Tree Surveys for Facilities Management, Grounds Contractors & Managing Agents
If you hold a grounds or total facilities contract, the trees on those sites are your responsibility — but tree survey and risk assessment work sits outside most contractors' competence, qualifications and insurance.
Urban Tree Management works as the arboricultural partner to facilities management companies, grounds maintenance contractors and managing agents across the North West and nationally. We deliver the tree survey element of your contracts to your programme, under your project management, and where required under your brand.
Where the Problem Usually Arises
A grounds contract is won covering a school estate, a hospital site, a care group or a commercial portfolio. The specification includes the grounds. Somewhere in it, often in a single line, sits a requirement for tree inspection.
Then a client asks for the tree safety records. Or a storm brings a limb down. Or an insurer asks who inspected the trees and when, and to what standard.
At that point three things have to be true: the inspection must have been carried out by someone qualified to do it, the records must be defensible, and the person who did the work must carry appropriate professional indemnity cover. A grounds team, however experienced, does not meet that test — and neither does a report written by someone without a recognised tree inspection qualification.
That is the point at which contractors either turn the work down, or subcontract it. We are who they subcontract it to.
How We Work With Contractors and Agents
- Your client relationship stays yours. We do not approach your clients — before, during or after an instruction. We deliver to you, we invoice you, and we have no contact with your client unless you ask us to.
- White-label where you want it. Reports, schedules and plans can be issued under your title block and your branding, in your format. Your client sees your document.
- Your programme, not ours. Deadlines are agreed at instruction and met. If you are working to a contract milestone or a client reporting date, tell us at the outset.
- Volume without management overhead. Multi-site instructions are delivered to one consistent methodology across every site, with consolidated reporting, so you are not coordinating a survey programme yourself.
- Compliance covered. We hold our own Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance, Enhanced DBS clearance for school and healthcare sites, and full RAMS. Your client's compliance requirements are met without you carrying the exposure.
- One point of contact. The consultant who attends site writes the report and answers the phone. No account managers, no handovers.
What We Deliver
- Tree condition and risk surveys — QTRA-based inspection to meet the duty of care obligation in your contract, with prioritised works schedules your teams or subcontractors can price against.
- Cyclical inspection programmes — rolling reinspection across a portfolio, with dates tracked and flagged ahead of time so nothing lapses on your watch.
- Tree risk management plans and policy — where a client needs the system above the surveys: zoning, intervals, responsibilities, escalation.
- Specialist decay detection — Arbotom sonic tomography, Rinntech Resistograph R650, ArboStApp, ArWiLo and ArboRadix, held in-house rather than subcontracted on again.
- Aerial and climbing inspections — where a defect sits high in the crown.
- BS5837 surveys and planning packages — where a site your client owns is being developed or extended.
- Post-storm and reactive assessment — rapid response where a failure has occurred or an urgent concern is raised.
Why Contractors Use Us Rather Than a Larger Firm
Two reasons, and they are the same reason from different angles.
The first is competence. Diagnostic capability of this depth is rare — the full Rinntech suite in-house, and training under Frank Rinn himself. Most consultancies subcontract their decay detection; some of them subcontract it to us. So when a difficult tree turns up on one of your sites, it does not get passed further down a chain.
The second is that we carry out no tree works at all. We are consultancy only. That means no conflict with your operations team, no competing for the works we specify, and no risk of your client being approached about the tree surgery. The specification comes to you, and what happens next is your business.
Who We Work For
We deliver subcontract survey work for facilities management companies, grounds maintenance contractors, landscape contractors, managing agents and property management companies — covering school and academy trust estates, healthcare and care home portfolios, commercial and business park estates, housing association stock, and public and civic sites.
Our own direct client base spans exactly the same sectors, which means we understand what your client is being asked to demonstrate and what a defensible record looks like when it is examined.
Coverage and Capacity
Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside as standard, extending to Yorkshire and North Wales, and nationally on multi-site programmes.
Where you have won more than you can deliver, or a contract has landed with a tree obligation you had not resourced, tell us the deadline at enquiry. Short-notice instructions are frequently accommodated — it is better to ask than to hand back work you have already won.
FAQ
Do you work as a subcontractor?
Yes. A significant part of our work is delivered for facilities management companies, grounds contractors, managing agents and other consultancies, under their project management.
Will you approach our client directly?
No. Your client relationship is yours. We deliver to you, invoice you, and have no contact with your client unless you specifically ask us to.
Can reports be issued under our branding?
Yes. Reports, schedules and plans can be supplied in your format under your title block for you to issue as your own document.
Our grounds team already inspects the trees — is that enough?
For informal observation, it has value. For a defensible duty of care record it generally does not. Formal inspection should be carried out by someone with a recognised tree inspection qualification, appropriate experience, and professional indemnity cover for the advice given. That is the standard an insurer or a court will apply after an incident.
Can you cover multiple sites under one instruction?
Yes. Multi-site programmes are delivered to a single consistent methodology and reporting format across every site, with consolidated reporting so the portfolio can be read as a whole.
Do you carry your own insurance and DBS?
Yes. Professional Indemnity and Public Liability cover, Enhanced DBS clearance for school and healthcare sites, and full risk assessments and method statements available on request.
What if a survey identifies works — do you compete for them?
No. We are a consultancy only and carry out no tree works of any kind. The works specification comes to you and what happens next is entirely your decision.
How quickly can you attend?
Standard instructions are usually scheduled within a few working days. Where a contract milestone or client deadline applies, tell us at enquiry and we will confirm dates before you commit to your client.
Arboricultural Support for Contractors — North West & Nationwide
If tree survey work is sitting in a contract you hold and you need a qualified partner to deliver it — discreetly, to your programme, and under your brand — get in touch to discuss rates and availability.
