I have a 70 year-old red oak that is being stressed by the street, neighbor driveway, and new Vienna sidewalk. To prolong it's life, I asked for several consulting estimates for crown/dead wood trimming and root feeding. Having been contacted by multiple "we're in your neighborhood" tree trimmers in the past, I knew that I didn't want to go that route again. With RTEC, I was very impressed by their front office/customer support professionalism and by their consultant-certified arborist (Ben) -- as compared to the other two arborists/tree companies that provided estimates. There was no BS. No upsell. I was provided options and given a very fair risk assessment for the tree given its age and stress. There was regular communication of the services contracted and the work crew that did the work was prompt, courteous, professional, and efficient. When they were done, everything was cleaned up. Outstanding!! RTEC is now the only tree company that I will use in the future. Worth every penny!!!! read more

We've used RTEC a few times--both houses we've lived in. I really like them; I like that they have arborists who come out and will explain everything to you and take their time with what you think you need. I also like that they'll tell you when something doesn't need to be done. However, I called them recently for another estimate and the scheduler asked from her script if I would be getting other quotes. Yes, I always do. What would be the deciding factor? Well. For some reason this line of questioning caught me off guard and I said PRICE. She alerted me that they are typically NOT the cheapest and that maybe it didn't make sense to go through with the estimate. What? WE'VE USED THEM BEFORE. WE HAVE PICKED THEM BEFORE. I don't know. This totally turned me off. So. I canceled the estimate that I insisted on. We won't use them again. read more

I hired RTEC to remove a relatively large, dying tree from my backyard, and they did a great job. With tree branches near/above three different homes, they were meticulous, efficient and very professional. The crew was knowledgeable, courteous, and made extra efforts to clean up all debris not only from my backyard but also from the neighbors. Communications for the coordination and scheduling of the appointment was frequent and useful. Very satisfied and highly recommended! read more

We had an excellent experience with RTEC tree care. The men arrive promptly. They were courteous. They communicated well with us and listened to what we wanted. They obviously knew what they were doing when pruning the tree. They also cleaned up our yard so that it is actually cleaner now than when they arrived. Great job!! read more

I just signed a contract with RTEC for tree and shrub pruning and maintenance. My lawn company didn't have arborists or any trained professionals and my property was the worse for it. I took a chance and just had the first installment of my contract. Significant pruning and the take-down of one dying tree. So far so good. The two RTEC people doing the work were great: efficient, polite, and their clean-up was outstanding. They kept me informed throughout the process. I would give them 5 stars but this is only my first experience with them, so I'll hold out on that for a while. Also, they are expensive but worth the try. --Linda R. read more

Top notch. Ben and his team are really great and they did the work expertly, cleaned up after, and all for a fair price. They even had a form for the neighbors to sign which is a really great idea. read more

I'll bump it up to three. They did initially come to me highly recommended by my neighbor, and I'm willing to believe that this was an unusually bad job on their part and they're typically much better. If it wasn't clear from my last review, more so than the delay in getting the work done, what annoyed me what the lack of responsiveness. They would say "we'll try to get back to you with a time tomorrow" and I would hear nothing from them for a week, until I emailed them to ask what was going on. I would have felt much, much better if they had just emailed me whenever they knew there would be a delay. EG: if they say "we'll get back to you with a time tomorrow", and they don't have that time tomorrow, shoot over an email saying "hey, we're sorry about these delays but we're staying on top of it and working hard to get this done". They called to tell me that they have a time booked with pepco now, and I could transfer that time to the next contractor I hire, which I thought was very gracious of them. A decent olive branch. this is probably the main reason I'm bumping it up to 3 stars. What kind of rubbed me the wrong way, though - they were very inactive at getting back to me when I was a potential client, but suddenly when a negative review pops up, I get an email hours later and a call the next week. So it turns out they're not *bad* at being responsive, they were just *bad* at being responsive to me in that one situation. read more

RTEC Treecare was terrific. We have worked with other tree companies in the past and had problems, including no-shows and last minute cancellations by them since our job was small. With RTEC, however, the whole process was simple start to finish. I contacted them by email, they got back in touch with me quickly to schedule am arborist to come look at the the job. We met, talked, and I showed him what we needed to have done and asked his opinion. He didn't try to upsell me on anything. The next day he sent a simple and clear (as well as reasonably priced) proposal back to me. As soon as I signed it, we determined a date for the work to be done. The 2-man team that came to perform the work was on time, efficient, polite, and did a great job. They took good safety precautions (both for our yard and for themselves.) They also left the yard looking cleaner than when they found it! They were great and our trimmed tree is happy and healthy -- and better off for the work they performed. My only note is that if you live in a rowhouse like ours or a downtown neighborhood with crummy parking, when you are making the appointment, ask the person to write down that a smaller truck is needed. The team brought the big truck and lucked into parking, but if they hadn't, it could have been a problem. read more

