Emergency Tree Work
Storm damage doesn't wait for business hours.
Emergency tree work
A limb through the roof at 2am isn't a Monday problem. Neither is a gum across the driveway with the car underneath it, or half a poinciana held in the neighbour's yard by a strip of bark.
Acclaim Tree Care handles emergency tree work outside business hours too. Ring any time. After hours, leave a message and we call back first thing; genuine emergencies get called back as soon as we can. We travel across Greater Brisbane through Kenmore, Chapel Hill and Indooroopilly, and on through Tarragindi, Carindale and Eight Mile Plains.
The work is easy to describe and hard to do properly. Get there, make the area safe, bring the unstable timber down under control, clean up, then leave you with photos and a written record of what happened. What we don't do is drop a two tonne limb onto the garden because it's faster.
Three groups ring this number. Homeowners, usually within an hour of a storm passing, often standing in the yard in the dark with a torch. Body corporates and strata managers, where a limb has come down across a common driveway or a visitor car park and residents can't get in or out. Property managers and commercial sites, where the building has to open in the morning and the footpath is under a tree.
What we bring depends on what you tell us on the phone. A hanger 15 metres up over a roof needs the EWP and a climber. A trunk across a driveway needs saws, a chipper and a tipper. Getting that right on the first trip is the difference between two hours and two visits, which is why we ask a few questions before anyone leaves the yard.
Storms here are not gentle. Brisbane's storm season runs hard from about November through March, and the damage usually comes from three things at once: days of rain that turn clay soil to porridge, a downburst that hits from an odd direction, then mature trees standing over small suburban blocks. A lot of the housing through Camp Hill and Holland Park went up when a shade tree three metres off the house seemed like a good idea. Sixty years on, that tree is 20 metres tall and the roof sits under the canopy.
Not every call is an emergency. If what you've got is stable and can safely wait until Monday, we'll tell you that on the phone and book it in as normal work. That takes about two minutes to sort out.
What goes wrong, and why it goes wrong
Most emergency calls fall into a handful of shapes. Knowing which one you've got helps us send the right crew and the right gear.
A whole tree over. The root plate lifts, the lawn cracks in an arc around the base and the tree lies across the fence, the pool or the driveway. This is the classic one after a wet week. Saturated clay loses its grip, the canopy acts like a sail and the roots pull out. Blocks that were cut and filled for a house pad are worse again, because half the root system never had anywhere decent to go.
A split fork. Two stems of roughly equal size grow out of the same point, bark gets trapped in the union and the join is weak from the day it formed. Arborists call it included bark. Jacarandas, poincianas, camphor laurels, silky oaks and African tulips are all prone to it. A gust loads one side, the union tears and you're left with half a tree and a torn face of wood that's still moving.
A hanger. A limb breaks but doesn't fall. It's lodged in the canopy or hooked on a lower branch, sometimes 15 metres up. These are the ones that hurt people, because they look settled and they are not. Wind, rain, a bird, a shift in temperature, and it comes down without warning. Nobody should be underneath it, and nobody should be poking at it with a pole.
Storm damage over a structure. A limb resting on the roof, through a carport, across a fence line or on a car. The tree is often fine. The problem is the load sitting where it shouldn't be, and the fact that cutting it in the wrong order drops the whole lot through the ceiling.
Something on the lines. A branch across the service wire to the house, or into the street mains. That one has its own answer, further down this page.
People usually notice something before the failure. Soil lifted or cracked on one side of the trunk. A lean that's changed since last year. A creak in the wind. Mushrooms or a soft patch at the base. Fine cracks running down from a fork. None of that means the tree is coming down tonight, but all of it is worth a look from an arborist in daylight rather than a phone call at midnight.
The causes behind the causes are worth knowing. Old lopping is a big one: a tree topped 15 years ago pushes out fast regrowth that attaches to the outside of the old stub, and those shoots snap in the first serious wind. Decay is another, usually starting at an old pruning wound or a mower scar at the base, hollowing out while the tree looks healthy from the street. Roots cut for a driveway pour, a pool or a trench show up as a failure years later, not the week it happened. Eucalypts drop deadwood year round and sometimes shed live limbs on still, hot afternoons. Royal palms and queen palms through St Lucia and Taringa throw fronds and heavy seed heads that do real damage to a windscreen.
