Established: 1991

Location: Whanganui

Contact Name: Mary Cameron

Website: www.beavertree.co.nz

Business mission and vision:
A key goal is to grow and establish our business in new areas and to put the appropriate systems and structures in place, whereby the business can be managed independently from the ownership. The aim is to provide a professional service in each region, and to employ local arborists and apprentices. To achieve this, our focus is on providing an outstanding service to clients, whereby they are happy to refer us on to friends, family, neighbours, clubs and work colleagues. We realise as a company that average service is nowhere near enough in a competitive market, and we strive to go above and beyond client’s expectations.
Vote

“Beaver Tree Service are expert arborists who specialise in tree removal, tree trimming, hedge trimming, tree pruning, stump grinding and removal.
Our arborists are trained professionals, we provide free tree appraisals and quotes and guarantee 100% satisfaction for our tree pruning, tree removal, stump grinding and other services – which carry full insurance cover. Health and safety is part of our DNA, and we are fully compliant with all practices and legislation.”

Exceptional customer service and high-quality work. We pride ourselves on completing each and every job to an incredibly high standard, and will not send an invoice until we have spoken with the client and confirmed they are happy with the work done.
We specialize in difficult tree removal, places where you can’t take trucks or cranes – so it’s all manual. Our Beaver Tree arborists are trained climbers who are also dedicated to bringing through the next generation of climbers, putting their skill and experience into the apprentices (a specific area of focus for our business given the current climate).

2011 Business Action Coaching Awards Worldwide – Winner Best Small Business under 50 Employees

2018 Whanganui Chamber of Commerce Regional Business Awards – winners of the Ministry of Social Development Te Manatu Whakahiato Ora Small Business Award

2018 Whanganui Chamber of Commerce Regional Business Awards – Highly commended for the Confluence Professional Services Award

Initially to allow the freedom of choosing the times that we work as business owners, but as the business has grown this has morphed into being able to offer a stable work environment to our employees, to mentor and train the young people who come on board as apprentices and to give back to the communities in which we work.

Staffing would be our single biggest issue, especially given the COVID-19 climate. The arboriculture industry as a whole is very transient and with the border closures and working visa’s not being processed, we find it very difficult to find staff. Arborists have (over the last ten years) moved a lot in the direction of being self-employed ‘contractors’ rather than ’employees’. This is one of the main reasons we have a strong focus on training young apprentices and working in conjunction with secondary schools and Primary ITO to attract and develop young people coming through, as well as ensuring our qualified arborists are signed off as workplace assessors. We also need to ensure that we nurture the culture within our company to create an environment in which these young apprentices want to stay.

As with many businesses the Level 4 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 had a significant impact on our business.

Whilst we were unable to work on clients’ trees, our hardworking office staff kept things moving by contacting any clients impacted, rebooking when they could and helping to implement the new health and safety protocols that allowed us to get moving again at level 3. Our arboriculture crews were quick to adapt and while it wasn’t quite business as usual, we made the ‘new normal’ work for us.

Without the right team, their loyalty and dedication, we would not have weathered the continuing Covid-19 storm as well as we have.

If you give up as soon things become difficult your business will never take off. Using difficult situations as opportunities to learn has helped us to develop a strong and enduring business, a business that has continued to evolve and expand.

We also believe in ‘making hay while the sun shines’ a philosophy which has helped us to build up resources to fall back on. When hard times, like the lockdowns, have happened our business has survived.

Winning a worldwide award for the best small business under 50 staff members was a success that we are very proud of. The award was presented in Los Angeles where we travelled to and went up on stage to receive the award. The news item was also covered by TVNZ and gave us some fantastic exposure.

The fact that we can run businesses in Christchurch, Wellington, Kapiti Coast, Palmerston North, Whanganui and Taupo while our home base and main office is located in Whanganui. We have a great team of people around us who all work together to create a seamless flow between our arboriculture crew that is out undertaking the work and our office-based team who handle all of the client phone calls and account work.

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We use a number of contract climbers in various areas as well as specialized traffic management contractors so that we can focus on what it is we do best, and that is climbing trees.

From the start we realized it is hard to employ qualified arborists, so we’ve changed our focus and regularly employ people who show initiative and are keen to kick start a career in Arboriculture. We enrol them in an Arboriculture Apprenticeship with Primary ITO. Bryce has 30 years’ experience as an arborist, and has always been keen to pass on his knowledge.
Bryce has also reactivated his enrolment as a Primary ITO registered assessor so that he can sign off units obtained through on the job training. We also have a number of our senior arborists who have completed the assessor papers with Primary ITO and are also registered assessors. Having someone like Bryce as a trainer and mentor has had a huge impact on the young people who are hungry to learn, and comfortable asking questions. We are finding that our apprentices quite often go and practice in their own time and on weekends, as they have a love for climbing being instilled in them from their peers. Bryce also generally spends one day per week instructing the apprentices in everything it takes to become a specialist arborist – planting, maintenance, machinery, climbing and tree identification. As our team strengthens with qualified staff coming on board, skills and knowledge are passed through the whole team with different skill bases available to draw on. Due to this our team is becoming more efficient and experienced with every day that passes.
First Aid training is out sourced through Red Cross and we ensure that we have a first aid trained employee on each crew
Pro Climb in Auckland are also contracted in to provide in house training for our employees around aerial rescue, and new climbing techniques as they specialize in the use of the latest products and equipment which as you can imagine is changing and evolving all of the time.
With a focus on creating and maintaining a positive culture, we strive to make sure everyone feels included and part of the team. We are happy to provide an environment where by everyone feels they can extend themselves and grow in some capacity.

