The Urban Arborist

We've used Urban Arborist twice and both times they gave us a reasonable rate (in the low to middle range of other quotes we were given), were always on time, left our yard and house clean, and were careful and did the job exactly as specified. Thank you! A couple years ago we worked with Stuart, recently we worked with Scott. We actually had the same workers come over (including Carlos) and they even remembered our house.

Two years ago we did some pretty straightforward pruning of several trees in our yard. I wasn't home at the time, but when I came back later I couldn't even tell they'd been there (except for our trees looking better).

Recently they helped us trim a ~30-40 ft redwood on our neighbor's property which we had permission to trim. This was a little more complicated of a job - I didn't want the unnatural look of a straight buzz down the property line, and our neighbors gave us permission to trim some dead branches on their side of the property line. When Scott came over for the quote, he had a laser pointer which made it really easy to discuss very specifically what we wanted cut and how far; we recapped this information when they came over for the actual job, and the workers followed these instructions very well.

There were two workers climbing the tree to cut branches and one on the ground catching the branches with a pitchfork. I did see some branches fall and hit some of our plants, and I asked them to be careful specifically with a baby apple tree and I saw them take extra care after that. But when I looked at our plants afterwards, I didn't see any damage. They bundled up all the branches and leaves, they went over the yard with a leaf blower, and they must have even swept up or picked up after themselves in our house. In the end, our yard needed one more go-over with a leaf blower to be fully spotless (that's just me being picky - I didn't mind doing this at all). We had moved all my potted plants from our deck railing so they wouldn't be knocked over; one of the workers placed all of them back and moved back some furniture which was very sweet of them.

Also, after Carlos had finished climbing the tree and finished his trimming, I noticed a couple smaller dead branches that were still on our side of the property line. I'm admittedly a little picky with these things and asked Carlos if he could still cut them - he jumped right back on our fence and reached way up with his longest saw and cut them for me, no hesitation! Thank you for doing that Carlos and for being so nice about it.

I also texted back and forth with Scott a bit getting advice on the health of a different tree in our yard. He's extremely friendly and helpful, even though this wasn't a tree that their company did work on!

If you pay cash, you get a 10% discount as well.

Thank you Stuart, Scott, and Carlos. You have a return customer!

Good work at a good price. Experienced staff. They have been managing the dozens of trees at our coplex for over a decade now.

Sometimes life really jacks things up for businesses. My experience with Urban Arborist was frustrating, but Josef reached out in early June to talk through events from my perspective. My project lead was new and he had personal stuff going on. I get that. I have no doubt it will all be made right. We caught them in a bad time and it's being made better for everyone. I'll get new trees, and I'll recommend Josef's services.

They did an amazing job removing trees from our very very very steep hillside. We wanted to have the dead/leaning trees removed before the rains hit, and they were able to come out very quickly for both the initial quote and the work. They were friendly, highly professional, respectful, and did a fantastic job (safely!). I would highly recommend them!

Thanks so much for all the help with my fruit tree! The advice was super useful, and I appreciated the great communication ahead of time and the overall professionalism of this company!

If you need trees trimmed or removed, don't hesitate to call The Urban Arborist. Mark came out to give me an estimate for multiple trees and a monster Cecile Brunner rose, all of which were hanging over or climbing on my roof, which is scheduled to be replaced. He really listened to what I wanted, and to what my neighbors, one the owner of a tree and rose, the other owner of the big trees, wanted. The day of the work, Mark came out and checked in to make sure the crew knew exactly what was expected - telling me he wanted to make sure I was 100% satisfied with the work. I was, as were the neighbors involved with the project.
Cesar, the foreman of the tree/rose cutting crew, was a really good listener as well and took suggestions as he cut.
Communication with Mark was excellent. Set up and clean-up were excellent and conscientious.
The take-away, if you want to work with friendly, respectful, professionals who know how to listen, communicate well, and do a great job, call The Urban Arborist.

Scott Wheeler at the urban arborist has been taking care of the trees on my property for 10 years and they have done a fantastic job. My trees are healthy and beautiful, and when there has been an emergency /urgent request (eg fallen tree/shrub) they have come through for me. During the latest season of heavy rains, the trees all survived without any problems. This is a very reliable business overall.

I'm surprised that I haven't reviewed Scott and his crew before. They have maintained my pine trees for years. Recently a small tree that provides privacy and a resting place for the birds blew over during a storm. We temporarily propped it up with a ladder. Scott and his foreman Cipri, showed up a couple days later and secured it with stakes, and gave it a nice trim. It looks great after 20 days and I have confidence it will survive after being uprooted for more than an hour.

It's been crazy weather and I know they're incredibly busy. So happy they were able to fit me in with my small tree. They even tied back a branch in another tree to keep it from rubbing against the fence.

5 Stars! The crew was fast, efficient and neat. Though it was big tree that spread over 1/2 the street and spanned across both my neighbors, they cut by handsaws and trimmers, avoiding the noise of a chainsaw.
They were done in less than 2 hours, swept up completely and had a great attitude. I've asked them to price my backyard trees

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! Short version: the police had to come and explain to the owner they would have to arrest him if he broke in to our house. Longer version: they came out to get a fallen tree off our roof, which was causing leaks in our house. After a full day of work, not only had they not gotten the branches off our roof, they had also broken a trap door and another door in my house. Their "project manager", Killian, had no idea what his crew was up to, and their owner, Josef, did nothing to rectify the situation, and instead stopped picking up when I called him after telling me I was "being difficult" when telling him about the damage his crew had caused. I held their tools as collateral until they paid for the damage they caused, which is when they called the police, who quickly established (thank you for your service, SFPD!) that I had the right to hold their tools and their owner couldn't break into my home (yes, that had to be clarified to him..).

Josef is an unprofessional owner who doesn't address serious issues when they occur. Killian is an incompetent project manager, who disrespects his workers (I observed him shouting at them multiple times) and customers.

They ended up paying for the damage they had caused. However, this cost me a half day away from work dealing with these idiots and the police, and two more days of water damage in my house as the commotion they caused scared away the backup crew I had hired to do the job.

These folks might be the cheapest, but engage with them at your peril!