Is tree trimming the biggest racket in the world?

It’s very expensive.

I used to work at a bank. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a teller came up to me for approval on a check. $97k. The customer didn't have an account and he wanted it cashed.

I called the owner and he said to pay that man his money so I authorized the check.

As I'm helping the teller put all this cash into a duffle bag, I couldn't contain my curiosity any longer. I asked him, "Looks like I'm in the wrong line of work. What do you do for a living?"

He said, "Tree stump grinder."



He was from out of state so I asked him, "How long have you been here grinding stumps?"

"I don't know, bout three weeks."

Yeah $2k for 4 to 5 trees in your backyard sounds like a deal to me.

Dangerous work being up on a ladder with a saw in your hand and limbs falling around you. And I'd imagine those guys have a lot of liability risk with possibly causing a tree limb to crash through someone's roof if they screw up something.

Yes it's legit.

It requires expensive equipment but the insurance is astronomical.

They have to be able to cover your house if they drop a tree across it.

They will give discounts if can/are wiling to dispose of the debris yourself.

quote:

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Nothing unusual or obviously difficult.

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Do it yourself if the quoted price is too much

Consider yourself lucky. I had a 55in DBH Live Oak that I had to take out for my new house. $5,200 was a consistent quote. So...I rented a 65ft man lift, got a couple of buddies, and we took down about 80% of it costing about $600 after the lift, case of beer, and new chains for a couple of saws. Got a new quote for basically the trunk and hauling off the debris. $1,100.

Of course, and this is the key, there was no danger of me hitting a house or anything so that's why I decided to take on the project.

You can get it done for $250, but they won't have insurance and they'll probably drop a tree on your neighbors roof and disappear forever.

Find some hispanics. They do it much cheaper. not being funny. Have a relative who got rid of about 5 large pine trees right next to his house in a suburb in a metropolitan area for $1K. Hauled off everything and grinded the stumps. Hopefully they were bonded and insured.

About 3wks ago, I had a water oak removed from backyard. About 60-70ft tall, with stump grinding and clean up, $3000....