Start with the property team's decision
Explain whether the immediate need is a baseline inventory, assessment of particular trees or a record to support maintenance planning. Identify who will use the information and what existing records are available. A list of trees and an assessment of their condition are different deliverables; confirm what the commission includes.
Make access part of the brief
Provide a site plan showing the areas to be surveyed and any exclusions. Agree the visit with the authorised site contact, including arrival procedures, access restrictions and appropriate timing. Explain which areas can be reached and how the surveyor should identify the trees in each part of the site. Do not assume access to adjacent land is included.
Connect records to recognisable places
Keep a stable tree ID alongside the mapped position and a location description, such as the garden beside a named building. Include the inspection date and linked photographs so the property team can distinguish the current visit from older evidence. Agree how trees without an existing number will be identified.
- Site boundary, buildings and area names used by staff.
- Existing tree records and their dates.
- Tree IDs, locations and photograph references.
- Measurements and observations required by the scope.
- Recommendations and follow-up information, where commissioned.
- The person responsible for receiving and maintaining the record.
A brief the school can adapt
Illustrative brief: “We need a baseline record of trees within the marked school boundary. Please confirm the survey and assessment scope, the map and schedule format, and whether photographs and management recommendations are included. Our property contact can arrange access outside the listed restricted periods. We have an older schedule but no consistent numbering map.”
Agree the handover and later updates
Ask for outputs the team can open and maintain, and confirm whether they will receive a report, schedule, map and photographs. Keep an issued copy with its date and preserve the original IDs during later inspections. Record subsequent work separately from the original observations. An inventory should not be presented as a guarantee that every tree is safe or as a substitute for the agreed assessment.
Discuss Sorbus tree surveys and inventories or management advice. Use the inventory field checklist to review the record structure.
Prepared by Sorbus Arbor Consulting.