Arborist/tree work license?

rugger01

rugger01

Participating member
Location
MA
I would love to hear what all your individual states require as far as licensing. Is it like a number of other trades (plumbing, electrical etc.) where an official license is required? I have a number of questions:
1. What state do you live in?
2. Is a license legally required to do tree work in your state?
3. Is the license enforced? And how so?
4. What is the process to get and maintain a license?
5. What are the fees for getting the license and fines for violating it?
Thank you.
 
No state license in Minnesota. Almost every city in the Twin Cities area has their own license though. They are business licenses not based on performance or job related skills.
 
I am a muni in Georgia and while the state of Georgia does not require a license (yet) the City I work for does. The candidate must pass a written and field test with a score of 70% or greater in order to obtain the required business license to operate legally in the City. I am a sworn officer and issue citations to those I catch that are operating without a license. The offender must appear before the judge, they cannot just bond out. Fines are set by the judge and can range up to $1000 and/or 30 days. Business licenses in Georgia are accepted in all counties except mine. Businesses from outside the county must hold our tree expert license and a county business license. ISA Certified Arborists are exempt from our local test, but since we have no local CA's that point is moot. I have cited one gentleman 6 or 7 times and twice he has not appeared in court. The last time he was in court they brought him out in a jail jump suit. I am watching out for a landscaper right now that I have 9 violations against. The Georgia Arborist Association will be lobbying the state legislature to pass legislation establishing the licensing requirement statewide. When that happens I don't know what will happen with our local regulations. Personally I feel there is a need for licensing. Even though it will be viewed as a PITA, it will (should) elevate the professionalism in the industry. Hope this helps.
 
Ohio
No specific arborist license, but a vendor's license (required for all businesses)
Never heard of anybody getting busted for not having that...and you aren't going to easily convince me that all of the lawn companies have one!
 
Pennsylvania, where no license at all is required by the state. Some municipalities have contractor registration requirements, but only very few. It seems plumbers are highly regulated in PA, electricians are somewhat regulated, and the government doesn’t care a bit about tree workers.
 
New Jersey,state issued license required to perform commercial treework. “Treework “ requiring licence was defined in part as removing tree over 14” dbh ,using ropes,harness,arial equipment etc. and I also recall something about cutting tree parts over 12’ above the ground. To be eligible to take licensing exam you must have college degree in closely related field or 5 years employment.
Law can be enforced by city officials and state also has recently hired enforcement people. It’s getting pretty serious here!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ATH
Wrangler said:
New Jersey,state issued license required to perform commercial treework. “Treework “ requiring licence was defined in part as removing tree over 14” dbh ,using ropes,harness,arial equipment etc. and I also recall something about cutting tree parts over 12’ above the ground. To be eligible to take licensing exam you must have college degree in closely related field or 5 years employment.
Law can be enforced by city officials and state also has recently hired enforcement people. It’s getting pretty serious here!
Click to expand...

Fines are 1000-2500 I believe
 
That is all very helpful. Thank you very much. Here in MA there is no license requirement. I am just curious as to what it is like elsewhere. I have a friends in NJ so I am aware if their process. RI has a license requirement but it is VERY poorly enforced. I know CT has a license but dont know about enforcement etc.
 
Maine requires passing a test or being ISA or Massachusetts certified to get an arborist license. Pretty easy test with some basic info, only need one cert per jobsite.
 
I'm not in the states, but in Germany we need a license to operate a chainsaw, a license to climb with a handsaw, and a license to climb with a chainsaw. Each one will cost at least 600€. The courses are all a week long.
This of course only applies to doing it commercially.
You can only get SKT-B (climbing with chainsaw) once you've completed the other two courses successfully, and have at least 300 documented hours of climbing.
 
climbstihl said:
I'm not in the states, but in Germany we need a license to operate a chainsaw, a license to climb with a handsaw, and a license to climb with a chainsaw. Each one will cost at least 600€. The courses are all a week long.
This of course only applies to doing it commercially.
You can only get SKT-B (climbing with chainsaw) once you've completed the other two courses successfully, and have at least 300 documented hours of climbing.
Click to expand...
I would be curious to know what the accident ratio is between our countries in a per 1000 workers percentage.
 
oldoakman said:
I would be curious to know what the accident ratio is between our countries in a per 1000 workers percentage.
Click to expand...
That's a good question, but it might be hard to find accurate numbers, just because a license is required doesn't mean that everybody doing treework has one...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom