What we arrange across Sydney
Six kinds of work make up almost everything: removals, reduction pruning, stump work, palms and bamboo, hedges and screens, and emergency response. Each of the three main ones has its own page with the detail.
Tree removal
Taking a whole tree out, either by felling it in one piece where there is room, or by dismantling it in sections and lowering the pieces on rope where there is not. In Sydney it is overwhelmingly the second. The decision turns on what is underneath the tree and whether a truck-mounted platform or crane can reach the base.
Removal is also the service most affected by council rules, because it is the one that needs approval. Read the tree removal service page for how a removal is run, and tree removal in Sydney for how the council landscape differs across the city.
Tree lopping and pruning
Reduction pruning, crown thinning, crown lifting, deadwooding and clearance from roofs, gutters and solar panels. Done properly, cuts are placed back to a suitable lateral in line with Australian Standard AS 4373 so the wound seals and the tree keeps a workable structure.
Done improperly — topping a canopy back to bare stubs — it produces dense epicormic regrowth attached only to the outer wood. That regrowth is weaker than what it replaced and it fails more readily within five to ten years. The tree lopper service page covers the difference, and the Sydney tree lopper page covers the species that come up here.
Stump grinding and stump removal
After a removal you still have a stump and a root plate. Grinding chews it out to roughly two to three hundred millimetres below grade, which is enough for soil and turf. Full removal digs the stump and major roots out so footings, a slab or a pool shell have clear ground. They are different prices for a reason. See stump removal and stump removal across Sydney.
Palms, bamboo and hedges
Cocos and Bangalow palms come down in a narrow space and the fronds are heavy and awkward; the seed from cocos palms is a weed problem in bushland councils. Running bamboo has to be dug out with the rhizome mat or it simply returns — cutting it at ground level achieves nothing. Hedges and screens, mostly lilly pilly, photinia and murraya, get brought back to a line you can maintain yourself with a domestic trimmer.
Emergency and storm work
Split unions, whole trees on fences, limbs through roof tiles. The priority is making the site safe rather than tidy. Ring (02) 9000 1943 and say what has failed and where.
Tree management and advice
Not every call ends in a cut. Sometimes the answer is a soil and drainage fix, sometimes it is monitoring a defect over a season, and sometimes it is a written arboricultural report for a council application. A report by a qualified consulting arborist is a separate piece of paid work, and strict councils such as Ku-ring-gai and Woollahra frequently require one.
Where we work
The service areas index breaks Sydney into regions with notes on each council, the soils and the species. If you want pricing first, start with the cost guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which service do I need — removal, lopping or pruning?
Removal if the tree is dead, structurally failing or in a position that cannot be fixed. Reduction pruning if the problem is weight or clearance over a structure and the tree is otherwise sound. Lopping in the crude sense, cutting a canopy to stubs, is not a service worth buying on a healthy tree. A quoting arborist should tell you which of the three applies.
Can one crew do the removal and the stump in the same visit?
Usually yes if it is booked that way, and it is meaningfully cheaper than a return trip because most of the cost is getting the gear to your street. Stump grinders are separate machines, so the crew needs to know in advance to bring one. Mention it when the quote is being written, not on the day.
Do you do emergency work after hours?
Storm damage is triaged ahead of routine work and crews do respond outside normal hours. Say clearly what has failed, where it has landed and whether anyone is cut off. Anything touching a live Ausgrid conductor is reported to Ausgrid first — no tree crew may legally work on a live line.