Western Tree Removal Specialists

They took us to court for payment, we brought all of our paperwork, paid invoice to a contractor for repairs on fence and pictures. The judge ruled in our favor that (1) we don’t have to pay their fees, and (2) they have to pay us $ 290.00 the difference between their fee & what was paid to the contractor. I want to make it clear that we had no intentions of going to court on this matter, in fact all correspondences from us clearly stated we just wanted to move on and if they stop collection we would not pursue the additional $ 290 we paid. I want to reiterate, communication with this company is horrible! They do not return phone calls. We have been unfortunate, this was a 2 year ordeal that dragged on because of them. They operate on ego/​pride so beware, not mature enough business people to admit their wrong doing, correct the wrong and make things right. Service businesses, like theirs, thrive on customer referrals, by the way they are going they won’t be in business for long! Stay away!!!

100% completely incompetent company I hired them to remove trees and then do stump grinding they remove the trees and then kept putting off the stump grinding they never answer their phone always straight to voicemail and then you’re lucky if they call you back avoid at all costs they have absolutely zero accountability I know we’ll have to hire a new company to remove my stumps

From the very start, working with this company was a nightmare. Communication was abysmal and I had to threaten them with non payment before they would finally, after waiting months, fulfill the contract and complete the job to my satisfaction. A horrible experience, and absolutely not worth the money I saved on their low bid. avoid this company at all costs!

AVOID this company, no matter how enticing their estimate might be. I’m not surprised by all the negative reviews I’ve found because we’ve had an absolutely horrible experience with Justin and his team, including the receptionist, who is evidently trained in lying. For example, a man named Joe came to our Santa Rosa property in early October to look at a big dead Doug Fir that needed to come down. He said he’d send an estimate later that day or the next day. It is now early March and the estimate has yet to come!!! I’ve sent a few e-​mails and made at least five phone calls, but to no avail. Finally I was able to make an appointment with Justin early last week. He cancelled, giving his receptionist no reason. I re-​scheduled for last Thursday at 5:30. He never showed up. I received no call, no e-​mail, no excuse or apology. I waited and waited, and was late for another meeting I had downtown… In short, this is not a company of professionals. They are discourteous, mendacious, and less than competent – as the work they did perform for us over a year ago reveals. If they didn’t want to do the job, they needed only to say so. That would have been fine with me. But stringing me along with lies and vague promises has left me very disappointed and indignant. My hope now is that if enough dissatisfied customers express their views, Justin’s company will collapse and he’ll end up stocking shelves at Wal-​Mart while his receptionist waits tables at Denny’s.

Outstanding careful, safe and professional tree removal service. I will only use them in the future. We had two huge dangerous Eucalyptus trees, one was dead and the other too lively.
We are very grateful to the owners, Justin and Sarah, for such safe work and their help to keep our ranch well maintained and storm ready to aver expensive damages and liability. They are excellent!

PLEASE DO NOT hire Western Tree Removal for your tree service needs. My wife and I hired them back in April to do several things for us, such as grind a tree stump, top off an oak in our front yard, and transplant two trees. Everything started out okay. They were not that great with clean-​up, and we had to deal with tree branches on the ground, but we did not complain. Everything got bad quickly when it came to the tree transplanting part. We received a $ 750 estimate for the one tree in the back yard that had to be moved because of upcoming construction in that area. This is not a big tree, so we questioned why the estimate was so high. We were told that it absolutely could NOT be moved without the use of machinery to lift it over a retaining wall. We found that hard to believe. Seriously? Back and forth on the phone until we were told that someone had come out while we were not home and had looked over the fence and confirmed that the tree had to be lifted with a machine. Again, we found that hard to believe, but we signed the estimate. TWO MONTHS LATER, two guys show up with shovels and no machine. They say there was some sort of scheduling problem and the machine is elsewhere on another job. Within minutes, they dig the tree out and carry it to its new location. No lifting over our retaining wall at all! After they move the tree, we ask for the proper care instructions. Just water it a little and everything will be okay. Add mulch. The tree start to look terrible, but we think it is because it is in shock from being moved. We continue to water it maybe 5 gallons a day. Later, we ask Justin Greer, their Certified Arborist, what happened. He says the tree was attacked by beetles and it has dried out. Maybe a 20% chance that it will come back. We should have given it 100 GALLONS OF WATER right after we moved it and continued to water it a minimum of 20 gallons every 2 days for the first week and so on. Why didn’t the guys that moved it tell us this? He answers that they are not Certified Arborists. What is wrong with telling the guys that work for the same company the proper instructions so that the customer does not waste their money moving a tree that simply dies on them?! We leave repeated messages to request a new bill for the transplanted tree that did NOT require $ 750 worth of work to move. No one ever responded to our messages. The second tree to be transplanted was too large to be moved with just two guys with shovels. We wait another three weeks and get a call that the machine is available and that the second tree can be moved. NO ONE SHOWS UP at the scheduled time. We call and find out that one of the women in the front office misspoke. We were never scheduled to begin with. We immediately leave messages for Justin to call us because we are unhappy. No answer. WEEKS pass and Justin calls my wife on her cell and he is very polite and apologetic. Promises to not bill us for either of the transplanted trees because of all our trouble. (Granted, we had already given them almost $ 1,000 for their other work.) He promises he will transplant the second tree personally. WEEKS pass again and we pressure for a date when he is coming out. Finally, a date is set. By now, it is September! Justin shows up with the equipment and it breaks just as it starts to dig around the tree. He leaves, apologizing, and will contact us after the equipment is fixed. We have just received a message that they will NOT be transplanting the second tree. The company claims to be getting out of the tree transplanting business. They are done with us. Goodbye. To be fair, we have not been billed for the one tree they transplanted, which is a good thing seeing as it is dead. End of story.

