tree_care_operations v1.0.0

name: "tree_care_operations" description: "Run a tree service job from estimate to cleanup: site estimates that record species, condition, targets, and access before a price is named, crew job briefings aligned to ANSI Z133 done at the truck, rigging and drop zone planning, wood and stump disposal decided at the estimate, and storm response triage that sorts hazards from cleanup. Triggers when someone runs or plans tree work, writes a tree estimate, briefs a crew, plans a removal or pruning job, or triages storm damage, e.g. 'price this removal', 'write the job briefing', 'what do we do with the wood', 'triage these storm calls'." metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }

Tree Care Operations

Purpose

Run tree work as one connected job, not five separate guesses. The estimate records what the crew will actually face, the price is built from that record, the job briefing hands the same record to the crew at the truck, and cleanup matches what was sold. Most tree company losses and most injuries start in the gap between those steps: a price named before anyone checked access, a hazard seen at the estimate and never told to the crew, a disposal argument on site because nobody decided it at the visit.

This skill covers pruning, removal, stump work, and storm response for a small to mid size tree service. Line clearance work near energized conductors is out of scope except to stop and refer it out. Only qualified line clearance arborists work inside the minimum approach distance.

Workflow

1. Estimate visit: record the tree, the targets, and the access

Walk the site before naming any price. Fill the estimate form in assets/estimate-form.md for every tree, one section per tree.

1. Identify the tree: species, diameter at breast height (DBH, measured at 4.5 feet), approximate height, and canopy spread. If species is uncertain, photograph bark, leaf, and crown and say so on the form. Do not guess a species into a contract.
2. Record condition: deadwood percentage, decay signs (conks, cavities, cracks), codominant stems, included bark, lean and whether it changed, root collar condition, prior bad cuts, hangers. Note foliage and overall health as dead, poor, fair, or good, matching the fields on the ISA Basic Tree Risk Assessment Form.
3. Record targets under and near the tree: house, roof edge, driveway, vehicles, fence, play area, sidewalk, road, utility lines and service drop. Rate how often each target is occupied: rare, occasional, frequent, or constant. A dead limb over a patio used daily is a different job from the same limb over a back lot line.
4. Record access honestly: gate width, slope, soft or wet ground, distance from truck and chipper parking to the tree, obstacles between tree and chipper, whether a lift or crane can reach, and where rigging can land wood. Pace or measure the drag path. Long drags and no machine access are labor, and labor is price.
5. Photograph the tree from at least two sides, plus each defect and each target. Attach the photos to the estimate so the crew sees the same tree the estimator saw.

2. Decide the work and write it in standard terms

State the objective before the method.

• For pruning, write the spec in ANSI A300 Part 1 terms: crown cleaning, crown thinning, crown raising with the clearance height named, crown reduction, or restoration. Name the branch size range to be cut. Never sell topping or lion tailing. If a client asks for topping, offer crown reduction or removal and explain in plain words that topping creates weakly attached regrowth and bigger future hazard.
• For removal, state the method the site forces: climb and rig in pieces, fell whole with a clear fall path, lift assisted, or crane assisted. State the fall or drop direction and what has to move or be protected first.
• For a tree the client wants to keep but you are unsure about, do not fold a risk opinion into a pruning price. Offer a separate risk assessment. Use the ISA levels: Level 1 limited visual for screening, Level 2 basic 360 degree inspection for most residential questions, Level 3 advanced testing (resistance drilling, tomography, root inspection) when a high value tree over a high occupancy target needs more than eyes. Formal ratings (Low, Moderate, High, Extreme) belong to a TRAQ qualified assessor. If nobody on staff holds it, refer the assessment out and say so.

3. Build the price from the record, then decide disposal on paper

Price the job you recorded, in this order, and show the build-up in your own bid file even when the client only sees one number.

