How much to remove a tree ?

[Ffsjustltb]

We have a 10t conifer, about 7ft wide. Just been quoted £650 to chop it down. £1250 if they take away the roots. Nearly passed out!! Is this normal? Is it worth me getting quotes from others? We are in Yorkshire and the tree is at the front of the house, so easy access. Would appreciate if anyone has had something similar to give me an idea.

Seems a lot for a 3m tree. Must be worth getting another quote.

Is it near phone lines etc / difficult to take down?
How wide is the trunk?

We’re having a large plane tree removed soon. It’s £350+VAT for the removal and £150+VAT to grind down the stump.

I had a quote yesterday from a local established tree surgeon to prune my fruit tree right back as some branches split with the weight of the fruit, it looks a mess but it isn’t a big tree. £180, which I thought was a lot but he’ll get rid of the branches and a million unripe plums.

@Furries - it was obvious Qik's post was not actual advice!

OP if you only have one quote then get at least one more.

South East. Grey Willow. Work done this year by fully qualified tree surgeon, came with chipper for proper disposal. Fully pollarded and other parts cut to stump, £250.

We just had a really tall but skinny tree removed for about £250 including poisoning the root.

A lot of the cost issues with trees can be down to access and how near the tree is to buildings etc, as well as tree height. You have no access problems, and your tree is quite small, so I think that quote is quite a lot of money. The tree we had taken down was 30ft, on the boundary, near buildings, in a tiny garden, and it had to be removed bit by bit through the house because we have no side access. That’s what made it pricey-plus the fact that we’re in London.

When you cut it down, leave a long stump in the ground - it gives you more leverage. Then when you dig down and cut all the side roots it's easier to rock it and break the ones underneath to pull the whole thing out.

Get another quote OP, that is way overpriced.

Also

Also illegal

Also tongue in cheek

Also in Yorkshire, I've just had 10 similar sized conifers taken out for 6K including stump grinding (3 quotes all similar).

Cost was reduced as they left logs and chippings on-site.

Also needed permission from the LA, simple form - no cost involved.

If you have a garden waste bin you can put the greenery in the bin. It will obviously take a few weeks. If you don’t have a wood burner offer the logs free to take away on Facebook or freecycle
I would take it down myself. Use a bow saw or a panel saw with big teeth. I once took a 30ft conifer down in a tight spot it was fine.

We paid £650 a few years ago to have a substantial maple tree chopped down and removed from our garden plus some pruning on the top of a tall cotoneaster. They had a shredder on the truck and left us a coal bunker full of wood but took the rest for themselves (which they dry and sell on).
There is lots of competition around here - so many tree surgeons advertising.

Ours was £500 just for a light trim so I can imagine £650 would be about right. We're in Yorkshire too.
Our neighbour came round yesterday to ask how much we paid as he has 2 that need doing. He almost had heart failure at the price.

We paid about 350 to have a very tall silver birch removed, was causing a boundary issue about six years ago. We needed some conifers removed and the same firm who had been amazing didn’t even bother to quote as so busy. So DH did it himself, took a while.

I removed similar from my garden last year.

Bow saw, loppers, secateurs - cut as small as is reasonable, garden waste bags, one day, one trip to the tip. The trick is to have smooth branches, more like poles, that are easy to move and load in the car.

I'd rather spend the money on stuff I really can't do. Unless you have mobility problems, what is essentially an oversized Christmas tree is nothing.

Then drill in to the stump and pour in weed killer stuff.

Yes, it takes time, but I do try not to spend money at a far greater rate than I can earn it!

6k and they left the clearing up to you??

Blimey. They're not daft, are they??

Did you not consider getting a bow saw and hiring a chipper and saving yourself £5.5k?

Where do you live @MiddleAgedTraveller ? That's a brilliant policy. Our council seems incapable of even looking after trees with preservation orders, let alone all the other ones.

We just paid £850 for a row of 4 conifers over 10ft tall be taken out. They got rid of them all in the chipper and took stumps down to the ground. They wanted £1k but accepted the job for £850 (just outside of London).

We took out a similar sized conifer ourselves, very straight forward if you have a decent saw, took about 2 hours including digging out the stump. Branches went in the garden waste bin and when we got round to it, the rest went to the tip.

All the people talking about keeping the logs, its not recommended that you burn fur trees or conifers inside, they release so much sap, even if seasoned, that it can coat the chimney and cause chimney fires.

Yes, it takes time, but I do try not to spend money at a far greater rate than I can earn it!

haha. Something I could dobto bear in mind!. 🙂