Tree Removal Service: All Your FAQs Answered

A lot of tree trunks are lying on the ground in a row after many trees being cut down.

After a major tree-cutting project, this property owner has a lot of trees that need to be removed lying on the grass near an old stone fence.

 

If you own property with trees — at some point, you’ll probably need to remove the tree from your property.

In this post, we’ll cover all you need to know about tree removal:

  • 5 good reasons to remove trees

  • How professionals remove trees

  • The 4 most common tree removal methods

  • Whether you should remove a tree yourself

  • Removing tree branches and tree debris

  • Tree removal costs - 19 factors involved

  • Emergency tree removal

 

What are good reasons to remove trees?

Removing a tree is a big decision. And an important investment. In many cases, we want to try to save trees rather than remove them. Sometimes, trees can simply be trimmed or pruned to accomplish the desired results. But there are some times when the best option is to remove trees.

How can you decide if removing trees is the right thing to do? Here are 5 good reasons to remove trees on your property. Of course, you don’t necessarily have to have any of these reasons to have a tree removed. But these are the most common reasons we see.

Hazardous trees

If a tree is clearly dangerous to your property, your family, pets, or others, it makes sense to contact experienced, licensed tree removers near you to take the tree down. 

What kind of tree might be a hazard? Here are the most common dangerous tree issues we see.

Dead/rotten

Dead trees or trees with large rotten limbs are just not safe to be around your home or people. All it takes is a bad storm or a strong enough wind, and that tree (or some of its huge branches) may fall. And that’s a nightmare we don’t want to see anyone have to worry about.

It’s important for professional tree removers to help with large dead tree removal so that no one gets hurt. 

Diseased/infested

Diseased trees (or infested trees) also need to go — unless the issue is limited to just a branch or a few localized limbs. In that case, it’s possible to maybe trim the tree or treat it and spare it.

But if you leave an infestation of insects in your tree or do nothing to stop the spread of pests or infections, you’re going to have a bigger problem on your hands. At that point, you may have to take the whole tree down, or you may discover that the disease or insects have spread to other trees, as well. 

Fallen 

Fallen trees are magnets for termites, disease, and other pests. A fallen tree in your yard is also unsightly and could even be dangerous if kids try to play with it or pets try to climb on it. So it’s important to remove a fallen tree as soon as possible.

Leaning

A leaning tree could be dangerous if it’s root system is faulty and it’s weakened and likely to fall on your home, garage, vehicles, fence, or people.

Location is too close to a structure/new construction

If a large tree has branches hanging over your home or other structures and you are concerned that limbs may come down on your house during a storm, it can make sense to try to trim or remove the tree.

Another issue? If you want to build an addition to your home or install a concrete patio in the backyard and there are trees in the way, it may be necessary to remove trees to make room for the construction project.

However, if you have a beautiful, large tree, and you want to build a deck or patio, you may be able to talk with your contractor about building around the tree, depending on the situation and how much of an issue more growth or tall roots might be.

Messy trees

All trees shed to some degree — pine needles, leaves, petals, seeds, or fruit. But some trees are especially messy. If you have monkey balls falling in your pool constantly, you may want to think about having a tree remover take the tree down for you. This will substantially cut down the amount of time and effort you have to spend on lawn and pool maintenance.

Overcrowding

If there are a lot of trees close together, sometimes you have to remove some of the trees in order to help the ones you keep get more sunlight and have room to grow. Experienced tree removers near you can help you decide which ones are best to keep and which trees to cut down.

Too much shade

Sometimes people consider trees removal options because there are too many trees in their yard and the grass won’t grow. Sometimes, Home Owners’ Associations (HOAs) require yards to have a certain type or amount of grass and trees may not be cooperating.

Ready for tree removal near you in the Columbia, SC area? We can help.

Whether you need tree removal in Lexington, SC, or anywhere in the greater Columbia, SC area, we can help. We do big and small jobs. Commercial and residential.

We are also available any time for emergency tree removal.

Not only that, we can take care of all your tree service needs, as well as do landscaping, irrigation, hardscaping, fencing, and paving.

Please call us for a FREE QUOTE at 803-521-4978 or email us at bootsonenterprises@gmail.com.

 
A local tree removal company in Lexington, SC is cutting down a large tree.