None of that means every big tree is a hazard. Most aren't. It does mean the tree that came down last night usually had a reason, and we'll tell you what we found.
What happens when you ring
The call. In business hours you'll get Bianca in the office. Ring any time. After hours, leave a message and we call back first thing; genuine emergencies get called back as soon as we can. We ask four things: what's happened, is anyone hurt or trapped, are power lines involved, and what's the address and the access like. If you can safely stand back and send a photo or two, do it. A picture of the base and a picture of where the top ended up tells us more than five minutes of description.
The arrival window. We give you an honest one. After a big storm there's a queue, and we work it by risk, not by who rang first. If a job ahead of yours has a limb sitting on a bedroom, we'll say so and tell you where that puts you. You'll get a call if the window changes.
Access and neighbours. Before the truck rolls we sort out where it parks, whether the chipper can get in, and whose driveway or yard we need to work over. On strata and body corporate jobs that means a quick word with the manager and a notice to residents where there's time. Neighbours get told rather than surprised.
Make safe first. Nothing gets cut until the crew has walked the site. We look at what's holding what, where the tension and compression sit in the broken wood, what's above head height, where the lines run and where the neighbours' windows are. Cones and tape go out, an exclusion zone gets set, and anyone who doesn't need to be inside it gets moved out. On a street job we manage the traffic and talk to whoever's passing through.
Take the load off, under control. The unstable pieces come down in an order that keeps the rest predictable. That usually means a climber or the EWP goes up, slings and a lowering device go on, and limbs get rigged down to the ground rather than dropped. It's slower. It's also how a branch over a tiled roof ends up on the lawn instead of in the lounge room.
Clean up before we go. Brush goes through the chipper, logs get cut and loaded, the area gets raked and blown down. Our reviews mention the clean-up more than anything else, and that's not an accident. You shouldn't be picking twigs out of the garden bed for a fortnight.
Photos and paperwork. We photograph before, during and after, then write up what we found, what we did and what's still outstanding. Strata managers get it in a form they can forward straight to the committee. Insurers get the detail they ask for. If we ever use those photos elsewhere, house numbers, plates and street signs get blurred first.
What's left for daylight. Emergency work often splits in two. Tonight we make it safe. The full removal, the reduction pruning or the stump grinding gets quoted and booked properly. You'll know which parts are which before we pack up.
Gear, and the standards behind it
The right gear is what separates a controlled job from an expensive one.
EWP. An elevated work platform, or cherry picker, gets an arborist up to the work without climbing a tree that has already failed. On a steep block through Fig Tree Pocket or the ridges around Upper Mount Gravatt, it's often the only sensible way to reach a limb over a roof. EWP work follows AS 2550.10, the standard for safe use of mobile elevating work platforms.
Climbing and rigging kit. Ropes, harnesses, friction savers, slings, blocks and a lowering device. Rigging is the part most people never see and it's where the skill sits. A limb over a pool fence gets picked up on a rope, cut, swung clear and lowered at walking pace.
Saws, chipper and tipper. Ground saws, a top-handle saw for the climber, a chipper for the brush and a tipper to cart it out. Stump grinding gear comes back on the follow-up visit if you want the stump gone.
PPE and lighting. Helmets, eye and hearing protection, cut-resistant leg protection and high-vis, every job. Night work adds work lights, cones and signage. More people watching, fewer people cutting.
The standards we work to are the ones a strata manager or an insurer will recognise. Pruning follows AS 4373-2007, Pruning of Amenity Trees, which is the reference for how cuts are made and where they go. Where a tree has to be retained and protected near building work, AS 4970-2009 covers it. Work near electric lines follows the Queensland Electrical Safety Code of Practice for working near overhead and underground electric lines, and Safe Work Australia's guide to managing the risks of tree trimming and removal work covers the rest of the site.
Council rules on protected vegetation don't disappear because it's an emergency. There are provisions for making a dangerous tree safe, and we document what we found and why we did what we did, with photos, so there's a record if anyone asks later. That's the part a lopping crew with a ute and a ladder won't give you.
After hours, and what can honestly be done at night
We're reachable any time. Outside business hours we take a message and get back to you first thing, with genuine emergencies called back as soon as we can. There are still a few things worth being straight about.
