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What is a Project Arborist?
The arborist named on your development approval to supervise construction work around trees that are being retained, attend the points in the programme where those trees are at risk, and certify to council that the conditions were met. It is a site role that runs for the length of the build, not a document.
Why councils require one
Because a tree protection specification on paper and a tree protection fence actually standing in the right place are different things, and council has no way to verify the second without somebody on site. Conditioning a named arborist puts a professional between the approval and the excavator.
It also settles who carries the risk. Where a retained tree dies after construction and no arborist was appointed, the question of what happened to it has no answer and the liability sits with whoever did the works. Where one was appointed, there is a contemporaneous record of what was done near that tree and when — which protects the builder at least as much as it protects the tree.
Project arborist vs consulting arborist
Different role, different stage of the job, and the two are routinely confused. A consulting arborist writes the arboricultural impact assessment before approval — working out what the proposal does to each tree and what has to change. A project arborist enforces that assessment during construction.
One produces the conditions; the other makes sure the site builds to them. They are frequently the same person, which is efficient because the assessment is already understood, but they are not the same engagement and an impact assessment does not satisfy a condition requiring supervision.
Do I need a project arborist?
The trigger is a condition on your decision notice rather than a decision you make. Where any of these apply the appointment is not optional, and the timing matters — several of them bite before the first machine arrives:
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Your approval names a project arborist
The appointment is a condition, not a choice, and some of its hold points come before the first machine arrives.
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Works inside a Tree Protection Zone
Root-sensitive excavation, trenching or services installation near retained trees.
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A stage needs arborist sign-off
A stage can’t be signed off without certification from the project arborist.
What a project arborist does
A project arborist’s work runs from before the first machine arrives to the final sign-off with council. Here’s what that involves:
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Pre-construction meeting and setup check
Pre-construction site meeting and protection setup verification
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Hold-point attendance
Attendance at nominated hold points through the programme
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Supervision of works near roots
Supervision of excavation and works within protection zones
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Root pruning direction on site
Root pruning direction and remedial specification on site
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Site reports and photo records
Written site reports and photographic records for your compliance file
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Final certification to council
Final certification and sign-off correspondence to council
How to engage a Project Arborist
To hire a project arborist you should engage an AQF Level 5 consulting arborist who’s familiar with ‘AS4970 - protection of trees on development sites’, before works start. You should already have an arboricultural impact assessment and a tree protection plan before engaging project arborist services, if you don’t already have these, advise your consulting arborist so they can organise these for you.
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Not sure whether you need a project arborist? Book a consultation so we can discuss your approval, your trees and your build programme. You’ll get a straight answer and a fixed quote.
How project arborist supervision works
The appointment runs alongside your construction programme rather than outside it, and attendances are scheduled against your dates. This is the normal sequence, and what each step does to a programme.
Pre-construction site meeting
Before anything starts. The conditions are walked through with the site manager, protection zones are set out on the ground, and hold points are agreed against your programme dates. An hour here prevents most of what goes wrong later, and it is the one attendance that should never be compressed.
Tree protection setup and verification
Fencing goes up to the specification before plant comes on site, and is inspected and photographed once it is in. This is usually the first thing a council officer looks for on an early site visit, and fencing in the wrong place is far cheaper to fix on day one than after an excavator has been inside it.
Hold point attendance through the programme
The points where works come near retained trees — bulk excavation, footings, service trenching, driveways and level changes. These are the attendances that genuinely hold a stage: work at a nominated hold point cannot proceed until it has been attended and recorded. Two to three business days’ notice is normally enough to schedule one. Give a date range early and it goes in the diary against your programme rather than against availability.
Root pruning and remedial direction on site
Where excavation meets roots, direction is given at the open face rather than afterwards — which roots may be cut, where, and how they are treated. This does not hold the programme, because it happens while the excavation is open. It is also the step most often skipped where no arborist is appointed, and severed roots cannot be undone on the next visit.
Final certification to council
At completion, the correspondence council needs to close out the vegetation conditions — what was attended, what was found, and that the retained trees were protected as conditioned. This is commonly on the critical path to your compliance certificate, so flag the date well before you need it.
Documentation accumulates through all of it. Written site reports and a photographic record go into your compliance file as the job runs, which makes the final certification a formality rather than a reconstruction.
What it costs you to get this wrong
The exposure here is commercial before it is arboricultural. A damaged tree is a problem. A held stage is a problem with a daily rate attached to it.
Stages that cannot be signed off
Where a condition requires arborist certification at a hold point and nobody was appointed to give it, the stage does not close. The work may be perfectly good — it is the certification that is missing, and it cannot be issued retrospectively by somebody who was not there to see it.
