5 min read
Size, but not the way people think
Height gets the attention and trunk diameter does more of the work. Wood volume goes up fast with diameter, so a short fat trunk can be a bigger job than a tall slim one. A big trunk means more cuts, more weight to handle, more to load and more to haul.
What is underneath it
This is usually the biggest single factor. A tree in an open field can be felled in one piece, which is fast. The same tree over a roof, a fence, a pool or a neighbour's shed has to come down in controlled sections, each one lowered rather than dropped. That is slow, skilled work and it is where the cost difference lives.
Access
Whether equipment can reach the tree changes everything. A crew that can back a truck and a chipper up to the trunk works far faster than one carrying every piece out through a narrow side gate by hand. Backyard trees behind a fence with no gate wide enough are the classic example.
Condition
Dead and rotten trees often cost more than healthy ones. Sound wood is predictable. Rotten wood is not, it cannot be climbed safely, and it often needs equipment rather than a climber, which means more setup for the same tree.
Lean and balance
A tree leaning where you want it to go is straightforward. A tree leaning toward the house that has to be brought down the other way needs rigging, and sometimes needs taking apart from the top.
What happens to the wood
Ask what the price includes, because this is where quotes differ without looking like they do:
- Felled and left on site, cheapest and rarely what people want
- Cut into rounds and stacked, cheaper than haul-off
- Everything chipped and hauled away, the usual expectation
- Stump ground, almost always priced separately
Two quotes can be far apart simply because one includes haul-off and the other does not. Get it in writing either way.
Stump grinding
Its own job with its own price, usually driven by stump diameter and how deep it needs going. Also by access, since a grinder has to physically get there. Ask whether the grindings are hauled off or left as mulch, because that changes the number too.
Emergency and after-hours
Storm work is different work. It is unplanned, often at night, often in bad weather, sometimes with the tree under tension against a structure. It costs more than the same tree removed on a scheduled Tuesday, and any company that says otherwise is not being straight with you.
What a real quote should tell you
Before you agree to anything, you should know:
- The total, in writing, not a range given at the kerb
- Whether haul-off is included
- Whether the stump is included, and if so to what depth
- What happens to the grindings
- Whether they are insured, with the certificate to look at
- Who fixes the fence if something goes wrong
Anything on that list that cannot be answered on site is worth pausing over.