ISA-style quotes are often diameter at breast height, plus access and haul. You type the inches and the $/inch. Power lines and a tree on a house are a different job, and this form will not price them. Do not DIY-fell near lines. HyreYard does not cut trees.
DBH x your $/inplus access and haul you typeA 24-inch tree at $25 per inch, plus $400 access and $300 haul, is $1,300. That is arithmetic on a quoted rate. It is not a price for a tree in the wires or on a roof.
On a worked example of a 24-inch DBH tree at a quoted $25 per inch, plus $400 access and $300 haul, the tree line is $600, extras are $700, and the total is $1,300. A smaller 12-inch stem at $40 per inch with $150 haul and no access premium is $630. Leave the rate at 0 until you have a written number. Power lines and a tree on a house are not this form. Do not fell near lines yourself. This is an estimate you typed, never a quote. HyreYard does not cut trees.
DBH, quoted $/inch, access, haul
The rate is yours. Lines and a tree on a house are not this form. Nothing is emailed.
—Estimate (your figures)
—DBH line
—Access and haul
What this assumed—
DBH times a rate you typed, plus access and haul. Power lines and a tree on a house are not this form. HyreYard does not cut trees.
Start here
The price is about what is under the tree, not the tree
Every national "average cost to remove a tree" is built on height or diameter, because those are the two things you can put in a form. They are not what the crew is pricing. The crew is pricing how the wood gets to the ground and how it gets off the property.
Illustrative, and deliberately so. The tree is identical in every row. Everything that moves is the ground around it.
A tree over open ground can be felled. One cut, the whole stem comes down in one piece, and the rest of the day is processing it on the floor. That is the cheapest possible version of the job and it is what the national average is quietly assuming.
A tree over a target has to be dismantled. A conservatory, a fence, a neighbour’s garage, a pond, a septic field, a septuagenarian magnolia — each of these means the tree comes down in controlled pieces, each piece rigged and lowered rather than dropped. That is climbing time, rigging time and a great deal more of it. The same tree can be several times the cost of the felled version.
Then the wood has to leave. A crew that can back a chipper and a truck to the base of the tree is doing a different job from one carrying every piece through a side gate to a road fifty yards away. Access for the machinery is frequently the single largest term in a residential quote and it is invisible on any form that asks only about the tree.
And a crane changes the shape of the price entirely. Where a crane can reach, a dismantle that would take two days of climbing can take a morning — but a crane has a mobilisation cost, needs somewhere to set up and outrigger, and may need a road closure. It is sometimes much cheaper and sometimes impossible, and which one depends entirely on the street.
Which is why diameter is a unit, not a price. This tool takes a diameter and a rate you were quoted, because diameter is a fair way to compare two bids for the same tree and a useless way to compare your tree against a national average. HyreYard holds no dataset of tree work prices and will not publish one.
What a quote is actually pricing
The last column is the useful one. Each of these is a question you can ask on the phone before anyone visits, and each one changes the number materially.
The driver
What it changes
What its absence from a quote means
Targets under the canopy
Whether the tree can be felled or must be dismantled and rigged piece by piece.
The bidder has not decided the method yet, which means the price is a guess and the change order is coming.
Machine access to the base
Whether wood is chipped where it falls or carried. Gate width, ground softness, slope, overhead wires.
Nobody has walked the route. Access is often the largest single term in a residential price.
Where the wood goes
Chip on site, chip and haul, log removal, or leave rounds stacked. These are very different volumes of work.
Assume haul is excluded. Disposal is the line most often left out and most often added later.
The stump
Left flush, ground to a depth, or fully excavated with the root plate. Grinding is a separate machine and often a separate visit.
Assume it is excluded. "Removal" almost never includes the stump unless it says so.
Proximity to any utility conductor
Whether the work is legal for a general tree crew at all, and whether the utility must de-energise or cover the line first.
A serious problem. Work near energised conductors is specialist, regulated work and a general crew should be declining it, not pricing it.
