Tree trim estimate?
 

Just got an estimate to trim the top of a small/medium size tree that is blocking the view from this deck. Tree is probably 30-40’ high and approximately 10’ needs to come off the top. It’s on a medium steep hillside and want a professional who will not butcher the tree. A good haircut, if you will. :)

Just got a bid from the gardener who is also a tree guy, he’s cut down some big ones on the property w/o falling them on the roof, etc. He wants $800 to top this tree, seem high or reasonable? TIA. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537214348.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537214348.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537214348.jpg

Seems like a lot of money.
I has two large trees trimmed and shaped and ended up getting three estimates. They went from $800 to $2500.
Used the $800 guy as he was the one recommended by a friend and did a great job.
$800 for just 10 feet off the top seem steep. I would get more bids

Nice view...even with the tree! Looks like it could be a difficult place to access with the equipment. Maybe that has some bearing on the cost.

Looks mostly dead. Why not take the whole thing down?

Dennis, I had one trimmed similar to yours on my property. No access and the limbs and such had to be hauled out by hand up a steep slope. Just watching them haul all that kicked my ass. Its not the actual cutting, that's only a couple hours of work, its the cleaning up and humping it out to their truck then out to the dump. 800 bucks isn't bad

Topping it will do that, but more slowly.

1k /tree is about right around here. Thats with most of it chipped and the rest hauled away. Involves either a crane and 2-3 guys or 3-4 guys and lots of rope.

seems like a good price. It isn't the cutting - it's everything else. Liability insurance is very high for tree cutting services which affects the cost.

Agree the $$ is for the prep and cleanup work. A guy with a chainsaw could take care of the actual cutting/pruning pretty quickly. I just had our Canary Palm trimmed, shaped, and cleanup for $700. I had other quotes as high as $1200, these folks gave me a bid @ 800 and then called to say they finished a job earlier in day and could do it for $100 off if they could stop by immediately.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537219327.jpg

A couple removed tons later

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This

That is a reasonable bid.

Seems pretty spot on for around here. But if you're going to spend that much to 'top' the tree I would consider taking the rest of it down while you're at it. You'll just have to top it again in a few years.

$800 is a great deal in my opinion.

if it is a fully licensed (and insured) pro. but i agree..i think i would take the entire tree out.

maybe plant some mint and bamboo in it's place. :)

I have 8 dead trees on my 'yard'. Six are near the house and need to be disassembled from the top, in pieces. One leans toward the house, so this will need extra attention. The other two can be cut down easily. The trees average 30 to 35 feet in height; one is 40 feet.

I got a quote from a professional tree trimming guy who really knows what he is doing - he's been in the business for 25 years. $600 for the whole job, including hauling off all of the mess to another location.

You guys are paying too much.

Thanks to everyone. I don't think that the tree is dead, just a few branches. It's common around here w the extreme heat and lack of water in recent years.

I think you guys are right about the cost of the estimate being ok.

Taking ten feet of the top is butchering the tree. Take it down, thin it a little, or leave it alone.

That depends entirely on where you are. I had 9 trees taken out here for $1000. It would have cost $3000 at my old place 60 miles east of here.

Just got an estimate to trim 8 trees around my rental in Reno $2300. Seems high but I don’t have to do anything but cut the check. Make sure he has workman’s Comp insurance. That and liability insurance.

That's a good price to have some Yahoo climb a tree and cut off branches with a chainsaw...

Just go out and fall it yourself, and leave it to rot.

Just make sure the garage door is closed when they come to do the estimate. If they see the 911 you'll get an extra 20% tacked on!

Tree services around here don't even put gas in their chainsaws for less than $1K. Mainly because of the insurance, bonding and licenses that are required to be a legitimate tree service here ($100K property and $500K personal/injury for every employee of the crew).

For reference, this tree here cost me $3600 to have removed. Was it the most expensive quote? No. It also wasn't the cheapest either. But this sprawled over 4 different properties and electrical wires covering the entire block. If something went wrong, I didn't want to be the one footing the bill.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537241909.jpg

I just had 2 dead birch trees removed, stumps ground, 3 other birch trees trimmed, 1 non-flowering pear tree trimmed, 600.00. Pretty fair deal I think. Tim

That was probably easier access than this other deal Tim I had two HUGE fruitless mulberry trees removed and the stumps ground for like 1500 a few years ago, and that was the family friend price.

