They have been taking care of a heritage tree on our front lawn for 35 years. We found the work very good. They hawk away a ton of branches but you can't tell that the tree has been trimmed. read more

My neighbor had a tree removed between our 2 houses. Tree was mostly on my property. I am elderly and housebound. I feel completely disrespected that I was not informed about this. No one asked for permission to come on my property. They helped themselves to my extension ladder. The large tree came done without incident except a branch bouncing off my bathroom window but it didn't break. They don't seem very professional. read more

Stay away from Nels Johnson Tree Expert! We had been using Sunset Tree for 20 years but decided--on a regrettable whim--to try Nels Johnson. What a mistake. We carefully explained to John Johnson when he came to our house that we needed our tree work done within a certain time frame. He did not object, but rather told us he would send the estimate within a week and do the tree work within 2 weeks. A week passed without our receiving the estimate. Instead, we received a phone call from an obviously uninterested junior employee who told us the company wouldn't do our job because it was swamped with other work. When I called back, another employee told us that Johnson wouldn't do the work on the oak tree because it would be so "dangerous" to the tree. At that point, I did what I should have done before contacting this company: I looked at their Yelp reviews and found that they have many one-star reviews. No wonder! John Johnson is very unprofessional, as is his firm. read more

Terrible experience. Dean Vasquez told us to be ready at 7am on a Friday so they could come and 'work all day' to take down two large trees, and trim several smaller trees. We all got up an hour early to be ready, but no one showed up, so we called the office, who promised to 'get to the bottom of it' and then never called back. We then called Dean repeatedly, who finally called around 9a to tell us there had been an emergency family illness 'all week', but somehow he also said there was 'another job' that morning, but wait - actually - he'd turned the job over to 'another arborist' who had forgotten us! Maybe you should just pick one story Dean, and stick with that. When they did come 8 hours late, Dean dropped off his crew and left. That was the last straw. One of the non-English speaking ones ran, and I mean ran over to a pretty Service Berry tree and cut off all the middle limbs that provided a buffer from the street for views from the house. We had been in the middle of discussing that tree when Dean blew us off during the original estimate, telling us, 'Oh we'll go over everything on the day of the trimming.' Of course as I said the day of the trimming was a vacation day for Dean, who told us he was 'offended' to return after being called by his foreman. Offended?? By what? Having a job? All of them were unsophisticated louts who seemed to believe themselves when they claimed they didn't have to consult with us about OUR trees because they had '25 years experience.' Really? The foreman looked no more than 30, and several had evidently not learned English in all those 25 years. FYI - The job of an arborist is to consult with the owner of the trees on each tree to be trimmed, especially ornamental landscape trees, and make a plan the owner and crew both understand before leaving - if he must leave. read more

This was a great company. I would recommend them for sure. We had 3 trees removed. They were very professional. Great job!!! read more

I wouldn't use or trust Nels Johnson Tree Experts. After multiple promises of calling me back with an estimate and a schedule to complete the work needed, I NEVER heard from them. Completely disrespectful and unprofessional and clearly, showed very little interest or concern in this project. Conversely, received an immediate call back from Homer Tree Removal, an estimate in 24 hours and a clear schedule of when they will complete the work. I strongly recommend using someone other than Nels J. Johnson. read more

We hired them to remove a 90 plus year mulberry tree. While they removed the tree (didn't damage the house, thankfully!), the root removal was terrible. When we were ready to install the replacement tree, we discovered they left a good portion of the root in addition to a great deal of the root material. Even the tree company we hired to install the new tree was surprised by the poor job they did. Dean has the worse customer service demeanor I have ever encountered. Excuses "we only dig down a foot" - in fact they had not even dug out 6". We hired this company because they were local to Evanston. We have since hired ArborGreen to redo the work. Save your time, money and sanity stay away from Nels! read more

