Matthew Reed Tree Consultancy

My name is Matthew Reed and I am a consulting arborist qualified to AQF Level 5, the diploma level in arboriculture. Matthew Reed Tree Consultancy works from Sydney through to the Illawarra. Alongside the diploma I hold the International Society of Arboriculture's Tree Risk Assessment Qualification, I am a member of both Arboriculture Australia and the International Society of Arboriculture, and I am fully insured.

My reports go out with proper CAD diagrams. I work in ArborCAD, so tree protection zones, structural root zones and canopy spreads are drawn to scale over your own site plan rather than described in a paragraph, and whoever assesses the application can see at a glance where the encroachments fall and by how much. On a tight site that drawing is usually the difference between a decision and a request for more information.

Arboricultural Impact Assessments are written to AS4970-2025, the recently updated version of the Australian Standard covering the protection of trees on development sites, so what you lodge is current and not working to a superseded edition. An assessment sets out which trees a proposal affects, what the works will do to them, and what has to happen on site to keep the retained ones alive. Where the job is less involved, a straightforward arborist report may be all that is needed to prune or remove a tree in an area carrying tree protection controls.

I also provide assistance with Development Applications, keeping the arboricultural material aligned with the rest of the submission so it does not become the thing that holds up a determination. The site end of that same job is DA supervision: confirming on the ground that the protective fencing went up where the plan said it would, that it stays there, and that the works happening around retained trees match what was actually approved.

There is also the tree doctor side of the practice, which is diagnosis and treatment for a tree in decline. That starts with establishing what is genuinely behind the problem, whether pest, disease, root damage or the conditions of the site itself, before anyone decides what treatment is worth doing. Councils name the report they want in their own paperwork and the wording is not always obvious. Ring 0422 344 007 or send me an email with exactly what you have been asked for, or simply with what the tree is doing, and I will tell you which report answers it and what producing it involves.