Trav's Tree Services

Trav's Tree Services started in 2010 with, in the company's own words, "a small team of two mates and a truck/chipper". Travis Garden's outfit now runs a team of nine out of Preston, made up of qualified arborists, climbers and groundsmen, with Level 5 qualified arborists on staff and membership of the International Society of Arboriculture, the Victorian Tree Industry Organisation and EBIX.

The core work is tree removal, tree pruning and stump grinding and removal, with site clearance for blocks going under construction and power line clearance where growth has reached the wires. Hedge trimming and tree planting and maintenance cover the ongoing side. Green waste does not simply disappear either: there is tree mulching on site and a separate mulch delivery service if you want the chip back on your own garden beds.

A few of the services are less common. Cable bracing props up trees with weak unions rather than writing them off. Possum tree guards deal with the cheeky possums stripping a canopy, which is a genuinely Melbourne problem. And arborist reports are written for the situations that need paperwork, including council tree removal permits, which the site covers in a guide of its own.

Emergency tree services are handled as a priority stream rather than a 24 hour hotline, and the site is straight about it: response times "depend on weather conditions, site safety, and demand following major storms, but urgent situations are prioritised to restore immediate safety". Where it has been arranged beforehand, the business can invoice insurers directly and provide documentation to support a claim. Cover runs to $20 million public liability plus $5 million professional indemnity, with WorkCover and machinery insurance current.

Beyond household work, Trav's Tree Services takes on parks, golf courses, schools, body corporate and retirement village sites, plus construction and demolition, real estate and council and government contracts. Jobs have included residential trees in Kew and public parks in Boroondara, and the crew covers the Melbourne metropolitan area from the Preston yard. The office is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm.