Gervis Tree Services

Gervis Tree Services is a small crew of qualified and insured climbing arborists working out of Warrnambool in south west Victoria. Kyle, who founded it, grew up in Port Fairy, has more than ten years in the trade, holds a diploma in arboriculture and is licensed to write professional arborist reports. Before coming home he worked in Melbourne on some serious trees, the Royal Botanic Gardens and Parliament House among them. Jonathan came across from building, farming and fruit tree work and is the one sent up the difficult removals. Michael holds a degree in zoology and a leaning towards permaculture, which shapes how the crew thinks about what lives in a tree as well as the tree itself.

The specialty is tree pruning and tree removal where the job is complicated: tight blocks, trees hanging over houses, anything that wants a climber rather than a machine. Fruit tree pruning is listed as its own service, which is not a given with tree companies. What comes down gets dealt with on site through stump grinding and chipping services, and you are welcome to keep the firewood, cut to length if that suits you, along with the mulch.

The other half of the business is keeping trees standing. Consultations and arborist reports cover the written side, and where a limb or a union is failing, supports and bracing can buy a tree years it would not otherwise get. Tree vigour and soil amendment work goes at a declining tree from the root zone up. They also handle tree planting, habitat creation with installed hollows, garden design and mulch delivery.

The environmental side is not a slogan here, it is how the jobs are run: electric tools wherever they will do the work, biodegradable oil in the saws, more trees planted than taken out, hollows put back for the animals that lost them, and food forests encouraged where a client is interested. As the crew put it themselves, the expertise is in complex pruning and removals, but the knowledge and the passion lie in the connection to nature.

The business carries public and products liability insurance along with professional indemnity cover, quotes and consultations are free, and there is a minimum callout of $150 on paid work. Regular ground is anywhere inside the Warrnambool and Moyne council areas, taking in Port Fairy, Koroit and Hamilton, and the crew have travelled further afield for jobs at Halls Gap, Hopetoun, Portland and Melbourne. Work can be booked through the online request form on their site.