I have an oak tree in my front yard which is about 40 feet tall that I want to have cut down and hauled away. I live in North Central Dallas. Next week I will be calling a company that does this type of work to get an estimate. In the mean time I'm just curious if anyone has had a similar experience with a tree removal in the recent past. Mostly I would like to find out what kind of price I should be expected to pay.
Thanks, Don
If the tree is straight and thick, you might get someone to take it away for free. Consider how much wood is worth these days!
DONT GO FOR PRICE!!! GO FOR QUALITY AND SAFETY!!
I once took the low bidder, seriously BAD decision!
the idiot crew damaged the homes roof a little, knocked over a pole light breaking the underground wiring, and their grand finale was taking down a 15 THOUSAND VOLT POOWER LINE, fortunately no one got killed it was very close thing...........
stupid neighbor tried driving over what might have been a live power line, police were on site, neighbors unhappy beteen power failure and cable outage, which effected a 5 mile area:( late afternoon it messed up dinner for many, a couple neighbors came and yelled at me, seems one worked shifts and was late for work
clean up and police reports took 2 additional days let alone roof repair and had to dig up and replace pole light and wiring.
by that time I deducted some when paying the tree crew, I saw their carelesness, climber was in big hurry.
I suggested they all get a new line of work before someone died.
Heard later their insurance paid out 15 grand in damages they probably went out of business.
Learn from my bad experience. If the tree overhangs wires or a building it will cost a fortune. In some areas the power company will take trees below the level of the lines for free with a written guarantee of NOT planting a new one...
One last thought many people LOVE a mature tree it can add thousands in resale value, something to consider...
They charged my neighbor $6000 to remove a big ficus tree and it had already fallen on their house (Hurricane Charlie)
It gripes me to see an Oak that is possibly 100 - 200 years old cut down. If you do cut it down add the cost of grinding the stump down, the roots are massive.
Oren
Get several estimates and make sure they are all bidding on the same work. Some will just do cut down, others will cut and remove and clean up.
Be sure they are insured, call their broker, fake or expired certificates are common.
I have learned to hate trees, after 10 years and $ 10,000 in removing collapsed or sick trees, I now enjoy the trees on my neighbors properties, preferable in the distance. Trees end up being nothing but an expensive nuisance and danger, especially huge eucalyptus trees, pines trees, willow trees and oaks. What you may gain in resale value you have to pay for in maintenance and removal.
I too, love my neighbors trees and consider them mine to view and enjoy.
However, I have lots of trees and they increase the value of my property by $10,000 .
Trees are your friends. They provide shade to your house, give the birdies a place to live and chirp, give the squirrels something to live on. The roots help regenerate and stabilize the soil. The needles and leaves add fresh compost to the soil. The leaves provide oxygen back to the atmosphere that grass simply can't do in large amounts. Yeah they can be a pain, the limbs litter the ground, they occasionally fall on the house or property but unless you live in an old-growth forest that couldn't happen but once in a decade
>Not if I were the purchaser of your home. I would knock off 10,000 from your price. :-)
The idea of making sure they are all bdding on the same thing is vital.
Suggest you type out a list f what you ant done, give every bidder the list, get their bid writen right onto the list.
Examples of thngs I'd include on the list taht Id want from each bidder are:
a. cut down tree.
b. cut tree into 16" rounds for my woodstove, I'll split.
- or- b. tree feller cuts and removes all trunk pieces.
c. limb out tree and leave all branches for kindling for my wood stove; I'll clean yard
- or - c. tree feller limbs out and cleans up all limbs, branches and leaves;
d. tree feller grinds out stump;
-or - d. leave stump as is, cutting to 2" above ground.
Obviously you choose only 1 version of tems b, c and d.
Just get all you bids on the same basis.
Id be looking for:
Yeah. Right.
Jim, trees can't fall more frequently (ON AVERAGE) than about once every 10 to 20 years - otherwise the forest wouldn't be there. This is simple probability and statistics, trees don't grow fast. It takes about 20 to 30 years for them to grow large enough to be a danger to anything and if they are falling faster than once every 20 years there is an environmental reason for it. Cure the environmental reason first, don't slash and burn and think it will fix the underlying issue.
Now this assumes a reasonably rural setting where new trees are allowed to grow naturally. Obviously some suburban nightmare with leftover trees from the initial land rape will be in more danger. The trees in that situation are in a precarious situation anyway, they are exposed to more wind and weather, the ground nutrients are no longer being replenished to their liking, and isolation exposes them to more insect damage - they're the only source of food around so insects gravitate towards them. The solution there is to either plant more trees, or zone off an area of the development specifically for trees and natural fauna.
Exact same thing last year in Houston. Last spring, my oak woke up dead. After waiting a couple of months to make sure it just wasn't trying to trick me, I had it taken down.
I used a neighborhood handy-man. He cut up the tree and hauled the bits to the curb. Did not grind the stump.
One hundred and eighty dollars. Plus a few cold drinks.
Yeah, it would me too.... but a 40-foot-tall oak isn't anywhere near *one* century old, let alone *two*.
And it gripes me to see my house and roof and my next door neighbor's house and roof damaged by the tree limbs and roots. And the tree is less than 20 years old.
review your property survey and hope it is on the city property. then ask them to remove it.
"FREE OAK TREE" sign and advertise like crazy locally. maybe the newspaper or local tv station has a slow news day and will run it as a feature.
hang a nice sw> I have an oak tree in my front yard which is about 40 feet tall that I want
You are so wrong on this.
The tree could easily be 300 years old, or 25.
I think you're confusing unharvested timber with finished lumber. The value is almost all in the harvesting and finishing, not the raw material.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.