Tree surgery?

ribenagirl · 5 April 2006 at 8:56PM

We've got a quote for getting a sycamore tree in our garden shaped (needs about 6ft cutting out of the top) and trimming back 6 conifers as far as the garden fence. The quote we've been given for both is £150. The hubby is convinced that it sounds like rather a lot - what do you think? thanks

maxiscot · 6 April 2006 at 12:13AM

Don't know where you are in the country but I had a garden clearance, a cherry tree seriously chopped back, removed a fir tree, removed a clematis and supplied and installed a new fence - we are in london, it was a day's work and cost £240. They also took away all the rubbish - it was a lot of work so I think your quote is quite a lot HTH

Tom_Jones · 6 April 2006 at 4:03PM

Well maxiscot I doubt if the people you employed paid tax or paid for the rubbish from your property to be disposed of properly, more likely it was dumped on the side of a quiet road.

In answer to ribenagirl if the person you are employing is a qualified arborist then £150 is reasonable, it cost us £60 for 10 conifers to be trimmed by about 2 ft last year, it took them 25 mins

ribenagirl · 6 April 2006 at 4:23PM

I probably should have added (a) that we're near Birmingham and (b) that they think it will take them 20 minutes to do the conifers and 1 /2 hours to do the tree. The guy is a qualified tree surgeon. We have tried to get other quotes but noone seems to want to come out, which is why we thought it must be a smallish job and therefore £150 felt like a lot.

I am going to ring the guy back and see if he'll haggle down any? Many thanks for your help, it's appreciated x

maxiscot · 6 April 2006 at 7:55PM

I take your point Tom but I work for the Government and am very aware of "cash only" deals and flytipping. I received receipts and checked them out before hiring and they were legit.

tykervic · 7 May 2006 at 5:24PM

I think that that's very reasonable for a qualified tree surgeon - sycamore's are notoriously weak trunked trees, so if they're not trimmed properly they can split down the trunk - I've had a chat with my TS....can you tell?

A few weeks ago we paid £650 (inc VAT) for a 50m lleyandii hedge trimming, 2 laburnum trees, 1 massive lleyandii and 3 scots pine trunks (branchless) removing - our guy took all the waste away and left the garden looking tidier than when he turned up - took him all day, with 5 staff.

HTH

rabialiones · 25 May 2006 at 7:28PM

does anyone know where i can have roots tested to determine which tree they are from?

**purplemoon** · 15 October 2006 at 12:54AM

Does anyone know roughly how much it would cost to remove approx 20m of privet hedging and a rather large buddleia tree?

misgrace · 15 October 2006 at 4:42PM

Ribenagirl, I think the price sounds quite reasonable,and I agree with tom jones about the 25 mins to get the job done, it does seem a lot for 25 mins, but they are not cheapest trades by all means.

Woby_Tide · 15 October 2006 at 9:04PM

we've had quotes of between £6-800 incl VAT for removal of a single Scots pine that will take best part of 4 hours if not a bit more. £150 an hour seems to a stock rate for hourly work including removal of debris etc. round here

*curses previous house owner for not removing it*