Nashville has more than its fair share of wind storms. In fact, in 2016, Nashville was cited as the windiest city in the country, with 11 serious wind-related events. Inevitably, when the wind seriously kicks up, some Nashville trees will be knocked down. Snapped limbs and uprooted trees can create seriously dangerous situations and destroy property. When that happens, you are going to want a qualified tree service to be able to respond quickly and stabilize the situation.
For more than 30 years, homeowners, businesses, and even municipalities have been calling The Parke Company for emergency tree service. We have the resources, and more importantly, the specialized staff to rapidly respond to tree emergencies. Rapid response can defuse dangerous conditions and prevent or minimize additional damage to property.
Operationally, emergency tree service presents the most challenges to a professional landscape services. The need is immediate, and more importantly, not everyone is trained in how to safely drop a split bough or an entire tree. At The Parke Company, emergency tree service has become an important part of our business, and we are staffed with the experts to handle the task.
What Rapid Response Means for Municipalities
When bad weather hits, it doesn’t discriminate. Homes, businesses, and communities alike all take a hit. But for municipalities and counties, the challenges that fallen trees and dangerous limbs present can have a wider effect on the safety and economy of the community than any individual house or shop. If streets are blocked, if power lines are threatened by dangerous trees, or if storm drains are clogged by wind debris, a town can experience serious issues.
Clearing roads is a priority. A community can have excellent emergency services, but if their vehicles can’t reach where they need to go, it’s the same as if those services didn’t exist. The net result leaves medical assistance, fire departments, and police severely restricted in the services they can render. While not a municipal emergency service, repair crews from utilities are also essential to mitigating dangerous conditions and hastening recovery. Like emergency services, they can’t do their job if they can’t get to where they need to go.
And there’s another cost for the community. After the event, the municipality’s ability to get things back to normal will be evaluated by the residents. A town with a responsible, well-executed emergency response plan will gain a positive reputation, while one that doesn’t may be looking for new management.
At The Parke Company, we are exceptionally proud to have been selected by several communities, including Belle Meade and Forest Hills, to provide landscaping services. Those services include emergency tree service, storm damage, brush clearing, and leaf bag pickup. Our reputation, proven work quality, and ability to work within fixed budgets has made The Parke Company a go-to resource for municipalities.
What Rapid Emergency Tree Service Means for a Homeowner
If a storm has created a need for emergency tree service at your home, a fast, professional response by trained experts can end a potentially dangerous and damaging event. Minimizing damage, and most importantly, rendering a home safe, can save significantly on the potential cost of the event.
The biggest challenge facing a homeowner needing emergency tree service is, well, the fact that it’s an emergency. You need help now. If the wind event was areawide, there are going to be plenty of your neighbors with the same need. Demand for tree service may outstrip supply. If you don’t already have a relationship with a qualified emergency tree service, you may find yourself waiting and paying a premium when the crew does show up.
At The Parke Company, we believe the best way to save money on emergency tree service is to minimize the need for it before a storm hits. We’ll talk about that more later.
Keeping Emergency Tree Service Affordable
The way we keep our emergency costs competitive is our triage approach to emergency tree service for our customers. We send out teams that deal with threatening or blocking trees. They deal with trees that are leaning on structures, across utility lines (with coordination of power company), or blocking access. Then they are off to the next call and will return with the equipment and crew needed to do a cleanup.
Using this triage technique allows us to provide our customers the immediate assistance they require to remedy an unsafe condition or access to their property. The follow-up visit takes place when things are calmer and a full complement of equipment can be deployed.
While we are there, we highly recommend that one of our certified arborists evaluate the condition of any remaining trees. If a tree is a likely candidate for removal, we can accomplish that while we are onsite. When we are done, all of the tree debris will have been removed or chipped into mulch.
Not surprisingly, we have a lot of experience with insurance companies, and we are happy to assist you in submitting your claim. We have worked with most of the companies who write homeowner insurance in the Nashville area.
Common Mistakes Made in Emergency Tree Service Situations
Storm damage can be unsettling. Many times, a home represents the largest single investment a family has, and their desire to inspect and protect their house after a storm is understandable. However, many times that desire to protect the castle overrides more effective thinking. Here is just a small sample of bad behaviors and actions to avoid during an emergency tree service event:
- Be a witness, not a victim. Trees that appear solidly supported, or stuck fast on the ground, often shift or roll, causing personal injury or worse. Don’t attempt tree removal yourself. Let our expert arborists check it out. Stay clear and keep passersby clear as well. If you have a downed power line, report it to the power company immediately.
- Beware the expert with a chainsaw. Unfortunately, when there is a big demand for emergency tree services, some people represent themselves as qualified tree experts because they own a chainsaw and a pickup truck. Before you engage anyone who is soliciting you, ask for a business license and a certificate of insurance.
- Avoid insurance feuds. Insurance coverage is complicated, and it can get even more complicated if your neighbor’s tree blows over and damages your covered property, or vice versa. The key to coverage is the health of the tree. If a tree was healthy, the policy that covers the damaged property will pay for the damages (less the deductible) regardless of who the tree belongs to. However, if the tree was diseased, the question of liability is not clear. A report from a certified arborist can provide an accurate evaluation of a tree.
How to Minimize the Cost of Emergency Tree Service
At The Parke Company, we are ready to respond to your need for emergency tree service, but we are also ready to help you minimize the odds of you ever needing it. The best way to avoid the expense, danger, and inconvenience that storm-damaged trees can bring is to take preventative steps before the storm hits. For more information on those steps, check out our emergency tree service blog.
The bottom line is this: Your landscape is an investment, just like your house. It requires maintenance to keep its value. If your carpet is getting thin, you will replace it. If the exterior paint is peeling, you will be on the phone with a painting contractor. The reason you take these actions is because you can see the problem and you want to protect your investment.
With trees, you often can’t see the problem until nearly all the value is gone. Trees get old, they get sick, and they get wounded. Often you don’t notice these problems until a strong wind blows them over, or a piece simply falls off.
If you take advantage of the tree and landscaping services that we provide, you can rest assured that your outdoor investment is being maintained as well as your home investment. Call us today and let’s talk about ways we can get your outdoor assets contributing to the overall value of your property.