A woman wakes after a storm to find the large ash at the bottom of the garden leaning towards the house, with soil lifted on one side.
She does not know whether that is serious, whether her children should be in the garden, or whether it will still be standing tonight. She needs somebody to tell her what to do in the next ten minutes.
Why these enquiries are difficult
They arrive all at once, from frightened people, about something nobody can assess from a description, and a small proportion of them are genuinely dangerous.
Publish the immediate safety guidance
Keep away, keep children and animals away, do not attempt anything, and contact emergency services where there is immediate danger to people or property. Published prominently, before any service description.
Say plainly what cannot be assessed remotely
That photographs help with urgency and equipment, and that a judgement requires attending. Honest, and it prevents somebody acting on a guess.
Ask the triage questions
Whether it is touching a building, over a road, near power lines, whether the ground has lifted, whether anything is hanging and whether people can stay clear.
Separate emergency from urgent from routine
A tree on a house is not the same as a leaning tree in an empty field. Publishing the distinction lets people place themselves and manages your day.
Publish what constitutes an emergency for you
What you attend immediately, what you attend within a day and what waits, with honest timescales. During a storm week everything cannot be immediate.
Be honest about your capacity
After a major storm, telling somebody you cannot attend for three days is better than an optimistic promise, which is the volume problem in storm damage enquiries that pour in overnight.
Explain the power line situation
That anything involving power lines is for the network operator and not for a tree surgeon or a homeowner. It is the most important safety line on the page.
Explain the road and public safety situation
Who to contact for a tree blocking a highway and what a homeowner should do. People try to clear roads themselves.
Ask about ownership and boundaries
Whose land, whether it overhangs, whether a neighbour is involved and whether anybody else needs to agree. It determines who can instruct the work.
Explain the protection question
That some trees have protections and that emergency work has its own considerations, with a recommendation to check. It matters and people do not know.
Publish what you need to quote
Photographs from several angles, the position relative to buildings, access and the approximate size, which is the ground in tree surgery quotes and what arborists need to see.
Explain the insurance route
That storm damage may be an insurance matter and what a customer should do first. Advising somebody to check before paying you builds real trust, as in fallen tree and storm damage requests.
Answer at the hour the storm ends
Overnight and at first light, which is when these arrive, and the same capture argument as an AI receptionist for moving companies.
Getting started
Publish immediate safety guidance and your triage categories, capture photographs and position at any hour and respond by genuine urgency. SpideyChat for landscaping and tree businesses answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.