Have I been ripped off by gardener?

[nervous123]

Over a year ago, I had a tree surgeon/gardener (RFS CERT ARB) quote me £1,500 to Remove a Large Robinia and Poison its stump. The tree was prob at least 30 feet tall and old and dying.

I was in a big rush as I wanted it gone before LABC came to inspect my impending extension so I took him for the job and paid him up pronto when he said he was finished. At the time I thought it somewhat strange that he had left about 3 ft of stump but he said he couldnt cut it because 'there were nails in the stump and he was worried his saw would break on them' so I just took his word for it. Like I said, I was in a rush.

Since then, we've moved in, and got a new gardener to quote for sorting out our 'jungle'. He said the reason the first fellow left the stump is because it is the most difficult/hardest part of the tree to get rid of and he probably couldnt be bothered.

Who is correct? If £1500 should cover the removal of the tree right down to the ground, including removing the stump, then I'd feel inclined to call back the first fellow on the grounds that he should have taken care of it at the time...

Thanks for the advice, as ever.

 

[Static]

I was in a big rush as I wanted it gone before LABC came to inspect my impending extension

Urm.. odd thing to do.. unless you were trying to hide the fact that you would need deeper footings in clay due to the tree..

 

[nervous123]

I was in a big rush as I wanted it gone before LABC came to inspect my impending extension

Urm.. odd thing to do.. unless you were trying to hide the fact that you would need deeper footings in clay due to the tree..

I was told that if BC would see a big tree in the garden, they would insist upon our digging deeper foundations...

 

[EddieM]

Footings etc apart, he should have used a stump grinder.

 

[DominicJ]

Chopping down trees is easy, getting rid of stumps is hard.
You've been robbed.

You either need to dig it out, pull it out with a serious tractor, blow it up or use a grinder to turn it into wood chip.
Or ignore it.
My, much smaller, stumps, get a 10mm wood drilling to encourage them to rot and bashing with a claw hammer to knock the rotten bits off.

 

[merlin50]

£1,500 he is laughing all the way to the bank, the stump is the hardest bit.

 

[nervous123]

At the time, his excuse for leaving the stump was that he couldnt get a grinder into my garden (i think may be true- narrow alleyway), and that 'there are nails in the stump and i am damaging my saw on them so i have to stop'.

Is this a load of tosh???? IF yes I will confront him with it and ask him to return.

 

[merlin50]

a new chain is not going to cost a thousand pounds is it, for what he has done £800 is a rip off

 

[htgeng]

I was told that if BC would see a big tree in the garden, they would insist upon our digging deeper foundations...

Surely for good reason? You've tried to cheat the system and if the footings didn't take the tree roots into account you could have more serious problems with subsidence on the building than your £800 loss on the stump removal.

If I was having an extension built I'd pay the extra and have deeping footings regardless. You can only lay them once.

 

[WabbitPoo]

Over a year ago, I had a tree surgeon/gardener (RFS CERT ARB) quote me £1,500 to Remove a Large Robinia and Poison its stump. The tree was prob at least 30 feet tall and old and dying.

I was in a big rush as I wanted it gone before LABC came to inspect my impending extension so I took him for the job and paid him up pronto when he said he was finished. At the time I thought it somewhat strange that he had left about 3 ft of stump but he said he couldnt cut it because 'there were nails in the stump and he was worried his saw would break on them' so I just took his word for it. Like I said, I was in a rush.

Since then, we've moved in, and got a new gardener to quote for sorting out our 'jungle'. He said the reason the first fellow left the stump is because it is the most difficult/hardest part of the tree to get rid of and he probably couldnt be bothered.

Who is correct? If £1500 should cover the removal of the tree right down to the ground, including removing the stump, then I'd feel inclined to call back the first fellow on the grounds that he should have taken care of it at the time...

Thanks for the advice, as ever.

Cutting the extraneous points about footings etc, you were charged a sum of money to do "x" but he didnt do all of "x", so why did you pay him in full?

If your question is "is 1500 being ripped off for cutting down a tree?" then yes it seems high, but if you agreed to it then its not ripping you off. Its you being silly in accepting the quote in the first place.

That situation differs from that in which a guy says he needs to do "x" AND "y" whilst knowing you really only need "x". That is a rip off situation.

Big difference.

 

[Static]

I was in a big rush as I wanted it gone before LABC came to inspect my impending extension

Urm.. odd thing to do.. unless you were trying to hide the fact that you would need deeper footings in clay due to the tree..

I was told that if BC would see a big tree in the garden, they would insist upon our digging deeper foundations...

Hmm.. so you spend £1500 to save about £500 on extra concrete and risk clay heave which could cost you thousands.. even when a tree is removed it can cause problems.. BC arent there to ***** you they are there to help protect your investment..