Tree removal Cost Question

[Ben Phlat]

Sometimes the rural life is real nice. Last year I had 600 trees pulled from my property, total cost $2.00 per tree. Of course I did have to dispose of them myself.

[m Ransley]

Get bids, I had prices from 1100-2000, and be sure thay are insured.

[Jmagerl]

Far Northwest burbs of Chicago: I had 3 hugh oak trees removed for $1200 3 yrs ago. Price depended on whether they had to climb the tree or could get their cherry picker to it. Cherry picker is cheaper. The picker was able to reach right over the garage to get one tree, and another he had to drive on the lawn and did some lawn damage (easily repaired). The 3rd tree was done from the street. Stump grinding extra. Everyone was insured and bonded.

ALl the wood was left to me to dispose of. In this case I got some good exercise chopping it up for the fireplace.

[Sandy K.]

Pricing depends on where you are located. I'm in north/central NJ and was quoted around $1,200 for a large old oak located on the side of the house.

sandy K.

[msterspy]

I have 3 oak trees in my yard (way in back) that I would like to get removed. The quoted price is a bout $2000/tree. My neigbor some trees removed form his property and spent a fortune. The crew was there for about 4 hours and they took down thre trees in his yard. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it cost him about $6000 and they took the big logs to a saw mill. Is this a resonable price? 25 years ago I had 5 trees cut down for $500.00 (one day's work). Why is it so damn expensive now? My salary did't go up by a factor of 10 in 25 years.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Sounds very high. Unless they are 48" trunks. Three years ago I paid $150 for a tree that was maybe 12" dia.

[Lost in Translation]

Make sure you get the bids in writing and ALWAYS make sure that YOU get the sawmill money. If your tree cutter is going to charge you huge dollars, then sell the oak to a sawmill for more dollars, then you should get a cut of that sawmill money.

If the trees aren't in an area where felling them is going to damage any buildings or anything, you can always advertise the oak in exchange for the cutting in the classifieds.

[SteveB]

Last year, I paid $500 to have an Aleppo pine removed. It was easily 24" in diameter at the base, maybe more. It was at least 40' high. And they hauled off the wood, which they probably sold, but I didn't care. They were done in two days, and ground the stump, too.

Shop around.

Steve

[msterspy]

$1200 is a reasonable price. In the Boston area, contractors are excessively expensive and this is a genereal trend here. I would have to pay triple that for the same job in the Boston area, therefore I won't have it done. Not that I am a cheap skate, but I don't like getting taken advantage of because I lack the skill and tools to remove the trees myself.

Also, I got qoutes for leave removal for $500-$600 for basically 1/2 day's work. I have about 12,000 sq ft property. That is also a rediculous price. Guess I will have do that work myself. If the price was reasonable I would gladly hire someone.

M

[Rudy]

Years back, I got bids of around $ 500 to take down a 90 ft cedar tree in my backyard...for their Est 4 hrs work.. $ 125/hr !! I decided to give it a go on my own. Put up a 24' extension ladder, tied it off to the tree, set my chainsaw on the ground nexto the tree and tied to a rope to it and climbed up as high as I could. I tied a 1/2" rope near the top and dropped the rest to the ground. I tied off a piece of 1" dia rope above & below at the 75 ft mark, hauled up the chainsaw, cut 75%-85% of the way thru the tree at that point.. Then climbed down and took the 1/2" rope, tied it to my trailer hitch, went into 4WD and hauled..the top 10' of the tree creaked and finally broke off and swung down on the 1" rope.

I went back up, tied the 1/2" rope to the now top end of the "cutoff" 15' piece and lowered it to the ground. Repeated in 5' sections til it was down. Took two of my "days off" but the $ I saved represented a weeks pay to me at the time.

I bucked up the trunk, hauled the branches to the dump..a friend took the wood to burn.

R

[Bill]

the same reason so many people are coming north from Mexico and Central America to find work in North America...folks here are too lazy to do hard work anymore! So, if you get it done it's gonna cost you!

I am too tight to pay those kind of prices so when I needed to remove one fallen tree and two other dead trees from my yard this spring I pulled out my Stihl chainsaw and did it myself. It took me four weekends of sawing and pushing the wheelbarrow to the curb. The city hauled off the cut up limbs. I borrowed my bosses pickup truck to haul off the cut up firewood. Not counting my four weekends of personal time I brought this project in for under $150. I don't mind investing "sweat" to save alot of money.

