Recommend tree service for about 40-50 pine trees

[drkelly]

There are about 40-50 pine trees mixed in among the hard woods on the front part of my property. I am considering paying someone to remove them instead of doing it myself. The biggest trees are probably about 20" in diameter 3ft from the ground. The average tree is probably about 12-14" in diameter. Does anyone have a good tree service that could handle a job like this that they would recommend? Must be fully insured with workers comp and liability.

Thanks,
Danny

 

[shawn]

I'd leave them. We've planted about a half dozen pines at our place in the last three years, mostly loblolly and long leaf. People are cutting down pines, and it's creating problems in the local ecosystem.

If you really want to take them down, budget $400/ea.

 

[GubNi]

I recently had this done. The biggest problem was disposal. This made most small guys scared to do the job. Finally I found someone with a commercial grade chipper and for the whole job done for $4000.

 

[Danger_Ranger]

If you get them cut and want the stumps gone, give me shout and we may be able to work out a deal.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[drkelly]

I'd leave them. We've planted about a half dozen pines at our place in the last three years, mostly loblolly and long leaf. People are cutting down pines, and it's creating problems in the local ecosystem.

If you really want to take them down, budget $400/ea.

They are all loblolly I believe. They keep falling down during wind storms and ice storms. I had this same problem at my old house and ended up cutting down about 60-70 of them myself. At my old house, I had about 8 fall down in one windstorm, and 7 come down in an ice storm. Then I get the odd one or two every time there is a bad thunderstorm.

I had one guy quote me $10k (about $250/tree), but he wanted some money up front. No way I am doing that.

 

[Dirt Mcgert]

I was in a similar position when I moved into the new house , I was quoted $750 per tree , I bought a set of spikes and an aborist saw . I broke even on the first tree

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Good Lord....I had two acres cleared and graded for just under 10,000.

 

[shawn]

I had two acres cleared

There's the magic word.

If you have a stand of trees and want them to take down every 4th one, it costs money.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Sure, I get that...but there's a lot more work involved in clearing it. It's not really proportional to me, if that makes sense.

 

[braxton357]

There's the magic word.

If you have a stand of trees and want them to take down every 4th one, it costs money.

... depends on how large the stand is

 

[drkelly]

Sure, I get that...but there's a lot more work involved in clearing it. It's not really proportional to me, if that makes sense.

They can't come in there and just push the trees over with a loader/dozer. They have to climb and cut them down somewhat carefully. The area I am dealing with is mostly nice mature hardwoods with some pines mixed in.

 

[drkelly]

I recently had this done. The biggest problem was disposal. This made most small guys scared to do the job. Finally I found someone with a commercial grade chipper and for the whole job done for $4000.

The one guy I did get a quote from was going to use a big chipper. He said he could fit a 12" diameter tree in the machine.

 

[Ron]

10-14" is typically a CNS lod (Chip and Sawtimber) all above 14" is sawtimber 8" down is just good for pulp.

Pine sawtimber in NC is bringing ~$25/ton.
A 60' Pine with a 12" DBH and a 4" top will be about 1300lbs. An 80' tree same dims is 1,800bs.
I personally havent ran into many 40' trees with a 12" DBH but if you found one in theory it would weigh 900lbs.

Lets assume you have a bunch of those 900lb trees.

If you are taking 50 of them down you have 22.5 Tons or nearly a full truck load.
Or roughly $500 of timber give or take

 

[Tacoma747]

Sounds expensive. If you decide to knock them over with an excavator give me a call, I don't climb trees! Heck I have knocked quite a few 8-10" pines over with nothing but my skid steer. Some fall over easy, some don't.

 

[spraypaintman]

These guys are good been in business a while also @ Dillon Tree Service in Colfax with some very cool tools. Crane Services

 

[braxton357]

Sounds expensive. If you decide to knock them over with an excavator give me a call, I don't climb trees! Heck I have knocked quite a few 8-10" pines over with nothing but my skid steer. Some fall over easy, some don't.

In my opinion pine--and contrary to what you would think since they always falling over-- is that pine is the hardest to push over.

That being said if it's in the woods and stumps don't matter why can't you just go in and cut them down and drag them out yourself ? 10k seems pretty steep.

 

[shawn]

In my opinion pine--and contrary to what you would think since they always falling over-- is that pine is the hardest to push over.

They have big ass tap roots that go straight down.

IME, they tend to break off 10-20ft up, usually from high winds, and especially if surrounding trees have been cut down, exposing them to more wind than they've been accustomed.

 

[XJsavage]

I'd leave them. We've planted about a half dozen pines at our place in the last three years, mostly loblolly and long leaf. People are cutting down pines, and it's creating problems in the local ecosystem.

If you really want to take them down, budget $400/ea.

I like to keep up with this sort of thing, so just out of curiosity, why is this an eco concern?

 

[shawn]

I like to keep up with this sort of thing, so just out of curiosity, why is this an eco concern?

Because everyone is cutting them down, changing the composition of the forest. It's no different than killing off all of one species of animal.

The forest services gives away longleaf saplings if you'll plant them.

 

[trailhugger]

Here's to the land of the long leaf pine,
The summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!”

Longleaf Pine Initiative

 

[XJsavage]

Because everyone is cutting them down, changing the composition of the forest. It's no different than killing off all of one species of animal.

The forest services gives away longleaf saplings if you'll plant them.

Makes sense to me.
I can't help but think of this:

 

[drkelly]

I wish I had longleaf pine trees on my property. All of mine have short needles only about 1.5-2" long.

 

[drkelly]

That being said if it's in the woods and stumps don't matter why can't you just go in and cut them down and drag them out yourself ? 10k seems pretty steep.

I've been doing that, but am ready to be done with it in the front of my property.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

They can't come in there and just push the trees over with a loader/dozer. They have to climb and cut them down somewhat carefully. The area I am dealing with is mostly nice mature hardwoods with some pines mixed in.

That, I also understand. I've got several buddies that do tree work. If I was the dude doing the work, I'd definitely want to be paid that, but could never bring myself to pay that.

 

[Tacoma747]

In my opinion pine--and contrary to what you would think since they always falling over-- is that pine is the hardest to push over.

I disagree with that by far. SOME pines are tough, but as a general rule the go over much easier than most hardwoods. I could have buried an f350 in the hole I dug at a friend's house to knock over a big oak. He ground the rest of them to avoid having to buy so much more fill dirt. Even in the 4-7" diameter trees, pines lay over easy, most hardwoods put up a fight.

Every pine I have knocked over has been easy except for some that were 20"+ diameter that put up a little fight.