I want to make it clear that there was NO job done by Western but I have had a poor enough experience that I think the company needs to pay attention. It took a week and several calls and messages to finally get someone to call and make an appointment to come out for an estimate. My appointment was on August 26, 2015 at 1:00 PM. I have an elderly mother across town and was at her home delivering medication and taking care of some things in the morning of August 26^th. I returned home at 12:20, well in advance of my appointment for an estimate. There was a call on the answering machine from a woman who said the estimator was running ahead of schedule and was at my house right then (call time was 12:11 PM) and to call her «right back.» Well he was obviously not there when I returned and I spent the next hour and some trying to reach someone at the number left on my machine and every other number I had for Western. I finally at 1:40 PM (my appointment was at 1:00) reach this same woman who can only say that gee she has been on the phone all morning and the estimator was running ahead all morning and she could try to «find him» wherever he was. WHAT? It is MY fault that I didn’t foresee that he would be early to an appointment and then he doesn’t even have the sense to call me and give me SOME excuse for not being here at the time that was set for an appointment. This woman made things WORSE by saying, well maybe he «looked over the fence and was able to see what was there.» Uh, no. There was no way he could see what was in the back yard and there was no way he could know what I wanted done in both the front and back yards without talking to me. What kind of slipshod type of organization is this?! Not one I want to have any further dealings with. They need to get their act together.

Extremely pleased with the job they did. We had a large forked trunk hazardous fir tree in our back yard. The crew arrived on time, were extremely skilled and finished the job in half a day just as promised. I was expecting some damage to other plants, but they were remarkable. no damage and left the yard and driveway cleaner then they found it. Hats off to Luis, Colton, and Jeremy!
Oh, and their price was by far the lowest of the 3 bids!

We hired Western Tree to trim dead foliage on our Palm trees. They did a very poor job, I called the office and they informed me that the job had been completed according to the job foreman — WHAT??? Not according to the paying customer??? Had to request a return to finish up the job, and after the second day of work there was STILL quite a bit left undone. Part of the job was to clean up all debris created by tree work, there was minimal effort made to this effect, dirt and debris were left all over our patio and outdoor furniture. Liked the guy who came to do the estimate (I guess he was the owner of the company) but he was not there the time the work was performed. The foreman who arrived with the crew was uncommunicative, maybe it was because his mouth was full of chewing tobacco, VERY unprofessional. Would definitely NOT recommend this company!!!

We had two trees removed and six pruned. The pruning was satisfactory, although I had to ask twice to have additional branches removed from one of the trees. It was met with resistance from owner of business who was also the consultant who came out to see the property Oddly enough the owner does not introduce himself as the owner which is very strange. My problem was the damage done to several large roses. they had to be cut down due to the extent of damage. Some of my irrigation was also damaged as well as a section of fence. Two of these problems were resolved later that day which was good, but as my husband pointed out, they should have done a walk through of the yard and tested the irrigation before leaving. Before signing the contract I consulted with my neighbor asking if they had her permission to go on her property to work on the tree to be removed so they would have access to the tree from two sides. She agreed, but they never entered her yard which is why I think my plants sustained so much damage. When I pointed out this issue to the owner he complained to me that his workers were exposed to the branches of a very large climbing rose that was growing onto the tree that was being removed. If this was a problem the owner needed to outfit his crew with face and body protection or tell me that they could not accomplish this part of the job. Removal of a second tree was to include poisoning the stump. I sent an email to them asking if this had been done because it was not apparent. When speaking to the owner he said it had been done because the product used was blue and I would easily see the color. The problem… no blue anything! A crew member was sent out and he sprayed the stump with a bright blue liquid. I really felt at that point that I had not been told the truth and was left with a very negative image of this company.
Honestly, the owner appeared to be a person not able to admit to these issues in the way a business person with good communication skills and a desire to have repeat customers should be. Nothing can build a business like great recommendations following the conclusion of a job well done.
I just won’t be able to do that.

