Tree Removal

[Ronstar]

Now you are talking prices I'm used to. Welcome to the pain.

Did these include a crane or bucket truck?

Yes. I even made a video of it. I figured if I was going to spend that much $, I better have a memory of it.

https://youtu.be/mFB9w3b-cOo

 

[mystang52]

Excellent! That’s a very good price for 3 trees of that size.

Great deal. Giving back money after the job is complete? Unheard of.

Removing one tree, here in NJ, is about $450. And if they found it easy to do I guarantee they wouldn't refund a penny. OP found a great contractor.

I agree it is dangerous I talked to the 2 guys doing mine and they said the key is never getting in a hurry and think before you do anything .

One of our local tree services is owned by a paraplegic and his sons. Years ago he became paraplegic when a branch he was removing unexpectedly snapped off and hit him in the back. My daughter had a tree service trim the tops if 2 very tall trees on her property. I watched those guys get up to the top; you couldn't pay me enough to do this tree work.

 

[MRG]

There's a different perspective between a logger buying trees and a tree removal company. The logger wants the most timber for the dollar, and the removal guys want the most dollar for the job.

The last time I needed some trees removed from our mountain place I called a small logging neighbor and offered him the trees for free. It seemed like the cheapest way to get 5-6 big trees cut & hauled away, and he obviously knew how to fell trees.

I was talking about size only. It's hard to have a conversation about trees without a consistent measurement. People are talking about 30", 40", 60" trees! In the ten years I worked in the industry the number of logs I've measured of those sizes, I can count on my fingers. Yes some do exist but they're rare.


You're fortunate to get a logger to come out for small stands, even for free trees. When we logged moving equipment took a day, plus the second move to a real timber job.

Most trees around buildings have blue stain in the cut ends, however some specie don't turn blue. It's caused by metal in the trees from morons who nailed something in the tree 50+ years ago. While loggers can be quite creative in trying to disguise the stain, buyers have better tools.

One of the few trees we harvested for a friend's place turned out to be a disaster. Thirty feet up in the tree there was a 1" piece of cable, it didn't turn blue and the saw hit it. I was a couple feet behind the saw when it hit. If you have never seen a 60" circle saw lose all it's teeth and schanks up close, you haven't lived. We never found any of those expensive pieces.

 

[Senator]

A question for the Senator: Your video shows a tree that appears healthy and away from any structure, so why was it sawed down? Our municipality would not have given a permit for that.

No permit required. I had some emerald ash borer damage. I could have left the tree for woodpecker habitat, but then it may be harder to cut down as a dead tree. My house was ~40' behind the tree.

The city gave me a notice that I had emerald ash borer sign. They said there was no requirement to cut it down now, but maybe in the future there would be.

Here is another one I cut down last evening. I like to film these trees coming down. If I am ever able to be on the winning side of a Darwin award, I will have it documented. It would be a funny video for all time.

https://youtu.be/gv-U2e5aabo

 

[GravitySucks]

You got a great deal.
Ash borer beetles here are making the tree guys rich
Took almost 2 months and $550 to get one downed

 

[Car-Guy]

As a former logger and log buyer I sure wish we could talk in consistent terms. A logs size, it's diameter, is measured at the small end, inside the bark.

We are all SME's (Subject Matter Experts) on something(s). (Well most of us) In my case, it really bugs the heck out of me me when people talk about guns or cars and speak with such "absolute authority" and usually/often get it wrong or clearly don't know what they are talking about. For the most part I'll ignore it but sometimes it's hard to take without commenting.

Happens on this site occasionally but the TV newscasters are really bad about it.

Makes me often question what anyone says about anything. They more they speak with absolute authority, the more skeptical I become. I guess this is where common sense comes in.

 

[LOL!]

No permit required. I had some emerald ash borer damage. I could have left the tree for woodpecker habitat, but then it may be harder to cut down as a dead tree. My house was ~40' behind the tree.

Thanks for answering my question.

I let a tree rot behind my garage. A neighboring tree had a pileated woodpecker nest in it. Eventually, I pushed the rotted tree over so it wouldn't hit the garage. Yep, I literally pushed it over. Eventually, the termites took care of it.

 

[LOL!]

I was talking about size only. It's hard to have a conversation about trees without a consistent measurement. People are talking about 30", 40", 60" trees! In the ten years I worked in the industry the number of logs I've measured of those sizes, I can count on my fingers. Yes some do exist but they're rare.

I'm also wondering about these tree sizes reported here. Earlier this year I spent a couple weeks backpacking in Sequoia National Park and I certainly saw some big trees there. But leaving the sequoias out of the picture, the jeffrey pines, redwoods, and Douglas firs were not more than about 4 ft in diameter. I cannot imagine a cottonwood that big.

I once visited some relatives in Maine who described a tree as Ol' Grandpa that was HUGE! They hadn't hiked in to see in a while, so I took my BIL and we went bushwhacking to find it. Well, I put a rope around it at eye-level and that measured 16 ft, so it was only about 5 ft in diameter. The reason it hadn't been logged was because at about 20 ft high it split into 4 trunks that were all too small to be useful.

 

[TromboneAl]

I paid $1,775 for three guys for a full day. They did major trimming of this tree and a few other big ones to give me enough light to grow new trees on my property.

The climber was amazing. I've been getting exhausted chainsawing up the downed branches, and this guy is climbing around and sawing with a bigger chainsaw.

This is the top tree company around here, and reputable, but at the end the guy does some extra work and then asks me if I can pay in cash.

I did, but told him, "Look, you ask for cash and you're pretty much admitting to being a criminal." He said it was for his convenience, but that's BS.

One tip: look ahead, and cut down pines that are going to get huge in the future.