We got tired of paying to dump perfectly good timber.
Treecycling is a Wollongong tree service built around a simple objection: it made no sense to charge someone to remove a tree and then pay a tip fee to throw it away.
Where the name came from
Every arborist has stood in a yard looking at a clean, straight hardwood trunk, knowing it is about to be chipped into mulch or dumped, and thought that this is a strange way to run an industry. The timber is good. The firewood is good. Somebody is going to pay for both, somewhere, and here it is going on a truck to be paid to disappear.
Treecycling started from that. We do the same tree work anyone does, to the same standards, but the material that comes off your block goes into a loop instead of a hole in the ground. Chip is aged into garden mulch. Hardwood is split and seasoned into firewood. The trunks worth saving are being set aside for milling as we build that side out.
What we actually do
Residential and commercial tree work across the Illawarra: removals, pruning to AS 4373, stump grinding, arborist reports for council and development applications, bushfire asset protection zones, land clearing, palm work and 24/7 storm response. Plus mulch and firewood supply, and milling on the way.
We are based at Farmborough Heights and cover a 50km radius around Wollongong, which takes in seven councils and sixty-eight suburbs, from Helensburgh down to Berry and inland to Robertson and the Highlands.
The Illawarra is a specific place to work
This is not generic suburban tree work. The escarpment runs the length of the region, so a large share of properties are on slopes where machinery cannot go and everything happens on ropes. That same escarpment puts an enormous continuous fuel load directly uphill of a lot of houses, which is why asset protection zone work is a bigger part of what we do than it would be almost anywhere else.
East of the highway the problem flips: coastal salt, onshore wind, sandy soils and houses close enough together that there is no drop zone at all. And through the middle sits a century of camphor laurel, privet and cocos palm that nobody planted deliberately.
Qualifications and insurance
Qualified arborists, fully insured for public liability and workers compensation, with certificates of currency available on request. All pruning to AS 4373-2007. Tree protection on development sites set to AS 4970-2009.
Arboriculture is not a licensed trade in NSW, which means anyone with a chainsaw and a ute can print business cards. That is exactly why you should ask every contractor you speak to for their certificate of currency, and why we send ours without being chased.
Who we work for
Mostly Illawarra homeowners. Also strata and property managers, builders and developers needing tree protection and reports, schools, and rural landholders out toward Jamberoo, Albion Park and the Highlands. If you are managing a portfolio, an annual program almost always costs less than reactive callouts.
Six things we will not budge on.
Nothing goes to landfill
Every tree leaves as mulch, firewood or timber. It is the reason the business exists and the reason it is called what it is.
We will not top a tree
Even when asked. Topping creates a bigger hazard three years later and we are not interested in that kind of repeat business.
Fixed prices, in writing
Never hourly. An hourly rate rewards a slow day, and you should not be carrying that risk.
Removal is the last option
If a reduction or a crown lift solves the problem, that is what we will quote, even though it is the smaller invoice.
Paperwork done properly
Council applications, arborist reports, insurance certificates and 10/50 checks ready before you have to chase them.
Actually local
Based at Farmborough Heights. We live under the same escarpment and cop the same easterlies as you do.
About us, in detail.
Who actually turns up on the day?
Our own crew in our own truck. We do not subcontract residential work out to whoever is free, which is why the person who quoted your job is usually the person running it.
Are you insured?
Fully insured, including public liability and workers compensation. Certificates of currency go out by email the same day you ask. Ask every arborist you contact for theirs.
Do you work to the Australian Standard?
Yes. All pruning is carried out to AS 4373-2007 Pruning of Amenity Trees, and tree protection on development sites is set to AS 4970-2009.
Where does all the material actually go?
Chip becomes garden mulch, hardwood rounds become firewood, and the best trunks are set aside for milling. Almost nothing goes to landfill. That is the business model, not a marketing line.
Have a look at the tree, then ring us.
Free assessment anywhere inside the 50km radius. Honest answer about whether it needs doing, and a fixed price if it does.