Describe your sites, required tree and target details, and risk-rating method. Makeform turns that brief into a fillable tree risk assessment form with condition observations, defects, rating selections, photos, recommendations, and assessor sign-off.
Route assessment records to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for arborist field forms
Choose the scenario closest to your work, edit its terminology and rating choices, then send the prompt to the builder. Customize every example to your assessment procedure.
Prompt ready4 formats
Audience
Consulting arborists assessing one tree at a residence or commercial property
Format
Mobile field form with structured ratings and photo evidence
Prompt size
604 chars
Brief qualitySends to builder
Example form structure
Mobile field form with structured ratings and photo evidence
Prompt exampleEditable in builder
Tree identity, species, size, and location
Short answerFirst ask
2
Targets, occupancy, and site conditions
Multiple choice
3
Crown, trunk, roots, and defect observations
Checkboxes
4
Likelihood, consequences, and risk rating
Dropdown
5
Assessment photos and marked-up images
File upload
Suggested routing tags
Suggested
Routine monitoring
Mitigation recommended
Prompt attention
Keep observations separate from ratings: first record the defect, affected part, severity, and target, then ask for likelihood, consequences, and the resulting risk category.
Step 1
Identify
tree, site, targets, and inspection context
Step 2
Observe
condition, defects, load, and site factors
Step 3
Rate
likelihood, consequences, and risk category
Step 4
Act
recommendation, priority, owner, and review date
Built for field records
Turn a walk-around into a usable assessment record.
A tree risk assessment form should preserve what the arborist observed, how the rating was reached, and what happens next. Structured mobile fields keep those parts connected without forcing field staff to retype notebook pages later.
Consistent observation sequence
Guide each assessment from tree identity and site context through targets, tree parts, defects, and response. Required fields cover the basics, while long answers preserve unusual observations.
Ratings built from visible inputs
Keep likelihood of failure, likelihood of impact, consequences, overall category, and time frame distinct. Reviewers see the reasoning rather than one unexplained label.
Recommendations that can move
Capture action, priority, owner, completion date, residual risk, and reinspection interval. Route high-priority submissions while keeping routine monitoring records easy to filter.
Assessment scenarios
Adapt one form system to different tree work.
The same core record can support a detailed individual assessment, an inventory, storm triage, or follow-up. Change the depth, routing, and required evidence to fit the assignment.
Individual tree inspections
Document the tree, targets, detailed condition observations, rating inputs, recommendations, limitations, photos, and assessor sign-off in one client-ready record.
Inventories and portfolio surveys
Use a repeatable tree ID, zone, location reference, condition class, risk category, management priority, and review interval so submissions can be sorted across a large site.
Storm and hazard triage
Make immediate targets, access restrictions, utility proximity, broken parts, site-control actions, photos, notifications, and follow-up needs quick to record from a phone.
Reinspection and monitoring
Link the prior tree record, compare changed conditions, confirm work performed, revise the rating when warranted, and schedule the next observation around stated monitoring indicators.
Form-building workflow
Build the assessment around your actual method.
Start with the terminology and decision sequence your practice already uses. Makeform creates the editable field structure, and you refine the choices, conditional paths, instructions, and routing before sharing it with field staff.
Tell the builder whether the form covers individual trees, a multi-tree inventory, storm triage, or follow-up. Name your rating categories, assessment time frames, required measurements, site types, and the outputs your client or work team expects.
02
Edit fields and decision paths
Review every generated choice against your procedure. Add helper text, make critical identifiers required, and use conditional logic so a selected trunk defect opens location, extent, likelihood, photo, and recommendation questions without cluttering clean observations.
03
Test it like a field visit
Open the form on the device used outdoors. Run a low-complexity tree and a defect-heavy tree through it, check that photo uploads and conditional sections behave as intended, and confirm an assessor can distinguish observed facts from rating judgments.
04
Publish and route submissions
Share a link with staff or open it from a work-order system. Send completed records to an inbox or spreadsheet, apply useful routing tags, and notify a selected team when the submitted priority calls for prompt review or site action.
Field form vs paper and documents
Choose a record that stays structured after the site visit.
Paper sheets and editable documents can capture notes, but they often separate photographs, ratings, and follow-up tasks. A generated online form keeps repeatable inputs together while leaving room for professional observations.
Approach
What the arborist records
Best fit
ApproachPaper checklist
What the arborist recordsQuick marks and handwritten notes, with photos usually stored somewhere else and details re-entered later.
Best fitA simple visit where offline paper is an operational preference and later transcription is acceptable.
ApproachWord or PDF assessment document
What the arborist recordsFlexible narrative and a familiar report layout, but repeated values and management priorities are difficult to filter across trees.
Best fitWriting a finished report after the field observations have already been collected.
Approach
Generated online assessment form
What the arborist recordsStructured tree, target, defect, rating, recommendation, date, and photo inputs submitted as one searchable record.
Best fitMobile collection, consistent team workflows, multi-tree sorting, notification, and follow-up tracking.
Field guide
What a tree risk assessment form should include.
A useful form follows the logic of the inspection: establish identity and context, record observable condition, characterize relevant defects and targets, document the chosen rating inputs, and turn recommendations into traceable next steps. Use the six sections below as a practical build checklist.
Assignment and identity
Make every record traceable to one tree and visit.
Capture enough context to retrieve the assessment later and distinguish the tree from nearby specimens. Keep work-order details separate from tree characteristics. Require the inventory tree ID and preserve it on follow-up submissions.
Client or property, site address, work order, assessor, inspection date, and assessment scope.
Tree ID or tag, species or best available identification, location description, map reference, and coordinates when used.
Diameter, estimated height and crown spread, age or life-stage class, ownership notes, and assessment limitations.
