Tree Installations

Tree Installations and Removals in Wanaka

We can help install lights, bird boxes, zip lines, rope swings or rescuing cats and drones. Any excuse to climb a tree!

A tree wrapped in strings of fairy lights at night, a man giving a thumbs up in front of it

Up the tree

If it needs to be up a tree, we can put it there

Not every call to an arborist is about cutting. Sometimes the job is getting something safely up into the canopy, or safely down out of it. Strings of lights through a big tree for a wedding or a summer of evenings outside; a nest box high enough to keep the cats off; a zip line or a rope swing from a limb that will actually hold it; the cat that went up and will not come down; the drone that found the one tree on the property.

A climbing arborist has the ropes, the harness and the judgement to do all of that without hurting the tree or the person doing it. Any excuse to climb a tree.

See a tree lit up for the evening in the gallery

An arborist kneeling under a tree, aiming a pole slingshot up into the canopy to set a throw line, its bag open beside him

The things we get asked for

Lights

Festoon and fairy lights run through a tree properly: fixed so they do not strangle the branches, routed so the cable is hidden, and taken down again at the end of the season if you want.

Bird boxes

Nest boxes fixed high in the right tree, facing away from the weather, attached in a way the tree can live with.

Zip lines and rope swings

Anchored to a limb that has been looked at by someone who knows what a limb can carry, with the branch protected where the rope sits.

Rescues

Cats, drones, kites and the occasional hat. We climb up, bring it down and leave the tree as we found it.

How it works

Tell us what and where
A photo of the tree and what you want in it is usually enough to say yes and give you a price. For lights and swings, a free visit to check the branch first.
Climb and fit
We climb on ropes, not spikes, so the bark is not damaged, and fix whatever it is using methods that let the branch keep growing.
Check it is right
Lights switched on, the swing loaded, the box level, the cat handed back.

What affects the price and timing

These jobs are priced on the climb and the time in the tree. A nest box in a small tree is a short visit; lights through the whole crown of a big old tree, with power run neatly to the trunk, is most of a day and may need two people. A swing or zip line also needs the branch assessed, and sometimes a little pruning to clear the landing.

Lights are best put up before the season you want them for and taken down after it, because a tree in full leaf is harder to work through and cable left in a growing branch for years will cut into it. Cat rescues are same-day where we can manage it; a cat that has been up a tree overnight is a cat that would like to come down.

Installation questions

Will lights or a swing damage the tree?

Not if they are fitted properly. Cables and ropes are fixed so they can be loosened as the branch grows, and anything left in the tree for years is checked. A rope tied tight around a limb and forgotten will eventually girdle it, which is why we fit these things the way we do.

Can you check that a branch will hold a swing?

Yes. That is the first thing we do. Species, the size of the limb, how it joins the trunk and whether there is any decay all decide it, and if the branch is not up to it we will say so.

How high should a bird box go?

High enough to be out of reach of cats and casual disturbance, facing away from the prevailing wind and the hot afternoon sun, in a tree with some cover. The ruru nest box plans linked on this page are a good guide for that species, and autumn is the time to put a box up.

My cat is stuck up a tree. How soon can you come?

Call us. If we can get there the same day we will. Most cats come down on their own within a day or so, but if yours has been up there a night and is not moving, it is time to fetch it.

Can you retrieve a drone?

Yes, and the sooner the better before the wind moves it. Send a photo of where it is sitting.

For the birds

A nest box for ruru

If you have morepork calling at night, a nest box is a real help to them. Wingspan, the national bird of prey centre, publishes free ruru nest box plans and explains why: ruru are cavity nesters, cats, rats and mustelids are a huge risk to them, and a box put up in autumn, before June, gives the best chance of tenants.

Build the box from their plans, or ask us to, and we will put it where the birds will find it and the cats will not.