[Everyone] Re our trees and recent discussion of costs and fees with master arborists -- Would you be willing to pay $100 to $200 in assessment to check if any of our large trees is potentially in dangerous?

Wed Aug 23 10:33:51 UTC 2023

I agree with your recommendation, Vincent.

On Tue, Aug 22, 2023 at 10:52 AM Vincent Wimbush via Everyone <
everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:

>
>
> My recommendation (in re: trees issue) is as follows--that we take a first
> step with Boutte Tree Service to get an initial professional assessment of
> and recommendations for addressing the situation. We should cover this
> initial cost from HOA funds. If after we receive the assessment and
> recommendations (and they are found to be reasonable and acceptable) and we
> are agreed to take the next steps with this service we can then take owners
> up on their willingness to contribute to the costs.
>
> Rosamond made the initial contact with Boutte. Unless someone else is
> willing to step in and assist, I am accepting R's willingness to take on
> our behalf the second step in communication. If all goes well, you will be
> informed when arrangements for visit are made .
>
> I hope the informal committee (or at least some within the group) that
> surveyed the trees last week will agree to stay engaged with and support
> moving this collective project along. Others are invited to lend support to
> this and other projects important to CP. In our situation--without a
> company to take care of all things for us--the involvement and
> collaboration of owners on projects should be the way to go.
>
> (Note: I am working on the front light that was damaged and related light
> issues. More to report in due course.)
>
> Thanks.
>
> vlw
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 21, 2023 at 4:26 PM Mark Bussey via Everyone <
> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>
>> I’m happy to pay $100-$200 for that purpose.
>> Mark
>>
>>
>> Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS
>> <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aol-news-email-weather-video/id646100661>
>>
>> On Monday, August 21, 2023, 1:17 PM, Ronald Baggett via Everyone <
>> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thank You Rosamond!
>> Having the fee applied to the project bill is a relief.
>> Ron
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Aug 21, 2023, at 15:25, R.C. Rodman via Everyone <
>> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>>
>> 
>> Hello all,
>> I just got off the phone with Boutte Tree service as I promised Lauren
>> and Vincent I would do.
>>
>> The way they operate is that they schedule a time for an arborist to come
>> out to assess the property to the tune of $150. per hour; they then create
>> a recommended plan  -- from minor limb trimming to major tree removal. That
>> consultation fee is applied towards the cost of the service.
>>
>> Rosamond
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 21, 2023 at 2:05 PM Lauren Rich via Everyone <
>> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>>
>> PS I was told by Jenkins office that he can eyeball a tree and decide
>> whether he needs to do further testing. One of the things he looks for is
>> is there a Target in the event that that tree falls. I was told by his
>> office that he can usually gauge in what direction the tree is going to
>> fall and therefore he can make a reasonable determination as to whether
>> there is a target. So I don't think he would examine every single tree he
>> would look at the trees that he thinks might fall and Destroy some of our
>> property. Anyway that's my impression from my discussion with Jenkins
>> office about 10 days ago.
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 3:04 PM Lauren Rich <laureninatlanta at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Sarah - - my thought would be to gather as many of us as possible as we
>> walk with the arborist through the property and have him look at as many
>> trees as we'd like him to look at. Clearly for me there are the three trees
>> that are opposite my line of houses, those are the trees that concern me.
>> I'm sure others of us have other concerns. If we're going to hire someone
>> to do an examination and all chip in for it I think we all ought to be able
>> to have the arborist look at what we want him or her to look at. Anyway
>> that's my thought about this.
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 2:08 PM Sara Crews <sara408 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> Lauren, will you please provide us with a listing/location of the trees
>> to be inspected/eyeballed by the arborist?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> Sara
>>
>> On 08/20/2023 8:30 PM EDT Lauren Rich via Everyone <
>> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> If we hire arborist, he/she can go examine the trees (eyeball them)
>> without permission from the owners.  However, what he/she will not do is
>> actually the drilling inspection, in order to examine the core of the
>> trees, without permission from people across the street.  So if we do hire
>> arborist, we can ask him/her to look at trees on our property, and also to
>> eyeball trees across the street to see what he/she would recommend in terms
>> of more proactive examination (other than eyeball).  If we get that kind of
>> recommendation from arborist, at that point I would contact people across
>> the street and tell them what arborist said. . . If you want, you might
>> want to ask them now if they are going to have arborist come out to look at
>> the tree. . . to see what they say. . .
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 20, 2023 at 7:53 PM mitsy via Everyone <
>> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Lauren and all,
>>
>> Thank you so much for looking into this matter. I'd be willing to chip in
>> to get a throurough inspection. Also I understand that I need a permission
>> from the green house across the street to get those 2 trees inspected,
>> correct? I am concerned about those especially the one that's already
>> damaged. I'd be more than happy to go talk to her but not really sure what
>> we need from her legally. Would simple email be ok or does it need to be
>> more official letter?
