Would you let a plumber cut down your tree?

[MsSampson]

Just that really. Moving into a house with a hideous 5m high conifer in the back garden. The surveyor recommended we remove it.

Just posted the job on mybuilder.com and the cheapest quote by far is from a plumber. £200 rather than £575 from a tree surgeon.

All my instincts tell me not to let a plumber do it. I presume cutting down a large tree is actually more skilled than just hacking it down??

(Also as a side note I am presuming he's a bit of a shit not very in demand plumber if he's touting for tree removal jobs??)

Don't use the plumber. He probably doesn't have the right insurance either.

No , you need it done properly and the remains chipped/taken away.

and thd tree suregon knows how to remove as much root as possible without damaging much anything.

Registered tree surgeon every time www.trees.org.uk/find-a-professional/Directory-of-Tree-Surgeons

It is a VERY skilled job but they make it look easy and that's what you pay them for.

Knowing what he's doing means he won't drop it on your house or your neighbour's fence, he'll tidy up and take all the bits away, and he'll even grind the stump out if that's what you want. He'll also have proper insurance and all the right kit for the job. And he'll be safe - no risk to himself or to you.

That quote is presumably without seeing the tree, so it may come down once he's been to site and seen how much of a challenge the job actually is - access to the tree, buildings or other structures nearby etc.

Yep, I had pretty much come to that conclusion by myself. I think I had a vain hope that you'd all tell me any old idiot could cut down a tree and not to worry about it I had mentally budgeted about £750 anyway so that's fine.
Quite keen to have as little stump as possible, will that cost a lot more?
And thanks for the link re tree surgeons. Was going to ask what qualification I should be looking out for.

On a separate note, does anyone use mybuilder? I haven't before but am bored with constantly leaving messages with tradespeople who never reply. But it feels weirdly like internet dating. I feel I should ignore the ones who responded within 5 minutes because they're the weirdos who trawl the site constantly for fresh meat??

Nobody can accurately quote without coming to view the tree etc.

If they're Arb Association registered you won't go too far wrong - there are a few good firms who aren't, but not very many as it's the recognised industry standard.

Taking the stump out shouldn't add too much to the bill, and it'll be worth it so you're not looking at it/gardening around it for the foreseeable future.

Yes to Arboricultural Association web site, takes away all the hard work of vetting.
DH tree company has been approved for 20+ years, definitely sorts out the rogues and the plumbers.