Priority Tree Care

Canberra keeps a lot of its power overhead, and in the ACT the distance a tree is allowed to grow from those lines is set in law. That shapes a good deal of the work we do out of Evatt. Priority Tree Care is a locally owned tree company working across Canberra for residential, corporate and government clients, and over the past 25 years we've grown from a small operation into one that can put trained crews on anything from a backyard gum to a civil development site.

We've held EVO Energy accreditation since it was introduced in the early 2000s, and our staff carry the certificate in CAVC, Close Approach Vegetation Control, which is the ticket required to work in close proximity to live conductors. The clearances we work to come from the Utility Networks (Public Safety) Regulations 2001 (ACT): a minimum of 1m for house service lines, 1.5m for low voltage power lines and greater than 2m for high voltage. Where a job can't be done safely with the power on, we apply to EVO Energy to have the line de-energised for the duration of the work. If you've been served an infringement notice naming the offending trees and giving you a time limit to engage an accredited tree surgeon, call us; we can also liaise with EVO Energy about an extension. Our staff sit annual training courses to keep those accreditations current.

Away from the wires the work is what you'd expect of a Canberra tree company. Tree removal comes up when a tree is diseased, lightning struck, storm damaged or simply grown across the access you need, and we bring heavy machinery in where the size of the tree calls for it. Stumps are either ground out, where they sit close to the surface, or lifted with a stump puller where they run deeper, and we backfill with soil and grass seed so you're not left with a hole in the lawn. Pruning and hedge trimming keep everything else in order. If the tree is regulated, the ACT removal application goes in before anyone starts, and the form is linked from our site.

Two services sit outside the usual run of tree work. Tree surveys and assessments mean every tree on a site is numbered, tagged and recorded, measured at breast height, and set out on an accurately drawn tree location plan with a full report on the health and condition of the population, which is what a developer or a property manager needs before they plan anything around them. We also take on tree transplanting, once we've evaluated what you're actually asking for. On the commercial side we handle block and land clearing, whether it is a single tree removal or the removal of hundreds of trees, for real estate companies, universities, hospitals, international embassies, government agencies and building and construction companies, from residential knock down rebuilds through to large commercial and civil developments.

Our paperwork is published rather than promised: a current Public Liability certificate of currency, Workers Compensation insurance and a Secure Local Jobs Certificate, the credential a contractor needs to bid for ACT government work, all sit on our site for you to read. The plant we run is late model and fully serviced with a current service register behind it, and our safe work method statements are reviewed and revised as we go. We're open Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 4:30pm. Ring 02 6258 0071 or 0411 498 474, or email [email protected], and we'll arrange for someone to come and look at the job.