Tree Service Costs - Affordable Tree Care in Chesapeake, VA
Tree service prices are dictated by a few factors unique to the business. Here are the pillars of tree service pricing and what you can plan to pay for popular tree services.
Tree Service Cost Factors
Insurance
Tree care services are not cheap because of the cost of running a tree service business. A professional tree business must make large capital investments in equipment. Trucks (dump and bucket) can cost in excess of $50,000 while wood chippers are $20,000 and stump grinders over $15,000. Further, all this equipment supports just one crew or team. If a company wants to operate with more than one crew, then their equipment costs will multiply by the number of crews they employ.
Equipment
A quality tree company must hold two kinds of insurance: 1) worker’s compensation that covers their team members if they have are injured on the job; and, 2) liability coverage, that covers the cost of any property damage if an accident occurs during the job. Absent these 2 kinds of insurance policies, a tree service business exposes their customers to legal and financial risks. If a tree service does not have these policies then the home or business owner's policy will have to cover injuries and property damage claims that happen on their property.
Labor
In addition to equipment costs, the tree care business is labor intensive. Tree care costs are driven by the amount of labor necessary to do a project. It is true that some labor costs can be had for $10 to $15/hour, more experienced and skilled labor, such as certified arborists and tree climbers, are much more costly to provide. Plus all these labor costs are subject to a premium for the worker's compensation, which is generally 20% to 50% of the hourly labor expense. For example, say workers compensation is 30% of labor, then for each $100 in labor expense, the company would really need to pay $130.
Tree Care Prices
Tree Removal
Tree removal pricing is also derived by the same variables as trimming with the addition of one other factor. A tree’s size again affects pricing as it requires more labor (and often times equipment, such as a crane and/or bucket truck) to remove a large tree. Moreover, a tree's location will drive costs up if the tree is power lines and buildings. Finally, the species of tree is a small variable in pricing. Some species trees, such as those with more than one trunk, will cost a little more to remove due to the trunks’ lean.
Tree Trimming
The pricing of trimming a tree is derived by several tree-specific factors: location, size, and degree of trimming needed. A large tree generally requires more labor to cut, and labor is a significant driver of cost. The tree’s location is a pricing factor too, as a difficult to reach tree costs more money. Additional labor and perhaps equipment will be needed to protect those nearby property structures. Finally, the extent to which a tree needs to be trimmed is the final factor that drives pricing due to additional labor. A significantly overgrown tree will cost more to trim than a tree that has been trimmed routinely.
Stump Grinding (and Removal)
Stump grinding pricing is usually simple: the larger the tree stump the more labor (time) it will take to grind. Other small variables also involve the tree species, location, and age. New tree stumps are denser and harder than old stumps increasing grinding time.
To remove a tree stump in its entirety requires using of a backhoe to dig it out of the ground. Use of this equipment is more expense and time consuming resulting in stump removal costs to be 2x grinding costs.
To remove a tree stump in its entirety requires using of a backhoe to dig it out of the ground. Use of this equipment is more expense and time consuming resulting in stump removal costs to be 2x grinding costs.
Given all these costs and factors, you can expect to pay the following for these tree services:
Call Timberlake's Tree Service for a free, accurate price estimate for any of your tree care services.
- Tree trimming will range from $100 to over $1,000 for the largest, most overgrown trees
- Tree removal will range from $300 to over $2,500 in the case of a very large tree that requires a crane
- Stump grinding will range from $100 to $500 while stump removal will generally be $400 to over $800.
Call Timberlake's Tree Service for a free, accurate price estimate for any of your tree care services.