For most of the industry’s history, “estimating” meant walking the property with a clipboard, a tape measure, and a prayer. You guessed how long the removal would take, forgot the stump grinder, low-balled the disposal run, and then spent two hours that night typing it all into a Word template that looked different every time. Half the proposals never got followed up, the other half came back with “too expensive” because you either left money on the table or scared the client away.

That entire embarrassing ritual is now dead.

ArboStar’s [tree estimate app](https://arbostar.com/arborist-software/estimating-software) (built in 2022 and battle-tested through four major seasons by 2025) has become the single most powerful closing tool in professional arboriculture. Over 3,000 companies now write every bid on an iPad or phone while still standing under the tree — and they close more deals, at higher margins, faster than ever before.

This is not another generic estimating template with a green logo slapped on it. It is the first (and still only) tree estimate app that actually knows tree work:

- Species-specific labor tables (a 42″ oak takes longer than a 42″ maple)
- Real-time disposal and recycling costs by zip code
- Crane vs. spider lift vs. climbing rigging requirements
- Built-in ISA TRAQ risk scoring and mitigation recommendations
- Automatic traffic-control and utility-line markups
- PHC treatment pricing with seasonal pest calendars

The workflow is brutally fast and stupidly accurate:

1. Snap photos of each tree → the app auto-tags species and DBH
2. Tap the scope (removal, pruning, cabling, PHC, etc.) → labor, equipment, and disposal times populate instantly from your own historical data
3. Drag-and-drop additional line items → stump grinding, firewood processing, root pruning, soil injection
4. See live gross profit on every line item as you build — change fuel surcharge or crew rate and the margin updates in real time
5. Hit “Send” → client receives a beautiful, photo-rich, branded proposal with one-click e-signature and deposit link before you even back out of the driveway

The results after three years of daily use are almost unfair:

- Average estimate creation time: from 2–6 hours down to 6–11 minutes
- Proposal-to-close ratio: from 29–37 % up to 64–81 %
- Average job profit increase: +22.4 % in the first year (because estimators finally see true costs before hitting send)
- 96 % of proposals opened within 4 hours (vs. 38 % for emailed PDFs)
- 78 % of won jobs paid deposit same day via integrated payment links

The two biggest profit-killers in arboriculture — underbidding large removals and overbidding routine work — are now mathematically impossible. The app physically blocks submission if your company’s minimum margin rule is violated.

Storm and insurance work became pure profit. Estimators clone emergency templates, apply automatic 50–100 % uplifts, attach photos of the leaning tree on the house, and collect signed contracts while competitors are still trying to find their measuring wheel.

You can see the exact tree estimate app that made this possible — live on-site proposal demos, before-and-after examples, and real closing statistics — at arbostar. No sales call, just the tool running in real time.

In 2025, the best arborists no longer win jobs because they’re the cheapest or the fastest climbers. They win because they’re the only ones who can hand the client a perfect, signed proposal before the competition even leaves the driveway — and every single one of them uses ArboStar.



From Napkin Math to Same-Day Closes: Why ArboStar’s Tree Estimate App Is Now the Sharpest Tool in Every Top Arborist’s Truck