Specialist Arbor Services (SAS)

Fifteen years of arboriculture across Australia, the UK and Bermuda sits behind every report that leaves this office. Sam Carr is Director and Principal Consultant at Specialist Arbor Services, with an AQF Level 5 Diploma of Arboriculture, a Level 5 Foundation Degree in Science in Arboriculture and Tree Management, and a Level 3 BTEC National Award in Forestry and Arboriculture behind him. He is a QTRA Registered Consultant, number 8685, and a VALID Tree Risk Benefit Assessor. This is a family owned business built on fast quotes and no waitlist.

Council and development application reports are written in accordance with AS4970-2025, Protection of Trees on Development Sites, and formatted for planning authorities. Work usually starts with a tree survey and inventory, moves through an Arboricultural Impact Assessment where the site warrants one, and finishes with a Tree Protection Plan that sets out the Tree Protection Zones. As AQF Level 5 Project Arborists we handle the on site supervision and certification as well, so the compliance is signed off by the same person who wrote the plan. Whether a tree needs a permit at all comes down to species, size, location and the local instrument, and we check that before anything gets lodged.

Trees at schools, campgrounds, holiday parks and public spaces carry a legal and ethical duty of care. Absolute safety cannot be guaranteed with any tree, but reasonable and proportionate steps can be taken, and our tree risk assessments run on the QTRA and VALID methodologies so the decision behind them is defensible if it is ever questioned. The approach is tiered to the site: a walk over inspection to pick out the trees carrying higher risk, or a detailed site specific survey feeding into an asset management programme. Reports come back with the site and tree information, a description of the defects, the likelihood and consequences of failure, an overall risk rating, and recommendations with timelines for action or monitoring.

On the tree health and condition side we diagnose pests and diseases, run plant health care programmes and do soil testing and treatment where the problem sits below ground. Significant and heritage trees are evaluated on their own terms, as the history in them is not replaceable. Specialist pruning, palm tree management and canopy bracing are all on the list, alongside soil amelioration and root zone rehabilitation, tree transplanting with establishment support, vegetation management plans, and habitat creation and installation for local wildlife.

When a tree ends up in a dispute, over overhanging branches, storm damage, suspected poisoning or damage to property, our independent reports are backed by soil testing and forensic tree assessment and written to stand up in mediation, at a tribunal or in court, and to support an insurance claim. Get one done promptly after the damage, because cause, timing and photographs all matter. We work from Brisbane to Bundaberg, across the Sunshine Coast and through the Gympie region, for homeowners, developers and councils including Gympie Regional Council, and we are fully insured for public liability and indemnity. Ring 0411 352 755 and we will work out what your tree actually needs.