Price for dropping three silver maples

I have three silver maples in my yard, two are within twenty feet of my home. These trees are about three to four feet in diameter and have three and four one foot in

diameter "shoots" each about twenty to twenty five feet in height. I had a couple of quotes for just dropping and leaving clean up for me. $475.00 per tree out the

door. These trees are starting to drop dead branches from the tops also.

I have two more companies coming out later this week, any opinion on these prices?

thanks,

-mike

If the tree is starting to die and is dropping a lot of branches I think 475 is cheap. A 4 foot diameter tree doesn't fall into a house at a convenient time.

Matt

A guy down the street had a similar size silver maple that fell on it's own because it had been hollowed out by carpenter ants. You're doing things right by getting several bids on them. $475 doesn't sound too bad.

btw, make sure they have current, adequate insurance.

sounds reasonable to me, just as long as the guy is insured and you don't have to worry about damage to your house or yourself.

You're going to have a LOT of small branches left over when you're done. If you don't have a chipper, you may want to consider renting one, or have the tree company chip them for you.

$475 sounds like the right price for one tree, but if they are taking down more than one I would try to get a better deal if they are just dropping and leaving the cleanup for you.
I had one taken down last week that was hovering over a power line on my property....was about 45' in height, they took the whole thing, had to climb as the bucket wouldn't reach, total cost was $500.
The chipper was huge...they put the whole tree in it..I was amazed.
Since the trees are over your house, insurance is a must...get an insurance certificate b4 they start the work.
Good luck

I can rent a commercial sized chipper here for $165, from Saturday morning to Monday morning. You'd need a truck and a hitch though.

That price doesn't seem unreasonable when compared to what I have paid in the past to have trees removed. In my case they had to do a fair amount of climbing, and because of the septic they couldn't use their bucket truck. Pretty labor intesive job. However, I since have discovered if you shop around you can find someone willing to knock off a few hundred bucks!

Just don't use this guy.
http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/34270/

Yes ,that is resonable. I charge $100 for the service call and $100 per tree/drop. I'll knock off some if there are more than 10 trees or if they're under 18".If I have to block and tackle them I charge more per tree.

But I think the quote was for $475 per tree...maybe I did a duh

Don't you just wish that this happened in your neighborhood! Talk about a good laugh :lol: Poor bastard!

That sounds a bit on the high side to me. I'd say $600 tops total price or less because all he has to do is fell the trees.

I suppose it depends on the logistics. Do they have to climb the trees or can they get a bucket in there? Are they going to leave everything or were they expecting to chip the small stuff? I think that is expensive - over $1400 for the 3 trees but then again, I have a tree Co that does it for cash and saves me some $$ when in need.

Just for comparison, I have 2 - 100' red oaks taken down. Had to be climbed to do the tops and then they used the 60' bucket. In addition, they did some smaller trees and misc stuff to fill up the full day. Cost was $1200. Almost beat the bastards as they were winching 12" round branches into the chipper!!

I'd think you should be able to find someone hungry enough to get you a better price. I guess that depends on how many businesses there are in your area.

100' red oaks???....would like to see some of those pics.

Went back and re-read and your right . He did say $475/tree.
That does seem steep unless they are going to have to pull or rig a block and tackle.

I think a lot depends on where you are. I highly doubt I could bet a licensed and insured company to competently cut down a tree of that size (and near a house) in Southern Calif. for anything close to $475.00 ... even if I were able to do my own cleanup.

We paid nearly $900 for out last tree sevice ... and they only cut down 1/2 of a fruiting mullberry and did high branch work on a catapula. Oh yeah, they also cut down catalina cherry, but it was small (6" trunk, less than 20' high). I could have cut it down myself w/ clippers and handsaw, but they also ground out the stump (sort of).

I would say to get 3 to 4 bids and go with your gut as to which is the best -- not necessarily the cheapest, the best. And given the proximity to your house, make sure you actually SEE the insurance certificate and contractor's license.

Peace,
- Sequoia

My property is a 1 acre lot, one maple does hover a little over the neighbors property. Another guy just left and said if he didnt see the quotes from the preveous companies, he would charge $1400.00 for two trees. I think I am still going to shop around a liitle more. I even thought leaving about 9 feet of the diameter standing to lessen the blow. I will definitely use all of the dropped wood.

Thanks for all the info.

-mike

Are you talking dropped as in notch and fell or climb and take down piece by piece? If they are climbing and taking them down piece by piece then $475/each is a deal.

I think 100' sounds bigger than it is?! But I think 100' is about right for mature Red Oak in the Northeast, no?? nice straight boles. I had one fall in a wind storm - 65' of it was straight bole with no branches. I'll have to dig up the pics i took.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Red_Oak

In forests, the northern red oak grows straight and tall, to 35 m (115 ft), exceptionally to 43 m (140 ft) tall, with a trunk of up to 1 m (3 ft) diameter; open-grown trees do not get so tall, but can develop a stouter trunk, up to 2 m (6 ft) in diameter.


Matt

If your trees are within 20' of the house and they are 3-4' on the stump I would guess most of the crown sits over your house and maybe they lean that way as well? Those are some large take downs without a crane it will take a climber and ground man some time to rig and lower, Just guessing without pics when I worked for a nationwide tree service co. we would get 5-600 for one tree like that. Sounds like you will either pay for good climber and ground man or someone with a crane either way I would get a bidding war going on with all local companies, get it in writing and make sure they have insurance. good luck

CT - hope you didn't take my post as not believing you, but after I read I guess it could be construed that way. Again, would love to see some pics!

I just paid $300.00 a tree for 3 huge pines.
all 3 done the same day.
the top half they had to climb and cut piecemeal.
No room for felling.
That included chipping and hauling away all the branches.
(I wanted them to leave the chips, they either forgot or had a use / buyer)
I still have the short logs from the trunk. They'll either end up as firewood or rot on the ground in the woods.


Paid $1100.00 to have a humongous maple removed frommy old house.
The crown covered my hous and the neighbor's. They had to come in with a huge articulated claw and grab pieces and gently move to the side avoiding the houses and power wires and cut up. They even cleaned up the huge ruts from the equipment.

I guess i was lucky...
I had 8 willows taken down last year. smallest was 18" at the stump, largest 42"
My tree man contacted the local utility, and they agreed that since the trees could hit power lines they would take them down.
The utility sent their contractor with a 65' bucket truck and spent 2 days taking them all down, I had to clean them up, and pay my guy for chipping, and pulling stumps. He then loaded up the big stuff on his log truck and we took it to a farmer who heats greenhouses with an owb. The farmer claimed he would go through the willow 1 cord / day once it got cold. his owb looked like it could hold 1/4 cord of wood!!

At any rate my cost was $1500 plus 5 pizzas and some soda, and man am I glad thise willows are gone.