee Ponds, out to Frankston, Cranbourne and Pakenham. Regional Victoria is on the books as well, including Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, the Mornington Peninsula, the Yarra Valley, Warrnambool and up to Albury and Wodonga. Through the 2019 and 2020 bushfires the practice offered complimentary arborist assessments to people who had been through them.