Lucas Tree Experts is a local tree and landscape specialist with nearly 100 years of experience. Based in Maine, Lucas Tree Experts offers commercial and utility services throughout New England, parts of Canada, and regions of the Southeast. In January 2022, Lucas Tree Experts sold its residential division to The Davey Tree Expert Company, a Kent, Ohio-based company.
This review details its previous residential services and how Lucas Tree Experts compared to top lawn care companies. If you’re looking for a lawn care provider, we recommend TruGreen, a national company currently offering tree and lawn care services.
Pros and Cons of Lucas Tree Experts Co.
Pros
- Nearly 100 years of experience
- Team of TCIA-certified arborists
- Eco-conscious services
Cons
- Only available in Maine
- Difficult to reach for new services
Compare Other Lawn Companies
| Company | Star Rating | BBB Rating | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
A+ | Best Lawn Care Company | ||
A+ | Best DIY Lawn Service | ||
 | A+ | Best for Customization | |
A- | Best For Weed Control | ||
 | Not Rated | Best Natural Lawn Care | |
 | A+ | Best Guarantee | |
 | A+ | Most Comprehensive Service |
Lucas Tree Experts Co. Plans and Services
Though Lucas Tree Experts began as solely a tree care business, it has expanded residential services to include basic lawn care and regional pest control. If you’re a Maine resident looking for regional experience in tree care, pest control, and weed control, Lucas Tree offers a range of services that can cover your needs.
Here’s a little bit about the services that Lucas Tree Experts Co. provides:
Tree Removal
Professional tree removal and care are at the heart of Lucas Tree Expert services. The company provides consultation, a safe removal process, and emergency calls throughout Maine.
Lucas Tree Experts will do a tree safety analysis, safe tree removal, heavy limb removal, small and large tree removal, stump grinding, preventative tree maintenance, and provide storm and emergency services.
Tree Care
Lucas Tree Experts also specializes in keeping your trees healthy throughout their lifetime. Since trimming a tree incorrectly can harm its ability to rejuvenate, the company recommends hiring professionals for any major alterations to your property’s trees. The team can help you decide if your young or old tree would benefit from tactics like pruning, trimming, bracing, and cabling.
A few of the tree care services offered by the company include pruning, cabling and bracing, root fertilization, hazardous limb removal, storm tree care, stump removal, and consultations.
Plant Health Care
Lucas Tree takes an integrative approach to plant care, specifically when it comes to common issues like pest and weed management. With IPM, or Integrated Pest Management, Lucas Tree specialists avoid using damaging chemicals on your property and specifically target problem areas.
Some plant health care services include diagnostics, pest, weed, and disease control, spring dormant pest treatments, winterization, and deep root fertilization.
Lawn Care
Lucas Tree offers three distinct lawn care levels through its Evergreen Lawn Care program. The three plans give customers the choice to balance the time, budget, and use of different approaches.
Here’s how the plans are broken down:
- Evergreen Lawn Steward: This provides the most integrative and chemical-free approach to lawn care. Lawn care specialists use 100% organic fertilizers, avoid blanket treatments, and minimize pesticide use.
- Evergreen Total Organic: The second tier is the balance between budget-conscious treatments and the most integrative care. Fertilizers and conditioners are still organic and safe for families and pets and the program is spread across four treatments. This plan also includes the option for overseeding.
- Evergreen Core: This program offers eco-friendly services and is the quickest and most affordable plan in the program. It includes spot weed care, fertilization, grub prevention, and between four and five treatments.
Pest Control
Lucas Tree Experts targets three major pests in their pest control services: mosquito, tick, and winter moth. A state-certified pest control applicator will visit local homes and businesses to treat current pest issues and look for signs that problems will persist in the future.
Storm Line Repair
Since the company has nearly a century of experience with utility company partnerships, it advertises itself as a prime pick for emergency assistance when service lines are downed by trees.
Lucas Tree Experts recommends calling a utility company first but advertises that it can step in to remove any remaining parts of the tree that were not addressed. Lucas Tree Experts offers a 24-hour hotline for emergencies during year-round storms in their service region.
Lucas Tree Experts Co. Service Area
Residential services are available to homeowners throughout the Greater Portland and southern Maine regions.
Lucas Tree Experts service various cities including Biddeford, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, Falmouth, Gorham, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, North Yarmouth, Ogunquit, Portland, Saco, Sanford, Scarborough, South Portland, Standish, Yarmouth, and Windham.
Lucas Tree Experts Co. Reviews
Lucas Tree Experts has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and only received one complaint in the past several years. While there aren’t any customer reviews on the BBB, there are a few on Yelp, included below:
“These guys provided excellent customer service from start to finish. They provided exactly the services we discussed, at the estimated cost, in a timely manner. They were booked out until January and estimated we would receive our tree services the first week of the new year. They arrived when promised and were very professional. We will be using Lucas Tree for all our future needs and recommend them highly.” —Ellen B. via Yelp
“[Lucas Tree Experts] came to my home on behalf of CMP and decimated my front yard of trees that have stood for almost 30 years and have never, ever been a problem. They clear cut leaving a huge mess, pointed stumps, and logs across the road.” —Donna C. via Yelp
Lucas Tree Experts Co. vs. Competitors
Compare how Lucas Tree Experts stacks up against other lawn care companies.
| Breakdown | TruGreen | Lawn Doctor | Lucas Tree Experts |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Our overall score (out of 100) |
97 |
83 |
53 |
|
Lawn care programs |
5 + a la carte services |
2 + a la carte services |
3 + a la carte services |
|
States available |
49 |
38 |
1 |
|
Mobile app |
Yes |
Only for New York |
No |
|
Online chat |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Number of employees* |
13,504 |
1,350 |
650 |
|
Website |
https://www.trugreen.com/ |
https://www.lawndoctor.com/ |
https://www.lucastree.com/ |
*Source: Lawn & Landscape, Top 100 Issue, 2019
Our Conclusion
Since Lucas Tree Experts no longer offers residential services, we recommend choosing a national lawn care provider like TruGreen. TruGreen offers several tiers of lawn care plans, as well as comprehensive tree care, pest control, and weed management services. In Maine, TruGreen provides coverage in the Portland and Bangor areas, and it serves all other 49 states across the U.S.
FAQs About Lucas Tree Experts Co.
When was Lucas Tree Experts founded?
Originally founded by John Lucas in the 1920s, the company was passed from family to family while acting as the premier utilities tree expert in the Maine area. Today, the company still aims to stay up-to-date on training and technology as the industry discovers new lawn care methods to best serve the environment.
What does an arborist do?
An arborist analyzes the needs of the whole tree, considering everything from the health of the plant to how it complements its surrounding environment.
When is the best time to prune trees?
The best time to prune trees is in late fall or early spring. If you have large tree limbs that need to be pruned, talk to an arborist about safe pruning services.
Our Rating Methodology
We back up our lawn recommendations with a detailed rating methodology that we use to objectively score each provider. We review lawn care plans and packages, navigate the provider website and speak with customer service representatives, request quotes, and analyze customer reviews for each provider. We then score the provider against our review standards for plan options, additional benefits and customizability, availability, trustworthiness, and customer service to arrive at a final score out of 100.
