The crew arrives, but vehicles still occupy the agreed drop zone. Then the site manager asks for another limb while the MEWP is positioned. Tree surgeon commercial contracts need to settle who clears the site, who approves work and when the crew must stop.
Treat the account as an instruction chain. Agree the account rules. Survey the property. Price a defined scope. Release each visit with a works order. Record every variation before another cut.
Qualify the account before promising a start date
Winning a place on a supplier list does not release any tree work. It only means the customer can consider instructing you.
Ask for the property list, tender documents, buying route, purchase order process, invoice route and supplier records before you discuss dates. Find out whether the customer wants planned commercial tree maintenance, reactive attendance or a one-off project. Those jobs need different instructions.
Record these details separately:
- Legal customer name and billing address
- Accounts contact and invoice submission route
- Property address and postcode
- Property manager or facilities contact
- Site access contact
- Person authorised to approve quotes
- Person authorised to approve variations
- Purchase order requirements
- Emergency instruction contact
The person opening the gate may have no authority to spend the customer’s money. Do not combine those roles because one person happens to answer the phone.
Ask what supplier documents the customer needs. This may include business details, insurance evidence, safety documents and payment information. If you trade through a limited company, keep the registered details used by the customer consistent with the company record held by Companies House (opens in a new tab).
Before you accept tree surgeon commercial contracts, read the standing terms. Record the payment process, cancellation terms, customer preparation, variation route and which document controls when records conflict. Do not promise general availability across a property portfolio when you have only agreed to receive enquiries.
Set the instruction ladder in tree surgeon commercial contracts
Write down who can report, request, approve, release and change the work. These are separate decisions.
| Decision | Named role | Record required |
|---|---|---|
| Report a damaged or suspect tree | Reporter | Property, tree reference and reported condition |
| Request an inspection | Authorised requester | Inspection stage and site access details |
| Approve a quote | Commercial approver | Accepted quote reference and scope |
| Issue a purchase order | Purchasing contact | Purchase order reference and linked quote |
| Release the crew | Your office dispatcher | Approved scope, works order and required purchase order |
| Approve a variation | Named variation approver | Changed task, price effect and programme effect |
| Process the invoice | Accounts contact | Submission route and required references |
Use one account control sheet
Set up the customer before you release a property visit. Keep the approved contacts and account rules in one place, then add the property-specific references when work is requested.
Legal customer: [name] Billing contact and route: [details] Property and postcode: [address] Site access contact: [name and contact] Quote approver: [name and contact] Variation approver: [name and contact] Purchase order required: [yes/no and reference] Tree references: [tags, plan or marked photographs] Consent responsibility: [who applies and current status] Consent or permission evidence: [reference and record location] Approved scope: [attached quote or schedule] Works order status: [draft/released/closed] Stop-and-call conditions: [conditions] Completion and invoice references: [references]
Set which document controls as well. A framework agreement may control account-wide terms. An accepted quote controls the priced technical scope. A purchase order supports the customer’s buying process. The office-issued works order tells the crew what has been released.
A purchase order saying “commercial tree maintenance” is not a usable scope. It does not identify the tree, the cut, the access method or the finish. Attach the accepted quote or property schedule rather than asking the crew to fill the gaps on site.
Use the work order explainer to separate a works order from a quote, purchase order and invoice. Your office should issue tree work orders only when the required customer authority is on file.
If two documents conflict, stop the release. Ask the named approver to correct the instruction. Do not let the crew decide which version wins.
Survey the property and complete the tree work consent and permission check
Inspect before quoting. Identify each included tree using a tag, asset reference, marked photograph, plan reference or firm work-zone boundary. A description such as “large tree beside car park” can fail as soon as the crew finds several large trees.
Complete a tree work consent and permission check for the site address before fixing the programme. Ask the council planning service whether protected-tree or conservation-area controls affect the proposed work. Then check whether separate felling permission applies through the official body for that nation:
- In England, check felling questions with the Forestry Commission (opens in a new tab).
