Tree removal costs in Charlottesville, VA range from $500 to $5,000. This includes cutting the tree, removing the stump and all the needed work carried away by an INSURED tree removal company, such as ours.
What Goes into the Cost Calculation for a Tree Removal Service?
If you think the range is pretty big, you are right. Between 500 dollars and 10 times more, prices do differ a lot. Why?
- How big is the tree? – a smaller tree can easily be cut down and removed by a person, without special equipment. Big trees, require more people in the team, cranes and other heavy equipment.
- How accessible is the tree? – prices vary for trees that are easily accessible for the tree removal team, compared to locations that are hard to access and involve more work.
- Young or old tree? – young trees are easier to remove, as their roots are not that strong and, clearly, they haven’t grown so much. Older trees, with huge trunks and roots, make cutting and removal more complex, which, in turn, increases the price.
- Is it close to a house? – tree cutting is easy when there are no buildings around, so no real dangers of destroying the clients’ property. When a tree is close to your house, septic tank, garage, or pool, for instance, we need to plan better and probably use more equipment and a larger team, to make sure everything is safe. In this case, the price will increase significantly.
If you are building or have built something around the tree that makes removal more difficult or could damage whatever’s being built, this would also result in a higher cost. For example if someone was building a pool and their builder recommended cutting down a large Oak Tree that stood right next to where they plan to build their patio, that would cost significantly more than simply removing it from an area without anything at stake. Working around buildings, especially residences, requires a higher skill level, more planning, and potentially more equipment.
How long has the tree been growing there? If it’s only a few years old, you may be able to get rid of it with just a chainsaw and some rope if its trunk isn’t too big in diameter and is within your budget. But when older trees are involved, way more than just chopping off branches may be necessary and will probably cost more because of all that extra labor involved.
The condition of the tree. Is it already dead or dying from old age, disease, flooding, drought, lightning strike or fire? Does it need to be trimmed of branches that are growing towards the house and causing damage?
How deep the roots are, and how close to buildings or other obstacles. Trees that are trimmed too short can be more susceptible to disease and external damage.
What kind of maintenance work would you like done? Remove dead or diseased branches? Trim back encroaching branches or roots and add mulch to prevent stumps from moving? Protect the trunk from fire by adding a non-flammable barrier around the bottom portion of the tree? It’s important to make sure you know what type of product is being used when having your tree worked on so that you can keep it maintained properly in future years.
The time of year: Usually it is cheaper in the fall and winter, so scheduling non-emergent work for those times is a great way to save money.
Based on their experience, Arborists can usually give you a rough estimate as to the cost of removing a certain type of tree based on those factors. However, they won’t know for sure until they get out there and look at your tree.