Proper Tree Care

Proper Tree Care is a small family-run arboriculture business working out of the north side of Melbourne's CBD. Owner Jordan Preece started it in 2021 after more than ten years climbing and cutting across Australia and the UK, and the business still trades on that: a crew that has learned from some of the best arborists in the world rather than a call centre with a subcontractor list. The stated values are plain enough. Responsible and ethical management of trees, honesty and transparency, and safety at every step.

The bread and butter is tree pruning and maintenance and tree removal. Pruning is approached as a way of keeping a tree's balance and structure intact rather than simply cutting back whatever has grown too far, which matters on established Melbourne gardens where a heavy-handed cut can cost you the tree altogether. Removal covers the awkward end of the work too: large-scale jobs, dismantling in tight backyards, and hazardous tree removal where the tree is already compromised. Stump grinding follows on, taking the stump out so the space can be replanted, and hedge trimming is offered as heavy-duty work rather than a light tidy-up.

Beyond the saw work there is a consulting side. Tree assessments and tree management run to a full examination of the tree and a written arborist report, the sort of thing councils, insurers and buyers ask for. Where a tree can be kept rather than felled, tree cabling and bracing gives structural support to limbs at risk of failing, and tree transplanting moves a tree instead of losing it. The service that says most about the outfit is habitat creation, where dead and declining trees are carved with a HollowHog to form nesting hollows, so the timber stays standing and useful to wildlife instead of going through the chipper.

Storm work is a standing offer. Proper Tree Care runs 24 hour emergency services and gives priority to properties hit by serious storms, and it takes on insurance claim work where a tree has come down on a roof, a fence or a car. Public liability cover runs to $20 million, the business is OH&S compliant under WorkSafe, and it sponsors the Victorian Tree Industry Organisation.

Work covers Melbourne's inner and outer suburbs and runs south to the Mornington Peninsula. Both residential and commercial clients are taken on, and the site carries a gallery of finished jobs if you want to see the standard of the cuts before you ring.