Horticultural Management Services

Over 90 per cent of our work comes from a direct recommendation or a repeat client. Horticultural Management Services has been advising property developers, planners, building consultants and both state and local government on natural resource and environmental land management since 1995, with more than 25 years of environmental, project, OH&S and asset management experience gathered inside local government, which is the side of the counter these approvals actually get decided on. We are an independent firm and we do not do tree removal work ourselves, so the recommendation you get from us is not attached to a quote for taking the tree down.

The best outcomes come when an arborist is in the room from the planning and discussion phase, right through implementation and on into the post construction after care stage. That is what our pre development application and land purchase inspections are built for. Before you commit to a block you find out what is growing on it, what condition it is in, and what the likely Tree Protection Zones and Structural Root Zones under AS 4970-2009 will do to your setbacks and your concept. It saves time on concepts and budgeting, and it improves the saleability of what you are building.

Our consulting arborist work produces detailed tree reports, arboricultural assessments and tree audits for development applications, at pre-construction, during construction and at post construction certification, all prepared to AS 4970-2009. A tree gets assessed for health, condition, height and form, for structural integrity and stability, for its tolerance to development impacts, for soil conditions and likely root spread, for Safe Useful Life Expectancy after Barrell (1995), for heritage, cultural or intrinsic significance, and for habitat value both in its own right and as part of an ecological community.

Most trees are subject to their local government's tree management policy, and formal approval to remove or prune one has to be obtained beforehand under whichever tree preservation policy applies. We deal with the council on your behalf and lodge the application with the evidence behind it, and where the works are approved we can arrange and supervise the tree surgery as part of the same package, including supervising a removal so the conditions of consent are actually met. Tree hazard assessment, risk management, pest and disease control, planting plans, tree and landscape management programmes and expert witness work all sit under the same banner. Our qualifications run to a Diploma of Arboriculture, a Diploma of Horticulture, an Arboricultural Certificate in tree surgery and a Diploma of Conservation and Land Management, along with ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification and training in the Protection of the Environment Operations legislation and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

There is a second side to the business. Lights Out Vermin Control works for rural land managers, primary producers and local government entities, operating after dark on advanced thermal detection and fully authorised by NSW Police for suppressor use, so the noise does not stress livestock or carry to the neighbours, with every engagement supported by a Safe Work Method Statement written against NSW Police, DPI and statutory requirements. Our environmental reports and planning assessments are prepared for residential, commercial, industrial and open space developments right across the Sydney metropolitan region, and we also take on site supervision and certification, annual tree inspections and audits for insurance, weed remediation and bush regeneration, and turf and landscaping solutions. Ring Scott and tell us what is on the block.