McArdle & Sons Arboricultural Services

McArdle and Sons Arboricultural Services was founded in 1956 by James Arthur McArdle and has stayed in the family ever since, now running into its fourth generation. Very few tree firms anywhere in Australia can point to that kind of run, and the company is unapologetic that experience is its core strength. It works out of Tamworth and covers a large slice of regional New South Wales.

The business was restructured in 2014 by Dan McArdle, the oldest son, who shifted its centre of gravity towards consulting arboriculture. He holds AQF 2, 3 and 5 Certifications in Arboriculture, completed between 1998 and 2014, and has sat on the committee of the Tree Contractors Association of Australia since 1999, including several terms as President. Since 2003 the firm has directly assisted with the development of the Arboriculture Codes of Practice and industry training packages, which is a slightly unusual line for a regional contractor and tells you where its interests sit.

Consulting work covers Tree Preservation Orders, hazard remediation, risk assessments, insurance claims and pest management. Tree inspections are carried out by AQF5 qualified arborists, both for owners worried about a particular tree and for the council approvals that clearing work often depends on, with a specialty in government and school hazard inspections. Arborist reporting is written to meet the relevant laws and regulations, identifies heritage and environmental issues, and deals with the technical detail development sites turn on: Tree Protection Zones, Structural Root Zones, risk management and hazard remediation.

Alongside the paperwork the company still does the physical work. Tree management means project managing the vegetation side of minor and major development sites, schools, hospitals and holiday parks, putting risk controls and hazard remediation into practice rather than just recommending them. Tree care and contracting cover remediation and tree removal where a tree cannot be kept, delivered, as the company puts it, with an impeccable work health and safety record.

Clients run across all levels of government, including Education, Roads NSW, the CSIRO, councils and National Parks, as well as commercial strata, building and construction firms, insurance companies and private homeowners. The service area stretches from Tamworth and the New England across the North West, the Central West, the Hunter Valley and down to Sydney. If you need an independent written opinion on a tree rather than a quote to cut it down, this is the sort of outfit that produces one.