Consulting Arborists · Brisbane & South East QLD
AQF Level 5 Consulting Arborist in Brisbane
Arborist reports, impact assessments and tree risk assessments — written to satisfy your council, priced up front, and delivered in 2–3 business days.
- Independent — we assess trees, we don't sell removals
- Fixed price quoted before any work begins
- Referenced to the local law your application sits under
What we do
Reports, assessments and advice
Every service below is priced from a genuine starting figure. If your job is simpler than the description, you pay the starting figure — not a padded quote.
Arborist Report
A written assessment of your tree by an AQF Level 5 arborist — the document councils ask for when you apply to prune or remove protected vegetation.
Read more →Arboricultural Impact Assessment
The report councils require when construction encroaches on the root zone of protected trees — what your build does to each tree, and what has to change.
Read more →Tree Risk Assessment
A structured evaluation of how likely a tree is to fail, what it would hit, and what the consequences would be — documented so your decision is defensible.
Read more →Pre-Purchase Tree Inspection
Building and pest covers the house. This covers the trees — what is protected, what is failing, and what it will cost you after settlement.
Read more →Not sure which one
Which report do you actually need?
The honest answer is that it depends on what your council asked for — and frequently people are quoted for more than they need.
| If you… | You probably need |
|---|---|
| Want to remove a protected tree | Arborist Report |
| Are building near a protected tree | Impact Assessment |
| Are worried a tree might fail | Tree Risk Assessment |
| Are buying a property with big trees | Pre-Purchase Inspection |
| Have a tree in decline | Health & Soil Diagnostics |
| Have approval conditions naming an arborist | Project Arborist |
| Are in dispute with a neighbour | Expert Witness Report |
Free tools
- Which Report? Councils ask for different documents for different situations. This narrows it to the one report yours actually requires.
- Permit Checker Answer a few questions about your council, your tree and your situation, and find out whether approval is likely to be required.
- Report Cost Calculator An honest estimate for your job, built from the same published prices this practice quotes from.
- Tree Removal Calculator What a removal should cost, from a practice that does not sell removals — so the number is not a bid for your job.
- TPZ Calculator Work out TPZ and SRZ radii to AS 4970 from trunk diameter, including whether an encroachment is major or minor.
How it works
Four steps, no mystery
Tell us what council asked for
Send through the information request, the tree, or just the problem. If you are not sure what you need, that is a normal starting point.
Fixed quote before anything starts
You get a price and a timeframe up front. No hourly billing that drifts, and no invoice that surprises you.
Site inspection
A full assessment on site — canopy, structure, root collar and the ground conditions most reports skip entirely.
Report in your hands
Typically 2–3 business days, written to the standard your council expects and referenced to the local law your application sits under.
Questions people ask first
What is a consulting arborist?
A consulting arborist assesses trees and writes reports, rather than cutting them. The distinction matters because councils will not accept a removal justification from the contractor who stands to be paid for the removal. A consulting arborist provides the independent assessment your application rests on.
What is an AQF Level 5 arborist?
AQF Level 5 is the diploma-level arboriculture qualification, and it is the minimum standard councils across South East Queensland require on a report. Brisbane City Council specifically requires AQF Level 5 for reports on significant landscape trees. A Level 3 arborist is qualified to do the tree work; a Level 5 arborist is qualified to write the assessment.
How much does an arborist report cost in Brisbane?
Reports start at $660 inc. GST for a standard single-tree assessment, rising with tree numbers and complexity. Every price on this site is a genuine starting figure, and you get a fixed quote before any work begins.
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Brisbane?
You do if the tree is protected vegetation under Brisbane City Council’s Natural Assets Local Law 2003 — which covers trees under a Vegetation Protection Order, significant landscape trees, and vegetation in bushland, wetland or waterway corridors. Ordinary garden trees with no VPO are frequently exempt. Checking costs nothing: submit a Protected Vegetation Enquiry to Council with your address and they email back a map showing exactly what applies. The Brisbane council page walks through the whole decision, including the exemptions people most often get wrong, and carries a checker for your specific situation.
Which areas do you cover?
We work across Brisbane, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redland & the Gold Coast. Brisbane is home ground, and the council-specific guidance on this site goes deepest there.
Request a quote
Tell us what you need and you will hear back same business day. No obligation, and a fixed price before any work starts.
Why this practice
Written to be accepted, not sent back
The expensive part of an arborist report is rarely the fee. It is the information request that lands six weeks later because the assessment did not answer what Council actually asked — and an application that goes back into the queue behind everyone else's.
Reports here are written against that specific risk. Conclusions are referenced to the provision of the local law your application sits under, prepared against the standards assessors expect to see cited, and authored at Diploma of Arboriculture (AQF Level 5) — the level councils across South East Queensland require on vegetation reports.
And with no removal crew waiting on the outcome, the recommendation follows the evidence wherever it goes. That includes the conclusion nobody else has an incentive to reach: that your tree is exempt and you do not need a report at all.
Council rules
The rules where you are
Vegetation rules differ sharply between councils — Moreton Bay measures trunk diameter at one metre, Logan measures circumference at 1.3 metres, and Brisbane charges nothing to apply. Each guide covers what is protected, what is exempt, and when a report is genuinely required.
Brisbane
Natural Assets Local Law 2003 (NALL)
Brisbane has some of the tightest vegetation protection rules in South East Queensland, and they apply to trees on your own property. Interfering with protected vegetation without a permit is an offence — so the first question is never "who removes this tree", it is "is this tree protected, and do I have grounds".
Read the rules →Moreton Bay
City of Moreton Bay planning scheme — environmental areas and corridors
Moreton Bay does not run a single size rule. Clearing is regulated through the planning scheme against mapped environmental values — Matters of Local and State Environmental Significance — so the question is how your property is mapped and whether the work counts as accepted development.
Read the rules →Gold Coast
Gold Coast City Plan — Vegetation Management Code
The Gold Coast frames tree work as a development question. Your proposed work is either accepted development, requiring no application, or assessable development, requiring approval — and identifying which one you are in is the whole exercise.
Read the rules →Logan
Logan Planning Scheme 2015
Logan splits protected vegetation into two mapped categories, and which one applies to your property determines everything that follows. Clearing protected vegetation requires an Operational Works application, not a simple permit.
Read the rules →Get a fixed quote on your tree
Send the address and a photo. Most quotes come back the same business day, there is no obligation, and if you do not need a report at all you will be told that.