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Original poster

It'll grow back but no privacy now !

56 replies

121hugsneeded · 07/02/2021 04:23

More of a little vent /what should I do now ?

Had a boundary in my garden that was all 7.5m tall established trees. (It's about a 15m long run. It was blocking out quite a lot of the southern aspect sunlight to the garden, so called in tree guys to trim it all off to about 3.6m. It was suggested that we entwined the offcuts into the lower parts to keep the garden secure.

So left them to it, they have worked for us before, and I had no reason to think they wouldn't do what we'd discussed.

They have taken everything down to a height of about 1m!

Now anyone can see into my garden and even climb in if they wanted . To the rear of this boundary is an access point to neighbours run of garages. My privacy and security has gone completely.

I was shocked, but was too bloody polite to show it or say. The tree guys live very locally so drive past and wave almost every day, and it's done now so not much point in causing ill feeling by ranting at them. But WTF do I do to reinstate some privacy and security?

I was really looking forward to sunbathing in my garden this summer. I'm so disappointed.

OP posts:
isitsafetocomeoutyet · 07/02/2021 11:12

I'm sorry. Sounds awful and you have my full sympathies

However I agree with PP you should say something to them. It doesn't have to be an argument. Just say you're disappointed it's a lot lower than agreed.

Give them a chance to offer to do something (my only thought is some pots of bamboo as a temporary shield while it grows back)

And if nothing else they'll know they fucked up and hopefully won't do something like this again. And also know why they lost you as a valuable customer. No decent company wants their customers to be unhappy.

PresentingPercy · 07/02/2021 11:35

Sycamore trees would end up being giants. Huge. They are field trees. I’m not sure if you border another garden but if you do, these needed removing. Ash gets enormous too. If it doesn’t suffer from ash die back. If you border fields it’s no issue but you don’t. Therefore you need something suitable like beech.

My other thought is that someone else intervened who wanted them down. Do they over shadow another garden? You cannot expect sycamore or ash to stay at 3.5m They are not small trees. Sycamore leaves are a pain too and it’s sticky underneath them on a hard surface. I would actually get the stumps out now and replace with mixed hedging or beech. Far more suitable than a row of huge fast growing trees which are not really a hedge!

Bluntness100 · 07/02/2021 11:37

Honestly I think there is a high chance you need to remove the sycamores and ash totally if mature trees have been cut down to three foot. They are unlikely to recover. I’d get a proper tree surgeon in.

Poppins2016 · 07/02/2021 11:45

PresentingPercy makes a good point, are you sure nobody else intervened? This would be a good way of asking the contractors what happened "we discussed x height, I'm suspicious that my neighbour requested something different, can you tell me what happened"?

Bluntness100 is also correct, the ash and sycamore won't regrow well, better to remove and replace with something suited for a hedge (hawthorn is a UK native, extra good for security as it's nice and prickly)! If you do need to remove and replace, I do think you should ask for at least a contribution from the contractors, as you wouldn't have had to do this if they hadn't messed up.

CellophaneFlower · 07/02/2021 11:47

@isitsafetocomeoutyet

I'm sorry. Sounds awful and you have my full sympathies

However I agree with PP you should say something to them. It doesn't have to be an argument. Just say you're disappointed it's a lot lower than agreed.

Give them a chance to offer to do something (my only thought is some pots of bamboo as a temporary shield while it grows back)

And if nothing else they'll know they fucked up and hopefully won't do something like this again. And also know why they lost you as a valuable customer. No decent company wants their customers to be unhappy.

Of course you SHOULD say something... but I totally get that you feel unable to. My nextdoor neighbour once painted the brick border of my flower bed in my front garden without my knowledge. He'd done his own and had leftover paint and thought he'd done us a favour. I was absolutely horrified, but he's such a lovely man, I couldn't bring myself to say anything. He must have heard me ranting though as he was quite sheepish for a while after. I think the way your tree man reassured you they'd grow back quickly etc indicates he knew he'd made a mistake. So odd that, like you say, he went below the neighbouring borders though Confused

That being said, I didn't pay my neighbour. I think I'd find it much harder to pay for something that was so clearly not what I'd requested.

