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Insured · Hamilton · Free estimates · ISA Certified Arborist®  ON-3154A

The trees remember good work.

A tree is a living thing with a timeline. At every stage of that life, good arborist work means something different. The cuts matter as much as the thinking behind them.


What I do best isn't climbing, or technique, or finishing work. It's reading a tree and a property honestly, understanding what you are trying to achieve, and working through what's actually possible together. That sometimes means offering a different perspective on what you're asking for. It always means being straight with you about what the tradeoffs look like before any work begins.


When I'm on your property I'll walk you through what I'm seeing, what your options are, and what each one means for the tree long term. You make the call. I make sure you have what you need to make it.

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What We Stand For

Three things that
guide every job.

01
Honesty

Recommendations are grounded in arboricultural best management practices and an honest read of what the tree can handle. The goal is predictable long term outcomes, not just a completed job. That sometimes means a conversation a client was not expecting. It always means working through the options together before any work begins.

02
Trees as living systems

A tree is a living thing, and that is not a figure of speech. It has a biology, a timeline, and an ecological role that does not end when the tree does. Standing deadwood, aging specimens, and trees in decline all have value in a functioning landscape. This work comes from a genuine place of care for living things, not just an appreciation of their utility or their aesthetics.

03
Craft

Every job is delivered personally. Any additional hands on site will be select arborists working alongside, held to the same standard. The work is careful, considered, and built to hold up years later when the tree shows what it remembered.

The trees remember good work.
Services

Two ways to work together

Not every tree needs the same attention. Tell me what you have and what you are looking for and we will figure out the right approach from there.

01
Care

This is the work most trees need and most homeowners never think to ask for. Pruning that keeps a tree healthy through its life. Hedges and shrubs maintained with the right cuts at the right time. Small removals handled cleanly. A trained eye on your property that tells you what is worth addressing and what can wait.

Care is honest, straightforward arborist work. No minimum crew, no inflated quotes, no upsell toward removal when a prune will do. If you have trees on your property and you want them looked after properly, this is where to start.

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02
Craft

Some trees ask more of you. Mature ornamentals with decades of character. Formal hedgerows that define a property. Specimen trees that have become part of the landscape in a way that makes every cut a considered decision.

Craft is for the work that requires more than technique. It requires understanding what a tree has been, what it is now, and what it can still become. It is slower, more deliberate, and held to a higher standard because the trees demand it. If you have a property where the trees matter, this is the service built around that.

Talk about your property
03
For tree companies
Contract Climbing

Available to tree service companies across the Hamilton area needing an experienced climber on the job. Six years of professional climbing, your crew, your work, your standards.

I bring my own gear, my own insurance, and enough experience to work autonomously on technical climbs. I am comfortable stepping into a lead hand or crew lead role when the job calls for it, keeping work moving, keeping standards up, and taking pressure off the owner in the field.

Whether you need coverage for a busy period, a skilled hand for a complex removal, or someone who can steady a crew, I am available on a subcontract basis. Reach out and let us talk about what that looks like.

Get in touch

The trees remember good work.

Service

Tree Pruning

Pruning is the most important thing you can do for a tree's long term health and structure. I work across the full range of deadwood removal, crown cleaning, ornamental care, structural pruning on young trees, and maintenance pruning on mature ones. Every cut is made with the tree's biology in mind and your goals on the table.

Small Tree Removal

Sometimes removal is the right answer. I handle small tree removals solo, working with what the site allows — material chipped on site, cut and stacked for your use, or hauled away depending on the situation. Honest assessment always comes first. If we can extend the valuable life of a tree, I will tell you.

Hedge and Shrub Maintenance

Most hedges and ornamental shrubs get treated like they're indestructible. Wrong timing, blunt cuts, sheared when they should be thinned — it catches up with them. I bring the same arborist thinking to shrubs and hedges that I bring to trees. The result looks good and the plant stays healthy. Those two things aren't in conflict when the work is done right.

Wildlife Habitat Installation

Trees don't stop providing value when they stop growing. Dead and dying trees — left as standing snags or fitted with purpose-built habitat boxes — are some of the most ecologically productive structures on a residential property. I offer snag creation from trees that would otherwise be fully removed, and habitat box installation at height for cavity-nesting birds, bats, and other species.


This side of the work is growing — I'm actively building relationships with local ecologists and habitat specialists to offer the best possible installations. If this interests you, reach out. I'd love to talk about what your property could support.

Site Visits and Tree Advice

Not every tree question needs a formal report. Sometimes you just need someone who knows trees to walk your property, look at what you have, and give you an honest read on what's healthy, what needs attention, what can wait, and what can't. I offer paid site visits for exactly that. I'll tell you what I see, what I'd recommend, and why.


I'm not a consulting arborist and I don't produce formal risk assessment documents, but six years climbing trees professionally means I know what to look for. If your situation does require a formal report I'll tell you that too and point you in the right direction.

Your Trusted Arborist

I am Mike, and I operate my own practice in Hamilton called Crown Point Arborist. I spent about six and a half years climbing trees professionally before going out on my own.  Before that I worked as an Outdoor Educator, and an Adventure Program Facilitator. A decade of finding every excuse to be off the ground led me up cellphone towers, silos, water towers, rock walls, highlines, and ziplines. Trees turned out to be the best version of all of that.


I work on trees in an urban environment. That means trees growing alongside people, under power lines, over rooftops, beside driveways, in spaces they did not evolve for. Left entirely alone they would be fine. But we live under them, so they need guidance. My role is to help people understand what their trees need to thrive in that shared space, and to execute that work at an excellent level.


What I care about most is doing this properly. Not the fastest, the most considered. Every tree is a living system with a biology, a timeline, and an ecological role worth respecting. That is not a marketing line. It is why I started Crown Point in the first place.


Crown Point exists because of the help and guidance of friends, family, colleagues, and mentors who believed this was the right move. I am grateful for every one of them.


ISA Certified Arborist ON-3154A · Hamilton, Ontario · Fully insured.


The trees remember good work.

How I Think About Trees

Every tree is a different conversation

Every tree is a different conversation. The same species in two different gardens, with two different clients and two different goals, will produce two completely different approaches. This chart is a rough map of how that thinking works in practice: which priorities are leading, which are being balanced, and where the tradeoffs land. It is not a formula. It is closer to a gut check.

Care
Residential Silver Maple
Post-structural prune
20 40 60 80 STRUCT. 91% RISK 97% AESTHETICS 63% VITALITY 75% FUNCTION 84%

A mature silver maple in a residential backyard. Structural work and risk reduction are the leading priorities here. There is deadwood to address and weight distribution to correct. Aesthetics and function follow once the tree is sound.

Craft
Specimen Japanese Maple
Established garden, ornamental prune
20 40 60 80 STRUCT. 51% RISK 44% AESTHETICS 97% VITALITY 91% FUNCTION 84%

A specimen Japanese maple in an established garden. Aesthetics and vitality are everything here. The pruning is about revealing form, maintaining character, and working with decades of growth rather than against it. Structure and risk are present but they are not the conversation.

Structure
Branch architecture and weight distribution
Risk Reduction
Deadwood, failure potential, clearance
Aesthetics
Visual form and property integration
Vitality
Canopy health and wound response
Function
Shade, screening, wildlife, clearance

Every pruning decision shifts this profile. The art is knowing which tradeoffs serve the tree and the client. Two trees, two profiles, two completely different conversations.

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The trees remember good work.