Our Story

Being asked to help clear trees as a kid on the back of the family farm was Ben’s first taste of arboriculture. But it wasn’t until he was allowed to use the chainsaw too that he really got the bug, and the spark of an idea to do this professionally.

Although it was to be many years later before CK Treework was formally established (in 2011), it was those critical intervening years where Ben got the experience and qualifications that gave him the skills and confidence to build this business.

Early on in his career, Ben spent many years contracting to Transpower which involved incredibly technical work including trimming and moving trees around power lines. He then moved into working in high density locations, learning how to shape and manage trees and hedges in urban and suburban environments.

The diversity of Ben’s combined experience is largely what has shaped CK Treework to become the business it is today.

“I’m a people person, and really enjoy talking with people about their trees and gardens,” explains Ben.  “When people engage with us they’re excited because we’re excited. We enjoy taking out time to walk around their trees and talking about their trees – we really have a lot of respect for their trees, and our clients can see that about us.  We treat their gardens with a lot of care and respect.”

Established in Sept 2011 to meet the demand for arboriculture services in the Waikato region, Ben started with a ute, a few chainsaws and some climbing gear. However, it wasn’t long before he then bought a truck and a chipper, and the business has grown steadily from there.

“Clean-up is important to us,” says Ben. “When our clients come home one thing they immediately notice is how we leave everything clean and tidy. We always introduce ourselves personally, and take care with how we look and how we present ourselves.”

Top-of-mind for Ben and our team is caring for the trees. We believe that, too often, trees are removed that could easily be pruned or managed better to work for the property owners while also being essential for our environment. Tree planting and showing people how to manage their trees is an important part of our business.

“We want clients to see how valuable their trees are, and what we can do to save the trees and appreciate the value of their trees.”

Click here to find out more about our Tree Planting Programme with our local schools.