Site and targets
Record what could be affected, and how often it is exposed.
Capture targets within the relevant area, their occupancy or use frequency, and site factors that change exposure or tree response. Conditional questions can reveal details only for the target types present.
Target type, location relative to the tree, occupancy or use pattern, and whether access can be restricted.
Buildings, parked vehicles, paths, roads, utilities, play areas, outdoor seating, and other site-specific targets.
Grade changes, recent excavation, soil conditions, drainage, wind exposure, construction activity, and altered surroundings.
Tree condition
Separate systematic observations by tree part.
Give assessors a predictable order for documenting crown, branches, trunk, unions, root collar, roots, and soil. Use selections for common observations and narrative space for location, extent, change, and context.
Crown density, dieback, live-crown distribution, dead or broken branches, hangers, imbalance, and recent failure.
Trunk and union observations such as cracks, cavities, decay indicators, included unions, wounds, cankers, lean, and response growth.
Root-collar and root-zone observations including decay indicators, damage, severance, heaving, restricted rooting, fill, and root-plate movement.
Defects and failure scenarios
Describe the specific part and scenario being rated.
Link each relevant defect to the affected part, location, extent, failure scenario, and assessment time frame. A repeatable section keeps the overall rating connected to the branch, stem, union, or root condition that drove it.
Affected tree part, defect type, position, dimensions or extent, severity descriptors, and observable change.
Potential failure mode or part, loading and exposure factors, relevant weather context, and time frame used for the rating.
Photo overview, target relationship, close-up detail, scale reference where helpful, and caption explaining what each image shows.
Risk-rating inputs
Show how the selected category was reached.
Build the rating labels and combinations your practice uses. Keep likelihood of failure, likelihood of impact, and consequences separate before the resulting rating. Add helper text and state the assessment time frame nearby.
Likelihood of failure for the stated part and time frame, with the terminology your procedure defines.
Likelihood of impacting the identified target and consequence category for that target.
Resulting risk rating, rationale or key drivers, confidence or data gaps when used, and need for advanced assessment.
Recommendations and follow-up
Turn the assessment into an owned next step.
Make recommendations specific enough to explain the intended response without confusing the assessment with a work order. Capture the selected action, timing, responsibility, residual risk when used, and the trigger for another inspection.
Monitor, change the target, restrict access, prune, support, remove, or obtain further inspection, using only options appropriate to the assignment.
Priority, recommended completion period, responsible person or team, notification record, and linked work-order reference.
Residual rating after proposed mitigation, monitoring indicators, reinspection interval, report limitations, assessor notes, and sign-off.
Related tools
Connect assessment to the wider property workflow.
Use companion forms to collect initial hazard reports, document broader site conditions, request landscape work, and route recommended action after the arborist's assessment.
Practical answers for arborists, tree-care firms, municipalities, campuses, and property teams replacing paper inspection records.
What is a tree risk assessment form?
A tree risk assessment form is a structured field record used to capture the assignment, tree identity, site context, targets, occupancy, condition observations, defects, potential failure scenarios, rating inputs, recommendations, photos, and follow-up. It helps an assessor record why a particular risk category and response were selected. The exact terminology and decision method should match the procedure used by the arborist or organization.
What fields should I include for each tree?
Start with property, assessor, date, tree ID, location, species, dimensions, and inspection scope. Add targets and occupancy, site and weather context, crown, branch, trunk, union, root-collar, root, and soil observations. For relevant defects, capture the affected part, location, extent, failure scenario, time frame, likelihood inputs, consequence category, resulting rating, rationale, photographs, recommended action, priority, responsible party, limitations, and reinspection date.
Can arborists complete the form from a phone or tablet?
Yes. Publish the form as a link and open it on the field device. Group observations by tree part, use selections for repeatable terms, and reveal defect sections only when needed. Test the full path outdoors, including image uploads and conditional sections.
Can I add our own risk-rating method and terminology?
Yes. Edit the generated dropdowns, instructions, time frames, and rating combinations to reflect your practice. Keep the component judgments separate so reviewers can see the selected likelihood of failure, likelihood of impact, consequences, and overall category. Makeform supplies the editable form structure; the organization remains responsible for choosing its assessment procedure, definitions, and review process.
How should the form handle multiple defects or failure scenarios?
Create a repeatable defect pattern or use a separate submission for each scenario when that better fits your records. Each defect entry should identify the tree part, location, observations, target, possible failure scenario, rating inputs, photo, and recommendation. Avoid combining unrelated branch, trunk, and root concerns into one unexplained overall note because reviewers may be unable to tell which condition drove the response.
Can I collect photos and follow-up recommendations?
Yes. Add file-upload fields for a tree overview, the tree-to-target relationship, and close views of relevant conditions. Ask for captions so each image retains context. A recommendation section can capture the proposed response, priority, completion period, responsible team, residual rating if used, monitoring indicators, and next inspection date. The submitted record can then be referenced from a separate work order.
Is this tree risk assessment form generator free?
Yes. Makeform provides unlimited free forms and responses, so you can generate, edit, publish, and collect assessments without a response cap. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge. Review the generated first draft carefully and tailor field labels, rating choices, instructions, routing, and required evidence to your field procedure before use.
Can one form support inventories, storm triage, and reinspections?
Yes, although separate focused forms may be easier for field teams. If you use one form, begin with an assessment-type question and use conditional logic to show the appropriate path. An inventory path can emphasize IDs and management priority; storm triage can emphasize access, immediate targets, damage, and notification; reinspection can link the prior record, compare conditions, confirm mitigation, and set the next review date.
Replace scattered field notes with one structured record.
Generate a tree risk assessment form built around your inspection workflow.
Unlimited free forms and responsesEditable ratings and conditional sectionsPhotos, recommendations, and follow-up dates