Boots On Enterprises, a tree removal company, is working on a large tree removal project in South Carolina.

 

How do professionals remove a tree?

Tree removal companies can cut down small or large trees. The process may involve quite a few options.

  1. Cut down and remove the tree and branches with the best method (see below).

  2. Remove the tree stump.

  3. Grind the tree stump.

  4. Do tree roots removal/treatment.

  5. Remove the tree trunk and large branches.

  6. Remove the tree debris.

Tree removal generally involves taking away everything but the stump. However, each tree removal service has its own definition of what tree removal includes. 

You don’t have to have branches chipped, the roots cut and treated, or the stump ground up. But if you would like to add those services, you can ask for them to be included. 

Additional tree removal services may include splitting the trunk, bringing in topsoil to fill the hole, or landscaping the area. You may want to keep the wood chips for mulch for your yard.

The best tree removal services near you will also consider any potential dangers to your property before safely removing a tree from your yard. 

  1. What tree removal equipment is best to use.

  2. How tall the tree is.

  3. The type of tree being removed.

  4. Weather issues like wind, temperature, and rain.

  5. The seasonal conditions.

  6. Unpleasant surprises that may arise during the process.

  7. How close other structures are.

 
Half of a tree fell during a storm and is lying across the road in need of tree removal.

Half of this tree fell down in a storm and is laying across the yard. It’s time to call for tree removing services and have this tree cut down before the rest of it falls on the house.

 

What are the 4 most common tree removal methods?

Here are some of the most popular tree removal techniques a tree service pro may use to remove trees in your yard going from least expensive to most expensive.

Tree felling

If there is enough space and the tree is in good enough condition, tree service professionals may utilize the tree removal technique of tree felling. This is the most common method and takes the least amount of time and money.

You’ve probably seen depictions of felling a tree with lumber jacks when they cut out a little wedge toward the bottom of the tree trunk and shout, “Timber!” then the whole tree falls to the ground with a thud.

The disadvantage of tree felling is that it can only be used in certain situations. If there are structures nearby or the tree may be too rotten, this may not be a good option.

Tree climbing

It takes some brave and experienced tree care pros to climb up a tree and lower the branches and trunk sections by a rope on a rigging cable. But this provides a lot of control so that a heavy tree can be disassembled piece by piece while keeping homes and other structures safe.

Bucket truck/cherry picker

A bucket tree removal allows for the same kind of slow, methodical removal as tree climbing does, without as much risk to the worker. This is particularly useful when dealing with rotten trees or trees that are tall but can’t be felled and can’t support a person’s weight.

Crane-assisted

Crane-assisted tree removal is the most expensive method. But it may be the only option if the other techniques are too dangerous for people or nearby structures.

 
After heavy rain, this big tree fell over and pulled up the soil, as well, damaging the yard and sidewalk.

This large tree fell over, likely after heavy rain. This homeowner needs a tree removing service and help fixing the damage to the concrete sidewalk.

Should I remove a tree myself?

If you have a very small tree that needs to be cut down and/or removed from your yard, you may be able to handle it if you are handy with a chain saw and a wheelbarrow. However, large tree removals are dangerous and difficult jobs that are generally best left to a professional tree care pro.

Should you remove a large fallen tree by yourself?

Even with fallen tree removal when you don’t have to worry about cutting the tree down, you still have to navigate around the large fallen tree and maybe structural damage to your house. Cutting up thousands of pounds worth of wood and disposing of it is a big job. 

Should you cut down a large tree by yourself?

Because large tree branches can weigh hundreds or even thousands of pounds, and tree trunks can be even heavier than that, there is a lot of risk involved with felling or climbing trees yourself.

All it takes is for an inexperienced individual to fall out of a tree or have all or part of a tree or heavy branch fall on them to cause extreme injuries or even death. And, of course, it’s easy to cause a whole lot of property damage, too, if a tree inadvertently falls on your house, your fence, your car, or your neighbor’s house.

And if you take down a tree yourself and it causes a lot of damage or injuries, is your homeowner’s insurance going to cover that liability? It’s a good question to consider before attempting a DIY tree removal project.

Why not leave the dangerous work and the risk to experienced professionals who can save you a lot of heartache? In the end, it may just save you a lot of money, time, and stress not to do it yourself.

 
A big tree limb fell on a fence and needs to be removed.

