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Tree Removal (and stump too!) Service - Looking for one you could recommend?
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cmezoughem@gmail.com
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The tragic death of the 2-year old boy last week in Kensington killed by a falling branch just made me so very sad and I hope that his family can find peace. 
Not wanting to lose that feeling and wanting to make sure I heed the lesson learned - I have a tree in my backyard that NEEDS to go. It is a huge tree and it is sick. (And yes, DH thinks he can whack it himself - HA!) I am looking for a tree service (hopefully one that can also do stump removal). Am collecting quotes. (Today's was $3100 to whack tree with NO stump removal! Ouch!) I totally need to bid this job around. Any ideas, suggestions, "stay away from" would be most welcome! I didn't find anything in archives.... Thanks Claire |
Anonymous
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We live near College Park and used Adirondack Tree Service. They were great, super efficient. Even cut up one of my trees into firewood for me and saved me the cost of disposal. (They itemize the cost of disposal, so if you have need of the wood or want to lessen the cost and dispose of it yourself, you can.)
Must say, if you have a child, esp a boy, make sure he's there to see it done. My 3 y.o. loved watching them put the juniper tree into the giant wood chipper. (Juniper not good for chimneys, in case you're wondering...) They took down two big trees and trimmed branches on others, but the whole thing only took about 30 minutes. Tree removal is pricey, but worth shelling out the bucks for. The dead tree in our next door neighbor's yard-- same size as our dead tree- came down last summer. It would have gone straight through their roof if it hadn't happen to have been held up by the strong branch of another tree as it fell. They run a daycare in their home, so very scary. We had also gotten a significantly cheaper quote from a neighborhood guy who has his own business. I'm sure he would have done a good job also. DH happened to have called Adirondack before I told him about the neighbor, so we just went with it, but you could try to find a smaller/independent business to get a good deal. |
Anonymous
| Mulheron Tree Servies are excellent! |
Anonymous
| We used Dad's Tree Service 703-799-5844. their estimate seemed reasonable compared with other quotes we got, and the service was excellent. We got their name from Angie's List. |
Anonymous
Second this. They took an enormous tree (at least 4 feet in diameter) out of our backyard that was leaning over our house. It was quite a sight, although I was sad to lose the tree. |
Anonymous
| Can I ask how much they charged to take down your enormous tree? We have one that really has to go, but it is big and tall . . . |
Anonymous
| I have used and strongly recommend Ron Edington at Maryland Tree Inc. (www.marylandtreeinc.com), 240-899-6825. He is a certified arborist and he gave us a very good price for the removal of a tree and stump. |
Anonymous
I don't remember anymore - it had to go in connection with an addition to the house (although we were worried about the lean even before that). I *think* it was $2-3K, but get them to quote you. It was an incredibly tall and large tree and they had to bring in a crane and lift it section by section over the roof (very anxiety-producing for me!). Hopefully your job will be less complicated. |
Anonymous
| We used Homestead Tree Experts (http://www.homesteadtree.com/). They're in VA but traveled to us in Maryland and did a great job. We did not have an entire tree removed but had signifcant amounts of several huge trees taken off (which caused us to have minimal branches fall during the terrible weather last week). We priced around and they were the most reasonable by far. |
Anonymous
| Followup question from a new poster - how often do those of you with lots of trees get them trimmed? We've done it once in 4 years, mainly because of the cost ($2k plus just for pruning 4 large trees!!) I worry a lot, although we haven't lost excessive or large branches. We just can't afford to spend that much every year... btw, we used Arborcare when we did do it. They seemed to do a good job, although it was a little disappointing that I honestly couldn't tell the difference just by looking. |
Anonymous
Claire back.  I was looking for more and (oh so sorry....) posted to the list serve. But this is the compilation I got.
Responses I got! Offline my boss had suggested Jesus Chavez (571-215-4548) Thanks to all! ------------ not cheap, but very good is Bartlett tree service. we originally used cheap for our tree care, which resulted in us not being aware that we needed to cable a large older tree in our backyard. The failure to cable meant it eventually had to come down (whearas it could have been saved with the cabling). So, we landed up paying a lot more for Bartlett to then come out and safely remove it... If so, we have used on several occassions Bonifant Tree Service located in Silver Spring. Very satisfied with their professionalism. They send a tree guy out first to walk your property with you and give you an assessment of everything, which they prioritze 1st, 2cnd, 3rd most important. They have very good clean-up after the job. It is a very expensive process, though - Tom Bonifant once explained to me they have to cover very high worker insurance premimums as the injury risks are great. Anyway, I'm sure there are cheaper services out there - probably just ask around this neighborhood full of gigantic trees - but we've been very pleased by Bonifant. Hi, we used Thorpe's Tree Service and they were fantastic. not expensive and were very easy going, willing to work with what we needed, cleaned up great afterwards. 540-399-1246. They are in Lignum VA. Good luck! --------------------------- I don't think they are cheap but they are good - which is really imprtant if tree is near the house. We used them for 80 year old magnolia that was about 15 yards from the back of our 200+ year old home. Great customer service and consevative advice. The Care of Trees They are based out of Chicago, I think. Website will give you local field office contact info. -------------- We loved JL Tree service. They took a huge tree and ground the stump using a crane. They were 3k lower than their competitors andvery professional and efficient. ---------------- These guys are great. http://www.bonillatreeservice.com/ -------------- have used this service twice for tree removal and stump grinding. he is very cheap and very good. he even did a good job cleaning up, which we never expected. He is not insured, but our home owner's insurance covered it, so we were not worried. he took down a huge tree leaning toward our house. The first time, the planned day was delayed due to weather and he came out in the rain, sleet and snow to tie the tree up so it wouldn't fall further while we waited for the weather to clear. a lot of our neighbors have used him as well and I've heard nothing but good things all around. Marvin Villatoro Tree Cutting 703-231-3405, 703-580-5780 |
Anonymous
| Any one have experience with ArborCare? |
Anonymous
| I will second the recommendation on JL Tree, at least in Virginia. On time, efficient and safe work. We also used Davey Tree when we lived in DC and found them to be quite good as well, not the cheapest, but they had to rope and hand lower an lot of the tree because of telephone and power lines. |
Anonymous
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Bartlett did a good job for me.
As for the stump, there are a few options. A stump can be removed, or it can be ground down to the point that it can be covered over with dirt and left there. If you want to save money, maybe that would help. |
Anonymous
| Get at least 3 estimates - I am amazed at the wide range that people quoted me a few years back. Meke sure they're licensed and bonded, too. |