Tree felling – why so damn expensive?

Have 3 conifers that need taking down. Heights are 15-30ft max. None are more than 1ft wide. Have had 3 quotes over the last month or so and they’re asking for £500-600! Includes a bit of grinding and chipping.

None of the fellas said it would take long. Reckon I’ll take them down myself with a mate who’s confident he can take them on.

Seems like a good way to make a few bob, that’s for sure.

Trying to get the canopy reduced on one in our front garden. Even when you come to terms with the price, it appears impossible to get them to actually turn up and do the work.

it appears impossible to get them to actually turn up and do the work.

Just like many other tradesmen, eh.

Heights are 15-30ft max.

If you’ve got 50ft of clear space all the way around do it yourself (and video it!). Get a big saw and shout ‘timbeeeeeeer’.

If not, this is where the skill comes in by dropping them in sections without chopping your leg off or breaking your back!

And what are you going to do with the trees once they are down?

Tools, PPE equipment, transportation, fuel, disposal of the trees, certification & insurance…. did you expect all of this for a £10?

Get to it, friends & I took down 15x 40ft conifers from my back garden, bloody glad nothing went wrong (they got bored by the last tree) and boy is there a huge amount of foliage to get rid of (covered the garden).
S’not impossible to do it yourself but you’ll be surprised how much works involved.

Horrible job taking down conifers and the like. By the time your done and tidied up I reckon you’ll be wishing you paid the £500.

Well, the “problem” with going DIY is the cost of hiring a grinder and chipper. Looking at £250 minimum, plus the running around. Another £100 or so for matey. Cheaper for sure.

Where the tree drop we have about 30ft of clearance, so the plan would be to cut about 10ft up. A mate reckons he would do this on a ladder, no need for a harness of platform. I’ve no idea myself.

I had 3 taken down a few years ago, wider than yours, cost £500.

There were 2 people there most of the day, when you consider overheads it seemed OK to me.

Wait till end of October

fell trees yourself with a bow saw

throw local kids twenty quid to take it all away for a bonfire on the waste land down the road

Job Jobbed 8)

It’s a big job, I felled a 10m tree earlier this year, took bloody ages (2 WEs) chipping all the small stuff and chopping up all the trunk. It’s a narrow garden as well, so had to come down in 1-2m sections….

Tree felling by brf[/url], on Flickr

Bit of a mess by brf[/url], on Flickr

Sycamore Tree kit by brf[/url], on Flickr

Chopped wood by brf[/url], on Flickr

Seems reasonable to me – the effort required to do it yourself would be substantial if you don’t hire. If you hire you’ll end up spending several hundred pounds anyway – chainsaw, chipper, grinder etc. Then you’ll need ropes and (unless you are daft) you’ll need some safety equipment and you’d still have to dispose of the chippings.

Saying that, my brother and I did fell one conifer – took the top off it and removed the branches then cut down the trunk and put it on Freecycle. A guy turned up with his chainsaw to cut it up and went on to cut right down into the root ball with it to save us having to dig it all out. That was only about 10/12 ft tall though so a bit more manageable.

So you accept the stump grinder is 250 quid to hire and wonder why the jobs 500 quid..

If they are any good they will bring a chipper for the bulk of the connifer foliage

Its not desirable for burning so little cash to be made selling it as there would have been if it was a good burning wood.

I can also confirm its a shite job- we took 5ft top off my mates hedge – 50ft hedge what a bulk came off that.

Can you not just pour petrol on them and have an impromptu inferno?