STC Arborcare

Steve Berg has worked in this industry since 1987 and has been running his own crew since 1997, back when the whole business was one small truck and a chipper. STC Arborcare still trades as Steve's Tree Cutting, still 100 per cent Australian owned and family run, based on the Sunshine Coast and working across South East Queensland. Lisa Berg manages the business side with a Diploma of Business Management and a Cert IV in Workplace Health and Safety, and their son Jake is a qualified arborist and team leader who does the climbing.

The qualifications behind that are a Diploma of Horticulture in Arboriculture, Queensland Arboricultural Association Qualified Contractor status, a licence to perform high risk work, Level II chainsaw and Level II traffic management tickets, electrical awareness, first aid and a civil excavator ticket. Jake holds his Cert III in Arboriculture, QAA Qualified Contractor status and a high risk work licence, and is in training for his Diploma. All our core staff are qualified arborists, and we have grown the team with local arborists and apprentices who came up through the business.

Before a stump grinder goes into the ground on one of our jobs, we Dial Before You Dig. That is what keeps a grinder off a water main or a comms cable nobody knew ran under the lawn, and it is why we can take a stump out in most locations and to whatever depth you want for replanting or lawn. The same goes for the paperwork. Vegetation management laws differ from one local council to the next around here, so we will tell you whether a council permit is required and take you through the process where it is.

A palm is a different job from a hardwood. On palm cleaning we take the fronds, seeds and fruit off without damaging the palm itself or the ground around it, and on palm removal we pull the problem ones out of backyards, public spaces and congested sites with bad access. Our certificated arborists handle weight reduction, canopy lift, deadwood removal and clearance pruning for access under tree pruning. When damage, development or safety means one has to go, tree removal happens whatever the size, location or hazards involved, and land clearing opens a block up for development, with grinding and edge-of-road clearing included. Our commercial wood chippers handle the mulching, and the mulch can stay on site for you to use, go to a destination of your choice, or leave with us to be recycled.

Our clients now take in local government organisations, construction companies such as Lend Lease, body corporates, real estate agencies and utilities, alongside the private customers we started with. The fleet has come a long way from that first truck: trucks of various sizes, wood chippers, an EWP, stump grinders and skid steers. Our own Integrated Management System is built to AS/NZS 4801, 14001 and 9001, and the tree work itself is carried out to AS 4970 and AS 4373. The office runs 7am to 5pm Monday to Friday, with weekends and 24 hour emergency storm clean up by response or appointment, so a limb through a fence at nine at night is a phone call. Ring 07 5493 7954 or 0414 819 111.