Approving Ourselves; The First Step To Becoming Arb Approved

Originally posted Feb 2023.

As many know, tree surgery is not a regulated trade; essentially anyone with the right gear can get into the game. So how do you tell the difference between the professionals invested in the industry and the amateurs looking to make quick cash? Reputation, qualifications, insurance, there's a few qualities upon which you can base your judgement. However, one accolade viewed as a mark of legitimacy in the arboricultural world is the Arb Approved Contractor scheme.

In order to receive the Arb Approved accreditation, tree care businesses must pass an initial assessment analyzing their health and safety procedures, office practices, customer care and quality of work. Essentially, working to industry standards and with a high level of compliance is key to a successful application with the Arboricultural Association. All successful applicants are then able to display the approved contractors logo and registered as such on the Arb Association website so potential customers may identify them as a verified choice.

Shortly after the conception of Deadwood Arborists, the prospect of becoming Arb Approved was a pinnacle we intended to pursue. We successfully achieved the acclaimed accreditation on our first try in November 2022, though getting there was not quite as smooth a feat as the assessment day itself.

The tail end of summer 2021 was when we first really scoured the 'Become An Arb Approved Contractor' page on the Arb Association website. We were barely over a year into running the business and keen to flourish as professionally as possible, yet upon closer inspection we knew the timing wasn't right. Were we doing our very best to work to industry standards? Sure. Were we qualified and insured? Absolutely. Day to day we were functioning, we just weren't on the right path for this destination yet. At this time our base of operations was still home; a yard feeling somewhat out of reach, the team lineup was still stabilising and the current contributions to the catalogue of compliance documents required was minimal. Not too mention, in all honesty, the confidence to open up our running operations to scrutiny was still yet to fully manifest. For every step we were prepared to leap, this was not one we were going to risk fumbling.

As the New Year rolled around, Thomas was keen to revisit the prospect as consistency and credibility had further developed within Deadwood Arborists. Personally, I admit my reservations remained; my knowledge still felt far too limited and my day job remained in tact. Thomas held firm belief that we were capable and investing in this opportunity was going to serve as a catalyst for a much stronger future for the business; we would become more appealing to commercial contracts and display ourselves as part of the gold standard within the industry. Considering his judgement had not steered us wrong so far, the conversation continued and my commitment to proceeding came with the reassurance that there was no expectation to accomplish anything overnight.

January 19th 2022, our application was submitted for validation by the Accreditations team with an estimated five day window for response given. The application itself wasn't something we considered challenging and the invoice was promptly provided with clear instruction the assessment could not go ahead until this was satisfied - straight forward so far.

January 26th 2022, we received an email from the wonderful Polly over at the Arb Association to confirm our application had been accepted and provide details for the stages of assessment:

Meet the AA Team - This was an invitation to an informal Zoom chat with their team; in retrospect we probably should have gone ahead with this as it likely would have provided reassurance from the get go and softened our descent into the process.

The Desktop Audit - A lengthy checklist of documents we needed to submit for assessment. On first (and third, and tenth) look this was intimidating; some of the terminology and requirements may as well have been written in hieroglyphics from my early understanding.

The On-Site Assessment - The actual physical assessment day to inspect all on-site elements and standards of our work.

Approval - The end result (hopefully).

The excitement to immerse ourselves in this opportunity was now invaded by a sense of imposter syndrome; as much as we had achieved with the business to this point, were we really competent to take it this far?

Confidence quickly resumed for Thomas, he firmly believed we could and would. Personally, I had mentally taken a step back; the weight of the Desktop Audit was largely on my shoulders and I felt I did not have the knowledge to carry it. To accomplish this accreditation we were going to have be more invested in applying the aspects of compliance within the arboricultural world than ever before, plus I was going to have to rapidly learn and retain a lot to effectively expand and manage the documentation of it all.

In total, the completion of the Desktop Audit took longer than anticipated - months longer to be exact. I imagine at some point the Arb Association wondered if we had decided to give up, however by the end of Summer this stage was complete and presented for their mindful criticism. The enthusiastic feedback and guidance provided by Paul was incredibly supportive and truly gave us peace of mind that we had made the right decision in pursuing the Arb Approved accreditation. Our biggest takeaway from the experience at this point was that our commitment had continued to birth success; when we could have very easily dismissed this scheme as being out of our depth, we rose to the occasion and learnt a lot while doing so.

Now it was just a matter of succeeding at the scheduled on-site assessment...