I highly recommend RTEC, they were very responsive, did a good job and took COVID good precautions. Ben took the time to explain everything to us and folks from the office always got back to me in less than an hour even in the evening. They cleaned up our patio after cutting branches and left it in better shape than before they came! read more

An enjoyable experience with tremendous results. After seeing and hearing about their work from my neighbor, I decided to give them a call and from beginning to end, they delivered. Scheduling an estimate, getting the estimate and scheduling the work to be done was a breeze. Ben Gotch was the arborist who worked with me and provided me with a plethora of information and answered any and all my questions. Not only that, when I had a change in plans, he came out the morning the work was to done, on his day off, to meet with me and address my changes. The crew: Enrique, JB and Jose were not only professional, ready, willing and able, they were all a very kind and a lovely and respectful group of workers that I throughly enjoyed being with. Without hesitation, I recommend RTEC Tree Care and I will continue to use them. Thank you RTEC. The work that was completed was done in excellence. read more

We had a great experience when the wind storm knocked a neighbor's large tree into our roof, demolishing the rafters, insulation and ceiling of the master bedroom, with the resulting destruction piled on the bed and prohibiting access to the room. Arborist Peter Hart of RTEC was very responsive, and thanks to his familiarity with firms in the area, immediately lining up a crane and cherry picker to remove the tree and debris the next day. The service first contacted by our insurance could not confirm the date a crane would be available! We needed to have the tree removed ASAP so that a tarp could be affixed, preventing further damage due to rain. Highly recommend this firm in emergency situations! read more

I'm very pleased with RTEC. Extremely pleased. They were so professional. They took down several large trees in one day. They used a bucket truck which is much safer. They used large plastic mats in order to not damage the front lawn. Everything was fantastic. I will definitely be using them in the future and I will definitely be recommending them to others. read more

We never got past the proposal. During the snowstorm, a couple limbs broke off a tree on my property. After looking at the tree, we figured we should have it removed and called RTEC based on it's 5-star review here. They came out and met with my wife and tried to up-sell her on a ton of services and made it seem like they knew more about trees than almost anyone else. That was good - the price on the proposal wasn't. The total to remove the tree would have come to about $2500! The tree was accessible, about 1 1/2 - 2 foot around, and only 40-45 foot high! The price should have been about 1/3 that! Additionally for every service they slapped on an "Environmental Green Waste Disposal Fee (3.5%)" which I suppose is some way of making you think it's a county mandatory fee that they have to disclose but it's not! It's just 3.5% more they're charging on top of their price. Why not just include that into the already ridiculous price! I also wanted a limb removed from over my house. The quoted price was $1100 plus a 3.5% fee. They additionally recommended a service where they apply a growth inhibitor to the trees - costing $625 a pop! They growth inhibitor they use had better be better than what I can find on-line for a half gallon for less than $300 which would treat ALL of my trees! What a markup! I don't know what market this company is in - but it's clear they don't want my business. I went with another contractor for $1100 - for tree removal & limb reduction - which is a fair price! read more

These folks are so professional, on time and reasonably priced. I found them online this Spring when we had some major landscaping done in our yard and several mature trees were attacked by the infamous tent caterpillars (those things devour everything in their path!). RTEC came in, analyzed the issue, and even did some work for free on a tree we didn't notice had same issues. I give them two thumbs up in addition to the 5 star rating! read more

RTEC was fast to respond (during a weekend!), professional in their recommendation and friendly along the way. Jim knew everything there was to know about trees and local government rules. I wouldn't work with anyone else. read more

I have been a customer for several years. RTEC has very professional, high quality, timely services. The prices are much more than the numerous "drive by" tree care quotes I get, but I am are very satisfied with the value of the arborists' recommendations and crews' implementation of trimming, feeding, disease prevention. We appreciate the cooperation from RTEC about our special requests for trimming and near property lines. read more

Grossly expensive and sloppy work. I contacted RTEC to trim approximately 130 feet of hedge. Even though it was discussed during the site visit, 30 feet of hedge was left out of the proposal. So, I ended up paying $1,400 for trimming 100 feet of hedge. The job was sloppy and unattractive. I sent pictures showing the poor work and asked them to fix it. I got a very condescending response saying, in effect, that he was the arborist (and I was not), and that, in his expert opinion, no further action was necessary. read more

I had a very good experience with RTEC Treecare. The provide professional, prompt service, and they gave me smart advice about various trees in my yard that needed trimming -- very happy to have cleaned out some dead branches that could have caused damage to roof and windows. I recommend this company. read more