A large tree limb fell on a neighbor’s fence so now the property owner needs tree branch removal ASAP.

 

What about removing tree branches and tree debris?

Maybe you don’t need an entire tree removed. Maybe you just have a large tree limb to remove or a lot of large branches that need to be cut up and hauled away. A tree removing service near you can handle tree branch removal/tree limb removal for you, too.

Or maybe instead of removal of trees, you just need tree debris removal. Many tree remover companies do yard cleanups and tree waste removal, as well. You can ask for this service along with your regular tree removal if it is not automatically provided.

If you’re not sure what you need or whether a particular tree remover near you can help with your situation, just call them. They’ll let you know what they can do for you.

At Boots On Enterprises in Columbia, SC, we can handle all of these things for you and are happy to specialize our services to fit your needs. Just ask us. We can probably handle the project for you.

 
A tree shredder is turning large tree branches into mulch in a chipper. The dump truck will remove the tree.

Branches are fed into a chipper and blown into a dump truck for debris removal at someone’s house. The avg. cost to remove a tree depends on what services and machines are involved and other factors.

 

How much does tree removal cost?

How much to remove a tree depends on a number of factors. Tree removal companies consider these important issues before giving you a quote. This is why they may need to come out and see the situation before they can provide an accurate estimate. Every tree removal job is different.

19 factors involved in tree removal cost:

Tree removal pricing depends on a lot of issues including things like:

  1. The width and height of the tree.

  2. Whether the tree has already fallen or needs to be cut down.

  3. Whether it has leaves on it or not.

  4. Whether it is an emergency tree removal and/or after normal hours.

  5. The type of tree.

  6. The health of the tree.

  7. How many trees are being removed.

  8. The method of tree removal.

  9. How close the tree is to structures.

  10. What equipment is needed.

  11. How difficult access is to the tree.

  12. Whether the yard is extremely sloped or muddy.

  13. How risky the removal is.

  14. If you want additional services on top of the usual tree removal services.

  15. Other expenses like permits.

  16. Regional prices and expenses for fuel and labor.

  17. Whether concrete or asphalt needs to be repaired or replaced.

  18. Whether you want the hole filled with topsoil.

  19. If you would like landscaping done.

There are other issues that can affect the price, as well. But basically, the more complicated, rushed, or difficult the job, the greater the cost to remove a tree. Skinny trees like palm trees may be less expensive to remove than wider trees like oak trees of the same height.

To get the best deal on tree removal prices, consider doing multiple trees at once or bundle your tree removal project into other yard projects with the same contractor and you may get the best price.

What’s the average cost of tree removal?

The average cost of removing a tree runs around $700-800. Of course, it all depends on the factors we discussed above. For small tree removal, you may be looking at $200. For a large one, it may be closer to $2000.

It’s important to remember that the cost of tree removal is something that has to be individually calculated based on your particular situation. There are the 19 factors we described above. And even more that we haven’t listed here.

What is the cheapest time of year for tree removal?

For most tree removal companies near you, winter is generally the best and cheapest time of year to remove trees from your yard. The trees don’t have leaves on them so they weigh less, which means you typically save money.

 
Major storm damage to an extremely large tree makes this tree dangerous.

A large tree damaged in a storm like this may require emergency tree removal if the tree or large limbs may fall on your home or pose a hazard to people or other property.

 

What about emergency or storm tree removal?

If you have a dangerous tree in your property that is rotten, dead, or prone to dropping heavy branches, it’s important to remove the tree as soon as possible before it hurts someone or something.

If a tree or large branch has already fallen on your home, vehicle, or driveway and is creating havoc, you may also need emergency services (or hazard tree removal) quickly.

A qualified tree removing service will be able to take care of this hazardous tree quickly if they provide emergency tree removal services. Not all tree service companies do. But hopefully, their website will let you know if this is something they can do 24/7 or not.

 

Tree removal services near you in the Columbia, SC area

At Boots On Enterprises, we provide tree removal in Columbia, SC. We also offer emergency tree services in Columbia, SC and are happy to get a dangerous tree removed for you.

Not only that, we can take care of all your other tree service needs, as well as do landscaping, irrigation, hardscaping, fencing, and paving.

Please call us for a FREE QUOTE at 803-521-4978 or email us at bootsonenterprises@gmail.com.

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