- In Scotland, check felling permission with Scottish Forestry (opens in a new tab).
- In Wales, ask Natural Resources Wales and use the Welsh Government tree-felling guidance (opens in a new tab) for the official route.
- In Northern Ireland, follow the Forest Service tree-felling guidance (opens in a new tab).
Record who agreed to apply for consent and supply the evidence. That agreement does not replace the statutory check. Before release, the office must check the permission that applies, record its reference and keep the evidence with the works order, even when the customer agreed to obtain it.
Stop if the plan, tree tag and verbal instruction point to different trees. Photograph the conflicting references. Send them to the office. Restart only when the authorised person confirms the correct tree in writing and the works order is corrected.
Write the arborist contract scope before costing the work
A usable arborist contract scope tells the crew what to do and tells the customer what the price covers. Build it around the property, tree, task, access and finish.
For each tree or marked group, state:
- Tree tag, asset number, plan reference or marked location
- Inspection, pruning, removal or other defined task
- The part of the tree covered by the task
- Access method and equipment position
- Work zone and customer preparation
- Treatment of arisings, timber, chips, grindings and stumps
- Surface protection and clearance standard
- Excluded work
- Conditions that stop the job
Replace phrases such as “tidy as required” with work the crew can identify. If the condition cannot be confirmed from the ground, quote an inspection stage first. Price later work after the inspection record is complete.
Set the access plan before choosing equipment. Record where the van, chipper, crane or MEWP can stand. Note gates, loading restrictions, overhead obstructions, weak surfaces, pedestrian routes and areas that must stay open.
State what the customer must prepare. If vehicles must be removed from the drop zone, put that instruction on the works order. Also state what happens if the zone remains occupied: stop, contact the office and use the agreed waiting or rescheduling process.
Define the finish. Say whether arisings are removed, chipped, stacked or left in a marked place. State whether stump treatment, grinding, soil repair, planting or unrelated waste removal is excluded. “Clear site” should not become a promise to repair work you never priced.
For removal work, use the tree surgeon removal quote guide to check the tree, rigging, access, arisings and exclusions before attaching the quote to the works order.
Split portfolio requests into property-level releases
Do not send one account-wide instruction to every crew. Split the request by property. Identify each tree or marked group, survey unknown conditions and price each defined package.
Attach the accepted property schedule to the matching quote. Then issue one works order for each visit or stage. If several properties share one purchase order, put that reference on each works order without treating the unused order value as authority for extra work.
Build the price for each authorised release
Cost the released scope. Not the whole account. Not a vague promise to attend every property.
Start with labour from mobilisation through final site clearance. Include the people needed for climbing, grounds work, traffic or pedestrian control, supervision and travel where your pricing method assigns it to the job.
Add the other direct costs:
- Owned-equipment cost assigned under your own method
- Hired plant and delivery
- Consumables and replacement wear
- Disposal and transport
- Barriers, access controls and surface protection
- Specialist surveys or subcontract work included in your scope
Then add overhead recovery and markup. Markup is what you add to cost to reach the selling price. Margin is the profit left as a share of the selling price. They are not interchangeable.
Use your own records. Do not copy another tree surgeon’s crew rate, disposal allowance or emergency charge. Your access plan, equipment, travel, waste route and overhead are your costs.
State how blocked access, waiting, rescheduling and emergency stages are priced under the standing terms. The customer should know the charge before the crew is left beside an occupied work zone. The job pricing guide gives you a labour, materials, overhead and markup structure without inventing a blanket market rate.
Build a UK document chain for every property
For each property, keep this chain:
- Framework or standing agreement
- Property schedule, where the account covers several sites
- Accepted quote
- Purchase order, where required
- Office-issued works order
- Current site-specific risk assessment and method statement
- Approved variation, if the job changes
- Completion record
- Invoice
- Job-cost record
Carry the legal customer, property, quote, purchase order and works order references through the chain. Put them on crew notes, photographs, completion records and the invoice. A missing reference can turn completed work into an accounts query.
