Illawarra Arborist

Illawarra Arborist is a local tree crew working the coast from Wollongong down to Gerringong. Luke takes the calls and the texts himself, which is the practical difference between a small outfit and a booking line: the person you speak to about the tree is the one who turns up to look at it. The crew are fully qualified and insured, and they work for households and commercial properties alike. More than 280 five-star Google reviews sit behind the name.

The service list is short and unpadded. Tree removal is the main game, including the dangerous ones near buildings and boundaries, and it is backed by stump grinding so the ground is left usable rather than dotted with obstacles. Palm tree removal is listed separately, as it should be, because palms need different rigging and different disposal from a hardwood.

The maintenance side is tree pruning, deadwooding and hedging. Deadwooding is the one people skip until something lands on the lawn: the dead limbs in a canopy are the ones that come out first in a southerly, and clearing them is cheap next to what they cost on the way down. Hedging keeps the boundary screens in shape rather than letting them turn into a wall you have to take back hard once a year.

The patch they name is the whole spread of the region rather than one town. Up on the escarpment there is Mount Keira, Mount Kembla and Keiraville. Across the flat it runs through Figtree, Unanderra, Coniston, Berkeley and Fairy Meadow. South of that it takes in Dapto, Kembla Grange, Lake Illawarra, Albion Park, Calderwood, Oak Flats, Shellharbour and Shell Cove, then the dairy country and coast behind Kiama, Minnamurra and Jamberoo.

Booking is done by phone, text, email or the form on their site. Hours are Monday to Friday, 6.30am to 4pm, and the early start is the giveaway of a crew that likes to have the climbing done before the heat comes on. Quotes are worth getting in writing before the saws come out, and Luke is the one to ask.