A westerly or a summer storm comes through. There's a blackbutt limb across the lawn in Glenhaven, or a split branch hanging over a Kellyville roof. By the next morning someone is at the door with a chainsaw on the ute and a price that's good for cash, today only. Some of those people are legitimate. Many aren't, and on the doorstep the two look much the same.
This is how to tell them apart, and how to work out what really needs doing straight away and what can wait for a proper quote.
Why the Hills gets door-knocked after storms
The Hills District is easy territory for storm-chasers. On the acreage fringe around Dural, Kenthurst and Glenhaven there are big blue gums and blackbutts, and storm damage on those blocks is often visible from the road. In the newer estates around Rouse Hill and Kellyville, a single storm can damage screening trees along a whole street at once. A crew can work one street for a full day.
After a big storm, legitimate arborists get booked out quickly. People are worried, the damage is right in front of them, and nobody can come for a while. Door-knockers fill that gap. A fast, confident offer can feel like a relief.
The warning signs
None of these proves anything on its own. Two or three together should make you stop and think.
- Cash only, or a large deposit up front. A legitimate business can take a card or issue an invoice.
- A price that expires today. Pressure to decide on the spot is the most common tactic.
- No written quote, no ABN, no business name. If it isn't on paper, there's nothing to hold anyone to.
- No insurance certificate. Or a promise to send one later that never turns up.
- No mention of council. Someone offering to remove a large tree without asking whether it's protected either doesn't know or doesn't care.
- Offers to top or lop the tree. Cutting a tree back to stubs is quick and looks tidy for a season. It usually produces a mass of weakly attached regrowth that becomes a bigger problem later.
- Vague about clean-up. "We'll sort it" can mean the timber ends up in a pile beside your driveway.
- No climbing gear or PPE. No helmet, no chainsaw protection, a ladder instead of a harness. That tells you how they'll treat your house as well.
- "That tree's about to come down" with no explanation of why. A real arborist can point to the crack, the lifted root plate or the dead wood and tell you what it means.
What a legitimate arborist does instead
The difference shows in how they quote, not in how confident they sound.
A proper tree business gives you a written, fixed price that says what's being cut, what's being left, and whether clean-up and green waste removal are included. They can show you a certificate of currency for public liability insurance. The people doing the climbing hold qualifications. In tree work that generally means AQF Level 3 for climbing arborists and AQF Level 5 for consulting arborists who write reports. Pruning should be done to the Australian Standard, AS 4373, and an arborist working to it won't offer to lop or top.
They'll also tell you what's urgent and what isn't. Sometimes the honest advice is to deal with one hanging limb this week and leave the rest of the tree alone. A door-knocker paid by the job has little reason to say that.
Why insurance matters more than the price
Tree work is dangerous. Climbers fall, limbs land in the wrong place, and fences, roofs, pools and neighbours' cars are all close by on a typical Hills block. If an uninsured contractor puts a limb through your neighbour's Colorbond roof or gets hurt on your property, it isn't clear who pays. In some cases the cost could end up with you. How your own home insurance treats work by an uninsured contractor depends on your policy, so check it before you rely on it.
When you ask to see a certificate, check three things:
- The name on it matches the business quoting you.
- It covers public liability for tree work.
- The dates are current.
Any business that's properly covered can show you this without fuss. Ours is available on request for every job.
The council problem nobody at the door mentions
Storm damage doesn't automatically mean a tree can come out without approval. Councils have their own rules on protected trees, exemptions and what counts as an emergency. In the Hills, which council applies isn't always obvious. Most of the area is The Hills Shire, but Cherrybrook is Hornsby Shire, North Rocks and Northmead are City of Parramatta, and suburbs such as Dural, Glenhaven, West Pennant Hills and Rouse Hill straddle council boundaries.
If a protected tree is removed without approval, the council generally deals with the property owner, not the crew who has moved on to the next suburb. Before anyone takes down a whole tree, check with your council or read our guide to council tree approval in the Hills. For a damaged tree, an arborist's assessment is often what settles whether it can be made safe with pruning or needs to come out.
Your rights when someone knocks
Under Australian Consumer Law, an agreement made with a trader who turns up uninvited is generally treated as an unsolicited consumer agreement. That usually brings a cooling-off period of 10 business days, along with limits on taking payment or starting work during that period and rules on when traders can knock. There are exceptions, including some for genuine emergencies, so check the details with NSW Fair Trading before you sign anything on the doorstep.
In practice, you're allowed to say "leave me your details and I'll get other quotes". A legitimate business will be fine with that.
What's actually urgent, and what can wait
Some storm damage needs action quickly. Most of it doesn't need action from whoever knocks first.
Urgent:
- A tree or limb on the house, or through the roof. For help securing the home, the SES takes storm calls on 132 500.
- Anything touching or near powerlines. Nobody should go within 3 metres of a fallen line or anything in contact with one, including the branch. Call your electricity distributor's emergency line and keep everyone clear.
- A large limb hanging and cracked over a driveway, path or play area. Keep people and cars out from under it and get an arborist out.
For these situations, our emergency storm damage service arranges qualified, insured arborists to make the site safe.
Can usually wait:
- Limbs already on the ground, clear of buildings and lines.
- A tree that looks thinner or ragged but has nothing cracked or hanging.
- Broken branches high in a tree that isn't over anything you use.
For these, there's time to get two or three written quotes and check insurance. On a big acreage block in Dural or Kenthurst, it's also worth getting someone to look over the rest of the trees while they're there. Storms often loosen more than the limb that came down.
If you're not sure which category you're in
Take a few photos from different angles. Include the whole tree, a close-up of the damage, and something that shows scale, such as the house or the fence. Send them through, and in many cases that's enough for a ballpark and an honest view on how urgent it is, without a stranger on your doorstep setting the timeline.
When you're ready for a fixed price with insurance and clean-up included, request a free quote here.