We have 99 5 star reviews across our 4 regions (Christchurch, Wellington, Manawatu and Taupo) on Google. We also have a further 54 5 star reviews on Facebook.
Our clients are very happy with our work and frequently recommend us to friends and family. Below are some of the reviews posted in the last 3 months:
Second time I have used Beaver Tree Services – excellent work, very professional – I would highly recommend them. – Kenneth Gibbons, Levin
They did a great job, happy with the service and would recommend 🙂 – Kevin Kilmartin, Palmerston North
Thoroughly recommend Beaver tree tree services. On time great results on really good clean-up. Very happy with their work. – Murray & Clare Adams, Wellington
Had these guys around to trim dead wood and clean up a couple of our trees. I can’t overstate how satisfied I am with the job they did. Pros: * They were prompt, arriving exactly when they said they would * Fairly priced. * Did a great job tidying up the trees, only removing what was needed and not missing anything. * Cleaned up all the debris * They were friendly people who got stuck in. Cons: They’ve retroactively made me dissatisfied with previous arborists I’ve used. – Nevin McLeod, Wellington
Would highly recommend. Great communication and service, very happy with the finished result. – Michelle Pilcher, Lower Hutt
The team did a really marvellous job despite the weather earlier in the day. They worked hard and cheerfully and finished well ahead of time which gave us an unexpected credit on our account. Full marks all round for cheerfulness, willing to go the extra mile and even blowing the neighbour’s lawn of any rubbish. We will certainly recommend you to all our friends. Thank you for a great experience. – Carole Ralph, Waikanae
We had several trees overhanging our house and we were really pleased with the way Mica and his two workers carried out the job. They were very nice guys and left us with some logs ready for splitting, chipped the rest and cleaned up leaving our property as they found it. – Keith Levy, Lower Hutt
Could not fault the service they provided and would recommend them to anyone. – John Smith, Christchurch
Very professional. Great to deal with. Tree looks good. Would recommend. – Margaret Beck, Taupo
The whole experience was just quick and easy. Once they were able to visit for the quote(delayed for Lockdown) everything happened very fast. Good communication and an excellent job done. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to others. – Paul Townsend, Marton
Return customer and can’t recommend enough. Great service and guys did an excellent job. Tidy up afterwards had yard looking better then when they started! A++ – Krystal Barraud, Upper Hutt
Absolutely top class with communication just before and during Level 4, very quick to quote and get the job done in Level 3. Very skilled at what they do, no doubt will be using them again. – Kate Wills, Taupo

Pride in the team that we have put together and the service level that we are able to bring to our clients.

Independence and flexibility knowing that we can take a week off work and go away and the systems, processes and employees that we have enable our business to keep operating with out us in it.

The challenge of being in business and no two days are the same, and the continual learning that is involved.

Being able to ‘give back’ to the community and support various organizations that I would not necessarily be able to do if I were working for someone else.

Help Us Help Them was an idea conceived by Beaver Tree Service’s owners, Bryce Robb and Mary Cameron during the first level 4 lockdown of 2020. Mar

“When Level 3 was announced and we were told we could start working again, we thought well that’s good news for us, but what about all the other local businesses that are struggling to keep afloat. A lot of our good friends are small business owners and we could see how they were struggling, so we wanted to Help them! – Help us, help them!”

“We wanted to ensure others could benefit too by using our services. When they accepted a quote for tree work, we would give a $50 voucher to the client, that we would purchase from another local business that was not so fortunate to be opening yet” Mary says “it was the client’s own choice, who and where they wanted to spend their $50 voucher once level 2 comes into play and/or the business could open.”

The concept caught on quickly, the Beaver Tree Service team were out doing the work they love, home owners were getting their tree problems sorted, and dozens of businesses still not open, were getting some cash flowing in.

To celebrate Arbor Day in 2021 we donated trees and time to 3 schools in Manawatu, Taupo and Christchurch. We gave them the choice of native or fruit trees and made sure that there was a minimum of one tree per class at each school. Some of our arborists then had the opportunity to visit the schools and help with the planting.

We also assisted Greening Taupo with some tree work as part of our Arbor Day celebrations.

Beaver Tree Service is also proud to sponsor local clubs like the Whanganui Boys and Girls Gym Club.

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