Cost for Tree Felling

[kevinwburke]

I have several trees that need to come down. I don't trust myself to cut two of them down since they are within reach of my back deck and house. They are dead pines....about 70 feet high. It looks simple which is exactly why I don't want to do it myself. A few years ago I would have tackled this and then figured out a way to tell my wife the good news is the trees are down, the bad news is they are right next to the wood stove...in the house....right through the house. I just want the trees down and then I will cut them up from there.

Anyway, what is a ballpark cost for a "pro" who is insured to take these down? And is it usually quoted by the tree, by the hour...number of trees etc? I dont want a yahoo to do it....I could just be the yahoo.

Thanks for helping a newbie out. Great forum here. I live in Central MA

 

[drdoct]

I had one removed right in front of my house but that's been 4 years ago. Cost me $550 for complete removal minus the outrigger holes they left. Quotes were all over the board with this one being the cheapest by 200 or so. Hated paying that much but I'm glad I got it done.

 

[gzecc]

I am a contractor but not for trees. I would go to Service Magic.com and get a few bids. You can look at the reviews of the past clients also on the site.

 

[smokinj]

if your just wanting them droped 75.00-100 a piece around here and thats someone with insurance

 

[btuser]

I had a 90' pine 30' from my house. It would have crushed the house and had been hit by lightning. I called 4 people and the lowest cost was $600, no removal. One guy said he needed a crane. This was a big tree, and my hooks are only good for de-barked telephone poles. I bit the bullet, because it was leaning towards the house and to get a rope on it I would've had to climb 50' to make a difference.

Since then I've taken down 12 by myself, no mishaps and the canopy is starting to open up next to the house. I've got a 200' steel cable and a 12 ton pulley left over from my CATV lineman days. I tie off to my truck in lieu of a come-along and can pull trees back from a pretty steep angle. Then I cut the tree up into log length pieces and drag them out of the woods for easy bucking in the driveway.

 

[VanLandry]

I live in North Central Mass and in March a tree service from MN was out here going from neighborhood to neighborhood cleaning up the messes from the december ice storm. I had 4 big oaks dropped and 2 of them were within 15/20 ft from my house. They charged between $300 and $400 each depending on the size of the tree. I had thought it would've depended on the proximity to the house but it seems size was more the deciding factor.

 

[GeeWizMan]

Kevin,

This past summer I got quotes from 3 different contractors to cut down 2 trees leaning toward the house. One quote was for 300 dollars, another quote was for 450 dollars and the third quote was for 600 dollars. All 3 contractors said they had insurance but only 1 was able to supply me with a copy of their receipt for paid up insurance. I even called their insurance company to make sure they were all paid up. Want to take a wild guess as to which quote had paid up insurance. I was happy to pay the 600 dollars to watch these pros do their thing.

 

[billb3]

I just paid someone $950.00 to cut down 3 full sized pines.

Had to be dropped right at thier own bases.
Could not be felled.

Room for a big chipper for branches 2 guys to feed while 1 cut
1 guy to climb where thier bucket truck wouldn't reach, cut and push while climbing back down.
1 guy to remove pine logs to my on-site pine log dump.
(if I have time I cut, if not, they rot)
4 guys, 1 afternoon, tractor, bucket truck and big chipper.


My neighbor paid someone almost a thousand dollars to come in with an articulated crane and lift 2 pine trees over his house and then cut them up on his front lawn and cart it all away. The trees up against his house couldn't be dropped in pieces without a really good experienced climber - cutter. These guys used a crane instead.

You pay for manpower and equipment, depending what it takes to get 'er done.


I have thier card at the office.

 

[Bobbin]

We've had a number of trees taken down over the years that were uncomfortably close to the house and left the husband nervous about DIY. We've paid between $300-500, price predicated on whether or not the bucket truck was required and the proximity of the tree to power lines. In all cases, the guys left the wood and cut it into 48" lengths, sometimes cutting the bigger butts into 16" lengths for us when they knew our chainsaw wasn't capable of of easily getting through the butts.

We have always been willing to work with the guys; waiting until mid-winter or dealing with the brush ourselves. I've had coffee, sweets, sandwiches at the ready. And the house is open for use of the john.

