Tree work is skilled, dangerous labor. Hiring a crew that can’t back up what they claim is how people and properties get hurt. The credentials, equipment, and insurance a tree service carries tell you most of what you need to know about whether a job will be done safely — and whether you’re protected if something goes wrong. Here’s what to look for, and what Arbor Pro’s brings to every job.
What EHAP Certification Actually Means
EHAP stands for Electrical Hazards Awareness Program. It is the industry-recognized training for tree workers who operate near energized power lines. EHAP-qualified crews are trained to identify electrical hazards on a jobsite, maintain minimum approach distances, recognize conductor types, understand line voltages, and coordinate with utilities when a line needs to be de-energized before work begins. In Pennsylvania, EHAP qualification is effectively required for any tree work that touches utility right-of-way — and it should be non-negotiable for any residential tree that has grown into contact with overhead service drops.
Arbor Pro’s crews are EHAP-certified. We carry active utility contracts — including ongoing work for United Electric and a completed six-figure project for FirstEnergy — and we maintain a dedicated second crew for utility line clearance so our residential work never gets bumped when a utility call comes in.
The Credentials Behind Our Crew
Beyond EHAP, the credentials worth asking any tree service about are licensure, insurance, and time in the field. Here is where Arbor Pro’s stands:
- PA Contractor License: PA079160 — active and in good standing. We are also a registered Pennsylvania state vendor (421406).
- Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Full coverage on every member of every crew, on every job. This is not universal in the tree-service industry. Many small operators do not carry it. If a worker is injured on an uninsured crew working on your property, your homeowner’s policy can be the next target.
- General Liability Insurance: Certificates available on request before any work starts.
- Experience: Our owner has more than 20 years in the field running the same equipment and the same crews. That continuity matters more than any certificate for the kind of large, complex removals we specialize in.
Equipment That Makes the Hard Jobs Safer
Credentials tell you a crew knows what they’re doing. Equipment tells you whether they can actually do it without damage or injury. Arbor Pro’s runs the heaviest fleet in Central Pennsylvania:
- 65-ton COMPA 650 knuckle boom crane with a 100-foot horizontal reach and a grapple saw attachment. This is the highest-capacity crane of its type in the region. It lets us remove trees over houses, pools, and outbuildings by lifting cut sections out cleanly instead of felling them.
- 90-foot wallboard knuckle boom crane, also grapple-saw-equipped, for secondary crane work and staging.
- 92-foot CMC 92HD+ spider lift and 75-foot TEUPEN spider lift, both track-mounted and able to pass through a 36-inch gate. These give us aerial access on steep terrain and narrow-access sites where a bucket truck cannot go.
- Large commercial stump grinder for residential and commercial stump removal at scale.
- Protective ground mats deployed on every job to keep your lawn, driveway, and irrigation intact under heavy equipment.
The combination of a 65-ton crane, two spider lifts, and EHAP-qualified operators is the reason we get the phone calls for the jobs other companies turn down — the tree leaning over the roof, the pine on the powerline, the stand that has to come out without tracking a single tire through a freshly landscaped yard.
Insurance and Accountability
If a tree comes down wrong and hits a neighbor’s home, a fence, a car, or a person, the first question an insurance adjuster or attorney will ask is whether you hired a properly insured contractor. Workers’ comp and general liability aren’t paperwork — they are the mechanism that transfers liability from your homeowner’s policy onto the tree company where it belongs. Ask any contractor you are considering — including us — to provide current certificates of insurance before work begins. If they can’t, don’t hire them.
Our cleanup standard is simple: we leave your property looking as if we were never there. Ground mats down before heavy equipment goes in. Chips and limbs hauled out. Driveways swept. It’s the thing our repeat customers and utility clients mention most often.
Serving Central Pennsylvania
Arbor Pro’s operates across Clearfield County, Centre County, Jefferson County, and Elk County, and into the communities in between — State College, DuBois, Clearfield, Curwensville, Punxsutawney, Brookville, Ridgway, Bellefonte, Philipsburg, and Lock Haven. We run 24/7 storm response for emergency tree work, and we quote free estimates for planned work.
Explore our specialized services:
- Crane-assisted tree removal for large, complex, or over-structure jobs
- 24/7 emergency and storm damage response
- Hazardous tree assessment and removal
- Forestry mulching and land clearing
- Standard tree removal and stump grinding
Call Arbor Pro’s for a free estimate: (814) 553-0303. PA Licensed PA079160 · EHAP-certified · Fully insured.