Swing Tree Service

Swing Tree Service is run by Chris Anderson, an owner operator who has been climbing and cutting trees across the Northern Rivers for over 18 years. He works out of Nimbin, in the hills behind Lismore, and the business has stayed deliberately small. Chris takes the call, quotes the job and does the work himself, so the person you speak to on the phone is the one who ends up in the tree.

Most of the work is tree removal and tree felling. Where a tree is hemmed in by a house, a shed or a fence, he climbs it and takes it down in sections, with branches cut from over buildings lowered on ropes rather than dropped. Tree climbing is the part of the trade he is known for, and he also takes on subcontract tree climbing for other crews who need a climber on a difficult tree. Once the tree is down, stump grinding takes the stump out below ground level.

Chris finished his Certificate 3 in Arboriculture at Wollongbar TAFE in 2002 and went back for his Certificate 4 in 2012. That study sits behind the assessment side of the work: deciding whether a sick or unstable tree can be kept, and what needs to come off it if it can. Tree pruning, crown lifting and reduction and tree shaping and deadwood removal are approached the same way, so the tree is left balanced rather than simply cut back. He is insured and carries the relevant tickets.

The gear suits both rural blocks and tight town yards: a 9 inch Bandit wood chipper, a four wheel drive tip truck, a stump grinder, and full climbing and lowering equipment. Clearing and chipping jobs go through the chipper on site. Chris also runs a portable timber milling setup, with 14 years behind the mill, so a good log off a removal can be cut into slabs or beams where it falls instead of being carted off as waste.

Swing Tree Service covers The Channon and Nimbin, down through Lismore, and east across to Mullumbimby, Bangalow, Byron Bay and Lennox Head. It is a run of country that goes from the hinterland ridges out to the coast. Ring Chris on 0419 628 991 to have a tree looked at and priced.