I had Western Tree remove about a dozen trees on my property recently. They took care of everything quickly and efficiently. After my initial consultation it took a little while to get things scheduled, but for the great prices I’m willing to wait.

Had Western Tree remove a few trees from my property. Overall disappointed in their work. Poor cleanup leaving assorted small branches all over the property and scuffed the side of the house in numerous places while moving larger branches. Had to both clean up after their mess and repaint the side of the house. The type of company that will do the absolute minimum work required of them. With no attention to detail and minimal customer service, would not recommend the company.

I posted the review that follows and it unfairly got filtered by the Unilocal automated algorithm. This is the one and only interaction that I have had with Western Tree and I want it on record that they did excellent work… I hope this one doesn’t get filtered again.
I highly recommend this company, especially for big tree jobs. They did everything we agreed needed to be done and they did it at a very good price. Here is my tree story.
I faced a big tree clean-​up job that I had been putting off for years. There were three giant oak trees threatening my cars, house, and bed room. A fourth tree had fallen on the small outbuilding on our 2-​acre property. Around ten years ago, we had two separate oak tree incidents: a big oak branch crushed my Ford Ranger and the other oak branch fell and just missed breaking through my bed room windows. The trees are ten years bigger now.
So, I developed a scope of work that included removal of four large trees, unweighting the limbs on three big oaks, and cleaning up dead wood and thinning three other trees. I dreaded the price that this was going to cost, so I arranged for three quotes from local Healdsburg/​Windsor tree service companies. Western Tree gave a substantially lower price than the other two firms, included a detailed list of actions to be performed, and a letter showing their insurance coverage. Very professional. Although I think the other two firms would have done a very good job too, Western Tree’s quote was the most thorough and professional, as well as lowest cost. The choice was easy.
The work was scheduled over two days. The crew showed up exactly on time. They worked hard, climbing high into the trees, and dropped big heavy branches perfectly. I enjoyed putting videos of the dropping branches on Facebook. I left for the afternoon and when I got home from work the first night, everything in the yard was completely cleaned, and the trees looked perfectly trimmed. Their work was excellent; but they saved the big stuff for day two.
The crew lead had explained that they keep competitive pricing because of their effective use of heavy equipment. Hydraulics and powerful winches are a lot cheaper than labor. They showed that when they tore down the big trees and cleaned them fast. I had another exciting Facebook video of the biggest, most threatening tree coming down. They didn’t quite finish after day two, but still left everything around the house perfectly clean. They finished the next morning and did everything we had agreed to in the contract. All the tree debris was gone. The logs were stacked where I asked. Great work by Western Tree.
A few days later they had a separate crew come and grind down one of the stumps and a large roots area. Another perfect job… no wood left, just a lot of wood chips were the roots used to jut above the ground.
I am now sitting on my computer and not worrying at all that a giant oak tree is going to suddenly squash me as I sit. This was money well spent on a company that provides great service.

I honestly can’t say enough good things about these folks.
We had a HUGE job. They were on our property with a full crew and lots of heavy equipment for about 5 weeks. They did an extraordinary job and were phenomenally good on most every measure. Most everything went well. When something didn’t, they fixed it.
Justin Greer is extremely talented. He’s a great arborist, a great sales person and a great project leader. He helped us decide what to do and the executed flawlessly.
We are THRILLED with our new landscape and views and have asked them to come back and clean up another area of our property.

Western Tree is the BEST. Although they were referred to me, I was initially worried about the 1-​star review vs. the 5-​star review. When I asked about it, I was given a very transparent explanation of the situation and felt 100% confident moving forward with them.
I interviewed 4 service providers in total and found Western Tree to be the most informative on their work and process. Additionally, Western Tree’s pricing was the most reasonable.
Western Tree did not disappoint. They were over the top professional, thorough, and timely. They were in communication throughout the process and were very patient with my many questions and concerns. My job included the removal of a large tree and the stabilization of another. They installed anchors to reinforce the remaining tree and made sure I understood the work they were doing all throughout.
I was unable to be present for much of the job and was thrilled to find the site looked cleaner after their departure than before. It is without hesitation that I recommend Western Tree. They are a top notch company that performs on all fronts (service and technical).

