Grounds Maintenance - How to Budget Smartly

Through our consultation with property managers and HOA boards, we at Pro Arbor are learning some things about the challenges of grounds maintenance. Of particular interest is the challenge of knowing how the budget will be allocated at the beginning of any given fiscal year. The glaring problem at nearly all properties is that there has not been any kind of assessment of needs with regard to the larger trees on site. Instead, the budget is set based on an historical account of how much money has been spent previously. The problem with this approach is that there is no real definition of tasks to be performed. This leads to highly inefficient spending in the area of tree care. Perhaps worse than that, some of the more urgent matters are passed over due to an unnecessary use of resources. Simply put, the budget gets spent on matters of lesser importance while hazardous situations are left untouched until disaster strikes. Most of the fallen trees that we clean up could have been prevented by a simple arboreal assessment.

For our HOA clients, we offer complete arboreal assessments of all trees on the common property of a community. Included in this assessment is the health and potential hazards of all trees in a community. From this assessment, we are able develop a strategy to handle all tree issues in the order of their importance. Our clients are finding that this takes much of the guesswork out of budgeting for grounds maintenance. With this kind of strategy a community does not have to face the choice of either going over budget or leaving a hazardous tree removal situation unattended.

When it comes to tree hazards in community grounds maintenance, there is really no question about whether or not certain tasks will be done. Since some tasks are performed in order to spare injury or property damage, they will certainly be done. The question is when will they be done? So priorities must be established. Establishing the priority level of tree issues becomes a simple matter when an arborist is employed.