I had a positive experience with this company. They came out when they said they did, provided a quote, sent a crew on the day they said they would and provided good service. I asked the arborist questions about the dead trees and I learned quite a bit from him. And the office was always responsive when I called. I would recommend this company. read more

Unprofessional and unethical. Do not work with this company unless you're prepared to have little to say about how or when your trees are trimmed. On the appointed day, Dean and his crew failed to show up and could not be reached. The secretaries at the office were totally unhelpful. We never got a straight story from Dean about why he missed the appointment, but we couldn't fail to notice his attitude of self-importance when we questioned him. He didn't seem to think that the fact that my sister and I each took the day off from our university teaching jobs meant anything, while his own apparent need to multi-task so heedlessly that he failed to show up was of the highest importance. On the day of the trimming Dean came and went quickly, taking the foreman with him because they apparently forgot a piece of equipment. The remaining four members of the crew, not one of whom spoke English, were literally set loose on the property and seemed to think they could do exactly as they pleased. With both Dean and the foreman absent, one of the crew members went rapidly over to our only ornamental tree near the front of the house and sawed off four branches that provided the only privacy protection between the yard and the street. They also destroyed the beauty of the lower canopy of the tree. We immediately asked him to stop and without looking at us or saying anything, he literally disappeared. The foreman, who eventually returned, seemed to think it was odd we had any opinion at all about the work being done, but did agree to call Dean and ask him to come back to our house. Dean arrived and said he was "shocked" to have been asked to come back for something so "trivial." He told us we were "nit-picking" to have any opinion about how our own trees were trimmed and grew increasingly hostile as we tried to explain to him that we thought we would consult directly with him before any trimming of our ornamental trees took place. Dean is a very large man and towers over me, my sister, and my mother. By the time he left, he attempted to slam our newly built front gate - in my mother's face - and became physically threatening, all because we were asking him to do his job as a licensed arborist. read more

NEVER, EVER USE THIS COMPANY! Today Nels Johnson came out to trim a tree in my backyard. They arrived a day early and then were argumentative about the mistake. I asked if they could please wait 10 minutes until my husband arrived home and the head guy said no way, he wasn't paying his crew to stand around doing nothing. I said I have another tree he could work on and he said no. This guy was RUDE, DISRESPECTFUL AND HAS NO IDEA WHAT GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE IS AT ALL! I FIND OUT HE IS THE OWNER!!! WHAT A SHAM OF A COMPANY. DO NOT USE THEM EVER! read more

This company was contracted to trim trees on kimball ave in Skokie. There were signs posted not to park on the street feb 2&3. On feb 4 i was woken up by a knock on door at 7 am saying i need to move my car for the tree trimming crew. When i pointed out to the guy that the sign was wrong he told me "I don't f#cking care. F#ck you, go f#ck yourself." Very unprofessional and rude. They have been starting their chainsaws at 7 am on the dot in this neighborhood for the last two weeks. read more

I had a GIANT dead ash in my yard removed by Nels. The crew was professional, friendly, and did an incredible job. The tree was located in a challenging spot in my yard which meant they had to access my neighbors yard with the heavy equipment to get at it. I was initially concerned about that, but they took great care of their yard and mine cleaned everything up and didn't damage a thing. They were efficient and quick. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again and again. AND the price was actually LESS than 2 other bids I received. Top notch company! read more

Very professional, they did everything right. Best quote, showed up on time with a huge crew and professional equipment. Did a great job, helped with a few extras no problem. Cleaned up everything as if they were never here. If you need tree service they are great. Would highly recommend and use them. Their price was very fair. Nice when a company actually does what they are supposed to,do, and more.,, read more

We needed a dead tree (an ornamental plum tree, maybe 25' tall) removed from our front yard. I sent a web inquiry, and had a quote in my inbox the next day. I signed and returned the quote via email, and the tree was gone the next day. There was a little trampling of the flowers in front of the tree, but I think you have to expect that when removing something like a tree. The stump was removed and now it's like the tree was never there. I would recommend them for tree removal. read more

