What this service is
Shrubs, hedges, foundation plantings and low-hanging branches, cut from the ground.
That covers most of what a Bear Lake property actually needs: junipers swallowing a walkway, lilacs that have not been cut in six years, branches dragging on a roofline, growth blocking a window or a view of the water, and whatever the last heavy snow broke.
What this service is not
It is not tree service. No climbing, no rigging, no removals, no stump work, nothing that needs a bucket truck or a certified arborist.
That line is drawn deliberately and it does not move. A landscaping company that takes on tree work without an arborist’s equipment and insurance is one bad afternoon from a very expensive problem, and a limb that comes down wrong at a lakefront property lands on something that costs real money. If a job is on the wrong side of that line, we will say so and point you at somebody who does it properly.
Three visits, and what each one is for
Spring shape-up. The biggest of the three. Winter breakage gets cleaned out, shrubs get cut back to a shape they can hold through the season, and growth gets pulled off siding, windows and walkways. Timed after hard frost risk passes so a fresh cut is followed by growth rather than a freeze.
Mid-summer touch-up. Lighter, and mostly wanted on rented properties. Keeps the place from looking neglected in the photographs during the weeks it is actually earning.
Fall cleanup. The last pass before winter. This is the one where anything hanging over a driveway, a walk or a parking pad comes down, because a branch loaded with wet snow ends up on the driveway at the worst possible moment, usually on the same night the plow is needed.
In a partial season, the fall cleanup is the pass that matters most.
Why it is billed hourly
A flat hourly rate, billed for the time on the property, with debris removal included.
Per-shrub pricing sounds precise and is not. Ten small, regularly maintained foundation shrubs and two lilacs that have gone untouched for years are the same count and nothing like the same job. Hourly is the version where a light touch-up costs what a light touch-up should, and a genuine overhaul costs what it took.
If you want a ceiling on it, say so with the quote request and we will agree what gets done in a set number of hours and what waits for the next visit.
Timing for spring-flowering shrubs
One thing worth knowing before booking a spring shape-up: lilacs, forsythia and other spring bloomers set next year’s flower buds on last year’s wood. Cutting them hard in early spring removes the flowers you were waiting for.
Those get cut right after they finish blooming instead. Tell us which shrubs you care about seeing bloom and they get worked into the schedule that way rather than cut on the same day as everything else.