You don't live in Southern California.

Looks like 2 trunks or 2 trees. One looks worse. Why not just get rid of that? Just cut it down and cut it up and leave the thing to fertilize the other.

Gently thinning the remaining one would seem to be the answer but it will grow back — same problem, different day. I'd whack 'em both if the view is the total objective.

I have one of similar size to remove...thank you for providing me price guidance.

Reasonable observations. As a student in college I worked summers for a tree service company, and we did a lot of this type of 'topping' in order to clear views. It was brutal work climbing tall trees just to snip a bit off of the top, hence the price.

Anyway, the OP could buy a nice chainsaw, cut the tree down and be done with it. This way he'd have a brand new chainsaw for future work - at a fraction of the cost of having the tree's top trimmed one time.

I am with J money on the buy a chainsaw and handle it yourself idea. Fell the tree, cut it up and leave there.

That thing looks like a widow maker if I ever saw one. I get the price. :cool:

Thanks, all. There is another factor that I neglected to mention, this tree, (or two trees), are on someone else's property. Here is SoCal, neighbors can turn into extortionists in a hurry if you want to trim one of their trees to improve your view.

In this case, it's just pure luck that the guy is chill and only asked that the tree not be butchered. A bunch of trees that were blocking the neighbors view were just hacked at some point, it's the ugliest thing you've ever seen in the woods. This tree has no bearing on his view in any direction, it's uphill from his house and he probably can't see it. Each property here has a bunch of land going uphill and none going downhill.

I will ask our tree guy if he has the right insurance but hopefully he does. He has felled a few trees already on the property.

800 is still cheap for speeder's tree. By the time he is done, the guy who quoted that price will regret it.

Agreed..I have had these guys do work for me before and I’m always shocked at how cheap. They just gave me a quote to cut down to stump 12 redwood trees, 2400.00.
I can’t believe how he hey do it so cheap. Tim

Legitimate Tree Companies usually pay around 50 cents on the dollar for Workers Comp insurance.

Steve

Exactly. It's very location dependent and dependent on how it can come down. I had two very large rotted trees removed from my rental. Trees were a couple feet from the house. $1800 because it had to be removed piece by piece by ropes. No way to get a piece of equipment behind the house. My dad had something similar but they had special equipment to reach the tree and it was half as much. At my house in the woods, I had my neighbor take down two trees with a chainsaw, yelled timber and then he cut the trunk up into pieces and used them for his fireplace. He gave me a 6 pack for the wood but I grilled some burgers for the take down.

OK, so finally got 'er done:
 

Met the tree guy up at house this morning and they did a bang-up job on the tree. Cut all the dead parts off and carefully shaped the top, I don't think it looks bad at all!

Only really had to take off about 5' of the top of what was left after the dead stuff was gone. Fastest $800 I've ever seen anyone make w their clothes on, it was all over but the clean up in less than an hour.

The smart guy, (boss):
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1538969813.jpg

The slightly less smart guy, (his brother-in-law as it turns out): :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1538969943.jpg

Before:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1538970030.jpg

And after:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1538970076.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1538970076.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1538970076.jpg

Not sure why that second photo posts sideways? :confused:

Nicely done! Waiting on daylight....I have at least $100K worth of stuff to do :). That's an awesome view....with or without that tree! I'd have left it though....

I just cut down three oak trees on my property to open up a spot for some solar panels. The treees come down quickly. The cleanup is the tough part.

$800 seems like a lot but you are paying for the job to be done right and you to be happy. How long it takes is really secondary.

I agree. :)

Had a customer in Ark. that I knew for years.
Very experienced, capable guy that was cutting down a tree on his property.
Tree came down fine, but in the process of cutting it up, the tree rolled on him, and killed him.

Just an FYI.

Good that the job was done to your satisfaction. Enjoy the view, and the cost will quickly be forgotten.

Your comments are really funny.

$800 doesn't go far in the tree trimming business in CA with the workers comp rates over 30%.