Replaced a dead elm tree in a client's front yard last Tuesday and they complained the new oak was too small

I removed a massive 60 foot Siberian elm for a lady in Oak Park last week. The thing was half dead, dropping branches onto her porch. She paid me $2,400 to take it down and grind the stump. I recommended a nice red oak sapling from the local nursery, about 8 feet tall. She agreed. I planted it Wednesday. She calls me Friday saying it looks like a stick and she wants her money back. How do you explain to someone a new tree isn't going to be 50 feet tall overnight? Anybody else have clients that just have zero concept of how trees grow?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_john25d ago

Man I feel this. "It looks like a stick" - yeah, that's basically what a young tree is, a fancy stick with some roots. I planted a maple sapling in my own backyard two years ago and my neighbor literally asked me if I was trying to start a bonsai collection. Funny how people think trees just pop out of the ground fully grown like in a video game. I mean, did she expect you to dig up a mature oak with a crane and drop it in a hole? That's like complaining a puppy is too small.

troyreed25d ago

That "bonsai collection" comment got me... people really don't get that trees gotta start somewhere. Two years in and that maple is probably starting to look like a real tree now though, huh.