Commercial and HOA tree services in Missoula & the Bitterroot Valley

Start with the trees that could hurt someone

A property with fifty trees does not have fifty equal problems. It has a handful that matter now, a larger group that need routine pruning, and a remainder that need nothing but an occasional look. The first job is sorting them, and that is what a walk-through does: each tree is looked at for condition and for what it would hit.

From that comes an ordered list. Dead trees and large dead limbs over parking, entrances, and play areas come first. Clearance pruning over walks, drives, signs, and lighting follows. Structural pruning that keeps younger trees from becoming tomorrow's problems goes on the planned cycle. Our guide to building a tree management plan for an HOA or commercial property goes through this in detail.

Planned work costs less than emergency work

Most tree work can be scheduled, and scheduled work is the kind a board can budget for. Pruning on a cycle of a few years, with the heaviest work done in the dormant season when it is easiest on the trees and on the grounds, spreads the cost and catches defects while they are still small. See dormant pruning for why winter is the working season for this.

What cannot be scheduled is the storm. Contracted properties are prioritized in our 24-hour response, and because we know the site already, we know which trees were being watched. Our emergency tree and storm response page covers how that works.

Records matter as much as the work. Knowing when trees were assessed, what was recommended, and what was done is what lets a board or manager answer a resident, an insurer, or an attorney with facts.

Working on an occupied property

Tree work on a commercial or residential community has to fit around the people who use it. Parking areas get coned off and cleared in stages, work near entrances is timed for quiet hours, residents and tenants get notice, and the site is cleaned up at the end of every day, not only at the end of the job.

Trees along the street may not be the property's to prune. Inside city limits, trees in the public right-of-way are often the municipality's responsibility and can require permission before any work is done. Our guide to Missoula tree permits and the right-of-way explains how that works there, and we check before quoting work on a street tree.

Trees near power lines on commercial sites are handled by our line-clearance certified crew. See tree work near power lines.