C & S Tree Services

C & S Tree Services is a family owned and operated outfit that has been working the Shoalhaven for 15 years, in its own words alongside "hundreds of homeowners and businesses" over that time. It covers the northern half of the region, from Gerroa down to Sussex Inlet, and takes on residential and commercial work alike. Quotes begin with a free site visit and cost estimate, so nobody is guessing at a price over the phone.

Tree removal and cutting is the main game, with tree trimming and pruning and tree lopping listed as separate services for the jobs where the tree is staying put. Stump grinding deals with what is left in the ground once a tree is down. Block clearing covers whole sites, which along this stretch of coast usually means a bush block being made ready to build on, or a property being pulled back from years of regrowth creeping in on it.

The most useful page on the website has nothing to do with cutting. C & S explains the 45 degree rule, a Shoalhaven Council exemption that can allow a homeowner to remove certain trees without formal council approval, depending on where the tree sits in relation to the dwelling. The team will come out and measure it up, in their words to "help determine which trees may qualify for removal" under the exemption. For anyone looking at a tree they want gone and dreading the approval process, that is a sensible first phone call to make.

What comes off the job gets used rather than dumped. Tree chipping and mulching processes the material, and the business sells both mulch and firewood, so the timber tends to end up in someone's garden bed or fireplace instead of at the tip. It is a small thing, but it is the difference between a crew that turns up with a chipper and one that has somewhere for the chip to go.

Jobs are done across Nowra and West Nowra, Berry, Cambewarra, Callala, Jervis Bay, Kangaroo Valley and Sussex Inlet, along with the rest of the northern Shoalhaven. The crew works Monday to Friday, 7am to 3pm, with Saturday and Sunday by appointment. Safety and keeping the equipment current are the two things the business puts its name to most often.