Regards, Bill

[Tom Miller]

We are having a large maple removed from our back yard. It's a big old tree, a very bad "lean," and a somewhat tight spot -- you can't just drop it. It's also got a badly rotted trunk, so you can't send a guy up the tree with any degree of safety. If you try to cut a rotted tree the whipping back and forth when you drop big limbs can crack the trunk. So it takes a crane and a guy in a bucket lift. Price in Northern NJ (near New York City) = $950.00. Stump grinding is extra, and I can't remember what that will cost. I think a couple of hundred.

Hate to lose the tree, as the entire back yard landscaping is built around it, but it's no longer safe. If it falls it will take out the back corner of my house, part of the garage, at least one of my cars, and maybe my neighbor's mud room. We're waiting our turn for the cut, and every time the wind blows I cringe.

I think $2000/tree is steep, but then I can't see the trees.

Get another bid. Get two or three more.

[trader4]

About 9 years ago, I had a bucket truck with 3 guys taking down about a dozen trees of med size, plus trimming back about a similar number close to my house. That was NJ, where everything is expensive. It cost me $2000 for the whole job. I'm sure it's more now, but unless special eqpt, eg a crane is needed, $2000 for a tree is way out of line.

[Sacramento Dave]

I don't now if this will help in my area Sacramento Ca We just had two large Redwoods ( 40' to 50') close enough to the house to knock roof tiles off, had them both cut down and a plumb tree removed all the stumps ground another redwood trimmed everything cleaned and hauled off about $2000. 3 guys a days work and the owner came buy and gave me some fresh fruit from his trees. I made sure of insurance and bonding. I will throw this in a friend use to do tree work he said redwoods are easy and I'm 50 I don't climb trees no more

[John F.]

Check the bulletin boards at local supermarket for tree removal guys who work on the side and also if you can stop at the local highway department sSome of these guys also do it part time. You want them insured however. $2000 seems out of line but without knowing the conditions etc. it is imposible to gauge.

[m Ransley]

It depends on their work load and what they think you will pay. "My" tree trimmer quoted me a price of 1100 last year now he wanted 2000, I made a few calls and got it done for 1200. Be sure thay have insurance and sign a statement to that effect. Years ago I had a bid of 7500 but got the work done wery vell for 3500. Tree guys charge whatever they can.

[Banty]

I'm in upstate New York, and the thing I had to learn to my dismay is: to my mind removing the tree means its stump, and stump-grinding is considered a whole 'nother trade.

Banty

[SteveB]

Can you give us some more clues? How big a circumference are the base of the oaks? How tall are they? Are they close to buildings? Are they going to split and stack the wood? Are they going to do all the cleanup? Are they going to stump grind?

Ya gotta give us clues to solve this mystery, msterspy.

Steve

[Robertm]

The thing about tree people (and most contractors) is that you have to stay on them and watch everything they do or it won't be done right. I've had three different tree services and none of them completed the job without some pushing. The last guy did ten trees with agreed cleanup. He didn't bother cleaning up the smaller branches (12 feet long) and came up to the house to get paid. He stood there like he was all done and said, "Well, I guess that does it, how's it look?" I replied, "Coming along good, looks like you're about half done." Then I closed the door and left him standing there. He went back down the holler and I heard him tell his crew that this guy wants all the stuff cleaned up. When he came back the second time, it was done right. I gave each crew member a $20 tip and thanked them for the good job. Next year when he does the next 10 trees, he'll be aware of the rules.

Bob

[Richard J Kinch]

Right and wrong.

Having them sign anything with regard to insurance is stupid and pointless. If they have insurance, you didn't need the signature. If they don't, all you can do is sue them, which is what you would have to do anyway if there is a loss.

The *only* thing that counts is an ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE FROM THE INSURER OR THEIR AGENT, LISTING YOU AS A PARTY. COPIES DO NOT COUNT, POLICY PAPERWORK DOES NOT COUNT, NOTHING BUT AN ORIGINAL WITH YOUR NAME ON IT. THIS IS HOW THE BUSINESS WORKS. If he has paid in fact paid for insurance, then he will be more than willing to proudly give you such a certificate.

A claim, verbal or written, but lacking a certificate, from the insured that he carries insurance is worse than worthless. because he is evading the normal certification process, which is highly suspicious.