Why there is no number on this page
Because a number here would be a guess, and a guess about price is worse than no price at all. "Arborist report" covers a single tree in a back yard and a forty-tree survey across a development site, and any figure broad enough to include both is useless to everyone reading it.
What can be said usefully is what moves the figure. Once you know that, a five-minute conversation produces a real quote against your actual situation rather than a range you have to interpret.
Adam will tell you if a report is not required at all. That conversation costs nothing, and it is the cheapest possible outcome.
What actually moves the figure
Six things, roughly in order of how much difference they make.
- Which report is requiredAn impact assessment against a development proposal is a different scope from a single-tree condition report. The document the approval names sets the work.
- How many treesOne tree, a boundary row, or every tree on a site. Survey work scales with tree count in a way single-tree assessment does not.
- Whether a site visit is neededSome protected-vegetation questions are answered from the address and council mapping. Where measurements are required, they are taken on site.
- Site access and complexitySteep ground, dense understorey, restricted access, or trees on a neighbouring property all change the time on site.
- TurnaroundWork that has to displace other work to meet a lodgement date is priced differently from work that fits the schedule.
- What follows the reportCouncil queries, a request for further information, supervision, or a completion inspection may be part of the engagement or may not.
Where the site is
Brisbane is the core market, and the service area runs north to about Noosa, south to about Helensvale and west to about Ipswich. Travel further afield is considered for suitable projects, with the travel taken into account.
Some desktop protected-vegetation checks do not require attendance at all, which changes the shape of the job entirely.
The cheapest report is the one you did not need
A meaningful share of enquiries end without a report. The vegetation turns out not to be protected, or what is proposed does not trigger an application, or the condition names a document that has already been provided by someone else.
That check is quick and it happens before anything is commissioned. It is also the reason it is worth sending the address before accepting a quote from anyone — including this business.
The second cheapest report is the right one first time. Commissioning the wrong document because the condition was read loosely means paying for two, and that is a more common outcome than any price difference between arborists.
Getting an actual number
Send the property address, the exact wording of whatever you have been asked for, and roughly how many trees are involved. That is enough to quote against in most cases.
If a site visit is needed to scope it properly, Adam will say so. If the answer is that no report is required, he will say that too.
