Tree Removal Done Properly

What a removal involves

A removal is four distinct pieces of work: establishing whether the tree can legally be removed, deciding how it comes down, taking it down, and clearing what is left. Most quoting disputes come from the second and fourth being underestimated.

Step one: can it legally go?

Before anything else, the tree is checked against your council's tree preservation order. That determines whether you need a permit, a development application, or nothing at all. Dead trees and listed exempt species are generally free to remove; a healthy protected tree usually is not, regardless of how inconvenient it has become.

If your council requires evidence of a defect, you will need a written report from a consulting arborist. That is a separate paid engagement and it is worth doing before booking a crew, not after. The Sydney-wide removal page explains how much the rules vary between councils.

Step two: method

Three methods, in rough order of preference where they are available.

Straight fell. The tree is cut at the base and dropped into a clear area. Fastest and cheapest, and almost never possible on a suburban Sydney block.

Sectional dismantle. A climber removes the canopy in controlled pieces, then rigs the trunk down in sections. This is the default for anything over a house, a pool, a shed or a boundary fence.

Crane or elevated work platform assisted. Where the street and the block allow a truck in, sections are lifted out rather than lowered. It costs more per hour and less per job, because a two-day dismantle can become a half-day lift. Whether it is possible depends entirely on street width, overhead wires, driveway strength and setback.

Step three: the cut

Climbers work on rope with a second person on the ground managing the lowering line and the drop zone. Chip goes into the chipper as it comes down so the site does not fill up. Larger sections are rigged against a friction device, which is what stops a hundred-kilogram piece of trunk from going through a pergola.

Trees on Hawkesbury sandstone often have a shallow, wide root plate wedged into rock crevices, so the butt lifts rather than snaps when pushed. Trees on Wianamatta shale clay sit deeper and heavier. It changes how the base is cut and it changes what the stump looks like afterwards.

Step four: clean-up and the stump

Branch material is chipped on site, trunk wood is cut into rounds and carted, and the ground is raked. The stump remains unless stump grinding was quoted in — book it into the same visit if you want it, because the second mobilisation is most of the extra cost.

What we will not do

We will not remove a healthy protected tree without approval, no matter who is asking. We will not work inside the approved clearance zone around a live Ausgrid conductor. And we will not quote a straight fell on a tree we have not seen in person, because the method is the price.

Booking it

Ring (02) 9000 1943 or send photos and an address. For what it costs, see the tree removal cost guide; for what is different in your part of the city, start at the service areas index.