TreeBossPro Blog — Scheduling

Scheduling Tree Consults and Estimate Visits Without Losing Crew Days

Every tree job starts with someone looking at the tree. In small companies that is the owner, squeezing estimates between running crews and answering the phone. As the company grows it might be a dedicated estimator or a consulting arborist. Either way, consults take real time, and scheduling them badly costs you crew days, sales, or both.

Consults Create Everything Else

The previous guide, Scheduling Plant Health Care Visits Alongside Tree Crew Work, looked at a recurring category that runs on its own rhythm. Consults are the opposite: one-off visits that create everything else. Every removal, pruning job, stump grind and PHC program on your board started as a consult.

That makes consults some of the most valuable time in the business, and also some of the easiest to waste. A consult scheduled in the wrong place, at the wrong time, or without the right information can cost an hour and still not produce a usable estimate.

Put Consults on the Board as Jobs

Put every consult on the job board in the Consults category, with the property and the caller's description attached. That way consults show up on the estimator's schedule, on the route map and in reports. Consults that live only in someone's notebook or text messages get missed, double-booked or forgotten.

Treating consults as jobs also lets the office see the estimator's day the same way it sees a crew's day, and answer the phone with real availability instead of guessing.

Group Consults by Area

Like any other stop, consults go faster when they are close together. Use the route map to group them. If you already have four consults in one neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon, offer Tuesday afternoon to the next caller from that area.

Ask at intake whether the customer needs to be there. Many do not, especially for front-yard trees or when they have already described the work. A consult that does not depend on someone being home can slot into whatever route makes sense, which makes the estimator's day far more efficient.

Be specific about time windows when the customer does want to be there. A consult window of a couple of hours is easier for both sides than a full day, and a quick on-the-way text from the estimator turns a vague window into a precise arrival time.

Keep Consults From Breaking Up Crew Days

If the owner is both estimator and crew leader, decide which time is for which. Running out to a consult in the middle of a removal slows the crew and rushes the consult. Some owners do consults first thing in the morning or at the end of the day; others reserve one or two afternoons a week.

As the company grows, moving consults to a dedicated person is often one of the first big wins. Until then, a clear block of consult time on the board protects both kinds of work.

Collect What the Schedule Needs

At the consult, record the number of trees, DBH and height on the property. Add access notes, gate codes, drop zones and photos from the crew app. Note what crew, climber and equipment the job will need, and tag anything special.

That turns the consult into a scheduling document, not just a sales visit. When the estimate is approved, the scheduler can place the job without calling the estimator back, and the crew arrives knowing what they are facing.

Photos from the consult are worth extra attention. A wide shot from the street, a shot from the gate, a shot of the drop zone and close-ups of any defects you are pricing give the crew leader, the scheduler and the customer the same picture of the job. They also help when the customer forwards the estimate to a spouse or a property manager who was not at the visit.

Estimate Fast and Follow Up Automatically

Send the estimate quickly, ideally the same day. Customers approve online from their phone, and automatic follow-up reminds the ones who have not responded yet. The faster the estimate goes out, the more likely you are to win the work before another company's estimator shows up.

Track how many consults turn into approved work, by category and by estimator. Reports on estimates and completed jobs show which kinds of consults are worth the most time. Many consults surface access problems before they become crew problems, which is where the next guide picks up. See how consults connect to scheduling on the tree service scheduling software page.