Tree cutting advice

[mr blizzard]

Captpierre, agree way too much, hope u get someone else, check Chris reference

[Sinker]

Yeah, that's way too much. I have a tree guy we use at work all the time. Real good guy, and fair price. If you just want it on the ground, he can probably give you a good deal for cash. Fully insured, climbing gear, and boom truck. I'm not sure how busy he is, but he does a great job for us, and I"ve seen him drop some nasty trees that I wouldn't even consider, and I consider myself pretty good at felling trees.....its part of my job.

 

If you can drop that one onto your neighbors property, it wouldn't be too bad by the looks of it, but its hard to tell from a photo. Kinda need to be there, standing right under it to see what your dealing with.

 

S.

[lew]

Peter, I live just a few miles east of your cottage and have used a local guy a couple times to remove 7 large large trees from my property, as have some friends and also a few neighbors.

 

He can drop a tree absolutely exactly where he wants it to land, and if you don't want the wood, he cuts it into 16' lengths, loads it onto his truck and cleans up the area so good you'll never know there was a tree there to start with.

 

This guys good and reasonably priced and if you want his name and number PM me.

 

 

[wormdunker]

An experienced tree climber will scale your tree, in a harness/cradle fashioned of rope he sits in, with spurs & climb & cut your tree into small pieces, then lower them on a rope. A friend of mine took down a huge soft maple for my neighbour sitting in a rope type cradle. The tree was on the ground in 16" pieces in about 5 hours! Amazing to see him work. Unfortunately his age & health will not allow him to do this kind of work.

[woodenboater]

Not a professional arborist but it's not as simple as getting a crane or lift and bucking it down. If you're not aware of tension and spring, then a limb could very well snap you out of the bucket and send you to the ground. Accidents have happened with professionals so someone not trained, is an accident waiting to happen.

 

But yeah, the quote is high, I'd be looking at several others and specifically ask how they plan to take it down. If they take all the brush away and buck it into stove lengths, that would ease the pain.

 

The fact that the tree is close to your neighbour's property complicates it. Your property and money but I wouldn't hire someone that wasn't insured or trained tbh. ymmv

Edited October 30, 2015 by woodenboater

[crappieperchhunter]

Someone trained could have that whole tree down to a stump in less then 20 minutes. I know cause I've seen it done. My sons friend Jesse did 2 trees for me at the cottage and all he had was 2 chainsaws his harnesses ropes and his tree climbing boots. Cut off limbs with the small chainsaw as he went up the tree. When he got to the top he switched to the bigger chainsaw and worked his way back down cutting in about 4-6 foot lengths. It was awesome just watching him work. I cleaned up the mess and gave all the body wood to another board member here for his outdoor fire pit.

 

Jesse is now working for a tree cutting service out in BC or I would be suggesting you give him a call. You should see some of the job pictures he shares on Facebook. I swear if I was 18 again I would take that career path.

[SirCranksalot]

So if a tree is felled near a cottage does it make a 'ker ching' sound??

[irishfield]

LOL.. figured he was some dumb ass from the city and wouldn't blink at the cost! WRONG!

[DRIFTER_016]

PFFFFFT!!!! Just cut the tree down!!!!

What could go wrong?

[Bondar]

I had a huge maple taken down this summer . It was all taken down by a climber and it wasnt an easy job. I paid $1200 to have I removed I cleaned the leaves and limbs up

Edited November 3, 2015 by Bondar

[Chuck Enwinde]

I'll second Chris's advice. I'd be very surprised if he didn't save you a pile. Plus, John knows a thing or two about the local laketrout population.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Chuck Enwinde

[Mister G]

3-4 years ago I hired a crew to take down a maple that was twice as large as that ash tree. The tree overhung my garage and I thought it would be a difficult job for anyone to not damage anything because no matter which way it fell it would do damage. I had 4 quotes and went with cheapest quote I got that was $300+ less then then the other 3 guys.

 

They showed up at 9 am with 1 guy climbing, two guys on the ground plus the boss. Less then 2 hours later they were GONE and left me just the wood I pointed out that I wanted. Cost $650 out the door......

 

For that smaller ash tree I would get many more quotes and not pay a dime over 1k.....

[pics]

The tree guys are cashing in right now .. there's just too much work available. High quotes are to be expected.. I wouldn't pay more than a grand myself.

[Sinker]

Im surprised we dont have an arborist here.....

 

S.

[porkpie]

I used to cut on the side, small time but still had a truck/ trailer/ full insurance. If you can find a professional arborist to touch that for less than a grand, take the deal and run. Make sure you check to see that he has current insurance etc. A lot of the small time kijiji/Craigslist drop and run guys have zero insurance and you'll be on the hook when they screw up because they wot be insured, and likely won't have a pot to piss in either. When doing tree removal, even the best guys have an oopsie from time to time, although it's not common. Best of luck.

Edited November 4, 2015 by porkpie

[Big Cliff]

3-4 years ago I hired a crew to take down a maple that was twice as large as that ash tree. The tree overhung my garage and I thought it would be a difficult job for anyone to not damage anything because no matter which way it fell it would do damage. I had 4 quotes and went with cheapest quote I got that was $300+ less then then the other 3 guys.

 

They showed up at 9 am with 1 guy climbing, two guys on the ground plus the boss. Less then 2 hours later they were GONE and left me just the wood I pointed out that I wanted. Cost $650 out the door......

 

For that smaller ash tree I would get many more quotes and not pay a dime over 1k.....

I had a huge maple, over 70' tall, 30" at the stump and right beside my boat house, within 20' of my neighbors boat house and within 50' of my house. I hired a company to take it down and remove all the branches and block the rest of it, cost me $750.00.

[JoePa]

I had a tree near the house that had to be cut down - rented one of those lifts that I could control while in the bucket - just took my time and cut the branches into small pieces and dropped them to the ground - when I got it to a manageable trunk I tied a rope to the trunk and the other end to my pickup - cut a notch then started cutting the other side - when I got to a point I pulled the trunk over with the truck - after doing it I felt satisfied that I did the job - just take your time

[captpierre]

So. Just an update.

Through Lew I got the name of a tree cutter.

Took my ash tree down yesterday.

Haven't been at the cottage but he said all went well.

Did it for $1500.

Last year's quote by another guy was $2600.

This guy was going to take the smaller branches away.

For the $1500 I'll be doing that.

Now to chop and split.

Thanks Lew.

[Big Cliff]

Glad it all worked out for you! $1500.00 is still a lot of money but having a pro do it instead of taking a chance is good insurance!

[Old Ironmaker]

How much is the cost for a amateur to get hurt badly doing a job that should be left to a professional? Especially in tight quarters. A 70 foot plus triple clump Poplar cost me $750.00, cleaned up and left 5 cords of the big stuff for camp fires. Money well spent. 15 years ago I might have done it.