For HOA and POA boards
No surprise assessments from the trees.
One written plan puts health care, pruning and removals on one predictable budget line.
“Just trying to cut costs with this unexpected expense.. we are a small community compared to the other neighborhoods he does.”
What boards deal with
Dues, assessments and the palms at the entrance.
A surprise expense.
A palm loss, a storm or an unplanned removal, and the board has to explain it at the next meeting.
One member sees it. The board decides.
You need something the whole board can read in five minutes.
Bids that do not compare.
Three vendors, three scopes. Without a written standard, the lowest bid is often just the smallest job.
The Palm and Tree Master Plan
One written plan, 10 years.
We plan your palms and trees the way a well-run city plans its urban forest. Every palm and tree is mapped and counted. Each kind of work has a written standard. The budget is built from the counts, year by year, and safety comes first. Cities fund tree care to a floor and add where it matters most. Your plan does the same, at three levels.
Then we fit it to your community. A city manages street trees. Your residents live with these palms and trees every day: at the entrance, around the clubhouse and pool, along the lakes, behind every home. So the plan adds what a community needs. Palm care built for Southwest Florida, from Sabals to Phoenix palms to lethal bronzing. A level your board picks for each program. A budget it can take to a vote. And one point of contact who knows your property tree by tree.
The floor
Where most start- Safety, clearance, inspection, and the work that prevents losses.
- Every palm on Monitor, with a canopy look 4 visits a year. A look at every tree.
- Every palm pruned once a year, November to March.
- Anything seen is escalated. A lab test before any disease call.
Protect what matters
What we recommend for most- Everything in the floor.
- Preventive care on the high-value and high-visibility palms and trees.
- 4 visits a year, with a target of 80% Normal.
- Each palm pruned in its best months.
- Every new tree gets 2 years on the establishment schedule.
Full program
Protect what matters, backed by PPQ- Everything in Protect what matters.
- 6 visits a year, with a target of 90% Normal.
- The arborist writes every tree’s prescription and checks the work.
- Sterilized handsaws on every palm.
Each level keeps everything below it. Normal targets are management targets, not a guarantee. The budget is an estimate for each year, built from the counts.
Your board’s year
From the first walk to next year’s budget.
Most boards set next year’s budget in the fall, so the plan should reach your manager by late summer.
- 01Spring: walk and count
We map every palm and tree on the property.
- 02Summer: the plan
The work ranked by risk and value, phased across years, with the budget by year.
- 03Fall: the board meeting
We present the plan. Your manager hands out the one-page brief.
- 04The new year: the work starts
We date the agreement to your fiscal year and report after every visit.
In your words
What people in your seat write to us, and what we do about it.
“Just trying to cut costs with this unexpected expense.. we are a small community compared to the other neighborhoods he does.”
“Unfortunately I don’t make the final decision I just push for what I want.”
What we do about itYour manager hands out the one-page brief, and we present the plan to the board.
“I agree with getting a second quote/opinion.”
What we do about itOur plans are written so any crew can bid the same work, and every invoice can be checked against it.
From emails our clients and prospects have sent us, word for word. Names, companies and places are removed.
What the plan covers
Health care, pruning and removals. One plan, one team.
Health care
Monitor, Manage, Protect- Every palm and tree mapped in our GIS inventory. Size, condition grades and photos are added by service.
- Scheduled inspections: 4 a year for communities and commercial sites, 6 for homes.
Pruning
Palms and trees, to a written standard- Palm pruning to the 9-and-3 standard, timed by species.
- Seed pods and fruit taken before they drop, on a named schedule.
Removals
Planned, documented, permitted- No removal without a certified arborist’s written determination.
- Removals planned by size class, so they sit in the budget, not in an emergency.
See all 15 items in the plan
Health care
- Every palm and tree mapped in our GIS inventory. Size, condition grades and photos are added by service.
- Scheduled inspections: 4 a year for communities and commercial sites, 6 for homes.
- Nutrition and protection by tier (Monitor, Standard, Advanced), palm by palm.
- Watching for more than twenty pests, diseases and disorders at every visit.
- A lab test before any disease call. Lab fees pass through at cost.
Pruning
- Palm pruning to the 9-and-3 standard, timed by species.
- Seed pods and fruit taken before they drop, on a named schedule.
- Sterilized handsaws where Fusarium wilt is a risk.
- Tree pruning by written prescription to ANSI A300. No canopy lifted where nothing needs clearance.
- Structural training on young trees, so storms do less damage later.
Removals
- No removal without a certified arborist’s written determination.
- Removals planned by size class, so they sit in the budget, not in an emergency.
- Stump grinding, with a Sunshine 811 ticket placed before any digging.
- A tree risk assessment (TRAQ) behind any risk call, ready for a county permit.
- Storm response with every tree assessed by number.
“These kinds of visits are not free, but they’re included in your management plan.” Jeff Kaulbars, ISA Certified Arborist
A neighbor stops you at the mailbox about a conk at the base of a palm. Without a plan, finding out is a billed field visit: the trip, the look and the write-up.
On a plan, you do not need to know the answer. Your manager asks us, the palm is already in the record, and the answer starts from the record, not from a new site visit. If a visit is needed, it is already covered.
How it fits your budget
Fit the plan to the budget you have.
“By having the plan in place, we can typically fall into their budgets.” The plan starts with what matters most and grows as the budget allows.
- Start at the floor: inspection, safety and clearance. Add care where it matters most.
- Pruning and removals phased across budget years.
- Any price change noticed by August 1, before most boards adopt next year’s budget.
- In a typical treatment program, it takes about 20 to 30 years before treatment costs as much as replacing one tree.
Questions
Questions boards ask
Will a plan keep our assessments from going up?
No one can promise that. A plan takes the surprises out: problems are caught early, pruning and removals are scheduled by budget year, and the number is known before the budget is set.
Can we take the cheaper palms off the plan?
Often. Low-risk palms can stay at Monitor, inspection only, while the high-risk palms move up. We do not recommend dropping palms that host a fatal disease.
We already have a landscaper. Why add you?
Landscape maintenance covers up to about 12 feet. Nobody in that contract is responsible for palm health. We are, with pruning and removals in the same plan.
Will residents know when crews are coming?
Yes. The manager gets a section-by-section schedule to share, and residents get notice before crews arrive.
Who decides when a tree comes out?
A certified arborist writes the reason before any removal. The board approves.
Before budget season