Chesterman Tree Care
www.chestermantreecare.co.uk
Tel. 0800 0842220 Mob. 07531 875623
Give us an overview of your business and what people can expect from your company.
Chesterman Tree Care offers up to date arboriculture (the cultivation, management, and study of trees) to domestic, commercial and public sector clients. We provide free advice to anyone who requires it and all work is carried out by fully insured and qualified staff.
How long have you been in business?
It is our 2nd birthday on the 4th February 2012.
Who are your current customers?
Our potential customers would be anyone in need of advice regarding a tree, help with planning permission for conservation areas and TPO’s or just general information.
Our current customers range from Mr. Smith at no 24 to Tesco, the NHS and ASDA. Locally, we care for the trees on all properties owned by the York Housing Association. We have new and existing customers throughout East Yorkshire.
What makes your company unique?
Our passion for customer service and arboriculture. We have very strong work ethics. We deal with trees and trees only.
We will respond to any query the same day and if a quotation is required, we will provide one for free, along with a site specific risk assessment and a copy of our £10,000,000 public liability insurance.
On occasions when no work is required, our advice is free too.
We also donate all of our wood chip to allotments, schools and colleges. Anyone who requires it is free to receive it.
What are some of the main reasons you like living/doing business in this area?
York is a beautiful and vibrant place to work. No matter who we work for in York, there is the same high level of friendliness and hospitality.
Tell us more about your own story and why you started this business in the first place.
I had worked in a few different roles after leaving college from accountancy to fitting alarms. I didn’t really enjoy any of them. I got in to arboriculture and after a few years I obtained my qualifications but found myself unemployed and unable to get a job as unemployment was at a high and opportunities were none existent.
I took a deep breath and started Chesterman Tree Care.
Since then, we have been constantly growing. It is definitely the best decision I have made to date!
What have been some of your biggest challenges?
In the beginning it was building everything up and keeping the cash flow going. The biggest challenges we now face are educating the public about trees and using qualified and insured arborists.
What are some defining moments that made you grow to the level you are at today?
Every time we receive an enquiry I still feel the same excitement as I did in the first month of trading. My passion for customer satisfaction and arboriculture constantly drives the company. The first time we worked for ASDA was pretty good and it proved to us we were doing something right. We evolve with every change and any feedback we receive from out customers shapes us in to who we are today.
Tell us something interesting or funny that has happened within your business.
Depending on your interests we see interesting every day as we work with nature. Only yesterday we found red admirals in a hollow mature ash tree we removed. It was a nice surprise. The tree was left as a monolith so the butterflies could remain.
We find all sort of weird and wonderful things in trees put there by man and wildlife. The best discovery to date was a give way sign in the middle of the tree!
How has your company changed over the past year?
We’ve grown in numbers and have been able to expand our locations. Our head office is in Beverley and we have offices in York, Hull and Driffield.
Our client base is constantly growing too. We have seen a big increase in the need for our services in the York area and are picking up more and more customers every month.
What kind of trends are you noticing in your industry that might be important to your customers?
The biggest is the door-knocking tree workers. If someone knocked on your door to offer you cheap dentistry would you take it? So why people are entertaining these unqualified and uninsured crooks to save a bit of money is beyond me. Any mutilation to the trees or damage to your property will be your problem. No legitimate business needs to go door to door for work.
If someone is looking to purchase what you offer, what advice can you give to help them make the best buying decision?
As with every thing, make sure the company and employees are fully qualified and fully insured to carry out the work. We hold £10,000,000 public liability insurance and employers liability insurance because of the work we do for commercial giants such as ASDA but this insurance also covers our domestic work to give everyone peace of mind. Due to our safe working methods we have never had to use it!
Do you currently have any offers or promotions which you can offer to new customers?
Free advice and free wood chip is available to anyone.
We are currently preparing wood for furniture and bread boards / serving platters which will be sold on our website when it is ready. We also offer a wood carving service for trees that have to be removed.