Understanding Tree Risk Assessments
When most people think about tree care, they picture pruning, trimming, or removals. But one of the most valuable—and often overlooked—services an arborist can provide is a **Tree Risk Assessment.
This service isn’t just about trees—it’s about protecting your property, your investment, and understanding better your trees.
What Is a Tree Risk Assessment?
A tree risk assessment is a systematic process used by a Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ) Arborist to evaluate and assign risk to trees in order to help tree managers better make decisions based on their threshold of risk. A primary goal of tree risk assessment is to provide information about the level of risk posed by a tree over a specific time frame. This is accomplished in qualitative tree risk assessments by first determining the likelihood of failure and impact, and then estimating the consequences of tree failure.
At Barren Tree Solutions, our ISA Certified Arborists use the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) framework to provide a standardized and defensible evaluation.
Tree risk assessments are conducted at one of three levels—Level 1 (Limited Visual Assessment), Level 2 (Basic Assessment), or Level 3 (Advanced Assessment). The level of assessment is determined by the scope of work which is developed with or by the tree owner/manager prior to conducting a tree risk assessment. Not one assessment is better than the other, but rather each employs varying diagnostic methods, depending on the situation, scope of work, and preliminary findings.
Once complete, we provide a written report summarizing our observations, the risk rating, mitigation options (if available), and overall risk rating after mitigation options have been completed.
This documentation can serve as valuable evidence of due diligence for homeowners, HOAs, property managers, and insurance providers.
Why It Matters
Prevent Costly Emergencies
Storms often reveal weaknesses long before they become emergencies. A proactive tree risk assessment allows you to identify and correct structural or health issues before they lead to storm damage or costly removals.
Protect Property and People
Falling limbs or uprooted trees can damage homes, vehicles, or neighboring properties. Identifying high-risk trees helps prevent accidents, injuries, and insurance disputes.
Reduce Liability
Property owners can be held responsible if a known hazardous tree causes harm.
A documented tree risk assessment demonstrates that you took reasonable steps to manage risk responsibly.
Preserve Valuable Trees
Insurance companies are taking advantage of homeowners by threatening or even out right canceling homeowners insurance policies for overhanging limbs to a home. This often results in irreparable damage to healthy trees or complete removal. A tree risk assessment is a powerful tool in combating ignorant policy demands and preserving valuable trees.
Peace of Mind
Knowing your trees have been professionally evaluated allows you to enjoy them with confidence through every season.
When to Schedule a Tree Risk Assessment
You should consider a professional evaluation if:
You have large trees close to your home, play areas, or high traffic areas.
You notice signs of decay, excessive leaning, or have a low tolerance to risk.
Your property has recently experienced a sever weather event.
Construction or grading has occurred near the root zone.
Your insurance company is demanding quick action at threats of dropping coverage.
Your neighbor has a hazardous tree and won’t do anything about it.
These are just some of the reasons why tree managers might request a tree risk assessment. Tree risk assessments are an investment in prevention—protecting both your landscape and your liability exposure. All our tree risk assessments are performed by an ISA Certified Arborist Qualified by the ISA and experienced in TRAQ methodology. Each recommendation is tailored to your property, species, and site conditions—not a one-size-fits-all checklist.
Disclaimer
While professional assessments reduce the likelihood of tree-related damage in the course of normal weather, no assessment can predict extreme weather events or eliminate all risk.
Our evaluations are based on observable conditions at the time of inspection and assume normal weather conditions as defined by ISA TRAQ standards.