How to check a tree service license in Oregon

Which license a tree service needs: ORS 701 or ORS 671

Oregon defines a “contractor” to include a person engaged as an independent contractor to remove trees, prune trees, remove tree limbs or stumps, or do tree or limb guying, with exceptions for a landscape contracting business, a nurseryman, a gardener and a commercial forest-products harvester (ORS 701.005(5)(e)). A contractor must hold a CCB license (ORS 701.021). The exception for landscape contracting businesses points to the other board: ORS 671.525(5)(b)(D) places removing or pruning a tree, removing limbs or stumps, and tree or limb guying inside the landscape contracting license, and ORS 671.530 requires that license for anyone operating as a landscape construction professional.

The LCB puts the net effect in one sentence on its home page: tree removal, guying, pruning and stump removal require a license with the LCB or the CCB. There is no separate “tree service license” and no exemption for small jobs by an independent business. The only crews outside both boards are the ones the statute names: a nursery, a gardener who is not operating as a contractor, and a timber harvester working commercially in the woods.

Which board a business chose tells you something about its shape. An LCB licensee doing tree work holds either the All Phase license or the Arborist Phase, which the LCB’s license table describes as the phase that can remove trees, grind stumps and guy limbs; the Arborist Phase requires ISA certification and passing the laws, rules and business practices exam. A CCB licensee is usually a residential specialty or general contractor whose endorsement sets its bond and insurance, as explained below.

The two lookups

1. CCB Contractor/License Search: search.ccb.state.or.us/search. Search by business name, license number or an individual’s name. The CCB says the record shows whether the license is active, whether the bond and insurance are on file, and any complaints or disciplinary actions filed with the CCB in the past 10 years. By phone: 503-378-4621.
2. LCB Verify a License: lcb.us.thentiacloud.net/webs/lcb/register. Search by business or by the individual landscape construction professional. By phone: 503-967-6291, weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Check three things on the record. The name on the license should match the name on the contract and the truck, not a similar name or a “doing business as” nobody mentioned. The status should be active on the day of the work, not just the day you called. And the license should belong to the business that will do the work; a licensed owner who subcontracts your removal to an unlicensed crew leaves you with the unlicensed crew.

If a business is on neither lookup, it cannot lawfully contract for tree removal, pruning or stump grinding in Oregon. The CCB takes reports of unlicensed contracting through its online enforcement complaint, and the CCB’s consumer page is blunt that its dispute process is only available when the contractor was licensed during your project.

What the license does and does not guarantee

A license is a financial floor, not a quality mark. Here is what sits behind it.

Two limits matter on a tree job. The bond is small. A crew dropping an 80-foot Douglas fir next to a house in Lake Oswego is working with a $15,000 to $25,000 bond, and that bond is one pool for every claim against the business, not a per-customer guarantee. The insurance minimum is a minimum. A residential limited contractor can be licensed with $100,000 of liability coverage, which is a floor, not a measure of what a dropped fir can do to a roof and the framing under it. The LCB requires workers’ compensation only if the business has employees, so a two-person crew that calls itself owner-operated may have no coverage for an injured climber; ask.

The license also says nothing about the two things that decide whether a removal goes well: whether anyone on the crew has training in rigging and felling, and whether the business has done a job like yours. Those come from the ISA directory and from references, below. For large or crane-assisted removals, see crane tree removal.

How to ask for a certificate of insurance, and check it

The lookup shows that insurance is on file with the board; it does not show the limits, the policy period or the exclusions. For that you ask for a certificate of insurance, usually a one-page ACORD form, issued by the crew’s insurance agent and naming you as the certificate holder for the job. Then:

1. Read the policy dates. The work must fall inside the policy period shown for general liability and, if there are employees, for workers’ compensation.
2. Read the limits. The per-occurrence general liability figure should be at least the statutory minimum for the endorsement and, for a large removal near a structure, comfortably above the value of what could be hit.
3. Ask about exclusions. Ask the agent directly whether the policy excludes tree removal, work above a stated height, or crane and rigging operations. A certificate does not list exclusions; the agent can.
4. Call the agent or insurer at the number printed on the certificate, not a number the crew gives you, and confirm the policy is in force on the date of the work. A certificate can be issued the day before a policy is cancelled for non-payment.
5. Keep it with the contract. If something goes wrong, the certificate is what you hand your own insurer so it can pursue the crew’s carrier; the storm damage and insurance guide covers that side.

ISA credentials: the competence check

The International Society of Arboriculture’s directory at treesaregood.org/findanarborist lets you search credentialed arborists by location, and its credential verification page lets you confirm a name and certification number. ISA Certified Arborist is a knowledge credential earned by exam; the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification is the add-on you want on anyone who is writing a report on whether a tree should come down, and Lake Oswego’s hazard-tree permit requires its form be completed by an assessor with that qualification. The LCB’s Arborist Phase license is built on the same credential: ISA certification is required to hold it.

ISA certification is not an Oregon license and does not replace one. An ISA Certified Arborist who contracts to remove your tree still needs a CCB or LCB license for the business. The two checks answer different questions, and a crew should pass both. The arborist page explains what a consulting arborist does that a removal crew does not, and tree risk assessment explains what a risk report should contain.