As a woman, I think a relationship with competent, reliable arborists is right up there with the relationship one establishes with an automotive mechanic. I'm TOTALLY cool paying someone to do something I have no idea or intention of learning how to do! As my boss says, "sometimes it's easier to just pay" and I couldn't agree more!

 

[lobsta1]

Get your quotes in the winter time & tell them they can cut at their convenience. Last Jan. I had a couple of tree service outfits give me a price on two big maples. Both were rotted out & needed a crane. They were a little over 3' at DBH. Highest quote was $3200, lowest was $1500. I told them I wanted all brush gone & the logs swung up towards my back yard. The $3200 quote ended up doing it for $1200. They had the crane, a climber in the tree, a guy running the grapple truck & a number of groundsmen. Took them a few hours, but they had to come back a few days later for all the brush & cleanup.
Al

 

[Wacky1]

Just make sure they are insured, whatever you do.

 

[blades]

Ran me about $ 900 for a big (4 - 5ft at base dia.) and super tall Weeping willow right next to the power lines. Power co. would only trim it back to not interfere with the lines. That still left these huge branches extending over the lines. We all know what 40+ year old weeping willow are like on the inside especially when you can stand by it and watch the carpenter ants running up and down it. Neighbors said they had a crane, chipper and box truck, dump truck with a skid steer, about 1/2 dozen guys, and a stump grinder. Started at 8, done before I got home. I did have them leave me a couple of the medium size branches for shoulder season fuel. ( 18-24" dia. 10-15' long)

 

[carinya]

$350 for this guy

 

[carinya]

These guys were a joy to watch. They pieced it out, dropping each piece on the end of the rope at just the right length on the pendulum to miss the roof

 

[smokinj]

These guys were a joy to watch. They pieced it out, dropping each piece on the end of the rope at just the right length on the pendulum to miss the roof

yep Thats fun to watch what did they charge? climbers are usually high dollar

 

[carinya]

The guy seemed comfortable with heights (naturally) and not very thick branches to stand on

 

[carinya]

These guys were a joy to watch. They pieced it out, dropping each piece on the end of the rope at just the right length on the pendulum to miss the roof

yep Thats fun to watch what did they charge? climbers are usually high dollar

$350 for that tree. I had another two trees done: one with just basically the trunk & some branching at the very top that he had to piece out two or three sections and another that had forked about twenty feet up. They did those for an extra $50 a piece. They took about three hours.

I've known the guy for about 15 years. He normally charges to take down a tree & remove the timber then sells that as firewood. He survives !

About three years ago two friends helped me fell about 5 trees but we were able to lay them out parallel to the house. Plus none of us were climbing up. But we didn't take out the first additional tree mentioned above because we were pretty sure it would lay out onto the corner of the house. And the pro's didn't even think about felling it without piecing it out.

 

[carinya]

In the home stretch now - piece by piece

 

[carinya]

You can see what happened to the trunk at

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/45445/

 

[Bootlegger]

I have a 60' maple 40' from the house. It was uprooted and is caught up in some other maples or it would have hit the house and taken out my workshop in the process. It's behind the house, uphill side, and they there is no way to get heavy equipment back there. The big local tree contractor, bonded and insured, is going to take it down for $400. They are also dropping a giant double trunk hickory that is in kind of a squirrely location and could hit the house if done wrong. So 1 difficult tree and an easy one for $400.

 

[smokinj]

In the home stretch now - piece by piece

very good price when a climber is needed

 

[carinya]

some split black walnut

 

[Tony H]

Now is a good time of year work is thin and the tree guys are lowering prices to get what work they can. I run into one fellow every few weeks and he tells me it's slow and if I need some trimming done he will do it cheap when the ground freezes and he can drive the bucket in the yard without causing damage.
Last year he took down a huge mulberry intertwined with an oak overhanging the back of the house and the deck plus felled another big oak also took down and shredded an 60' pine that was 4' from the house and ground out 5 stumps for 800.00 . I cleaned up the big oak. I do have some large branches hanging over the house , garage and my neighbors garage ( where he has a old suicide door Lincoln Capone era and awesome old Jag convertible plus who knows what else that I don't want to crush) that need to go before they drop and crush something.