I finally got yelled at by a client for saving a tree

Had a job last spring up in Portland where this lady wanted me to remove a big old oak because she thought it was dying. I climbed up to check it out and saw it was just covered in ivy and had a few dead branches. Spent 20 minutes explaining how clearing the ivy and a prune would save it. She got mad and said I was just trying to upsell her and stomped off inside. Has anyone else had a customer get mad at you for actually trying to help their tree?

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noahw532mo ago

Oh man that's wild. I used to be that guy honestly, like five years ago I probably would have just ripped the tree out and moved on thinking I was being efficient. But then I had this old maple on my own property that looked half dead and all it needed was some serious ivy removal and a good prune and it came back like crazy the next year. That experience totally changed my thinking and now I get why someone would fight for the tree instead of just taking the easy job and the money. You did the right thing trying to save it even if she didn't see it that way.

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riley5172mo ago

My neighbor Gary had a beech tree that was leaning real bad after a storm and he was ready to chop it down. I told him to wait a week and we spent a Saturday digging around the roots and bracing it with some old fence posts and cable. It looked like heck for a solid month but then it just woke up and now that thing is the only shade on his whole street. Point is, people give up on stuff way too fast and sometimes all it takes is a little patience and some stubbornness. Glad you saw that with the maple and went against the easy payday.

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