Tree Care: 7 Steps for Subcontracting Success

Building a house is an incredibly complicated job because the timing of all of the different building contractors has to be just perfect. The dry wall hanger can’t show up before the electricity is done, for example.

Imagine, then, the difficulty of organizing and executing a huge, multi-million dollar commercial landscape project with dozens of subcontractors. That’s why large projects often have snags.

What typically sours contractor and subcontractor relationships? Poor communication, according to Chris Klimas, mid-Atlantic operations manager for The Davey Tree Expert Co., Kent, Ohio. "If important data is missing, we can still figure out what needs to be done and do a great job, but the customer can be unsatisfied because they were left in the dark," says Klimas, who regularly acts as a subcontractor performing tree-specific work for general contractors.

That said, Davey Tree’s Klimas and Dan Nihiser, Davey’s Great Lakes region operations manager, recommend these seven tips for making your next tree-specific subcontracting experience successful:

1. Give clear specifications. "Lots of times, landscape contractors say ‘We want these trees moved, trimmed, etc.,’" Nihiser says. "It’s better if the contractor provides the section of the bid that shows the specifications. Then we know more details and can bid appropriately."

"Providing copies of the bid specifications is absolutely crucial," Klimas says. "That way we know exactly what the client is expecting and not what the contractor is interpreting."

2. Use qualified, licensed subcontractors. "Contractors should make sure they’re dealing with certified arborists or people with certifications appropriate to the specific job," Nihiser advises. "Those certifications should be documented and available to contractors."

3. Give the subcontractor a reasonable amount of time to prepare the proposal. "Often we’ll get a call the day before a bid is due, and it’s difficult to give an accurate proposal on such short deadlines," Nihiser points out.

4. Be prepared to cooperate with subcontractors so they can get the job done in a timely manner. "If the subcontractor has to prune trees and preliminary work is to be done, make sure that work is done before the subcontractor gets there," Nihiser says.

"We need to know who’s responsible for what on the site," Klimas adds. "On government work, we often have multiple contractors, which means we have multiple relationships. I’ve been on a job where I’m the subcontractor of a subcontractor, and I have a subcontractor. That can really confuse who’s responsible for what."

5. Explain insurance requirements and safety regulations. "Most bids have insurance certificates that need to be issued and filed," Klimas explains. "Often the contractor fails to tell us this, which holds up the paperwork and billing."

6. Be prepared to pay the subcontractor once their portion of the work is finished and inspected. "Often we get the work done and we send our bill to the contractor, only to be informed that we’ll get paid when the project is finished, which may be 12 months from when we finished," Klimas says. "Contractors should be prepared to pay once the subcontractor is done."

Additionally, Klimas notes that providing the subcontractor with the correct payment information saves headaches. "We need to know how we are supposed to bill for the job, including whether or not we have to reference a job or billing code," he says. "We’ve often had to cancel an invoice and re-issue it because we’ve billed the wrong person or billed them on the wrong dates."

7. Hold weekly or monthly progress meetings. "These regular meetings help to keep the communication lines open," Klimas says.

The author is communications specialist at The Davey Tree Expert Co., Kent, Ohio, and can be reached at jlennox@davey.com.