The standing agreement sets rules used across the account. The works order releases one visit, stage or defined package. Do not use the framework as a standing instruction to perform whatever a site contact requests.
Keep customer authority separate from safety acceptance. Risk assessments and method statements explain how you plan to control the work. Customer acceptance of those documents does not approve the price, release the work or authorise a variation.
Control work instructed through a principal contractor
A principal contractor may issue its own works order, require a site induction and accept your risk assessments and method statements. Align those records, but do not merge their purposes.
The principal contractor’s works order should link to your accepted scope. The induction controls entry and site conduct. The safety documents control the planned method. The named commercial approver controls spending and variations.
Ask who can change the package before the start date. A site supervisor may direct vehicle movements or stop unsafe activity without having authority to buy another cut. Put the variation approver’s name and contact route in the crew pack.
If the customer raises a CIS classification question, take the actual contract and activity to HMRC (opens in a new tab). Do not let the site team decide the tax treatment from the job title. Ask HMRC separately about VAT questions for the work and customer concerned.
Release the crew only when every document passes the test
Before dispatch, check the accepted scope, required purchase order, consent or permission evidence, current site-specific risk assessment and method statement, access plan, emergency arrangements and any supplier evidence the customer requires. If one required record is missing or conflicts with another, do not release the works order.
Check the site contact, access window, tree references, approved task, equipment position, work zone and customer preparation. Attach the current scope and any marked plans or photographs.
Give the crew a blunt stop-and-call rule. Stop for an unidentified tree, blocked setup, occupied work zone, conflicting instruction or requested task outside the released scope. Photograph the condition and call the office.
For workplace health and safety in England, Scotland and Wales, check the Health and Safety Executive (opens in a new tab). In Northern Ireland, check the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (opens in a new tab). A safety record does not approve the quote or authorise extra work.
The crew should know who can direct site access and who can approve spending. Put both contacts on the works order. Do not make the climber work through the customer’s approval list from the tree.
Record site changes as variations before restarting
A site request becomes a variation when it adds, removes or changes the released work. Record the requester, changed task, price effect, programme effect and named approver.
Stop before doing the extra work. This still applies when the climber or MEWP is already positioned. Convenient access does not turn an added limb into included work.
The house example is electrical rather than tree work, but the document control is the same. On the Oak Street bathroom, quote Q-1847 was 1,105. The ceiling was lined and the quote excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing were approved as a 160 variation, so invoice INV-1847 was 1,265. All figures are sample currency units, not a rate card.
The lesson is the approval chain. The excluded condition was identified. The extra task and amount were approved. The invoice could then show the original quote and variation without hiding the change.
Do not calculate profit from that invoice. The costs of the 160 variation are not given. For your tree job, assign the actual extra labour, equipment and disposal costs to the variation rather than assuming the added invoice amount is profit.
Issue a variation record or corrected works order before the crew restarts. Send the updated instruction to the crew and keep the earlier version in the job record.
Limit urgent attendance to the stage actually released
An urgent call does not need to become an open-ended job. Separate the possible stages: inspection, temporary site control and specified tree work.
If the authorised contact releases an inspection only, inspect and photograph. If temporary controls are released, record exactly what those controls cover. Return remedial work to the normal scope, quote and approval route unless the authorised contact has released that defined stage.
Record the condition found, the work completed and the area left under customer control. Do not let “attend urgently” become authority for any work the crew considers useful.
Close the works order with matching records
Record the trees worked on, tasks completed, arisings destination, exceptions, photographs and customer acknowledgement. Note any instructed work that was not completed and why.
Build the invoice from the accepted quote and approved variations. Match the customer, property, purchase order and works order references. Describe the completed stage rather than using a general line such as “tree services”.
For tree surgeon commercial contracts, assign actual labour, equipment, hired plant, consumables, disposal and subcontract costs to the matching works order. Cost tracking by release shows whether the authorised price covered the resources used on that property.
Review the job after completion, not at the end of the account year. Use the tree surgeon job-costing process to compare the released price with the costs recorded against the same works order.