Services Provided
Cutting down two firs
Experience and Good Comments
The City of Kirkland allows us to remove two significant trees--any tree bigger than 6" dbh--from our property every year. The paper work is simple: download the notification form from the city's website, fill the form, draw a site map of all significant trees on the property, and then take it to the city hall. The government worker will review the form, sign it immediately, and give you a copy of it. Then it's done. There is extra space on the notification form for dead trees and hazardous trees, which are not counted toward the 2-tree limit. The whole process is free of charge.
If you want to cut more than 2 trees in a year, you would need a permit, which would cost money to obtain, and a lot of paper work too.
The cost of tree removal generally consists of the following parts:
A. Cutting the branches and the trunks down
B. Removing the branches from the ground, chipping them and haul them away
C. Cutting the trunks into 14" to 16" rounds, that could be used as firewood
D. Hauling away the firewood
A standard tree removal job often has A, B and C, while it's really a waste of money to have tree service guys do D, because one can post the firewood on Craigslist and give the firewood out for free, or one could make artistic stools or night stand out of them.
However, we don't need to do C either, because our neighbor just cut down several big trees and he is planning to hire a truck and haul the logs to mills. So he suggested that if I was able to cut my trees at the same time, he would take away the logs for free.
So I called Chris to come and estimate the cost for A and B for two firs. He gave $1100. If I wanted to do C as well, that would add another $150. That's the best price I got after consulting 3 tree service providers.
After talking with my neighbor, he suggested that if I only do A, and leave the branches on my yard, it would save me even more money. Since we are planning to do a landscaping project on the yard later, which will fill the area with dirt, it's OK to leave the branches on the yard. So I called Chris again, and he agreed to reduce the price by $250 if I only do A.
So I decided to hire them. They came on time, and did what I needed. The trees are very tall, one is 27" diameter at breast height, the other has double leaders, with the thinnest point below the fork 21" diameter. So they still have to cut the trunks into 2 or 3 pieces for each tree, and laid them down on the opposite direction of my house. It took 4 people 2.5 hours to get the job done.
Not-So-Good Comments
None