Work near power lines: a separate qualification

No license on either board qualifies a crew to work inside the clearance zone of an energized line. Oregon OSHA’s tree and shrub services rules require employees who are not qualified line-clearance tree trimmers to stay at least 10 feet from lines energized at 50,000 volts or less, plus 4 inches for every additional 10,000 volts (OAR 437-002-0306). Work within 10 feet of lines over 600 volts falls under Division 2, Subdivision RR, which covers line-clearance tree trimming done for the line operator (OAR 437-002-2300(1)(e)), sets the line-clearance tree-trimming rules (437-002-2317) and the minimum approach distances for qualified employees (437-002-2311). Only a qualified line-clearance tree trimmer, or a qualified employee under those rules, may work inside the 10-foot zone.

The utility statute adds an obligation on the person hiring the work. ORS 757.805 requires anyone performing work in proximity to a high-voltage overhead line, meaning more than 600 volts under ORS 757.800, to guard against accidents under Oregon OSHA rules and to notify the utility in advance; a party that fails to comply is liable to the utility for all resulting damage and accident costs, including third-party claims. In practice that means the utility clears its own primary lines and, for the service drop to your house, offers a disconnect so a private crew can work. Portland General Electric’s tree hotline is 503-736-5460 and it prunes limbs that strain or abrade service wires; see PGE tree trimming and tree removal near power lines. A crew that says it will “just be careful” near a line is the clearest red flag on this page.

Red flags

• No license number on the contract, the truck or the ad. Ask for it and run it before anyone climbs.
• “You don’t need a permit.” In Portland a private tree of 12 inches needs one, in Lake Oswego, Milwaukie and Happy Valley 6 inches, and street trees need one almost everywhere; see tree removal permits in Oregon. A crew that cuts a regulated tree without a permit exposes you to the city’s penalty, which in Portland can reach $1,000 per tree per day.
• Door-to-door after a windstorm, cash only, a large deposit before work, or a verbal price. Get a written scope with the tree, the method, the cleanup and the stump stated separately; see tree removal cost for what a line-item estimate looks like.
• Refusal to produce a certificate of insurance, or a certificate that lists a different business name than the license.
• Topping. Keizer and Canby bar topping of street trees outright, and a crew that offers it as “trimming” is proposing work most Oregon cities prohibit on public trees.
• Working near a boundary without a survey or the neighbor’s written consent. Cutting a tree that turns out to be partly the neighbor’s can mean treble damages under ORS 105.810; see Oregon neighbor tree law.
• Working near a wire without telling the utility. That is an ORS 757.805 problem for you as well as for the crew.

If a job goes wrong: CCB and LCB complaints

CCB. Before filing, you must send the contractor a 30-day notice by certified mail to its CCB-registered address; the CCB has an online pre-complaint notice generator. After that, the CCB’s dispute resolution staff try to settle the matter between you and the contractor. The deadlines are strict: for work on an existing home, within one year after the work was substantially completed; for a new structure, within one year of occupancy or two years of completion, whichever comes first. A $50 processing fee may apply, and complaints go on the CCB’s official form. The CCB can act only if the contractor was licensed during your project; an unlicensed crew goes to enforcement instead, and your remedy against it is in court.

LCB. A homeowner, subcontractor or supplier can file a claim against a licensed landscape contracting business through the LCB’s online portal or a PDF form. The deadline is one year from the date the work was substantially completed. A pre-complaint letter giving the business 30 days’ notice is optional and does not extend that year. The LCB investigates, sends the claim to the business for a response, and works toward a resolution; the bond and the liability policy are what a resolved claim can be paid from.

For damage the boards do not resolve, Oregon’s small claims department takes money claims up to $10,000 (ORS 46.405), with a $57 filing fee for claims of $2,500 or less and $102 above that (ORS 46.570). A wrongly cut tree is a different case: ORS 105.810 lets the tree’s owner seek three times the damages plus costs and attorney fees at the court’s discretion, which is usually a circuit court matter and a lawyer’s. If the crew’s own insurer is involved, Oregon’s claim-handling rules require it to acknowledge a claim within 30 days and to accept or deny within 30 days of a completed proof of loss (OAR 836-080-0225, 836-080-0235), and the Division of Financial Regulation’s consumer line is 888-877-4894.

A two-minute checklist before you sign

1. License number on the estimate; run it on the CCB or LCB lookup; status active; name matches.
2. Certificate of insurance in your name; policy dates cover the job; agent confirms by phone.
3. Workers’ compensation shown if the crew has employees.
4. ISA credential on whoever is assessing the tree; TRAQ if a risk report is part of the job.
5. Permit number in hand if the city requires one; the crew should not start without it.
6. Utility notified if any part of the work is within 10 feet of a line over 600 volts.
7. Written scope: tree, method, cleanup, stump, debris disposal and who pays for the permit.

None of this takes long, and it is the same checking the boards and the cities tell homeowners to do. If the removal is urgent, the emergency tree service page explains what can safely be deferred until the checks are done.