I emailed RTEC when a huge tree fell on my neighbor's porch and roof in the march 2 windstorm. They responded that day, inspected and estimated work to be done and removed the tree on March 5. Fantastic service. Ben Goetch was on site and did everything that was promised, as promised. Absolutely no hassle and excellent status reports by email and phone. And they billed insurance company directly. Neighbor's are blind so getting them back in their house safely as quickly as possible was a #1 priority for all involved. Couldn't be more grateful for RTEC and ben and rest of the team in office and on site. Yard was immaculate when they left. Night and day difference. read more

Terrific, responsive service. I especially like their new feature of attaching photos of shrubs and trees that received treatment, indicating the nature of the problem and their response. read more

Destroyed our yard. We asked them to trim back a hedge that had gotten too "fat"; they striped the branches up 10 feet. While topping a tree, they let the top swing into another tree. They would not replace the damaged tree. read more

We've been a regular customer since we moved here. I appreciate the complimentary winter assessments and recommendations for the next year. This year we had our elm pruned and cleared of damaged branches as well as the accumulated dead branches on the ground. I also appreciate their mission to care for trees and not damage the trees while caring for them, such as climbing with spikes to trim them. read more

We were very pleased. Ben Gotch came and gave us an estimate. They were planning to do work for our neighbors and we had a fews trees that bordered our properties. Ben handled the estimates beautifully. Even with two reschedules due to rain, the work went off well and the communication was excellent. We have used other tree services who were cheaper, but the end result with RTEC was so professional and well done. read more

I was very happy with the arborist who came out and the workers were great. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was because they are fairly expensive. To prune two trees and brace up a limb on another was over $900. I had three trees cut down and removed last year from another company for only $800. read more

I had a great experience with RTEC. I made an appointment online to have an arborist come to my house to advise on a large silver elm that seems to be dying. He was very helpful. He gave me two options and did not pressure me to do the most expensive option. I went forward with one option, he explained everything that would be done, the timeline, and what to expect. Everything happened just the way he said it would happen. I was really pleased with the whole process. I will definitely use them again. read more

I hired RTEC to take down a tree infront of my townhome that was looking at least half dead after my neighbor's referral told me the tree was fine but had no real explanation as to why a third of the leaves didn't grow back since last year and another third of the leaves present looked dead hanging on the limbs next to a few bright green leaves left. RTEC's arborist explained the likely scenarios of what caused this plus how the tree had probably outgrown the little lot it had to grow because the previous owners overfed it. It was bigger than the rest of the trees on the block planted at the same time. When they came out to complete the job the men were professional, courteous, and efficient. They were nice about moving their equipment out of the way of neighbors getting in and out of the tight area and cleaning up on my driveway and neighboring driveways where it couldn't be avoided to have some sawdust spreading around. They left my front plot looking clean and ready for fall planting. They also left me a couple extra bags of soil to put down after I apply a weed control agent later. My one hesitancy in giving 5 stars is that scheduling was a real pain. There was a lot of back and forth or lack there of in getting my work scheduled and then further delayed due to storms that put other projects in front of mine. If they could fix their scheduling process, this would go from a good company to an outstanding one. As for price, this is the first time I've hired a tree service so it's hard to compare but for reference the take down of the tree including grinding the stump and replacing a few yards of soil deep was about $1,230. The tree was an eye sore so alas it had to be done. read more

We moved into our home about a year ago and realized that one of the tall old sycamores near the street was rotting and would need to be removed. The arborist, Ben promptly met with us and explained that the tree had 2 fungi (which he showed us) and confirmed our suspicions. At our request, he walked the property and explained the types of trees we have and assessed the health of them. Discovered we have a Canadian Hemlock and Ben showed us the insect evidence on the tree. These trees are dying as they are prone to the wooly adelgid insect. Because the tree is beautiful and not that common, and the tree was able to be treated, we agreed to the tree injection that kills the insect. It was a pleasure to work with Ben who is a polite, knowledgeable professional who clearly enjoys his work. No pressure to buy RTEC services. Regarding the tree removal, the sycamore tree was near the power lines so RTEC coordinated with the utility company and had the utility company come to assess the work that would be done. There was a delay in the tree removal but that was due to the utility company. As far as to the actual work in removing the tree, the crew was professional and removed the tall tree without any issues. They ensured the stump was ground down and cleaned up the area--just a little sawdust remaining. Our neighbors echoed our assessment in how quickly and professionally the work was done that day. Regarding the hemlock treatment, RTEC has a process to notify neighbors if they are going to be on their property (a form is completed and the neighbor notified). Our neighbor appreciated the notification. On the day of the hemlock treatment, the person who was treating the tree, first knocked on our door to identify himself and explained what he was going to do and the time estimate (30 mins). Again, polite, professional service. We are highly impressed with the level of service, knowledge, and professionalism. We are having RTEC treat our dogwoods in the spring. read more