Herring The most common reason anyone books a tree inspection is that a homebuyer’s survey has mentioned a tree, and now a sale is sitting on it. It is an unnerving moment, and in the great majority of cases it turns out to be a great deal less serious than it reads.
Trees on a development site are a different subject with different rules, and our article on tree surveys for new developments covers that. This page is about an ordinary house with an ordinary large tree beside it.
What a Survey Is Actually Flagging
A surveyor is not usually saying the tree is dangerous. They are usually noting that a tree of that size, that species, at that distance, is a factor a lender or an insurer might want considered.
The things that go into that judgement are the species and how much water it draws, the distance from the building relative to the tree’s mature height, the soil, the age and depth of the foundations, and whether there is any actual evidence of movement in the building.
The last one is the one that matters most and is the one people skip past. A large tree near a house with no cracking, no sticking doors and no history of movement is a very different situation from the same tree beside a building that is already showing signs.
Soil Is Half the Answer
The mechanism people worry about is a tree drawing moisture out of shrinkable clay soil, the clay shrinking, and the ground under a shallow foundation moving with it.
That requires the clay. On a soil that does not shrink appreciably, the same tree at the same distance simply does not present the same issue. Soil varies a great deal across Nottingham and the county, and it is worth establishing what is under the property before anyone panics.
It also cuts the other way, and this surprises people: on shrinkable clay, removing a mature tree that has been drawing water for decades can allow the ground to swell back and cause movement of its own. Taking the tree out is not automatically the safe option. That is a question for a structural engineer, not a tree surgeon, and we will tell you so.
What Our Inspection Covers
A visual assessment from the ground, and from within the crown where that is warranted.
We look at the base and root plate for lifting, cracking, cavities and fungal fruiting bodies; the stem for wounds, included bark and cracks; the main unions, where large limbs most often fail; and the crown for dieback, deadwood, imbalance and previous poor pruning. We also check whether the tree is protected by a Tree Preservation Order or sits in a conservation area, because that changes what anyone can do about it.
You get it in writing: what was found, what it means, and what — if anything — we would recommend. The most common recommendation is a bit of routine work and a look again in a few years.
What It Cannot Tell You
Worth being blunt about, because this part tends to get glossed over.
No visual inspection can see inside a stem. A tree can be substantially hollow and look entirely normal from outside. Where there is reason to suspect internal decay, that needs decay-detection equipment and a consultant, and if we think you have reached that point we will say so rather than pretend a look from the ground settled it.
We are also not structural engineers. We can tell you about the tree. We cannot tell you what is happening to your foundations, and any tree surgeon who offers to is going beyond what they can actually know.
And nobody can guarantee a tree will not fail. What an inspection does is put you in the position of having taken reasonable, documented care, which is the standard that actually applies to a landowner.
If You Are Selling
Getting the tree looked at before you market the property is usually cheaper than getting it looked at during a negotiation.
A written assessment in the pack takes the question off the table before a buyer’s surveyor can turn it into a renegotiation. And if the tree does need something doing, doing it on your own timetable costs less than doing it under pressure with a completion date moving.
The same applies to a protected tree. Knowing it carries a Tree Preservation Order, and being able to say so, is far better than a buyer discovering it.
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