Poppins2016 · 07/02/2021 11:49

Mixed native hedging, pre-grown in troughs: www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Mixed-Native-Instant-Hedging.html#aMNI

Not that cheap, but it is a permanent solution and you'd only have to do it once!

BlueTimes · 07/02/2021 11:52

@Bluntness100

Honestly I think there is a high chance you need to remove the sycamores and ash totally if mature trees have been cut down to three foot. They are unlikely to recover. I’d get a proper tree surgeon in.
I agree but I think you should get them to do the removal for free because this is their error.
Chumleymouse · 07/02/2021 15:32

The ash and sycamore will recover , and are fine for gardens ( as is any tree ) it’s down to the pruning and maintenance that will depend on how big you let them grow. Any large nuisance trees you see have just been neglected by the owners and they have let them get too big.

Palavah · 07/02/2021 16:07

@121hugsneeded

They are a small family business and lovely people, so I feel bad to make waves - re the Bill - not had it yet - that's not how they work - they do the job then give us an invoice for man hours and shredder or any other equipment hired etc afterwards. It's crazy I know.

DH says it's done and we'll just make do until it grows. He doesn't think anyone could be arsed to steal stuff that's so big .

Didn't really want to post a pic incase the tree family are on MN and see it - would hate them to know how upset I am about it . Like I said before, they are good people and live just up the road.

Think of it another way - if you had a business and had just done a job for a new customer, wouldn't you rather they told you and you could try to put it right and/or learn from it? Far preferable to thinking you've done a good job for a new customer and have them avoid you and never give you any more business without you knowing why.
Roselilly36 · 07/02/2021 16:16

I have an ash & sycamore, mine are preserved trees, were your trees not? Too late now obviously, but my LA are very hot on applying for permission, I have lived I my home for 17 plus years and have only been given permission once to reduce height, bring to street level, reduce at crown etc. I hope yours weren’t preserved.

CellophaneFlower · 07/02/2021 16:20

@Chumleymouse

The ash and sycamore will recover , and are fine for gardens ( as is any tree ) it’s down to the pruning and maintenance that will depend on how big you let them grow. Any large nuisance trees you see have just been neglected by the owners and they have let them get too big.
I think what Bluntness is meaning is that if a tree such as those mentioned is over 7m high, surely cutting it down to 1m would mean it's just trunk? I cant imagine branches being left at that height?
PresentingPercy · 07/02/2021 16:51

It is very very difficult to maintain huge field trees at a suitable garden height. Also expensive. It simply is not like pruning a small cherry tree or a fruit tree. These trees grow very quickly and were never intended to be in gardens. No sycamores in a garden should have a tpo in my opinion. In a parkland setting - yes.

Bluntness100 · 07/02/2021 16:56

@Chumleymouse

The ash and sycamore will recover , and are fine for gardens ( as is any tree ) it’s down to the pruning and maintenance that will depend on how big you let them grow. Any large nuisance trees you see have just been neglected by the owners and they have let them get too big.
I can’t see how it will. Not in the next decade at least. I have mature sycamores in my garden, if we has the trunks cut down to three foot it would literally be a three foot stump of trunk with no branches. The same would apply to ash.
BobbinThreadbare123 · 07/02/2021 16:57

I know absolutely nothing about trees, but I cannot believe you won't say something for fear of upsetting them! You hired them to do a job, they fucked it up and they need to know. You may be able to come to an arrangement for them to make amends by looking after your trees, free, to ensure the best regrowth. Don't let this go! I bet you they'll be contrite, if they usually pride themselves on a decent job.