Terrible customer service. Ten years ago, when the company was owned by another person, I was extremely happy with their work and recommended them to all my friends. At the time a tree limb fell and cracked a bluestone. The owner apologized within a day or two and offered to have it replaced or pay me for the cost of replacement. This winter when I asked Nels Johnson to trim the dead limbs from a huge Elm tree, the experience couldn't have been more unpleasant. A tree limb fell on a gutter of the garage and bent it severely. After many weeks and phone calls, I was told that they had forgotten about the problem and would attend to it soon. Several months later and a few phone calls to remind them, they sent an "expert" to repair the gutter. Well, he didn't do a decent job. When I complained Nels Johnson said that was the best they could do and would not offer to replace the gutter. In deed, they sounded annoyted that I would trouble them with this seemingly small matter. I can't recall the number of months and phone calls it took to achieve virtually nothing. Now I am telling all my friends and colleagues to avoid Nels Johnson. read more

Has gone dramatically down hill since I used them a decade ago. Where 2 1/2 months late to take down a tree, making it too late to get a new tree in this year. When I called about scheduling the work the arborist said he would give me a date or an estimate, but would call a few days before they came, but did not tell me it would not be for months. They never called, in early December knocked on the door at 7am and asked us to move the car. They had the contract in June or July. Showed up in December. They then left a six foot long, 10 in wide and 10 inch deep thru my tulip bed. They told me they were sure I would understand, that they thought it was lawn they were leaving a gash in. Offered to throw some compost over it. That bed had 100 grape hyacinths that I had just planted. Hundreds of tulip. allium and lilly bulbs. They did not care. I understand alright, they just don't care. Left a message to talk to the owner about the damage. Said I would write a yelp review. He never called. read more

Called over three weeks ago to have someone look at a dying tree. Each time was assured a tree technician would get back to me soon. No one ever called. Tree seems to be dead. I know we've had bad storms and lots of downed trees but I would have appreciated a straight answer. read more

I signed a contract 4/20 and since then have never gotten a call to schedule anything. They showed up twice without calling (once at 6:45 am!). I faxed my contract with my contact information asking to be called AND left two messages for Dan, the arborist. Still no call. Today I cancelled my contract with a kind manager, Carla. She was nice and listened but unfortunately doesn't do or schedule the work. My thoughts, try someone else.... read more

I am on week 10 of no response from the arborist. I have left multiple voicemails with no response. The office has told me multiple times that they've had three rounds of storms this summer and they're backed up. I'm tired of begging this company to take my money. Zero customer service. read more

Completely unprofessional. They have been doing tree trimming for the Village of Skokie for the last 2 weeks. They are not following Village ordinances, they are requiring people to move their cars without any legal notice, and they are incredibly rude. There has been signs up banning parking on my street on 2/2 and 2/3. At 7 AM on 2/4, they range the bell demanding we move our cars from in front of our house. When my boyfriend pointed out that the signs haven't been changed, we have expletives screamed at us, told to 'eff off', 'go eff ourselves' and the gentleman working kicked the sign at us. I expected better behavior out of someone hired by the village, and better behavior out of someone standing right next to his company's logo. I know if I treated my customers the way he did, I'd be fired. Rude, unprofessional, and like to use abusive language. Don't give these people your money. read more

This company did a wonderful job for us. Dan, the estimator, was very knowledgeable, and the crew was very professional and hardworking. We needed a big old elm taken down in our small back yard and it was amazing to watch them take care of it. I can't say enough good things about them. read more

I could not be happier. We've used their services twice. Once in an emergency situation when a tree fell on our house (!!) and once just to have some optional work done. Super easy to ask for a quote online & I got a response the next day. Very professional and work was done quickly and as promised. read more

In October 2011 I contracted for tree work and I am waiting for it to be finished as of May 18,2012. I have called and followed up. A tree stump was to be removed and it sits there still. What is wrong with Dean who promised months ago it would be done. read more