The expression, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, relates to people who become falsely overconfident about their expertise in a certain subject if they possess a small amount of knowledge about it. As conversations go, this sort of thing is annoying if you are a subject expert, or is often the case, where you know that the person doing the talking doesn’t know what they are talking about. The Overconfidence Effect is where annoying conversations become dangerous actions and is where a person’s confidence in their ability is greater than their actual ability. Talking becomes doing.

The flipside to overconfidence is under confidence and strangely enough, this can occur in people with high ability or considerable knowledge; this is the other half of the Dunning–Kruger effect. The theory is that people with low ability at a task overestimate their own ability, and that people with high ability at a task underestimate their own ability. The theory is based on self-awareness and the ability to objectively evaluate one’s own level of competence, as theories go I quite like it.

The downside of this lack of ability to evaluate one’s own level of competence is that they don’t know what they don’t know, and they think that they are right (one way or the other). Just for a moment, let’s pretend that they are actually you; we all have a bit of they in us. So if you don’t know what you don’t know, and you have confidence in your own judgment and ability how do you know when specialist help is required? When is the job or task beyond your abilities?

The simple yet completely unhelpful answer is that you don’t, or you’ll work it out after the fact (if it all goes wrong, or someone nearly dies). As neither of those is a good answer let’s take a practical approach.

For me, fear is key to my decision-making processes. Fear, not as in being scared (arborists do not tend to be timid), but in terms of not going a good job; high personal standards. When it comes to working on or near trees, there are a couple of things that you should be aware of. Note I’m not saying be afraid, being be afraid is an emotional state, fear is useful. So consider this;

If you take it upon yourself to prune a tree and you somehow don’t hurt yourself or others in the process or break the thing you are trying to protect; i.e. if you make cuts with a chainsaw when that chainsaw is above your head (which you should never do), if you make cuts with a chainsaw when standing on a ladder (which you should never do), if you use, or worse still, own one of those chainsaws on a pole (which you should never do) there is a risk that you will ruin the tree. Why you should be aware of this is because trees can be valued and the value may surprise you. I am currently involved in a legal matter where one party has served notice on another party to the tune of $600,000.00. The matter involves a number of trees – and when I say a number, the number is seven. Yes, seven trees to the tune of $600,000.00.

I recently used a Court accepted tree evaluation method to value a self-seeded Douglas Fir tree at just under $20,000 – it wasn’t for me to agree if that was what the tree was worth or not, the methodology was good and the system has been used and accepted before, in this instance it was a matter for the Court to decide.

The other thing to consider is roots, and there are two aspects to this. While you are legally able to remove roots (and/or branches) that encroach over the boundary line (back to but not beyond the boundary; this is called abatement). You are not allowed to create problems in doing this. I.e. you cannot undermine the stability of the tree or the ground around it. So if you are putting in a new drive, or a sunken garden, or drainage, or power or anything else in close proximity to a tree on the other side of the boundary, you need to be sure that you don’t create a potential harm situation (i.e. cause the tree to fall onto people or property). Note, it might take years to fall over, but if it falls it falls and your actions may be questioned (questioned in a Coroners Court).

Not only could you be charged with replacement costs of the tree (as noted above) or the property damaged, but worst-case scenario, if the tree falls and kills someone the Court may not consider it an accident.

The second part to this is damage to your client’s trees, so the same causes and concerns for damaging neighbouring trees but for you damaging your clients’ trees and those trees falling onto them and/or their property.

Of course, insurance should cover all of those points and insurance is a must, but if your actions weren’t unforeseen (i.e. if you chopped all the roots off and you should know where tree roots are and what they do) then will your insurer still cover you?

So, when it comes to asking for help, be proactive. Ask before and not after – if you are asking for help after the fact, then you’re probably asking for someone to come in and fix something. If you are claiming on your insurance or answering questions in Court, then someone probably made some bad choices. If in doubt, if there is even the remotest possibility that your actions could cause harm, damage or expense, then make it someone else’s problem. Get help, get a specialist in. When it comes to trees, if you are using a chainsaw and the saw is above your head, if you are off the ground and/or you’re not in full control of the thing you are cutting, then get an arborist in. If you are digging near a tree and cutting structural roots, or if you are digging near a tree and you don’t what structural roots are… then get an arborist in. It is okay to ask for help, and it is okay to use a specialist, so ask for help with knowledge and confidence.

• Written for NZ Landscaper Magazine