The century maple doesn't have to come down
Jason Lewis runs Diversified Tree Company out of a yard on Paris Avenue SE in south Grand Rapids. He's been doing this for more than ten years, with a crew carrying 25+ years of combined experience, and he'll talk you out of a removal when the tree is worth keeping. That's the whole point of this service. A splitting union on a 100-year maple is not automatically a death sentence — it's usually a structural problem with a structural answer.
Bracing and cabling are support systems for trees with weak unions, co-dominant stems, or storm-cracked limbs that are otherwise healthy. Cables — high-strength steel or dynamic synthetic — go high in the canopy to limit how far stems can pull apart in wind. Brace rods are threaded steel run straight through a weak union or split lower down, holding the wood together directly.
Done right, the hardware is invisible from the street and adds decades to a tree's safe life. Done wrong — undersized hardware, wrong height, girdling wraps — it hands you a false sense of security. We replace bargain installs regularly. Every Diversified installation follows industry standards for placement, hardware sizing and tensioning, and it comes with an inspection schedule instead of a handshake.
How Jason decides: cable it or cut it
Three things decide it: the value of the tree, the structure of the defect, and what sits underneath. A high-value tree with one correctable defect and a manageable target below is a support candidate. Extensive decay, multiple failing unions, or a child's bedroom directly beneath changes the math, and we'll say so.
- Structural assessment. We look at the union or defect, the load above it, the target below it, and whether support is genuinely the right answer for this tree.
- Honest recommendation. Some trees warrant a cable. Some need weight-reduction pruning instead. Some are past saving. You get told which, plainly, with no upsell attached.
- Installation. Hardware sized to the stems and set at the correct height — typically two-thirds of the way from the defect to the top of the canopy — and tensioned correctly.
- Inspection schedule. Support systems get checked, not forgotten. We recommend re-inspection every two to three years and after any major storm.
Most installations take a half day. They're usually paired with weight-reduction pruning of the supported limbs — the cable limits movement, the pruning reduces the load it has to manage. When the crew leaves, you'll see nothing from the sidewalk. The tree just keeps being the tree it was.
Glad I waited for the right professional. Jason was very careful in his approach with my tree fallen after the storm. If not for him I would have definitely damaged my roof. Very happy. — Tom, Google review
What a support system costs in West Michigan
Support systems are quoted per tree, after an assessment, because no two weak unions are the same. What moves the number:
- How many cables or rods the structure actually needs
- Tree height and how easily the canopy can be accessed
- Static steel versus dynamic synthetic systems
- Companion pruning to reduce the load on the supported limbs
- What the condition assessment turns up — decay, old cracks, moving seams
- Ongoing re-inspection visits
As a rule of thumb, a support system costs a fraction of removing and replacing a mature tree — and nothing replaces a 100-year canopy inside your lifetime. Estimates are free, and you'll hear back within one business day.
Signs the tree in your yard needs support
- A V-shaped union between two main stems (co-dominant leaders)
- A crack or seam where a big limb meets the trunk
- Included bark visibly pinched inside a union
- A previously repaired split that has started moving again
- Heavy horizontal limbs stretched over a house, driveway or patio
- Storm damage to a tree you aren't ready to lose
Diversified is an owner-operated, Black-owned, family-focused team — BBB accredited and rated 5 out of 5 from 13 reviews. We cover Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Grandville, Byron Center, Caledonia, Moline, Jenison, Hudsonville, Dorr, Ada, Wayland, Alto, Marne and Comstock Park, and from the Paris Ave SE yard most of the metro is about 20 minutes away in normal conditions. Bracing and cabling sits alongside our other eight services, including tree removal, trimming and pruning, stump grinding, emergency storm response, lot clearing, firewood, snow plowing and curbside leaf pickup.
Worried about a tree you love? Get an honest structural assessment first — sometimes the answer is a cable, not a removal. Call Jason at (616) 407-0044.