Stop-work orders and programme delay
Councils do issue them where protection conditions are being breached, and they stop everything rather than just the work near the tree. Every trade on site that week is affected, and remediation has to be agreed before anything restarts.
Penalties for TPZ breaches
Damaging a protected tree is an offence in its own right whatever approval you hold, and the maximum penalties run to six figures. Working inside a protection zone without the conditioned supervision is also a breach of the approval itself, which is a separate exposure again.
Replacement costs when a retained tree dies
The one that arrives late. A tree whose roots were severed during excavation frequently does not die that season — it declines over two or three years, well after practical completion. Councils condition replacement planting, and mature replacement stock plus establishment is not a small number. The liability follows whoever did the works.
Project arborist fees
There is no published hourly rate for this service, and that is deliberate. The two things that actually drive the cost are the length of the programme and the liability being carried — a certification that closes out a council condition is a professional undertaking rather than a site visit, and an hourly figure misrepresents both.
A job with three hold points across six weeks and a job with fifteen across two years are not the same engagement at a different volume. Quoting an hourly rate for either invites the sums to be done on attendance hours alone, which is the part that matters least.
What you get instead is a fixed fee against a defined scope, or a retainer where hold points run across months. Send the decision notice and the programme and it is priced against your actual conditions, before you commit to anything.
Taking over mid-project
A common enough call: the original arborist has gone quiet, or the job has reached a hold point and nobody was appointed in the first place. Both are workable, and both are more workable the earlier you ring.
The first step is establishing where things actually stand — what has been done near the retained trees, what was documented and what was not, and whether damage has already occurred. A gap in the record is better identified now than discovered by a council officer at certification.
What cannot be done is certify attendance at a hold point nobody attended. Where that has happened the honest route is to document the position as it is, assess the condition of the trees, and put a remediation position to council — which councils deal with regularly, and deal with far better when it is raised rather than discovered.
Send the decision notice, the conditions and where you are up to, and you will get a straight answer the same business day on what is recoverable.
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
- AS 4373-2007 Pruning of amenity trees
- The vegetation conditions on your development approval
Project Arborist questions
How much notice do you need for a hold point?
Two to three business days is normally enough to schedule an attendance, and more where several sites are running at once. The better approach is to hand over the programme at the pre-construction meeting so the hold points go in the diary against your dates from the start — at that point it becomes a confirmation rather than a request. If something moves, and on a construction site something always moves, tell us as early as you know.
What happens if works start before the project arborist is appointed?
It depends entirely on what has been done. Where works have started but nothing has happened near the retained trees, the appointment picks up from there and the position is documented. Where excavation has already gone into a protection zone unsupervised, that is a condition breach that has occurred and it cannot be undone by appointing somebody afterwards — what can be done is assess the damage, document it honestly, and put a remediation position to council. Either way it is better raised early than found at certification.
Do you provide the tree protection plan as well?
Yes, and it is usually more efficient that way. A tree protection plan is the specification — fencing, ground protection, permitted works inside the zone — and the project arborist role is the enforcement of it on site. Where the same practice does both, there is no gap between what was specified and what is being supervised, and no time lost on somebody coming up to speed on another consultant’s drawings.
Can you certify work another arborist supervised?
No, and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. Certification is a statement that you attended and observed something, and it cannot honestly be given for attendances somebody else made. Where a previous arborist has documented their own attendances properly, that record stands on its own and the certification can reference it for the stages they covered. Where there is no record, the gap is real and the answer is to deal with it openly rather than paper over it.
What does a project arborist actually do on site?
Attends the points in the programme where trees are at risk — protection setup, excavation near roots, service installation — directs how those works proceed, and documents that they were done correctly. The documentation is what satisfies your approval conditions.
How much project arborist supervision will I need?
It depends on how your conditions are written and how much of the works sit near retained trees. Send through your decision notice and you will get a realistic estimate of attendances up front, rather than an open-ended hourly commitment.
Can you take over as project arborist mid-project?
Yes, though the earlier the better. Coming in after an undocumented breach means assessing damage already done, which is a harder position than preventing it.
Project arborist services across South East Queensland
Project arborist services are provided across Brisbane, Moreton Bay, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, Redland, Logan and Ipswich. The conditions are written by the assessing council and the wording differs between them — what one calls a nominated hold point another sets out as a certification milestone, and the stage at which sign-off is required is not consistent.
Send the decision notice and the conditions get read against the council that issued them. The rules for each council are set out separately.
Get started
Request a quote for a project arborist
Send the decision notice and the vegetation conditions, the site address, and your programme dates — particularly anything already scheduled inside a protection zone. You will get a scoped fixed fee against those conditions rather than an open-ended hourly commitment.
- No obligation and no pressure
- Honest answer if you don't need the report
- Fixed price, quoted before any work begins
Enquire — Project Arborist
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
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 →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 →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.