>>
>> Mitsy
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 20, 2023 at 11:04 AM Maryann Dabkowski via Everyone <
>> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all-
>> Personally willing to contribute $100-200 to have a thorough, expert
>> review of our trees. It's tempting to go with the less expensive option,
>> but I suspect he'd end up referring us for a more
>> rigorous inspection anyway. I'd rather be proactive now than deal with a
>> tree through my roof and windows later.
>> -Maryann
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 16, 2023 at 10:09 AM Lauren Rich via Everyone <
>> everyone at chelseaplacedecatur.com> wrote:
>>
>> Good morning all:
>>
>> Please see email below I sent to a few homeowners and Vincent re
>> discussion I've had with 2 arborists.  One (Dave Butler) is willing to
>> charge us $225 to come out to the property to look at our large trees, and
>> then presumably to  tell us how much more it would cost to check our
>> trees.  The other arborist (Peter Jenkins) would charge considerably more
>> (as explained in below email), perhaps $1500+ to do thorough check and
>> testing of our large trees.  There is a third arborist (Boutte) I will
>> contact but I am going out of town tomorrow for 10 days and will not have
>> time to do this until I get back (after 8/28).  I think it's likely it will
>> cost closer to $1500+ rather than $225+ to get an expert assessment of
>> whether any of our large trees are in danger of falling and damaging
>> (perhaps catastrophically) our town homes (there are 5 of 11 townhomes
>> within perhaps the fall path of 3 of our very large trees!).
>>
>> I believe in the past the Association has paid for cutting down trees, so
>> I would hope that Association would decide to subsidize some of this cost,
>> though I know (or believe) there is not enough in our account to pay all of
>> it.  I would hope that if we each agreed to pay $100 to $200 -- if need be
>> -- then we could have our trees examined by experts.  I am aware that there
>> might be additional costs if the experts advise us to cut down any of the
>> trees on our property.  However, I think we need to assess the risk.
>> Vincent asked me to forward my email below to you, with a bit of
>> explanation (as  per above).  It would be great to hear what everyone has
>> to say.
>>
>> Warmly, Lauren (#340)
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 14, 2023 at 10:28 AM Lauren Rich <laureninatlanta at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> I just spoke with Patty Jenkins at Tree Inspection.com, I strongly
>> recommend that you look at the web site, especially this part:
>> https://treeinspection.com/advice/how-to-spot-a-dangerous-tree .  The
>> expert master arborists Peter Jenkins and Neil Norton work for this
>> company.  Here is what Patty told me:
>>
>> First, she said Peter Jenkins (whom I believe is her husband) is the
>> person who should look at the trees which concern us, she said he is the
>> tree expert in this town.  Second, she could not give me a "firm" statement
>> about fees, other than that he charges $150 per hour (not just for walking
>> property and testing trees but also for writing up report -- which he would
>> have to do if he recommends action on the tree), plus up to $100+ per tree
>> to drill with a resistograph (which evidently helps to assess the health of
>> very large trees 40 to 50 inches in diameter, she was able to look at tree
>> map while I was on the phone with her and she says the 3 large trees facing
>> my side of the property would be candidates for drilling because of their
>> size, depending on what he sees).  If there are 8 to 10 large trees we are
>> worried about, he would walk the property (she urges that as many of us as
>> possible walk the property with him) and tell us which trees he thinks
>> needs drilling in order to assess (he also takes into account where the
>> tree might fall if it is not healthy when determining whether to drill; in
>> other words, he would not drill if there is no "target" we should be
>> concerned about).  I asked her whether $1000 to $1500 is a fair estimate;
>> she said yes, but no guarantees.  What we CANNOT do is hire him just to
>> walk the property for an hour, she said, and make a recommendation -- and
>> then we choose whether to go forward or not.  I had the impression that we
>> would HAVE TO go forward with whatever he suggests once we have him look at
>> specific trees we are concerned about.  That's why the $1000 to $1500
>> estimate.  She also said he is not available 'til next week.  I told her
>> I'd get back to her at some point on this.
>>
>> I don't know whether we want to commit $1000 to $1500 of Association $ on
>> this right now, and be concerned it might be more than that. It's pretty
>> clear to me from what she said that if Peter Jenkins believes he must drill
>> a tree then we would have to agree for him to drill (and pay whatever the
>> cost for drilling and for his time). I asked her whether we could say in
>> response we are not willing to pay more than $1200 or so at this point, and
>> I don't think that would be acceptable.  There is no written contract
>> they use.  They have been in business for 40 years and have an excellent
>> reputation, she said they are never interested in gouging. She told me the
>> cost for some of his recent work for small homeowners associations was in
>> range of $1800 (this was over 2 days and he drilled 7 trees and he probably
>> looked at 30 or 40).  Perhaps each of us would agree to pay $100 to $200
>> per unit toward this if bill, regardless of cost.  (I would certainly be
>> willing to pay this.)  Perhaps Vincent you might want to write to the whole
>> membership, or I am fine with you putting this on our community email and
>> maybe we can vote on it.  It would be good to know how much money we have
>> on hand in Association bank account.
