Lessons Learned in Tree Removal and Pruning

by Megan Aubrey

I love how our home has beautiful, mature trees. I think they add a lot of beauty and value to our property. However they definitely devalue property value if they come falling down. Since we had a few rotten ones we decided to be proactive and take two diseased trees down and limb three.
Lesson It pays back into your pocket to shop around. Our quotes were all over the place, some double what others were going to charge us. Pick the one with the price tag and reliability you are comfortable with.
Lesson Make sure they are licensed, bonded, and insured. Taking down trees is tricky and somewhat risky. You do not want any liability on your property.
Lesson Be persistent. Contractors are busy. I like to stay on their radar and check in with them every few weeks. It’s a thin line to tread of being persistent and not annoying. You want a good relationship but you do want them to come.
Lesson Make sure to mark your septic tank if trucks could be remotely near them. When I was growing up we once had an incident with this and heavy machinery running over our septic tank. Now I am paranoid on marking it when any vehicle comes near it.
Lesson Ruts happen. Just see it as a chance to reseed your lawn and just make it greener and fuller for next year.

The back yard before. Two trees back here came down and one was limbed.

lessons learned in tree removal and pruning, gardening, Before The front yard complete with trees in need of limbing and old holly bushes we had cut down and wanted gone

Before - The front yard complete with trees in need of limbing and old holly bushes we had cut down and wanted gone.

The back yard after! Doesn't the yard seem so much bigger?1

lessons learned in tree removal and pruning, gardening, The front yard after What a difference Now more light can come streaming through our front windowns

The front yard after. What a difference! Now more light can come streaming through our front windowns.

lessons learned in tree removal and pruning, gardening, Since the trees were in the back we didn t get the stumps grinded But it sure does smell good back there

Since the trees were in the back we didn't get the stumps grinded. But it sure does smell good back there!

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7 of 13 comments

Carole on Nov 28, 2013
I would add to ensure that you know what is included in the price if you don't want a huge pile of wood chips or the timber left on your property. Are they going to cut the trunk and larger limbs up into small pieces and remove it completely from your property and if so, is there an extra charge for that. Can you keep the pieces and are they useable for firewood once they have seasoned. Will they take any woodchip away, or can you use it on your property to mulch garden beds - check whether it is suitable to do this. Some wood chips you might not want on your yard as they can be quite acidic when they break down - such as pine trees. Are they charging you by the day or by the job. Sometimes this type of work can take longer than expected, especially if they hit any problems. If you have especially large trees in a tight spot - might a crane be the way to go to remove them more safely and quickly. If so, what additional cost for the crane? We have a lot of large gum trees (30 metres or 90 feet tall) on our property and have had a fair bit of tree work done. If you find someone who is fully insured and very competent who you feel comfortable with - they come when they say they will, they work hard, they leave the yard clean when they leave, they do what they say they will do and do it safely - then stick with them! Sometimes the cheapest quote is not the best quote! I agree that a good relationship with your tree surgeon is crucial. I would also never use anyone who rocks up to my place on spec looking for work. If they are good at what they do they don't need to scratch around for work they will be booked months in advance. Always ask to see their insurance. You have a right to see it. There is potential for huge damage to you or your neighbours property if they stuff up and if they are not insured you will be left trying to sue them or wearing the expense yourself. If they take offence at that request then I would doubt their insurance and credentials. I have stood and watched our tree guys work and they work very hard, very safely - I have never felt in any danger even though some trees we had removed were barely 1 metre from our house (a row of 8 huge pine trees).

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- Megan Aubrey on Dec 02, 2013
  @Carole Wow! Great points! Thanks so much for sharing. That is definitely good advice to ask to look at their insurance and get into the details of what they are doing with the wood.
  
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- Carole on Dec 02, 2013
  @Megan Aubrey Hi Megan, the reason I draw attention to the wood is that we had 8 pine trees felled that were basically 1 metre (about three feet) from our house wall and on the border of our property and a vacant plot next door that belonged to another person. In fact, the trees were more on his property than on ours. He already had a permit from council to remove the trees as the roots had been cut clean through by the builder of the house we bought. It became necessary to get these trees removed sooner rather than later as one smaller one had already fallen in the direction of our house (before we bought it) and hit the roof and guttering causing some damage. We negotiated with him to pay half the cost if he would do it sooner. The subsequent quotes we got showed that if the trees were felled and left on the vacant lot (just the main trunks which were huge) but the branches were all wood chipped and also left on the vacant lot - rather than being removed - it kept the price of the quote to half of what it would have cost if they had to chainsaw up 8 trunks into smaller parts to take away. Now the neighbour (who has still not built on his plot of land and does not intend to for some years) is slowly getting the cash together to have a few trees milled from time to time for the usable timber which he is now using in his own home. I believe he has used the timber for beams and kitchen units in his own home which he is renovating. It is amazing how much work is involved in carving up huge trees to get the pieces small enough to take them away for disposal. We had a 30 metre gum tree (about 90 feet tall) cut down and it took two days worth of work for all the branches to be wood chipped and three truck loads of wood chip taken away, then we still had the massive trunk to contend with. It took them a whole afternoon of 3 chainsaws going at once to carve up the trunk into firewood size pieces. If we had kept the trunk in tact and left it where it lay - it would have saved us about $1,100. Of course there was no way we could do that as it would have taken up so much space in our garden. As we have no use for the firewood, they also took several trucks of the firewood away. Ironically, they will sell that firewood once it has dried out and seasoned! Although I do believe they give away the wood chips to anyone who wants them for garden mulch.
  
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- Carole on Dec 02, 2013
  I forgot to mention that another neighbour also benefited from the pine tree felling as he asked for some of the milled timber and was going to make a dining table from it (he is a carpenter by trade). He now also gets more sun on his roof which is captured by solar panels to convert into electricity since these trees have been removed as they had cast shadow previously on his house. Happy neighbour!!
  
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- Megan Aubrey on Dec 03, 2013
  @Carole Wow!!! What an ordeal! That's a big tree - and a lot of work! You must be glad most of that big gum tree is gone. Good luck on the other trees!
  
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- Carole on Dec 03, 2013
  @Megan Aubrey Thanks Megan, we have a stump which we will leave as it is - not worrying about getting it ground down. Some firewood still on our property that we were saving for a friend to take away as they have a wood burning heater at their place. Will be happy to see it go! No doubt as the trees age, there will be more tree work to be done in future years!
  
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Jeffrey Goodman on Apr 07, 2016
That is crazy to see just what a little pruning can do and to help open of the yard. I will have to look into pruning the trees at my house. When is the best time to prune? http://www.meadtree.com/services/tree-care.php

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