Tree Response

Tree Response has run out of a depot in Brunswick since 2009, when Sam Power and Matt Beshara set it up. Both directors came at arboriculture the long way, Sam through a Parks and Gardens apprenticeship and Matt out of irrigation, and both went on to finish an Advanced Diploma of Horticulture (Arboriculture) and a Bachelor of Horticulture (Arboriculture) at the University of Melbourne's Burnley campus. Twenty-odd years each in the trade sits behind the work.

The climbing side covers tree removal, including confined access tree removal where a tree has to come out of a courtyard or a gap between buildings, plus tree pruning and trimming and tree cabling and bracing for limbs that need holding rather than cutting. There is also tree planting and tree transplanting, possum guarding, and tree art installations, which is not something most Melbourne outfits list.

What sets the business apart is the diagnostic gear. Tree health and disease management and veteran tree management are backed by a Picus sonic tomograph, non-invasive testing that uses sound waves to map decay inside a trunk, along with resistance drilling to read internal wood properties and air spading for root mapping and non-destructive root investigation. Those are the sort of tools normally reserved for consultants rather than a crew that also does the cutting, and they mean a tree can be assessed properly before anyone decides whether it stays or goes.

The tree consulting arm writes pre-purchase and planning inspections, pre-design reports, development impact assessments, tree protection and management plans, and tree risk assessments using QTRA and TRAQ methodology. The directors appear as expert witnesses at VCAT. Reports are prepared against Australian Standards including AS2303:2018 for tree stock, and cover tree protection zones and structural root zones for builders working near retained trees. Clients include local councils, Parks Victoria, schools, universities, golf courses, architects and developers, along with plenty of homeowners.

Tree Response works across metropolitan Melbourne, taking in the eastern, northern, southern and western suburbs, and covers both residential and commercial work. Emergency tree works go through the same mobile number listed for everything else. The business is a member of the Victorian Tree Industry Organisation and is accredited through EBIX Trades Monitor.