>>
>> Last, I asked  her about Dave Butler, the arborist who has offered to
>> walk our property for $225.  She said he is an excellent arborist and would
>> tell us whether further testing is required on any trees -- and then he
>> would likely refer us to their company (to Peter Jenkins for testing)!  So
>> if we go this route -- ask Dave Butler to look at the trees for $225 -- we
>> may wind up hiring Jenkins anyway (to essentially do the same thing).
>>
>> Not sure what we want to do here.  (However, I do think we should be
>> concerned about more damage from trees (perhaps catastrophic damage) if
>> this weather continues -- and I have no doubt it will.
>>
>>
>> I am leaving town tomorrow for Augusta, then hopefully on Thursday to
>> Canada for about 10 days.  I would be glad to check with other arborists
>> when I get back.
>>
>> Best regards, Lauren
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 11, 2023 at 2:52 PM Vincent Wimbush <vlwimbush at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for this work, Lauren.
>>
>> I agree with Sara that the price is reasonable. ((I'm actually relieved.)
>> If the others you have contacted come in at or around this price I want to
>> support moving forward with the assessment. I think we should give the
>> others contacted a reasonable limited time to respond; but we should not
>> hold things up for any one person or company. Let's say within a week's
>> time (from initial contact)?
>>
>> I wonder now, Sara, whether the tree removal that was recommended ought
>> not be put aside until we get assessment from an arborist. It may be the
>> case that more action will be recommended. I would like not to have to go
>> through the special hiring of Mr. Ringer or anyone else to address problems
>> with trees on several different occasions apart from having the big picture
>> to consider.
>>
>> Several big expenses may be ahead for the HOA. I am still wondering
>> whether we can do all that needs to be done under regular budgeting. Too
>> early for me to tell. But I am trying to keep things in balance.
>>
>> vlw
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 11, 2023 at 2:31 PM Sara Crews <sara408 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> Very reasonable price.  Thank you, Lauren
>>
>> On 08/11/2023 11:59 AM EDT Lauren Rich <laureninatlanta at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> See below, waiting for 2 more estimates.
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>> From: *Lauren Rich* <laureninatlanta at gmail.com>
>> Date: Fri, Aug 11, 2023 at 11:58 AM
>> Subject: Re: Requesting fee schedule for tree examination
>> To: Dave Butler <treebutlerdb7 at gmail.com>
>>
>>
>> Thank you, Dave.  As I understand this, to look at the 12 large trees,
>> you would charge the Association a total of $225 and would provide a
>> written report and photos.  If we want you to assess more than 12 trees,
>> you would come out to the property and give us an estimate.  (I assume you
>> could do this while you are examining the 12 trees for the $225 fee; you
>> could then tell us how much more your fee would be to examine others?)
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 11, 2023 at 10:42 AM Dave Butler <treebutlerdb7 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Ms. Rich;
>>
>> I would be happy to conduct an assessment of the trees on your
>> association's property.  My fee is usually based on the size of a property
>> and the number of trees.  If you want me to assess the 12 trees only, the
>> fee would be $225 and that would include a written report with photos.  If
>> your association decides that they would want all trees on the property
>> assessed, I would come out to evaluate the workload and then provide a
>> written estimate.
>>
>> Thank you for contacting me for your tree care services.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
>> Dave Butler
>> The Tree Butler
>> ISA Certified Arborist #SO-6236A
>> treebutlerdb7 at gmail.com
>> (404) 580-3917
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 11, 2023 at 4:06 AM Lauren Rich <laureninatlanta at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Mr. Butler:
>>
>>
>>
>> I reside at 340 Drexel Avenue, Decatur, GA 30030, in a development of 11
>> townhomes in the middle of Drexel Avenue between Ponce de Leon and College
>> Avenues.
>>
>>
>>
>> Several trees have crashed on our block recently due to storms.  As a
>> result, our homeowners association has recently been discussing whether we
>> should retain an arborist to examine about a dozen large trees (and other
>> smaller ones) in our development, to determine if there is any possibility
>> of destruction of property due to age and health of these trees.
>>
>>
>>
>> We consulted the Georgia Arborists website for arborists and found your
>> company's information.  I am seeking initial consultations with arborists
>> on behalf of our association.  We are interested in your fee schedule to
>> come out to our property to examine the trees.  I would appreciate any
>> information you can provide in this regard.  If you would prefer to discuss
>> this by phone, please provide phone number and most convenient time for
>> me to call.  I am available to discuss this with you early next week.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sincerely, Lauren Rich (phone 404 788 3023)
>>
>> --
>> Lauren Rich
>> Atlanta, GA
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Lauren Rich
>> Atlanta, GA
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Lauren Rich
>> Atlanta, GA
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Lauren Rich
>> Atlanta, GA
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Lauren Rich
>> Atlanta, GA
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Lauren Rich
>> Atlanta, GA
>>
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-- 
Lauren Rich
Atlanta, GA
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