Priority runs on risk. Life safety and access come first. Someone trapped, a limb over a bedroom, a tree blocking the only way in or out of a complex. Then property damage that's getting worse by the hour. Then everything else. A branch lying on the lawn at midnight can wait for daylight, and we'll say so rather than send a crew out for a night call you didn't need.
Some work waits for light. If a tree is badly compromised, climbing it in the dark and the rain is the wrong call. What we'll often do is take the immediate hazard off from the ground or the EWP, fence and tape the area, then come back at first light to finish. The hazard gets dealt with tonight and the tidy job gets done properly tomorrow.
Power lines are not ours. If a tree or limb is on or near live lines, call Energex first on 13 19 62. Treat every fallen line as live, keep everyone well clear, at least 8 metres, and don't touch the tree, the fence or anything else in contact with it. Once the network crew has made the electrical side safe, we'll handle the tree. Work on the lines themselves needs an authorised line crew, and we'll tell you that up front rather than turn up and shrug.
Ring 000 first if someone is hurt. If anyone is injured or trapped, or there's fire involved, that call comes before ours. Then ring us on 0421 484 940 and we'll work in behind the emergency services.
Why people call the Acclaim crew
Acclaim started out in the Kenmore area and built its name on body corporate and strata work, which is exactly the sort of client who needs someone reliable at 11pm on a Sunday. It's family-run now, with qualified arborists, trained staff and training that keeps going after the ticket is issued.
Our Google reviews keep saying the same thing. The word that turns up most in them is professional. Careful comes a close second.
We're upfront about money. We don't quote emergency work by text or email, because access, tree size, rigging and waste volume all change the job, and none of that can be judged from a photo of a branch. Ring us, describe what's happened, and we'll talk through what drives the price before anyone starts a saw.
We do the paperwork. Strata managers get the photos and the written report without chasing us for it. Neighbours get told before we're parked across their driveway. Council and the relevant authorities get checked with when the tree is protected.
And we clean up. Every time.
If a tree has come down, split, or is hanging where it shouldn't be, ring 0421 484 940 now. If it's touching power lines, call Energex on 13 19 62 first, then ring us.
Frequently asked questions
What actually counts as an emergency?
A tree or large limb that's already down. One that's split, leaning hard, or hung up in another tree. Anything blocking a driveway, a car park or a footpath. Storm damage sitting over a house, a car or a fence. If what you've got is stable and can safely wait until Monday, we'll tell you that on the phone and book it in as normal work instead.
Can I reach you outside business hours?
Ring any time. After hours, leave a message and we call back first thing; genuine emergencies get called back as soon as we can. We travel across the Brisbane area covered on this page.
How quickly can you get here?
It depends on where you are, the time of night and how many calls are running after a storm. We'll give you an honest arrival window when you ring rather than a guess, and we'll call you if it changes. If another job is more urgent than yours, we'll say so and tell you where that leaves you in the queue.
What will it cost?
We don't quote emergency work by text or email. Access, tree size, rigging and the volume of waste all change the job, and none of that can be judged from a photo of a branch. Ring 0421 484 940, describe what's happened, and we'll talk you through what drives the price before anyone starts a saw.
There's a tree on the power lines. What do I do?
Call Energex first on 13 19 62, then ring us on 0421 484 940. Work on or near live lines needs an authorised line crew, so that's not ours to touch. Treat every fallen line as live, keep everyone well clear, at least 8 metres, and don't touch the tree, the fence or anything in contact with it. Once the network side is sorted we'll handle the tree.
Do you provide a report for insurance or the body corporate?
Yes. We take photos before and after, write up what we found and what we did, and send it to you or straight to the strata manager. If those photos get used anywhere else, house numbers, plates and street signs are blurred first.
Can you do the whole job at night, or do you come back?
It depends on the tree. Often we remove the immediate hazard at night from the ground or the EWP, tape the area off, then return at first light to finish. Climbing a badly compromised tree in the dark and the rain is the wrong call, and we'll say so rather than take the risk.
Do you take the stump and the timber away too?
Brush goes through the chipper and logs get loaded before we leave, so the site is usable again. Stump grinding is a separate visit with different gear. We'll quote it while we're there if you want the stump gone.
The tree is protected. Can you still cut it in an emergency?
Protected vegetation rules still apply, and there are provisions for making a dangerous tree safe. We only take what has to come off, photograph the failure, and write up what we found and why, so there's a proper record if council or your body corporate asks later.
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