DAE get into arguments over keeping trees for yard projects?

I was at a site where the homeowner insisted on removing two healthy pines to put in a fire pit area. My crew said it was a waste of good trees, but the client worried about roots and falling branches. We ended up trimming instead of removing, but it was a tense talk. It made me wonder where others draw the line on stuff like this. Do you usually try to save the tree, or is removal sometimes the only real option?

4 comments

4 Comments

amy_flores8h ago

How do you figure out when a client's worry is a real problem versus just not wanting to deal with the work a tree requires? It seems like the root issue is how we value things we can use right now over things that grow slowly. Does that come from not seeing the tree's benefits as real because they're not instant, like a fire pit is?

dianam199h ago

Ugh, it drives me nuts. That root damage worry is so overblown for a simple fire pit. You can work around them or just use a basic above ground pit. Killing a healthy tree for that is just... lazy. A tree takes decades to grow and does so much for the air and the look of a place. A fire pit takes a weekend to build. The math is not hard.

shane_moore5210h ago

Some folks would rather have a place to burn stuff than keep living trees around. It's like choosing a charcoal grill over a shade provider on a hot day. Guess we all have our priorities backwards sometimes.

robin_morgan3410h ago

Pretty wild how often people trade long term good for short term convenience, lol. That grill vs tree thing hits hard because it's so true. We rip out stuff that gives us real life benefits for stuff that just gives us a quick fix. Seems like a bad math problem everyone keeps failing. Short term wins feel good now but screw us over later. Honestly it's just sad to watch.