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What is a Preliminary Arboricultural Report?
The report that tells your designer which trees on the site matter, how much room each one needs, and which can go — before the layout is drawn. AS 4970:2025 names it as the first arboricultural document on a development site, and it is written for planners, architects and designers to design around, rather than for council to assess.
Every tree on the site survey is numbered, assessed on site and sorted into categories by how suitable it is for retention. A drawing then shows every tree with its Notional Root Zone, plus any tree worth transplanting and any tree that should come out whatever gets built. Your designer overlays those zones on the layout, and the conflicts show up on paper instead of on site.
Preliminary arboricultural report vs impact assessment
The standard is explicit that they are different documents. The preliminary report comes before the design and feeds into it: what is here, what is worth keeping, how much space it needs. The arboricultural impact assessment comes after the final layout and judges it: what this design does to each tree, what was changed to reduce that, and why any tree has to be removed.
Projects that start with a preliminary report usually find the impact assessment shorter and easier, because the big conflicts were designed out early. The same survey data carries through, so the site is not assessed twice.
Pre-DA advice: the conversation before the report
Not every site needs the full report straight away. Pre-DA advice is a site walk with you or your designer at concept stage: which trees are likely to be protected, which ones will constrain the layout, roughly how much room they need, and what council is likely to ask for when the application goes in.
Where the answer is that the trees will shape the design, the preliminary report is what puts that in writing for the whole design team.
Do I need a preliminary arboricultural report?
The trigger is timing, not project size. If trees are anywhere near what you are planning, the cheapest point to deal with them is before the design is fixed:
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You’re at concept or design stage
The layout can still move, and you want to know which trees it has to work around.
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You’re buying or planning a development site
Trees on or beside the site could limit what can be built and where.
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Trees next door overhang the site
A neighbour’s tree whose root zone reaches your works has to be accounted for as well.
What a preliminary arboricultural report includes
A preliminary arboricultural report is written for your design team, so everything in it can be drawn straight onto the layout. Here’s what you can expect to see:
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Every tree assessed
Each tree on the site survey numbered and assessed: species, health, structure, size, age class and life expectancy
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Retention categories
Trees sorted into categories by suitability for retention, with the method used documented
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Notional Root Zone drawing
A drawing showing every tree with its Notional Root Zone, calculated under AS 4970:2025
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Removal and transplant candidates
Trees recommended for removal irrespective of the development, and any suitable for transplanting
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Neighbouring trees
Trees on adjoining land whose root zones reach the proposed works
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Design guidance
Guidance on layout and construction methods that keep retained trees viable
How to get a Preliminary Arboricultural Report
To get a preliminary arboricultural report you should engage an AQF Level 5 consulting arborist as early as possible, ideally once the site survey is done and before design starts. AS 4970:2025 requires the report to be prepared by the project arborist, so engaging that person now also means the same arborist can carry the project through to the impact assessment and sign-off.
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Not sure where to start?
Still at concept stage? Book a consultation and send what you have, even a sketch. You’ll get a straight answer on which trees will shape the design, and a fixed quote for the report.
Why bring the arborist in before design
A tree found after the plans are locked becomes a redesign, a delay or a difficult application. A tree found before design is just a line on the drawing the designer works to.
AS 4970:2025 sets out the order: survey, then preliminary tree assessment, then the preliminary report guiding the layout, and only once the final design is complete, the impact assessment. The standard also asks for the root zones to be given to every designer and engineer on the job, so building, services and earthworks are all planned around the same lines. It points to construction methods that reduce disturbance in the root zone, such as pier and beam footings, suspended slabs, cantilevered sections and screw piles, which are cheap to adopt at design stage and expensive to retrofit.
Standards and instruments applied
Reports are prepared against the standards and instruments assessors expect to see referenced.
- AS 4970:2025 Protection of trees on development sites
Preliminary Arboricultural Report questions
What is a preliminary tree assessment?
It’s the same job as a preliminary arboricultural report: an arborist assesses every tree on the site survey and writes up which trees matter, how much space each needs and which can go. AS 4970:2025 calls the assessment the first step on a development site, and the report is how its findings reach your designer.
Is a preliminary arboricultural report the same as an impact assessment?
No. AS 4970:2025 states that the preliminary report is not an arboricultural impact assessment. The preliminary report comes before design and tells the designer what is on site and how much room it needs. The impact assessment comes after the final layout and assesses what that design does to each tree.
Does council require a preliminary arboricultural report?
Usually not by name, at least not yet. Councils most often condition the impact assessment. The preliminary report is the step that makes that assessment straightforward, because the design has already been drawn around the trees that matter.
When should I get a preliminary arboricultural report?
Once the site survey is done and before the layout is drawn. The standard places the preliminary tree assessment at the start of the project, after the survey, and the report is meant to guide the layout. Later than that, and it becomes a list of problems rather than a design input.
Do I need a site survey first?
It helps. The standard expects trees to be plotted on the survey, including trees on adjoining land where works could reach their root zone, and the arborist checks the survey against what is actually on site. Without a survey, trees can be located on site, but tell us at the quote stage so it is priced in.
Can the same arborist do the impact assessment later?
Yes, and the standard expects it. AS 4970:2025 names the project arborist as the person who prepares the preliminary report, the impact assessment and the tree protection documents, then certifies the protection through to sign-off. Keeping one arborist means the site is not assessed twice.
Preliminary arboricultural reports across South East Queensland
Preliminary arboricultural reports are prepared across Brisbane, Moreton Bay, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, Redland, Logan and Ipswich. The standard is the same everywhere, but which trees are protected, and under which instrument, depends on the council. That is part of what the report tells your designer. The rules for each council are set out separately.
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Request a quote for a preliminary arboricultural report
Send the site address, the site survey if you have one, and where the project is up to. That is enough to price the report and to tell you whether pre-DA advice on its own will do for now.
- No obligation and no pressure
- Honest answer if you don't need the report
- Fixed price, quoted before any work begins
Enquire — Preliminary Arboricultural Report
Tell us what you need and you will hear back same business day. No obligation, and a fixed price before any work starts.
Related
Often needed alongside this
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 Protection Plan
The drawing and specification that keeps retained trees alive through construction — and keeps you compliant with the conditions on your approval.
Read more →Project Arborist
The named arborist on your approval — supervising works near retained trees, attending hold points, and signing off what council requires signed off.
Read more →Not sure what you need?
Describe the situation and you will get a straight answer about which report your council actually requires — including when the answer is that you do not need one.