Selling Your Home
So you have decided to sell your house, tidied away all the clutter, given all the rooms a fresh coat of neutral paint and the house has now been on the market for several weeks. But with plenty of viewings and favourable comments about your home you still haven't had any offers and you really can't understand why. Have you thought about looking at the condition of your garden?
More and more people now really value their gardens, see it as an extension of their home and enjoy the outdoor space it has to offer, so let's have a look at the front garden first.
The front garden is the gateway to your home, the first thing a potential buyer sees and an impression will quickly be drawn in the first few seconds.
How does it look to you, do you have a large, overgrown and badly maintained hedge or a tree that has become too large, blocking out light and has branches that are overhanging into the street or the garden next door? Perhaps the front garden is fine so no problems there, so now take a look at the back garden.
Is the grass neat and tidy, do you have lots of overgrown beds, borders and shrubs creating a tangled mess and lots of weeds? Perhaps that is all fine but you have a tree or trees that have been badly maintained, are now far too big, look like they could cause a potential hazard and are blocking out all the light.
Trees and gardens that have been unmaintained can not only reduce the value of your home, they all too easily put off potential buyers. All they will be able to visualise is the additional added cost of either having the tree or trees removed or heavily pruned and the rest of the garden sorted out. They may have a tight budget, have plans for additional work to the house but would like to be able to immediately enjoy a garden that is not going to require a lot of costly work and attention.
This is where the services of a local tree surgeon will be very useful, they can quickly assess your tree or trees and advise you of the type of work that will be necessary to regain order, ensuring the tree or trees actually enhance your garden and blend in with their surroundings, thereby creating a relaxing and harmonious environment. Most will also be able to advise what to do with the rest of the garden too and if they are too busy with tree works at that particular time, will certainly be able to recommend the services of a landscape gardener or similar to get the garden all ship shape for you.
Do remember that if you live in a conservation area permission to carry out any tree works will be required from your local council and this can take about six weeks to come through. Most local tree surgeons offer this application process as a free service and will also know how to word the application form which will greatly help in receiving a favourable reply from the local council.
Now you have a beautiful garden that a new owner can relax in immediately and their first impressions will be how they are going to enjoy it over the coming months. Perhaps you should have your home revalued now too, as this work may have increased its value.
Buying a New Home
You have found the perfect home but there is a tree or trees in the garden that need either felling or heavily pruning and you have decided to get this work carried out soon after moving in.
Do remember that you may have to apply for planning permission from the local council or that a tree may have a preservation order (tpo) on it. For example, you may live in a part of, let's say, Kingston that does not fall within a conservation area and have therefore always been able to carry out works to your trees without requesting permission from the council but perhaps you are now moving to a different part of Kingston or another area such as Richmond which does fall within a conservation area. This means that before you can carry out any works to your tree or trees you will need to seek permission from that council before you can commence, so do try and check before you actually purchase the property to find out exactly what you will be able to do or not do as the case may be. For instance the council may agree to your having the trees reduced in size but not as much as you may have wished for, or one of the trees may have a tree preservation order on it meaning you cannot have it felled if that was what you were hoping for.
A quick call to the planning department or a check on their website should be able to enlighten you or ask the tree surgeon you are planning on using to carry out the work for you to find out, they will probably be able to advise you if your planned works are likely to be approved too.
Attempting to do the Work Yourself
To try and reduce costs it may be very tempting to carry out this work yourself but do remember that tree surgery, apart from being very dangerous, is also highly skilled. Chopping off branches without knowing what you are really doing will not only result in a tree that will end up looking badly pruned and therefore will do nothing to enhance your garden, there is also the potential for disease setting in which may even kill the tree, not to mention your own safety.
Employing the services of a tree surgeon may seem like an expensive business but not doing so could result in far greater costs in more ways than one!
This article was brought to you by Conner John, the marketing manager for GraftinGardeners. If you would like to know more about our tree surgery company or tree surgeons Lewisham click here. You will be able to view our website along with photos of our work and the services we provide in this area.
