TreeAbility awarded Arboricultural Association Approved Contractor status.
When the 25th March arrived it was the culmination of weeks of hard work by Louise and Nick. The Arboricultural Association Assessor arrived to put the company through its paces and see if it was worthy of being accredited as an ‘Approved Contractor’, the highest quality standard in the industry. I’m relieved and proud to say that it was!
You can only apply once you have been up and running for 2 years and it is work standards we have been meeting and working towards since we set the Company up in April 2013. We achieved a full pass at the first assessment which only a few companies do and at exactly two years old we are one of the fastest companies to have ever reached the standards and been accredited.
We hope that this gives our quality of work the edge over other local rival companies who don’t work to these exacting standards. It will also open up more commercial work for bigger contracts which stipulate that you must be an approved contractor to even tender for the contract. We have already given quotes to customers who have found us through the Arboricultural Association website and won work as a result of the accreditation.
The assessment is carried out over a whole day and is split into 4 main areas with every aspect of our work assessed. I was really impressed at how thorough they were with no stone unturned.
There was an on- site inspection watching the crew at work; looking at the set up and checking they’re working safely, our equipment, crew wearing correct PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) etc.
There was an inspection of completed works, which included 2 big crown reductions we had carried out on 2 TPO Beech trees in Sevenoaks, Nick was questioned on Arboricultural knowledge which obviously is important to ensure we are advising customers correctly and specifying appropriate works.
The Arboricultural Association assessor visited our yard and then at the office ran through all our policy & procedures, customer care & office systems, health & safety management, staff competence, qualifications & training, insurance etc.
The certification also gives us CHAS Contractors Health & Safety Accreditation and TrustMark which is the government endorsed standards award which hopefully will also lead to better credibility and bigger contracts.