Building ArbTicket: NPTC chainsaw revision for UK arborists

Most UK arborists we know revise for their NPTC tickets the same way: a WhatsApp group, a stack of photocopied handouts, and whatever their mate remembers from the assessment they sat two years ago. Then they turn up on the day, drop a hundred quid on the assessment fee, and hope.

ArbTicket is a project we have been helping build for a small team of working UK climbers who got tired of that. It is a mobile-first revision platform for the NPTC (City & Guilds) chainsaw tickets — CS30, CS31, CS32, CS34, CS38, CS39 and CS41 — designed to be used in five-minute bursts between climbs, not at a desk.

What it actually is

Flashcards, mock questions and plain-English explainers, mapped directly to the NPTC marking criteria and grounded in HSE and FISA guidance. Every card is written or reviewed by an arborist who climbs for a living. No AI-generated PPE law, no rehashed YouTube summaries.

Free tier covers browsing. Pro is £18/month for unlimited mocks. Team accounts for arb crews and partnerships for training providers are in pre-launch.

What we contributed

Our role has been on the design and build side, working closely with the founders to turn a private Notion doc into a proper product. The brief was unusual and refreshing: build something that looks like it belongs in a yard, not a SaaS deck.

• A warm, tactile visual identity — terracotta, sage, cream, paper grain — that reads honest rather than corporate.
• A ticket-first home page: tap a code, start revising, no funnel.
• Renewal-checker and cost-calculator tools to answer the two questions every climber asks before booking an assessment.
• Guides and a glossary indexed for search, so someone Googling "CS31 hinge thickness" lands on a page that actually answers them.
• A learner dashboard with streaks and spaced repetition for the people who want to grind it properly.

Why this project matters to us

Arboriculture is a small industry doing dangerous work, and the revision material available to people entering it is genuinely poor. Building something honest for that audience — no upsells, no "AI coach pro plus" — is the kind of work we want more of.

Have a look

If you climb, train climbers, or run an arb crew, ArbTicket.co.uk is worth ten minutes. Individual accounts are live now; team and provider tiers are opening soon.

If you have a project that needs the same considered, ground-up build, get in touch.