Are tree surgeons expensive?

A well qualified tree surgeon depending on the size of the job and the man hours needed may indeed charge into the 3 to 400 mark. Especially a qualified tree surgeon as oppposed to someone who thinks they know what they are doing, i would suggest you look at different websites before making any arrangements then that will give you a rough idea of how much you should be charged when you get someone to do it.

 

The only way to know what the price is likely to be is to get around three quotes. No website is going to be of any real benifit.

As with most jobs there are farr to many variables to make anything more than the most haphazard guess.

I would say however that removal of overhang is in general one of the more straight forward treework jobs especially if it can be done using pole saws as oposed to climbing.

 

The leaves are now falling off rapidly and I can see just how much needs to come off. It needs five limbs taking off, all about 4-6" thick and the longest is about 8 feet in length. A pole saw would be adequate,I think. As soon as all the leaves are off I will get a few quotes.

 

At that thickness and length you should easily be able to get them off with a bow saw. You have to start with a cut underneath so that when you cut from above ,the branch does not swing down and rip off the bark.
When cutting them back you should not cut flush with the trunk. Modern thinking is that you should always leave a stub. Cutting flush with the trunk means that rot can set in and get right into the main trunk. I don't think they tend to paint the wound either now. I never have and have cut some boughs bigger than that off my trees.
if it is in the cherry, plum etc. family then don't cut it in winter. Is it a flowering tree? If so you really need to know what type. Some cherries can get quite big and spreading.
As for how the final product will look? If i am trimming a tree, say to reduce the canopy, I always cut out the whole branch - otherwise you get the lollipop effect, but you are doing that anyway. Otherwise i try to balance up the canopy. When i take one off one side I look to remove something on the other so that the tree does not look lopsided. From one angle, side on, you may not be able to do that, but when you look at the fence just make sure that as you remove branches you are looking at a well balanced tree - it should not effect your neighbour's viewpoint.

 

Geoffs advice is spot on all I would add is to do the branches in two or three sections this way you are not dealing with so mutch weight and the risk of it causeing bark tearing (even with an undercut).

 

Hi all, having got a few quotes and then assessing the necessary work and my ability to do it,I did it myself.

The tree is not a fruit tree and it will be fine.

The reason for my wanting to cut it back is purely to let in more light, when we moved in at the end of August we saw that the sun wasn`t reaching the Eastern side of the garden until about 2 `o` clock {no use at all to a pair of sun worshippers like Mrs Pip and I} and I mentioned it to my neighbour who said he had no problem whatsoever with me cutting it.

As for balancing the tree shape,there is no need because my neighbours side of the tree is taken up with a treehouse. I have cut it in a way that the tree house will be hidden from view on my side when the tree leafs again.

The cost, this is the good bit, �£2.99. The price of a pruning saw from Wilkinsons hardware store attached to a decorators pole,creating an extending saw.

All I need to do now is go up the tree to tidy up the boughs, reduce them down a bit more with the bow saw just to finish it off.

Thanks to all who answered my original question,very helpful and useful advice.

 

Out of intrest what were you quoted?

 

Pro,

I'm going to chip in here, I have a rather strong dislike of ONE particular tree surgeon. Had to have 7 huge firs and a elderflower tree cut down in back garden, the guy quoted me 620 quid, so i thought sounds good and looked forward to having the work done.

On the day he came and chopped down (only to waist height :confused: ) 5 firs and prepared to leave.

I stopped him and asked why he hadn't finished (very nicely i might add) only to be told the quote was only for the 5, the others weren't included.

To cut a long story short I ended up shelling out a total of �£840 and STILL the tree's were cut to waist height AND he didn't put any root killer in them. Ended up getting someone else to come and finish the job properly. Now you all know on here that I don't often have a rant but eeeek

 

�£200 was the lowest quote.
Quite a lot for the amount that needed doing.

Having said that,you do pay for a persons skill and knowledge as well as labour.

 

I work that out as a saving of �£197.01, which is more than enough for you to be able to throw a 'wee party' for all your friends here on GardnersCorner

 

Wanna bet? :D :D

 

Intresting, Most companys have a minimum charge to make smaller one off jobs worthwhile, mine is around �£70- �£100 for local jobs of less than a morning without rubish removal or �£150-200 with removal of up to one 8x5 sided trailers worth anything else is �£150 plus a skip at cost.

Acidental sounds like you had a wrong unn.

High stummps are a pet hate of mine, no excuse really and a short cut to save weight on the truck. The only other possible excuse would be that of blunting the saw cutting low however if you clean the cut line with an axe b4 hand then no problems.

Only the elderflower would have needed stump killer, laylandi will not reegrow. I often crisscross the base of stumps to allow water to collect and therfore speed up rotting.

 

Paula, one of my clients needed 2 trees cut down, a 60ft conifer and a 25ft to 30ft Silver Birch. I am not a tree surgeon so she got 3 quotes. One firm quoted �£1,000.00 but they wouldn`t remove the arisings. Second quote was �£1,250.00 and they would remove the arisings and the third quote, from a guy who worked for the local council during the day, and who would be borrowing the councils equipment to do the job, was for �£5,000.00. Needless to say, my client went for the �£1,250.00 quote, and to be fair they did a pretty good job. And cleaned up afterwards.

 

How long did it take David?