We just had our beautiful 40 ft. cypress tree trimmed & its two trunks cabled together to insure survival & strength. For the 1rst time since we moved in, we slept without the nagging fear that the cypress might drop one of its huge limbs & «remodel» both us & our bedroom! Western Tree Removal Specialists did such a magnificent job that we also arranged to have them remove a misplaced 40 ft. Ash tree which kept trying to climb over our roof & root into our foundation.
The whole experience with this firm was steller: Justin, who gave us estimates, is a certified arborist. He presented clear, unbiased options, promptly presented a very fair price for itemized aspects of the jobs we asked the firm to do. Justin is enthusiastic and conmited to doing the best possible work for the fairest price.
And the best part was how the actual tree work was done! The crew and Justin arrived on time, completed the work exactly as specified (though made adjustments we requested as the job progressed-​they really listen & aim to please), & cleaned up completely. Tyson, the job forman & man in the bucket truck & trees was a real artist. He athletically managed to fine tune bucket, extension from the truck, poles, lines, and a variety of well-​sharpened saws. It was amazing to watch him work! His trimming of the cypress brought out its best structure while freeing it of dead & poorly placed limbs. We respected that he would swing away from the trees to consider the best way to work with each of them-​this was no quick & dirty hack job.
We would highly recommend Western Tree Removal Specialists for any & all tree work-​they have the equipment needed for small, medium & large jobs, but are able to respond personally & rapidly (as when we added removal of the ask while the crew was here trimming & strengthening the cypress). All for VERY fair prices!
Nicole & Jake O.

Western Tree Removal Specialists (Santa Rosa Office) certainly have the abilities to do tree work– whether they will do the work properly or not that is a question mark. We hired them to prune and remove over dozen trees on a hillside property in Tiburon. WTRS said it would be a two day job– which made sense to us– there was a lot of work to be done– they created a contract listing all the work including cutting the stumps down to 2 – 3 inches and poisoning them. On day one, they started the job on their own without doing a walk through with me on the property. They cut more trees that they could clean up for on day one, took time to deliver our saw dust to another client who ordered saw dust from them and left a mess on our back hill and got done for the day around 3pm. We have used our neighbor’s driveway for easy access, they also left their driveway muddy at the end of day one. On day two, they cleaned the mud from our neighbor’s driveway after I asked the manager a few times. On day two, they decided to leave around noon without cleaning the debris from our back hill (they even left debris beyond our property line), without cutting the stumps down to 2 – 3 inches and without poisoning the stumps as they have specified in their contract. According to the manager on site, their work was complete and if I wanted to get the rest of the work done I had to make another appointment because they had another scheduled appointment for the afternoon. Although I called their Santa Rosa Office on day one and day two, no senior manager or the owner was available to speak with me and no one returned my call. (It turns out the site supervisor was the owner and did not say he was, so he did not have to take responsibility for the job.) I took photos of the 10 – 15 inch stumps they left behind as well as the debris, emailed the photos to a woman in their office (the only available person in their Santa Rosa Office and wrote to her that the job is not complete until they get the stumps cut down to 2 – 3 inches as they have specified in their contract and clean the debris (which they have already charged us $ 300 for). She wrote back to me that the job was done according to their manager and if I don’t pay them, they will put a lien against our property. Although legally we should only have made a partial payment and pay the balance when they cut the stumps down to 2 – 3 inches according to our contract, we paid the full amount to avoid dealing with this awful company. We had to hire 2 people for a full day to clean up after WTRS. In summary, WTRS does the minimum they possibly can (this is of course up to the discretion of the manager on site), is poor in communication, does not complete a job according to contract, does not care for long-​term customer relationship and satisfaction and certainly does not have a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve consumer complaints. Be very careful! Finally, we have worked with the better business bureau to have WTRS finish their contract. It took weeks of denial by them, and us providing hard evidence, before they finally came and finished their legally contracted responsibilities. Final recommendation, absolutely avoid at all times.

This is an awesome company. I have used them and referred many.
They do a quick job, great price, and you dont even know that they were there. Great Job on cleanup.
Western Tree Removal Specialists deserve 6 stars!