Local businesses are scrambling to help customers clean up after a severe thunderstorm last week.
Tree-removal companies in particular have seen dramatic increases in demand for their service since last Thursday’s storm toppled trees around the Valley.
“We’ve really just been trying to stay organized and stay efficient,” said Jason Nunemacher, general manager of Tree Pros in Phoenix.
The locally owned and operated company has seen about a 60 percent increase in customers since Friday, bringing in business and overwhelming workers.
“We’ve got a really good team that’s working extra hours out in the field,” Nunemacher said.
Jennifer Johnson, a professor in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is one of many Valley residents in need of tree removal and landscaping services after the storm.
Three large trees in Johnson’s front and back yards were blown over in the storm.
“There have been landscaping trucks driving around the neighborhood looking for business, and I get the feeling some people are being taken advantage of,” Johnson said.
Johnson said she was able to turn to a friend and neighbor, Raphael Ayala, who owns a landscaping business and offered to clean up her yard for a discounted price. But she warned residents of Phoenix and Tempe to use caution in picking a company to handle tree removal.
“I would get a few quotes before paying,” Johnson said.
Victor Blackwell of the Tempe-based company Oasis Tree Service said the cost of tree removal varies and depends on the weight, accessibility, labor and liability of the job, but removal of a large tree would typically cost upward of $800.
Nunemacher said the price of removal varies widely and starts around $750.
“It really depends on the type of tree, the foliage, the density and the equipment needed to remove it.”
Conservation biology junior Steven Prager said the abundance of tree removal crews around Tempe has created gridlock for cyclists and pedestrians on the street.
“The trucks funnel everyone to a particular area, which makes it harder to maneuver,” said Prager, who rides his bike to class every day.
Valley U-Haul storage facilities have also pitched in to help families in the Phoenix metro area affected by the storm by offering 30 days of free storage.
“We’re just trying to give back to the communities we serve,” U-Haul spokeswoman Nicole Shropshire said.
She said the program would be accepting new customers throughout the next two weeks.
Shropshire said U-Haul locations across the Valley are participating in a program called “Take a box, Leave a box,” which allows customers the opportunity to drop off their old storage boxes, which are distributed to families in need of them after the storm.
“It’s especially good for ASU [students] since they just moved in,” Shropshire said. “For people that want to get rid of the boxes, it’s a good way to do it without throwing them away.”
A Tempe U-Haul location and other East Valley storage companies, such as Storage West, Public Storage and Apache Self-Storage, reported no increase in customers since the storm.
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
