We had a massive (68″ diameter at the base) and very old oak tree in back of, and fairly close to our house. We’d been keeping an eye on it for years. Last year, gypsy moth caterpillars skinned it and this season there were no signs of life. It had a definite lean toward our house so we decided we’d better get it down before a storm takes it down, dropping it on us and the house.

However, access to the tree through our yard was very limited. And we had rhododendrons and a large garden adjacent to and underneath the tree, and we wanted to avoid damaging those. On top of that, the only access to the tree across our yard would involve driving over the area of our yard where our leach field was located.

To get the job done, Eric’s crew arrived with a huge 127′ crane, chipper, and dump truck. There were 6 crew members. Two crew members handled taking the tree down; one up in the tree, the other going aloft on the crane cable to attach limbs and tree sections to the crane so they could be lowered to the ground. There were three men in the ground crew, two taking away and chipping the brush, and one who cut the dropped pieces of the tree to length for me. And there was the crane operator.

The crew proceeded very carefully. They were fastidious in using plywood sheets underneath the wheels of the crane to minimize damage to the yard from the crane. They discussed with each other how best to tackle the job and where to position the crane. The crane operator was very careful in moving in and positioning this unusually large piece of equipment in our yard. I was impressed with the care he took to make sure that the crane was properly positioned, leveled and supported before allowing the job to proceed.

I was absolutely amazed at the skill of both the guys who did the work up in the tree and the crane operator. The drop area for the wood was very small and he did a remarkable job of lowering some enormous portions of the tree to the ground in the drop area without damaging our rhododendrons or other nearby trees, flowers and shrubs. Incredible. The tree is down without damaging the nearby garden, shrubs or other trees.

All said, I thought Eric’s crew did an outstanding job. They were professional, friendly and courteous, and incredibly competent. They worked extremely well with one another, effectively communicating with each other and closely coordinating their different activities. Bravo! This was a very difficult job and I really was concerned about anyone’s ability to do it safely and without destroying our yard. After seeing Eric’s crew at work I am a believer. I will be having them out again to do some additional tree work for me (nothing as hairy as that big old oak).

If you have tree work, especially if it is a tough job like mine was, these are the guys you want to have do it.