1. Crew time by phase: setup and briefing, climbing or lift work, rigging and lowering, brush drag and chipping, log handling, stump work, cleanup. Estimate each phase from the access and drag notes, not from tree size alone.
2. Equipment: chipper, stump grinder, lift or crane day rate share, rigging gear wear, fuel, saw chains and bar oil.
3. Disposal, decided now, written on the estimate, and signed off by the client: brush chipped on site or hauled, chips left for the client or hauled away, logs left cut to a named length, logs hauled, logs kept as firewood by the client, stump ground or left, grindings left in the hole, hauled, or backfilled with soil. Every left behind option names who spreads, stacks, or levels it. See references/estimating-and-disposal.md for the decision table.
4. Site protection and permits: plywood or mats for soft ground, fence or roof protection, traffic control if work reaches the street, and any city permit or protected tree rule the site triggers. Check the permit question at the estimate, not on job day.
5. Risk adders that are real, not padding: no machine access, steep slope, tree over a structure with small landing area, extensive decay that forces smaller pieces and slower rigging, poison ivy or nest or wasp presence that changes the plan.

If disposal, access, or method is still undecided, the estimate is not done. Write "pending client choice on chips" only when the two priced options are both shown. Never let the crew discover the disposal plan by asking the client on site.

For stump grinding or any digging, start the 811 locate at booking, not the day before the job. Stump grinding counts as excavation. Wait the state required period, check positive response, and keep the ticket number on the job packet.

4. Job briefing at the truck, before any saw starts

ANSI Z133 section 3.4.3 requires a job briefing by the qualified arborist in charge before the start of each job, communicated to all affected workers. Do it at the truck with the estimate form open, using assets/job-briefing-checklist.md. Cover, out loud, with names attached:

• Work objective and method for each tree, in the same words as the estimate.
• Hazards found at the estimate plus hazards found on arrival: decay, hangers, bees or wasps, power lines and service drops, soft ground, traffic, bystanders, other contractors.
• Drop zone: where it is, how it is marked (cones or tape), who may enter it, and who calls entry and exit. Only workers directly involved in the operation enter an active drop or landing zone.
• Rigging plan: rigging points, positive or negative rigging, friction device and who runs it, working load limit of the weakest part of the system, tag line use, and the landing zone.
• Chipper placement: parked clear of rigging lines and the drop zone, discharge direction, who feeds, and the rule that ropes stay bagged or on a tarp and never travel with brush to the chipper.
• Traffic and public control: cones, signs, a flagger if the work touches the road, and a safe pedestrian route around the work.
• Communications: command and response for every drop. The worker aloft calls "stand clear" and does not cut or drop until hearing "all clear" back.
• Emergency plan: site address posted or spoken, first aid kit and aerial rescue kit location, who calls emergency services, nearest hospital, and how a truck gets out fast.
• Stop work rule: anyone on the crew can stop work for a new hazard. When conditions change, stop, re-brief, and change the plan before cutting resumes.

Each worker confirms their role back. A briefing nobody can repeat back did not happen.

5. Run the work to the briefing

• Inspect before use: climbing lines, saddles, carabiners, rigging lines, blocks, friction device, saws, chipper guards and emergency stop, lift inspection and outrigger pads. Pull damaged gear out of service on the spot.
• PPE for everyone on site: head protection to ANSI Z89.1, eye protection to ANSI Z87.1, hearing protection around saws and chippers (required above an 85 dBA 8 hour average under Z133), chainsaw leg protection for ground saw work, close fitting clothing at the chipper, no gauntlet gloves while feeding brush.
• Electrical rule with no exceptions for regular crews: treat every overhead line and cable as energized. Unqualified workers, tools, and rigging stay at least 10 feet from energized conductors. Work inside that distance is line clearance work and goes to qualified line clearance arborists or the utility.
• Climbing: maintain tie-in at all times, use a second means of securing while cutting aloft, and inspect the tree again from the first tie-in point. Decay that changes the rigging plan means stop and re-plan.
• Rigging: work to the working load limit, never to breaking strength. Prefer positive rigging (rigging point above the piece, system preloaded) for lowering limbs. Negative rigging drops the piece before the system catches it and multiplies force, so cut smaller pieces and expect the load to be several times the static weight. See references/standards-and-safety.md.
• Chipper discipline: feed from the side of the infeed, butt end first, push small material in with a larger branch or a push paddle, never put hands or feet past the plane of the infeed hopper, walk away after feeding instead of standing in front of the machine, and shut down before clearing any jam, with the key controlled by the operator.
• Felling: notch and back cut with a hinge, a planned escape route at about 45 degrees from the fall direction, wedges or a pull line when direction is in doubt, and bystanders at least two tree lengths away.

