Dixons Trees

Dixons Trees was founded in 2009 by Phil Dixon with, as the company tells it, a chainsaw and a ute, on a founding principle that has not changed since: remove trees safely, clean up properly and charge a fair price. Fifteen years on it operates from a yard at Springwood in the Blue Mountains, still led by Phil Dixon as managing director, alongside general manager Alex Boland, residential client estimator Ben Rowe and commercial client manager Chris Stewart. The crew holds AQF Level 3 qualifications in arboriculture, the company carries $50 million public liability insurance with full coverage on every job, and it is certified to ISO 9001 for quality, ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety. Its stated values are worth quoting because they read like a job description: do it properly, be straight with people, show up and deliver, look after the site, keep everyone safe, and respect the environment.

Tree removal is the foundation of the business and the fleet is built for it, running whole-tree chippers, stump grinders, excavators, elevated work platforms and cranes. 24/7 emergency services cover the trees that come down out of hours, which in the Blue Mountains is a real and regular event when wind and storms move through the escarpment. Palm tree removal is handled separately, and stump grinding clears what is left in the ground afterwards. Land clearing takes on the whole-block jobs for development, access or fire management.

Tree pruning is carried out to AS 4373-2007, the Australian Standard for the pruning of amenity trees, so canopies are reduced in a way the tree can recover from. Tree crown lifting raises the canopy to restore clearance and light beneath it. The company also offers 10/50 tree removal, the work permitted under the NSW 10/50 Vegetation Clearing scheme for properties inside a designated bushfire risk entitlement area, which is a service that matters enormously across the mountains and is frequently misunderstood by the people entitled to use it.

Where Dixons Trees genuinely differs from most tree businesses is tree relocation. Backed by specialised tree relocation machinery, the company can lift an established tree and move it rather than destroy it, which is an option worth knowing about for a development that would otherwise lose a mature specimen, or a homeowner unwilling to give up a tree they have grown. Chipping and mulching processes the arisings on site, and the resulting material is sold on through mulch sales, so the green waste from one job becomes garden mulch for the next rather than landfill.

The business works across the Blue Mountains, Penrith, the Hawkesbury, Western Sydney and the Central Coast, taking in Springwood, Katoomba, Leura, Wentworth Falls, Glenmore Park and St Clair. The yard at 9-11 Scrivener Lane, Springwood is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm, and closed weekends, with the emergency line running around the clock. Call 1300 312 326, or 0473 349 667 for 24/7 emergency work.