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Prices and Services
Tree-Ring Services has a "No date, No charge"
pricing policy (with the exception of the call-out charge). Where we
successfully date samples, we charge just £60 per sample, subject to a
minimum charge of £240. "No deposit or advance payment" is required
with any samples sent or taken on site for analysis (again with the
exception of the call-out charge), until you are invoiced with the final
report.
Pricing Schedule*
|
Call-out charge: |
|
|
SE Region |
£60.00 |
|
Elsewhere (in general) |
£90.00 |
| Costs per sample: |
|
|
Each
dated sample |
£60.00 |
|
Each cosmetic
core hole plugging & restoration (if requested) |
£3.50 |
|
Full colour report (per copy) |
£10.00 |
|
Example of total costs to date a single phase building |
|
| Average
cost: (where 6 cores
are date) |
£430.00 |
| Maximum
cost: (capped at 8 cores) |
£550.00 |
CONDITIONS
* Dendrochronology
results are presented in full colour written reports (which generally
including a floorplan and photographic record of sampling locations). Where
dating is successful a certificate of dendrochronological provenance is also issued.
The results are also normally also published in
Vernacular Architecture.
* Our
"No date, no charge" policy applies only to commissions from the owners of
domestic properties or live trees, unless otherwise agreed prior to
analysis.
*
These
prices do not currently attract a VAT charge.
Further details on various
aspects of our services are listed below: -
Historic buildings
dating
Our call out service begins with a survey to identify
potential timbers and, where agreed to proceed, includes the specialist
drilling of 12mm and 15mm cores from the timbers for analysis. The removal
of cores does not affect the structural integrity of timbers, but if
desired for cosmetic reasons, plugging and restoration of core holes is charged at an additional cost of £3.50 per core hole.
Example of tree-ring sequences revealed
through the sanding of extracted cores
No payment
is required for any number of samples taken on-site and you are only
subsequently invoiced for samples actually dated. This means that in the
unfortunate event that samples cannot be dated
you will incure no further charge.
The English Heritage guidelines document on dendrochronology states that "Where possible, at least eight to
ten timbers should be sampled per building or, for more complex buildings
per phase". To maximise the potential of dating a building phase
we preferentially take 10 samples, but only charge for a maximum of 8
samples. The maximum cost of the analysis per building phase is £540, (this includes the
call out charge for the SE region, on-site sampling, dating analysis,
colour report and certificate of dendrochronological provenance). However, from our experience of dating
domestic properties in England an average of about 60% of samples taken
can be dated and therefore you are likely only to
be charged £420. Sampling can normally be completed in half
a day.
Our prices remain keen. By way of comparison with our charging structure, an
estimated unitemised fee of between £500 and £750 was published in
1997
for dating a building or phase of building and this
price was be payable whether or not the analysis was
successful. Today, you are likely to pay between £800 and £1000 to date a
phase of building, with any of the University associated dendrochronology
laboratories in this country.
Live tree, veteran tree, or woodland analysis
The
only precise way to determine the age of a living tree is to cross-date
tree rings in increment cores that intersect the pith of the tree.
Timbers are sampled using a 3-thread, 5.15mm core diameter Halglof
increment borer
to offers the same astonishing impact of absolute tree-ring dates as has
been achieved with the dating of historic timber-framed buildings in this
country.
Two cores are taken from opposite sides of each tree up to 2m in girth. While the girth of our very largest trees (and hence the trees of
greatest interest) may make it impossible to reach their piths with
hand-driven increment borers, increment sampling still offers the most
accurate empiric refinement to the estimation of a tree's age.
Examples of the the total cost of dating analysis (which includes call-out)
are: £240 for 1-3 trees, £300 for 4 trees, £360 for 5 trees.
Please contact us for an estimate on analysis of 11 trees or more.
Churchyard yew tree dating analysis
Timbers are sampled using a 3-thread, 5.15mm core diameter Halglof
increment borer. Two cores are taken from opposite sides of each tree up
to 2m in girth. Due to the irregular growth of hollow yew, four cores are
taken from trees over 2m in girth at approximately the four main compass
points. Additionally, adjacent younger yew trees are also sampled, see
Thorley yew report
for full methodology. The total analysis costs
of dating a churchyard yew tree are £240.
Where convenient, simply send your oak or pine samples by post,
in a bubble wrap envelope or well wrapped parcel. Please ensure that all
individual samples sent contain a minimum of 65 rings. This is considered
the minimum of rings required to produce a unique tree-ring width plot
suitable to attempt the dating of individual samples by the technique of
tree-ring analysis.
A section of oak containing sufficient number
of rings for tree-ring analysis
A section of oak containing insufficient
number of rings to attempt tree-ring analysis
If you wish your samples to be returned with your
final report please enclose a stamped self addressed envelope. We send a
dated acknowledgement of receipt for all samples received. For the postal service please ensure that:
- All samples sent are clearly labelled.
- Details of where each sample was taken
from are enclosed.
- Wherever possible photographs of items or locations
are sent for incorporation
into certificates.
- You include your return address.
The full colour illustrated reports explain the methods and results, and includes interpretation,
discussion, a floorplan and photographic record of sampling locations.
Reports are charged at £10 per copy. (see the site index to download
examples of our reports). Photographs, where supplied with posted
samples are incorporated into the report to help identify timbers and location.
Photographs of specific objects for dating provide an extremely useful
means of identification and are normally incorporated into the certificate
of dendrochronological provenance.
Timbers that have sufficient rings to be dated using
tree-ring analysis may nevertheless be impossible to date. Pollarding and
other human disturbances can sometimes make timbers impossible to date by
tree-ring analysis. Weaknesses in currently available reference
chronologies may also make it difficult to date timbers from some areas at
the present. Tree-ring dating continues to develop as a science and all
samples which cannot be dated (at the present time) will be held by us and
periodically reviewed in the hope that they will date in the future.
Tree-Ring Services policy is to make its reports available to further
research and to publish building dating results in Vernacular
Architecture, unless the client specifically requests otherwise. To
obtain copies of the journal Vernacular Architecture please
contact: the Publications Officer, 16 Trefor Road, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, SY23
2EH.
Updated:
27/07/2006
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