Find the trees before the bulldozer does: an Austin tree and landscape contractor's playbook

On a new Austin project the trees are a line item before anything else is. The site plan has to account for every large tree on the lot, and a tree the city protects costs money to remove. That is work for a tree mover, and the landscape package that follows is work for a landscape contractor. Both start with the same records.

This is the method we would use as a tree and landscape contractor in Austin, and the list Groundbreak builds from it each morning.

The signal

Three records, in the order a project files them:

1. A site plan case. The earliest public record of a new building or a big addition. It is where trees, grading and the landscape plan get reviewed. See site plans.
2. A TDLR registration. Texas requires commercial projects over a cost threshold to register for accessibility review, with the owner and the architect named, often before the building permit. See TDLR registrations.
3. A new construction permit. The building is going up, the contractor is hired, and the site work is next.

Groundbreak matches all three to one project, so the site plan from March and the permit from October read as one job.

Why the trees matter in Austin

Austin protects large trees. Heritage trees, certain species at 24 inches in diameter and up, need a city permit to remove, and smaller protected trees count in the site plan too. Removing them is slow and expensive; moving them can keep a project on schedule and inside its tree requirements. A site plan on a lot with mature oaks is a tree mover's lead before it is anyone else's.

When to call

For tree work, at the site plan. The owner and the engineer are deciding what stays and what goes while the plan is in review.

For the landscape package, at the permit. In Miami, the one market where we can time each trade, the landscape and irrigation permit lands a median of 14 days after the master building permit, and three quarters of jobs have it by day 51. Austin does not publish trade permits, but the pattern holds as a rule of thumb: landscape is contracted early and installed last.

Who to ask for

1. The applicant on the site plan. Usually the civil engineer or the owner's agent, with a phone on most cases. They know the tree survey.
2. The general contractor on the permit. Named on about nine in ten City of Austin permits, with a phone on most.
3. The owner and the architect on the TDLR registration, for projects where the landscape is specified by design.

What to say

Saw the site plan for [the project] filed on [the date]. If the tree survey has protected trees you would rather keep than mitigate, we move trees that size in Austin. Who is handling the trees on it?

What Groundbreak shows in Austin, and what it does not

Shows: City of Austin permits with the contractor and a phone on most, Kyle, Leander, Lakeway and San Marcos permits, the city's site plan and zoning cases with the applicant and a phone, TDLR registrations with the owner and the architect, and the owner of record on every Travis parcel.

Does not show: trade permits, which Austin does not publish with the sub named. Sale prices, which Texas does not disclose. Construction loans, because Travis County publishes no deed feed, and notices of commencement, which Texas does not record. A value on most City of Austin permits: about a quarter carry one.

The Austin site plan guide explains how a case moves before the permit. The list below is this playbook run on the last 30 days.