Chumleymouse · 07/02/2021 17:07

Without a picture nobody can say what’s left, but some trees will happily regrow from a trunk, but some will just die. It all depends on the type of tree.

On my way to work , there used to be a massive ash at the side of the road, looks like it suffered die back ( no leaves in the summer ) so the council cut it down. Its about 4ft across and about 2ft tall now ( stump ) . That was about 5 years ago and every year now it regrows from the stump , loads of saplings about 2-3 foot high, they always disappear in the winter so I think the council chop them off.

Sycamore will grow anywhere you have to dig it out to get rid of it , I once dug some out that were growing in compacted type 1 mot . It also makes good firewood 🙂

Chumleymouse · 07/02/2021 17:08

That seems like a good way to go bobbin.

Raindough · 07/02/2021 17:10

Just ask them why they cut it so short. That’s not rude, and they may even have an explanation for you

ohidoliketobe · 07/02/2021 17:19

I'm struggling to picture how 7m trees were providing a secure boundary line... As pp have mentioned surely they're just trunks left now and anyone should have got through anyway?
Without a picture (and I understand you'd be reluctant to) its hard to envisage the before/after, but I would be polite about it but definetly discuss with the company they might even be able to help with the security issue it now poses - "I'm a little disappointed it's quite a bit lower than we discussed, and it now leaves the rear of my property quite exposed - have you any ideas how to temporarily solve this until they grow up to decent height again?"

SerendipityJane · 07/02/2021 17:25

I'm staggered now this has happened....some mis communication?

I'd be highly unsurprised if there wasn't a mix up between metric and imperial here ...

...guys to trim it all off to about 3.6m. [] They have taken everything down to a height of about 1m!

When you say "about 1m" would it be around 3 foot 6 inches or 1.06 m ?

Bramshott · 07/02/2021 17:25

It sounds like they have done a traditional laid hedge if they've cut it down low and bent the top growth over? That always looks very brutal when it's first done, but really will grow again and bush out fast and will be good for the health of the hedge in the long run. Laid hedges are always pretty low level when they're done - maybe this was the basis of the miscommunication if that wasn't what you thought you'd agreed??

Original poster
121hugsneeded · 07/02/2021 18:04

I think @Bramshott has nailed it - we were talking about trimming them to about half the height and he mentioned hiring a chipper, we said at that point why not use the bent bows to increase the density ... so at that point they must have thought " oh they want a low fence type job " instead . They didn't say that that was a totally different thing !

Miss communication for the sake of another £100 for a very loud chipper and a day of moving all the cars off the driveway, and avoiding the chipper crap that goes everywhere, which is why we didn't want the chipper.

OP posts:
Oldraver · 08/02/2021 09:43

We had some trees cut back a couple of years ago and agreed to one being left as a stump to about 5ft. We assumed this would kill it and had planned to have it carved but it started to sprout and looks even better now

I know this doesn't help with immediate privacy but I think all you can do is find something to fill the gap

trickyex · 08/02/2021 16:54

How awkward. I dont like complaining but I would have to raise this.
Perhaps they could offer some kind of help towards some temporary screening? Or agree to write off part of the bill?

Oblomov21 · 08/02/2021 16:58

People pleaser? Please be brave and at least tell them:

"I was so shocked I couldn't say anything at the time. We agreed 3.5 m, but you've cut it to 1m, and now I have no privacy at all".

Why would you NOT say this, now?

OchreBlue · 08/02/2021 22:01

These species of trees are all used for coppice and will grow really fast over the summer. It's not a problem at all. Hazel will be a dense tall bush by the end of the year. We've got an unwanted self sown Ash at the side of our patio that we cut down as far as we can all the time, it springs back 3 or 4 shoots of about a metre each every few months through the summer. Perhaps they assumed you meant you wanted the eventual hedge height to be 3.6m? A hedge needs a harsh cut back regularly in it's early years to get a proper thick secure hedge, or you'll just have big gaps at the bottom.