Tree Removal
Dead, dangerous or badly placed trees taken out whole or dismantled in sections over the house.
Learn more →When something has come down
Storms on the North Shore do predictable damage. A summer southerly buster rips limbs out of over-extended eucalypts. Sustained rain on shale soil softens root plates until a tall tree that has stood for decades simply leans over. Wet, still weather triggers summer limb drop in gums, which happens with no wind at all and no warning.
Ring (02) 9090 4915 and say four things: the suburb and street, what has failed, what it has landed on, and whether anyone is cut off or a powerline is involved. That determines whether we come now or at first light, and what turns up.
The powerline rule
Nothing about a tree on a powerline is a private job. Ausgrid owns and controls the network across the North Shore, and only their crews or authorised contractors may work near live conductors. Ring Ausgrid on 13 13 88, keep everybody at least eight metres from a fallen line, and assume any line on the ground is live. Once the line is made safe we can deal with the tree.
What gets done first
The first pass is about making the site safe rather than finishing the job. Cutting a trunk off a driveway so a car can get out. Removing a limb that is sitting on a roof but still bearing weight through the tree, which has to be rigged rather than just cut. Taking down a split leader that will come the rest of the way in the next gust. Tarping is not our trade — a roofer or the SES does that — but we will get the timber off so they can.
The full removal, the cleanup and the stump are then booked as ordinary work in daylight, which is safer and much cheaper than doing it under lights.
Why damaged trees are harder, not easier
A tree that has partly failed is under stored tension. Limbs hung up in the canopy can release when something else is cut. A split union will keep splitting. Root plates that have lifted can drop back. This is the work where experience shows, and it is the reason a storm-damaged tree costs more per metre than a sound one.
Reducing the odds next time
Most trees that fail were showing something first — deadwood accumulating, a crack at a union, fungal brackets at the butt, a lean that changed. An inspection and a round of pruning after a big storm season is the cheapest insurance available. The cost guide explains why emergency work prices differently, and the suburb pages note which streets tend to cop it.
More services
Explore our other services
Tree Loppers
Weight reduction, branch and deadwood removal on overgrown gums, turpentines and planted exotics.
Learn more →Tree Pruning
Crown lifting, thinning and clearance pruning done to Australian Standard so the tree survives it.
Learn more →Stump Grinding
Grinding the stump and buttress roots below ground so you can turf, pave or replant over it.
Learn more →Stump Removal
Stump and root plate dug out entirely where footings, pipes or a new slab need clear ground.
Learn more →Palm & Bamboo Removal
Cocos and Bangalow palms taken down in a driveway-width space, and running bamboo dug out properly.
Learn more →Hedge Trimming
Lilly pilly, photinia and murraya screens brought back to a line you can maintain yourself.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
What should I do before the crew arrives?
Keep everyone away from the tree and from anything it is leaning on, including inside the house directly under a limb on the roof. Do not move a branch that is holding weight. If a powerline is involved, ring Ausgrid on 13 13 88 and stay at least eight metres clear. If the house is unsafe or someone is trapped, ring 000 or the SES on 132 500 first.
Can you work at night?
Some of it. Making a site safe — cutting a tree off a driveway, removing a limb blocking an exit, securing something that is going to move again — is done at night with lighting. Climbing a damaged tree in the dark is not, because you cannot assess a split union or a hung-up limb properly by torchlight. That part waits for first light.
Will insurance cover it?
Often, for damage to the building and for making the property safe, but policies vary a great deal and removing the rest of a tree that did not fall is usually excluded. Photograph everything before anything is moved, keep the invoice itemised, and ring your insurer early. We can write the scope up in the detail assessors ask for.
Who is responsible if a neighbour's tree falls on my house?
Generally your own insurer handles the damage to your property and then decides whether to pursue the tree owner, which usually depends on whether the tree was a known hazard that was ignored. It is not a question to settle at the fence line at 2am. Make the site safe, document it, and let the insurers sort out liability.
Free, no-obligation