How the tickets stack up
Nobody starts at the top of the tree.
Land-based qualifications are deliberately layered: each one assumes the one below it. These are the routes people actually take — pick the one that ends where you need to be, and start at whichever rung you are already standing on.
Choose a pathway
The classic ground-based ladder. Each rung is a prerequisite for the next — you cannot walk onto the felling course without the maintenance and cross-cutting units behind you. Full route: 8 days of training.
The same destination taken in bigger steps. The two entry units are commonly taken together, and the five-day combined course rolls all three into a single block. Full route: 8 days of training.
Aerial work sits on top of ground-based competence. Climbing and aerial rescue comes before you ever take a saw up the rope. Full route: 13 days of training.
What a tree-work groundie typically needs first. None of these depend on each other, so the order is yours — but this is the sequence most crews run. Full route: 4 days of training.
One day to three days depending on your risk assessment. Once you hold First Aid at Work, the two-day requalifying course keeps it live — provided you renew before it lapses by three months. Full route: 6 days of training.
From getting onto site, to understanding why the rules exist, to owning the risk assessments yourself as a supervisor or manager. Full route: 6 days of training.
Reading the ladder
Three things worth knowing before you book
Prerequisites are not a sales tactic
You will not be assessed on felling without the maintenance and cross-cutting units behind you. If you turn up without them, the day cannot count.
Combined blocks save days, not corners
Taking the units together over one longer visit is usually cheaper and quicker than three separate trips — the content is identical.
Already experienced? Say so
Several courses have an experienced-operator or refresher route that takes a day or two instead of a week. Winching, trimmers, pole pruners and 4×4 all do.
Not sure which rung you are on?
The Course Finder asks what you already hold and starts your pathway from there — no point paying for a day you have already done.