Burke Bley (ower and self-proclaimed "professional arborist", but better-known as schmoozer-bartender at the B.C. Brewery) of "Conscious Clearing" employs a motley crue of hard-working people who do their best and occasionally get paid a menial wage for it. His tree guy is on meds and is *not* licensed. Neither is Burke, as far as I could determine. His biz card doesn't have his name on it, but lists a web site which I can't access. If it's hauling you want, check the parking lot at Ernie's Auto in Felton first. His trucks were there for most of the time he was working for us, and I had to hire some other guys to get rid of the debris (almost $2K worth). If you have a serious tree problem, also look elsewhere. We had an oak that had fallen in redwoods that Burke's tree guy (wisely) refused to take out. Burke promised but failed to deliver another tree guy. I had to find a pay another service $1600 to get that out.
Here's the kicker. I (being an idiot) had signed over two checks for $3400 to Burke, towards work only $2400 of which he'd invoiced me for. And hey, guess what, he stopped showing up with his crew after that. He showed up to collect tools- my tools (I stopped him) And he annoyed all the neighbors with his false bravado and caused a rift between myself and my husband.
One of his workers continued to show up and I paid him directly, turns out he's a felon but he's a better man than Burke and only charges $15 an hour.
If you do a search for Burke Bley you will see that someone else had even more problems with him.
Burke will probably be mentioned in small claims court documents soon as I try to get my money back. Meanwhile, I'm locking all my tools up.
Despite all this, I have to say, the guys who worked for him did a good job.
In summary - don't go to Conscious Clearing. Contact me and I'll hook you up with the felon or the other two really good teams I found to pick up Burke's slack.
-Kate
Pros: satistfied with what WAS done by workers. Some screw ups.
Cons: Job unfinished, I am owed $1000, had to pay $3000 to complete job to other people
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