6. Cleanup and closeout against the estimate

Cleanup is part of the sold job, not a favor at the end.

1. Work the disposal list from the estimate line by line: chips, logs, grindings, each left or hauled exactly as written.
2. Rake and blow the work area, check the roof, gutters, and planting beds in the drop zone for debris if the estimate promised it, and walk fence lines and neighbor yards for stray brush.
3. Photograph the finished site: stump or planting area, chip pile or log stack if left, and the cleaned work area. Attach to the job file with the before photos.
4. Note anything found during the job the client should know: decay worse than it looked, a second tree with a hanger, grindings volume, a utility mark that limited stump depth. Put it in writing on the invoice or a follow up note, not just in a driveway conversation.
5. Close the packet: briefing checklist signed, disposal confirmed, photos filed, invoice matches the estimate scope, and any change order (extra tree, deeper grind, added haul) documented with the client approval that happened before the extra work, not after.

Use scripts/job_packet.py to check a job file before the truck rolls. It flags missing estimate fields, an undecided disposal plan, a missing 811 ticket for stump work, and an incomplete briefing, and prints a one page packet the foreman can carry.

7. Storm response: triage first, cut second

After a storm, sort every call before scheduling cutting crews. Full triage table in references/storm-triage.md. The order is:

1. Life and wire hazards first: tree on a live line, tree on a house with people inside, tree blocking emergency access, sparking or arcing. These go to the utility or emergency services first if wires are involved. Your crew does not touch a tree in contact with an energized line.
2. Open and make safe: trees blocking driveways, doors, and streets, hangers over sidewalks and entries, split trunks and uprooted trees leaning on structures. Make safe means remove the hazard and clear access. It does not mean full cleanup in the first visit.
3. Property protection: tarping access, clearing a tree off a roof so a roofer or tarper can work, opening drainage. Coordinate, do not improvise structural work.
4. Cleanup last: downed trees in open yards with no target, brush piles, stump work, and cosmetic pruning. These wait, and the triage note should say so plainly so clients hear an honest order, not a delay excuse.

On site in storm work, expect wood under tension and compression, spring poles, hung up trees, and root plates that can roll or settle when weight comes off. Reassess after every cut. Work top down where possible, take weight off in small pieces, keep an escape route for every cut, never cut above shoulder height, and do not send a tired crew into a second shift of storm cutting. Fatigue is a triage factor, not a character test.

Output Contract

Every job produces one packet, paper or digital, containing:

• The completed estimate form per tree, with species, DBH, condition, targets with occupancy, access notes, method, and photos.
• The priced build-up (internal) and the client estimate with the disposal decisions written out and accepted.
• The 811 ticket number when stump grinding or digging is in scope, or an explicit "no digging in scope" note.
• The signed job briefing checklist naming the foreman, each crew role, drop zone, rigging plan, chipper placement, and emergency details.
• Closeout: after photos, disposal confirmation, change orders with prior client approval, and follow up notes for hazards found.

Estimates given to clients state the work in ANSI A300 terms for pruning and plain method terms for removal. No estimate names a price before the site record exists. If a client presses for a phone price, give a clearly labeled ballpark range only when company policy allows it, and state that the firm price comes after the site visit.

Operating Rules

• Quality and safety outrank schedule. A job that cannot be done safely with the crew and gear on the truck gets rescheduled or referred out, and the client hears why in plain language.
• Never invent site facts. If species, decay extent, or access was not checked, the form says "not inspected" and the price carries that open item openly.
• No topping, no lion tailing, no flush cuts, no stubs, no spikes in a tree that will be retained, no wound paint. These are ANSI A300 lines, not preferences.
• Treat all wires as energized. The 10 foot minimum approach distance for unqualified workers is a floor, not a target.
• Disposal is an estimate decision. If the client changes it on site, that is a change order, priced and approved before the work changes.
• One briefing per job, and a new briefing whenever the plan, the crew, or conditions change. The foreman owns the briefing, the whole crew owns stop work.
• Keep the packet. Packets are the training record, the insurance record, and the answer when a client or a neighbor disputes what was agreed.