Article provided by Conner John
So you have decided to sell your house, tidied away all the clutter, given all the rooms a fresh coat of neutral paint and the house has now been on the market for several weeks. But with plenty of viewings and favourable comments about your home you still haven't had any offers and you really can't understand why. Have you thought about looking at the condition of your garden?
More and more people now really value their gardens, see it as an extension of their home and enjoy the outdoor space it has to offer, so let's have a look at the front garden first.
The front garden is the gateway to your home, the first thing a potential buyer sees and an impression will quickly be drawn in the first few seconds.
How does it look to you, do you have a large, overgrown and badly maintained hedge or a tree that has become too large, blocking out light and has branches that are overhanging into the street or the garden next door? Perhaps the front garden is fine so no problems there, so now take a look at the back garden.
Is the grass neat and tidy, do you have lots of overgrown beds, borders and shrubs creating a tangled mess and lots of weeds? Perhaps that is all fine but you have a tree or trees that have been badly maintained, are now far too big, look like they could cause a potential hazard and are blocking out all the light.
Trees and gardens that have been unmaintained can not only reduce the value of your home, they all too easily put off potential buyers. All they will be able to visualise is the additional added cost of either having the tree or trees removed or heavily pruned and the rest of the garden sorted out. They may have a tight budget, have plans for additional work to the house but would like to be able to immediately enjoy a garden that is not going to require a lot of costly work and attention.
This is where the services of a local tree surgeon will be very useful, they can quickly assess your tree or trees and advise you of the type of work that will be necessary to regain order, ensuring the tree or trees actually enhance your garden and blend in with their surroundings, thereby creating a relaxing and harmonious environment. Most will also be able to advise what to do with the rest of the garden too and if they are too busy with tree works at that particular time, will certainly be able to recommend the services of a landscape gardener or similar to get the garden all ship shape for you.
Do remember that if you live in a conservation area permission to carry out any tree works will be required from your local council and this can take about six weeks to come through. Most local tree surgeons offer this application process as a free service and will also know how to word the application form which will greatly help in receiving a favourable reply from the local council.
Now you have a beautiful garden that a new owner can relax in immediately and their first impressions will be how they are going to enjoy it over the coming months. Perhaps you should have your home revalued now too, as this work may have increased its value.
Buying a New Home
You have found the perfect home but there is a tree or trees in the garden that need either felling or heavily pruning and you have decided to get this work carried out soon after moving in.
Do remember that you may have to apply for planning permission from the local council or that a tree may have a preservation order (tpo) on it. For example, you may live in a part of, let's say, Kingston that does not fall within a conservation area and have therefore always been able to carry out works to your trees without requesting permission from the council but perhaps you are now moving to a different part of Kingston or another area such as Richmond which does fall within a conservation area. This means that before you can carry out any works to your tree or trees you will need to seek permission from that council before you can commence, so do try and check before you actually purchase the property to find out exactly what you will be able to do or not do as the case may be. For instance the council may agree to your having the trees reduced in size but not as much as you may have wished for, or one of the trees may have a tree preservation order on it meaning you cannot have it felled if that was what you were hoping for.
A quick call to the planning department or a check on their website should be able to enlighten you or ask the tree surgeon you are planning on using to carry out the work for you to find out, they will probably be able to advise you if your planned works are likely to be approved too.
Attempting to do the Work Yourself
To try and reduce costs it may be very tempting to carry out this work yourself but do remember that tree surgery, apart from being very dangerous, is also highly skilled. Chopping off branches without knowing what you are really doing will not only result in a tree that will end up looking badly pruned and therefore will do nothing to enhance your garden, there is also the potential for disease setting in which may even kill the tree, not to mention your own safety.
Employing the services of a tree surgeon may seem like an expensive business but not doing so could result in far greater costs in more ways than one!
This article was brought to you by Conner John, the marketing manager for GraftinGardeners. If you would like to know more about our tree surgery company or tree surgeons Lewisham click here. You will be able to view our website along with photos of our work and the services we provide in this area.
Article provided by Conner John