Although my dad and I (mostly dad
) have dropped more huge trees than I can recall, sometimes you need a pro to take them down from the top (either with a bucket, or someone up in the tree with a "swing type apparatus" and crew on the ground w/ ropes). Shop around, anyone using a bucket is going to be higher, and some estimates might be double others. Dad had a 180 year old red oak taken down (hanging over his house) with a bucket, and I once had to have a 75 year old white oak (huge limbs over my house - 4.5' at the base) taken. It was amazing to see the old guy up in my tree swinging from the top, chainsaw in hand, not a job for amateurs imo. Our 20" chainsaws weren't the "right tools for the job" in those two instances. Both trees were dead/dying, and couldn't be saved
.