Have a question? Ask away.

What to put in your message

You do not need to know the right words. Most of the questions we get start with "there is a tree and I am not sure about it", and that is a perfectly good opening. But four things make it much easier for us to give you a useful answer rather than asking you three follow-up questions first.

A photograph, or two. One from far enough back to show the whole tree and what is underneath it, and one closer on whatever worries you. Nothing tells us more, and it costs you nothing.

Where it is in relation to the house. A tree fifty feet from anything and a tree overhanging a bedroom are different conversations, and the distance changes both the urgency and the method.

What made you look at it. A limb came down. It leans more than it used to. The canopy has thinned. A neighbor said something. The reason often points at the answer faster than the photograph does.

Your town. Sarasota County and Charlotte County have different rules about what may be removed, and it saves a step to know which one you are in from the start.

How quickly you will hear back

A real person reads what you send and replies. For general questions, expect an answer within a working day. If you have sent a photograph of something we think is a hazard, you will hear back sooner than that, because the whole point of asking is to find out whether it can wait.

If it genuinely cannot wait - a tree on a structure, a limb hanging over somewhere people walk, damage after a storm - phone rather than email. Storm work runs around the clock and the phone is answered when the inbox is not.

Questions we get by email most often

Is this tree dangerous? Sometimes, and often not. Leaning is not automatically a problem - many trees have grown at an angle their whole lives and are perfectly stable. What matters more is whether the lean is new, whether the soil on one side has cracked or lifted, whether there is decay at the base, and what is underneath it. That is exactly the sort of thing an arborist assessment settles properly.

Do I need a permit? It depends on the tree, the size, the species and which county you are in. We will tell you what applies to your situation before any work is scheduled, and we will not take on a job that needs permission it does not have.

Can you save it instead of removing it? Frequently, yes, and it is worth asking. A heavy limb over a roof can often be supported. A declining canopy is often a root problem that is treatable. We turn down removal work regularly for exactly this reason.

What does it cost? Not something we can answer honestly from a photograph. Access, size, what is underneath and how the tree has to come apart drive the price far more than the species does. A free on-site estimate gets you a firm written number.

What we can tell you from a photograph

More than people expect, and it costs nothing to send one.

Whether a lean is a problem. Most leaning trees have leaned their whole lives and are perfectly stable - a tree that grew toward light is not a tree that is falling. What matters is whether the lean is new, and whether the soil on the high side has cracked or the turf has lifted. That second thing is visible in a photograph and it changes the answer completely.

Whether a canopy is declining or just seasonal. Thinning evenly across the whole tree usually points at the roots. Dieback concentrated on one side usually points at something localised - a severed root, a trench, construction on that side.

Whether a limb is a hazard. A limb hanging at a wrong angle with torn fiber at the union is a different situation from one that has always grown low.

Roughly what a job involves. Not a firm price - that needs someone standing under the tree - but whether you are looking at an hour's work or a crane.

What we cannot tell you without visiting

A firm number. Removal pricing is driven by mass, what is underneath, whether equipment can reach, and how the tree has to come apart - and the last three are things you have to stand on the property to judge. Anyone quoting a large removal sight-unseen is either padding heavily or about to revise it on the day.

Whether a tree is internally sound. Decay is frequently invisible from outside, and assessing it properly means looking at the base, the root plate and the unions in person.

Whether your specific tree needs a permit. That depends on species, size and which county you are in, and it is worth establishing before rather than after.

Questions people ask before they call

"How long will it take?" Most residential removals are a day. A large tree needing a crane can be a day with the crane and a second for cleanup. Pruning is usually half a day. Where a job spans more than one visit we say so at the quote rather than on the second morning.

"Do I need to be home?" For the estimate it helps, because most of the value is the conversation standing under the tree. For the work itself, not usually - we need access and a clear area, and we will tell you what has to be moved.

"What about my lawn and my irrigation?" This is the right question and not enough people ask it. Our soils rut badly under weight, and irrigation lines, invisible-fence wire and septic drain fields all sit shallow. We use ground protection where the route needs it and we would rather know where things run before we drive over them. If you have a plan or you know where the field is, tell us.

"Will you clean up?" The wood, brush and debris leave with us and the area is raked. If you want the wood cut to firewood lengths and stacked, or the chip left as mulch, both cost less than hauling it away - just say so beforehand.

"Can you do it this week?" Sometimes. Hazards and storm damage get priority over routine work, and after a significant weather event the whole coast is in a queue. We will give you a real date rather than an optimistic one.

Emergencies

If a tree is on a structure, a limb is hanging over somewhere people walk, or something has moved since the last storm, phone rather than email. Storm work runs around the clock and the phone gets answered when the inbox does not.

Treat any line touching a tree as live, including cable and phone lines dragged into contact with a power conductor. That needs the utility before it needs us, and we will say so plainly rather than working around it.

Stay away from a tree that has partly failed. A leaning trunk with a lifted root plate is holding stored energy, and it releases without warning - which is how people are seriously hurt clearing their own damage.

Where we work

Sarasota and Charlotte County - from Sarasota, Siesta Key and Casey Key south through Osprey, Nokomis and Venice, out to North Port, Englewood and Manasota Beach, and across into Placida, Rotonda West and Port Charlotte. The full list is on the service area page.

If you are just outside it, ask anyway. The answer is often yes, and where it is not we would rather tell you than quote badly for a property we cannot serve properly.

Working with us

We are licensed and insured, and we carry both general liability and workers' compensation. Ask us for the certificates; ask anyone else for them too. If an uninsured worker is hurt on your property the exposure can land on your homeowner's policy, and that is the single most consequential question in the whole hiring decision.

Quotes are written and itemised. If we find something once the work has started - which on a decayed tree occasionally happens - we stop and talk to you rather than adding it to the invoice.

And we turn work down. If your tree does not need removing, you will hear that, even though it is the smaller job. Over a few years in the same towns that has been the better trade.

If you would rather have a price than a conversation

This page is for questions. If you already know what you want done and you want a figure for it, a free on-site estimate is the faster route - someone comes out, looks at the actual tree, and leaves you with a written price. There is no charge and no obligation attached to it.