Case Study - Arb-Tech Tree Surgery

Wednesday 2 September 2026

Built on recommendations, trusted across Fife

Arb-Tech Tree Surgery is a Trading Standards vetted Fife Trusted Trader, providing professional tree surgery and arboricultural services to homeowners across Fife and the surrounding area.

My name is Alex Drysdale and I am a director of Arb-Tech Tree Surgery, based in Kirkcaldy. We cover Fife, Kinross and the surrounding areas, and we handle just about every kind of tree work a home or garden is likely to need: pruning and crown reductions, tree removals, stump grinding, hedge maintenance, and emergency call outs for when a storm or a failing tree simply cannot wait. Alongside the tree work we also take on fencing and groundworks, and we supply seasoned firewood across the area.

We set the business up to do one thing properly, which is to give people a tree care service they can genuinely rely on, carried out safely and finished to a high standard. We have grown steadily over the years, and almost all of that growth has come the old fashioned way, through personal recommendations and customers who come back to us again and again. To me, that says more than any advertising ever could.

Why standards matter in this trade

Tree surgery is not a trade with a single, enforced licence to practise. In reality, there is very little to stop someone buying a chainsaw, putting a sign on a van and calling themselves a tree surgeon. That is a real concern for homeowners, because the work can be genuinely dangerous, both for the people carrying it out and for the property and gardens around it. The difference between a properly trained, well equipped team and someone cutting corners is not always obvious from a quote, and by the time it becomes obvious it can be too late.

That is a big part of why being a Fife Trusted Trader means so much to us. It gives people an independent, public signal that we have been checked, that we work to a recognised standard, and that we take the responsibility of working on someone's home and garden seriously.

Why we joined Fife Trusted Trader

We joined the scheme in 2019 because we wanted to show, openly and clearly, that we take professionalism and customer service seriously. It gave us a way to raise our profile locally and, just as importantly, to reassure potential customers that they were choosing a business that had been independently vetted before it was ever allowed to join.

What it has meant for us and our customers

Membership has strengthened the confidence customers have in us. The scheme promotes higher standards right across the industry and provides an independent endorsement that people recognise and trust. It has helped us stand out from the crowd and brought in valuable enquiries from homeowners who are specifically looking for a reputable, accountable local trader.

It also gives our customers somewhere to have their say, and the feedback we have built up on our profile is something we are very proud of. Read through it and the same things come up time after time: a quick reply to that first enquiry, sensible advice on the right course of work, a tidy and respectful job, and a garden left clean at the end of the day. A good number of those reviews come from people we have worked for more than once, which is exactly the kind of trust we set out to earn.

“Being a Fife Trusted Trader gives our customers confidence they're choosing a professional, reliable and fully vetted company.”

What Trading Standards check, and what they do not

Fife Trusted Trader is run in partnership with Fife Council Trading Standards. Before a business is accepted, Trading Standards check the business and the people who own it: complaints history, insurances, Companies House records, the disqualified directors register, advertising and terms of business.

What Trading Standards do not do is inspect anybody's workmanship. The council checks that the business is what it says it is and has behaved properly. The customers, in the reviews, say what the work was like. In a trade with no single licence to practise, both halves matter.

Looking ahead

What drives us has not changed. We want every customer to feel as confident at the end of a job as they were when they first picked up the phone, and to know they could call us again without a second thought. Being a Fife Trusted Trader sits naturally alongside that, because it stands for the same things we have built the business on: professionalism, reliability and doing right by the people who trust us with their homes and gardens.

Alex Drysdale
Director, Arb-Tech Tree Surgery

Questions we are often asked

What area does Arb-Tech Tree Surgery cover?
Fife, Kinross and the surrounding areas, from a base at 26a Loughborough Road in Kirkcaldy.

What tree work does Arb-Tech take on?
Pruning and crown reductions, tree removals, stump grinding, hedge maintenance and emergency call outs for storm damage or a failing tree. They also take on fencing and groundworks, and supply seasoned firewood across the area.

What does Trading Standards vetted mean?
Arb-Tech Tree Surgery has been a Fife Trusted Trader since 2019, on a scheme run in partnership with Fife Council Trading Standards, and the business and its owners have been vetted by Trading Standards. Trading Standards vet the business and its owners, they do not check, inspect or approve the quality of the work carried out.

• View Arb-Tech Tree Surgery's Fife Trusted Trader profile.
• Read Arb-Tech Tree Surgery's verified customer reviews.
• Visit the Arb-Tech Tree Surgery website at www.arb-tech.co.uk.
• If you would like to become a Trusted Trader, you can apply here.
• If you are a Trusted Trader and would like to leave a case study either as text or as a video, get in touch.