Frequently Asked Questions
Everything about how Tree Key works, what it costs, and how your data is handled.
About TreeKey
What is TreeKey?
TreeKey brings together proposed tree work from public planning records. You choose an opportunity and approve a letter introducing your business. We print and post it to the homeowner, who can contact you directly if interested.
Am I buying a confirmed enquiry?
No. This is an introduction based on a public planning record, not a request for quotes through TreeKey. The homeowner may already have a contractor or may choose not to respond.
What does “sold once” mean?
Once you buy an introduction, we take it off sale and won’t sell it to another firm through TreeKey. It doesn’t mean other contractors cannot find or quote for the work independently.
Can I see whether an agent is named?
Each listing shows whether the source record names an agent, or marks the status as unconfirmed. “No agent listed” does not mean nobody is involved. An agent is not necessarily the contractor doing the work, and records may be incomplete or out of date.
Do I receive the homeowner’s contact details?
No. We do not give buyers the homeowner’s name, address or contact details. We post your letter for you. Interested homeowners can contact you using the business details in it.
How do I prepare my letter?
Choose from three wording styles and add your business details and an optional offer. Check and approve the preview once. We reuse your approved letter for introductions you buy until you change your details.
Is a reply or a job guaranteed?
No. The homeowner decides whether to respond and who to appoint.
How is this different from finding planning records myself?
The underlying planning information is public. TreeKey brings opportunities together and handles printing and posting your approved introduction. You choose whether that service is worth paying for.
Where does the data come from, and is it legal?
Entirely from public statutory sources: council planning registers and Companies House, both publicly accessible under the Open Government Licence. We don't buy data from private brokers or scrape anything that isn't otherwise publicly available. Full detail on how we're allowed to process it is in our Privacy Policy.
Is there a mobile app?
Not a separate app to download — the whole site, including your dashboard, is built to work properly on your phone's browser. Save it to your home screen and it behaves like one.
Pricing & Plans
What are my options if I'm not ready to pay?
You can create an account with no card required and set up your business and letter details. When you're ready, buy individual opportunities from the Marketplace.
How does pricing work?
Each opportunity is bought individually, and each one already includes a printed & posted introduction letter to the homeowner. Where it is available, your first introduction may be offered at a special first-introduction price, shown on the pricing page.
Am I tied into a long contract?
No. There is no subscription or contract. You pay for each introduction you choose.
What is included in the price?
Printing and posting your approved introduction letter are included. You see the price before buying, and there is no subscription.
Can I get a refund?
You may cancel a purchase by emailing support@treekey.co.uk. If our cancellation process confirms that your letter was stopped before it was submitted to our printing provider, we will refund the full amount you paid. If submission has already begun, we will investigate whether the letter can be stopped and tell you the outcome; we cannot promise that it can be stopped. If your letter is not sent, we will send it or, at your choice, refund the amount you paid for it. Once your letter has been sent, refunds remain available under the Lead-Quality Promise and your statutory rights. Total refunds for a purchase never exceed the amount you paid, taking account of any earlier refunds.
What if an opportunity turns out not to be tree work at all?
Every opportunity is automatically filtered to check that it describes genuine tree work before it is offered to you. On the rare occasion that an opportunity you have bought turns out not to be genuine tree work despite this, email support@treekey.co.uk telling us which purchase it concerns, and we will, at your choice, give you a replacement introduction of equivalent value or a refund for that purchase.
What if something is wrong with a listing?
Contact support@treekey.co.uk if you think something is wrong with a listing. The Lead-Quality Promise and our cancellation policy above set out eligibility and conditions.
How Matching Works
Can I choose the area and type of work?
Yes. Browse the areas you cover and use the available filters to find proposed work that suits your business. Enter your postcode and a distance in the Marketplace search to see the opportunities within that distance. Read each listing before deciding to buy an introduction. Enter your full postcode rather than just the outward code (e.g. "NG22 8AA" instead of just "NG22") for the most accurate distance matching.
Can I filter by job size?
Each opportunity shows its job size (small, medium or large) before you buy, so you can choose the ones that suit your crew.
What if no leads come through for a while?
Lead volume depends entirely on how much planning activity is happening in your area — we don't manufacture leads. If a source genuinely goes quiet for an unusual length of time, that's exactly the kind of thing our internal monitoring is built to catch and flag automatically, and we treat it as something to actively fix, not something to leave unexplained.
Tools
What is TreeKey Ledger?
A financial dashboard built specifically for tree surgeons: it tracks your rolling 12-month turnover against the £90,000 UK VAT registration threshold so you're never caught out, holds a running CIS developer-tax tracker, and includes a van/crew-day cost calculator so you can quote profitably. Find it in your account once you're signed in.
What is the Chip-Drop Network?
A directory of local allotments, farms, stables and gardens who want your arborist woodchip or logs for free. A suitable nearby site can help cut travelling and disposal costs; check what each site accepts and any arrangements before you go. Landowners register their own site through the site; the directory only ever shows real, self-registered listings.
Your Account
How do I log in? Why no password?
Tree Key is passwordless by design — enter your email and we send you a secure, one-tap login link (valid 15 minutes). There's no password database that could ever be breached. If you're reading the email on a different device than the one you want to log in on, the email also includes a 6-digit code you can type in instead of clicking the link.
Is WhatsApp involved?
The Chip-Drop directory gives you a direct WhatsApp link to message a drop site's contact. There isn't yet a general WhatsApp support line — for anything else, email is the way to reach us.
Do you have testimonials from other contractors?
Not yet — we're a young platform and would rather wait for genuine results than publish anything that isn't real. That'll change as more contractors come through the platform.
Data & Privacy
Is my business data sold to anyone?
No. Your own account information (name, email, phone, billing) is never sold to data brokers or advertisers — it's used only to run your account and the Service. What you're paying for is licensed access to Lead data compiled from public records, which is a different thing entirely. See our Privacy Policy for the full breakdown.
I'm named in a Lead and want it removed — what do I do?
Email support@treekey.co.uk and we'll action your request in line with the rights set out in our Privacy Policy.