At Bruce Tree we aim to please our clients (and their trees). With that in mind, we have no choice but to respond to the above client's false and/or misleading allegations.
1. We were upfront with the above client on the cost of his project, including sub-contractor costs (beyond our control), and went out of our way to work with him on this. We are not in business to gouge clients; we are in this business for the long haul, and the only way to do that is to do good work at fair prices.
2. Bruce Tree was asked to consult on the above client's project after another arborist report, prepared by a different company, was denied by the City (this client also pointed the finger at that company). We made it clear to the above client, as we do to all our clients, that ultimately it is the controlling authority (in this case, the City of Toronto Urban Forestry) that makes the decision to grant or deny a permit application. Our job is to work with the client and/or their builder, designer, architect or whole consulting team, to satisfy municipal requirements. We were upfront with the above client that unless he compromised on his proposed plans, they would likely be rejected by the City, and indeed, they were (for example, removing many significant roots from a large white pine on a neighbour's property is likely to be denied).
3. The above client did not express his dissatisfaction with Ian Bruce. This is the first we’ve heard of it, and of course, only after he was turned down by the City and after not considering our advice.
