Retained Tree Management — Annual Tree Care Contracts
Urban Tree Management provides annual tree management contracts for organisations with an ongoing responsibility for trees — schools, care homes, historic estates, housing associations, and commercial property portfolios across the North West and nationally.
Rather than commissioning each survey separately, a retained tree management contract keeps your whole tree stock on a managed programme with one point of contact, fixed annual budgeting, and continuous duty of care compliance.
What Is a Tree Management Contract?
A tree management contract — also called a retained tree management service — is an ongoing annual agreement where we look after your trees across one or more sites on a rolling programme. Instead of arranging a new tree survey every time one is due, you have a single arrangement that covers your inspections, tracks when each is due, responds to storm damage, and gives you arboricultural advice whenever you need it — all for a predictable annual fee.
It suits any organisation that owns or manages trees and has a legal duty to keep them safe — particularly schools, care homes, estates, and commercial property managers.
Why a Tree Management Contract?
Managing trees responsibly is an ongoing legal duty under the Occupiers' Liability Acts. A retained contract turns that duty into a simple, predictable, hands-off programme:
- Fixed annual budgeting — you know your tree management cost for the year in advance, with no unexpected invoices. For schools, trusts, and care groups on set budgets, this predictability is often worth more than the lowest per-survey price.
- Nothing lapses — we track every reinspection date across every site and contact you ahead of it, so your records stay current and your compliance never slips.
- One point of contact — the same consultant who knows your sites, your trees, and your history, every time.
- Expertise on tap — ongoing telephone and email advice as tree questions arise through the year, without commissioning a new job each time.
What a Contract Includes
A rolling programme of cyclical tree inspections across all your sites
- Reinspection intervals set on a risk basis — 12 or 24 months per site, in line with NTSG guidance
- Tracked reinspection dates, managed by us
- Priority response for storm damage and urgent safety concerns
- Ongoing telephone and email arboricultural advice
- Annual reporting suitable for audits, insurers and governance records
- Works specifications written so contractors can price like-for-like
- Priority access to our full specialist capability —
decay detection,
veteran tree management, and
BS5837 planning support — at agreed retained rates
Contract Options
Essential — a single site on a cyclical programme with priority response and advice on tap. Ideal for a single school, care home, or estate.
Portfolio — multiple sites managed as one rolling programme, with one contact, one annual fee, and consolidated reporting. Scales as sites are added — ideal for academy trusts, care groups, and housing portfolios.
Retained Consultant — a full "tree consultant on call" service, adding an allowance of ad-hoc site visits, TPO and planning advice, and priority access to our availability. Ideal for larger estates and managing agents who want arboricultural expertise on tap without employing an in-house arboriculturist.
Every contract is quoted individually based on your sites, tree numbers, and inspection frequency. Contact us to discuss the right arrangement for your portfolio.
Where You Want Us To, We Take It Further
Most estates and organisations do not want a survey. They want the trees sorted — assessed, the necessary work identified, the work done properly, and a record that it was. For clients who would rather not manage a contractor themselves, we provide that as a single route.
The survey establishes what needs doing and what does not. We write the specification to BS3998 so any competent contractor can price it accurately. We obtain competitive quotes on your behalf, and we check the completed work against the specification before you pay for it.
You get one point of contact from start to finish, a specification that stops the contractor deciding what "reduce" means, and the assurance that the work you paid for is the work that was done.
This is an option, not a condition of the retainer. Where you prefer to appoint and manage your own contractor, the specification is yours to take wherever you choose. Either way, we carry out no works ourselves and take no commission from anyone who does — the quotes go to you, the choice is yours, and we have no arrangement with any contractor that would influence which one we recommend.
Churches and Churchyards
Churchyard trees sit on their own cycle. Diocesan regulations generally expect mature churchyard trees to be inspected in step with the quinquennial inspection, with the tree report annexed to the QI, and this is obligatory where a tree carries a Tree Preservation Order.
In practice we usually recommend a shorter interval. Churchyards combine mature and often ancient trees with public access, footpaths and memorials beneath them, and five years is a long gap for a declining tree. Most of the churchyards we hold are inspected every two years, with the report available to annex to the quinquennial when it falls due.
That makes churchyards a natural fit for a retainer. We hold the inspection date, contact the PCC ahead of it, and where works are proposed the report provides the arboricultural evidence needed for a faculty application or archdeacon's permission under List B. Churchyards also hold some of the oldest trees in the country — ancient yews in particular — and our in-house decay detection means a veteran churchyard tree is assessed on evidence rather than removed as a precaution.
Independent, Always
As independent consultants with no financial interest in tree works, every recommendation we make under your retainer is based purely on what genuinely reduces risk — never on selling works. This protects your budget as well as your duty of care, and gives you objective, defensible advice you can rely on year after year.
FAQ
What is a tree management contract?
An ongoing annual agreement where we manage your trees across one or more sites — cyclical inspections, tracked reinspection dates, priority response, and advice on tap — for a predictable annual fee. Also known as retained tree management.
Who are tree management contracts for?
Any organisation with an ongoing duty to manage trees — schools and academy trusts, care homes and care groups, historic estates, housing associations, and commercial property managers.
How is a tree management contract priced?
Each contract is quoted individually based on the number of sites, tree numbers, inspection frequency, and level of support. You receive a fixed annual figure agreed in advance.
How often are trees inspected under a retainer?
Reinspection intervals are set on a risk basis — typically 12 or 24 months per site depending on tree condition, site use, and occupancy — in line with National Tree Safety Group guidance.
Can you arrange the tree works as well as the survey?
We can manage them where you want us to. We write the specification, obtain competitive quotes from contractors we know to be capable, and check the completed work before you pay. We carry out no works ourselves and take no commission from the contractor, so the specification and the sign-off are independent of who does the job.
Is a retainer better value than one-off surveys?
A retainer gives you predictable annual budgeting, tracked compliance, and advice on tap — which most estate and facilities clients value more than marginal per-survey savings. You never risk a lapsed reinspection or an unexpected bill.
Tree Management Contracts — Schools, Care Homes, Estates & Portfolios
Keep your entire tree stock on a managed programme with one consultant, one point of contact, and one predictable annual budget. Urban Tree Management provides retained tree management contracts across the North West and nationally — independent, Level 6 qualified, and completely independent from any tree surgery contractor.
Get in contact with our highly experienced and personable team of arboricultural consultants today, to discuss your requirements and to obtain your zero obligation quotation.