Condition of the tree
A sound stem can be climbed and rigged. A decayed, hollow or storm-damaged one may not be safe to climb at all, forcing a crane or a much slower method.
The bidder is pricing a healthy tree. If it is not healthy, that is the first thing that should have been discussed.
None of these is in the calculator above, and that is deliberate: they are judgements about a specific site, not variables. The tool gives you a diameter-based comparison between quotes for the same tree, and this table gives you the questions that make the quotes comparable in the first place.
Whether you may remove it at all is a separate question
Most homeowners assume a tree in their own yard is theirs to remove. Frequently that is true. Often enough that it matters, it is not — and the penalty for finding out afterwards is not a fee.
This is a source fact from our own reading, not a national estimate. The lesson is not the ratio — it is that you cannot guess, so you have to look.
Our own verified dataset is a straight answer to this. We read the municipal code, the city arborist page, or both, in 23 jurisdictions on 5 September 2026. Of those, 11 require a permit to remove a typical healthy tree in an established private yard and 12 do not. It is very close to a coin flip, and there is no way to guess which side your city is on.
Where there is a size trigger, the size varies enormously. Among the jurisdictions in our set that publish a numeric private-yard diameter trigger, the lowest is 3 inches and the highest is 30 inches. A tree that is entirely unregulated in one city is well past the threshold in another. There is no national number and anything presenting one is inventing it.
And the trigger is not always size. Our dataset records several distinct regimes: a size threshold on private lots, a named-species rule with a size attached, a heritage or specimen overlay where ordinary trees are unregulated, rules that only bite during development or land clearing, and rules that cover only street and right-of-way trees. Reading "is there a tree permit here" as a yes/no question misses most of the structure.
State law can override the city. Our overlay set records 2 such provisions — including a Florida statute under which a local government may not require a permit, fee or mitigation to remove a tree on qualifying single-family residential property where the owner holds documentation from an ISA-certified arborist or a licensed landscape architect that the tree poses an unacceptable risk. That is a real and specific exemption with real and specific conditions, and it is not a general "dangerous tree" defence.
What we do not know, we say. There are roughly 19,000 municipalities in the United States and no central index of their tree codes. Our own dataset publishes 6 named jurisdictions we did not finish reading, as gaps rather than as silence. The only reliable answer for your address is your own city, and the phone call is free.
The three jobs a homeowner should never take on
HyreYard does not publish DIY instruction for dangerous work, and tree removal is genuinely dangerous work. These three cases are not about skill — they are about the physics being unforgiving.
Anything near an electrical conductor
Work near energised conductors is specialist, regulated work with minimum approach distances that exist because electricity arcs. A branch, a rope, an aluminium ladder and a wet day are all conductors. This is not a matter of being careful.
The correct first call is the utility, not a tree crew. Many utilities will clear or cover their own conductors, or do the work themselves, at no cost. A general tree crew that offers to price this is telling you something important about the crew.
Anything with stored energy
A storm-damaged tree, a hung-up stem, a partially uprooted trunk, a leaning tree held by another. These are loaded springs, and the release is fast, silent and in a direction that is very hard to predict from the ground.
The people who get hurt in this category are overwhelmingly experienced, because the situation looks manageable. It is the single most common way that "just tidying up after the storm" becomes an emergency.
Anything requiring your feet to leave the ground
Chainsaw work from a ladder is the combination that produces the worst outcomes: an unstable platform, a tool that requires two hands, and a kickback path that goes toward your face.
Aerial work is done from a rope-and-harness system or a lift, by people trained in both the climbing and the rigging. That training is the product you are buying when you hire a crew, and it is not substitutable.
What a homeowner can reasonably do
Everything on the ground, after the tree is down and the crew has gone: processing rounds, moving brush, spreading the chip. Some crews will price the job with you doing the cleanup, and that is a legitimate way to reduce the number.
And the chip is worth keeping. Arborist chips are coarse mulch, and Penn State Extension recommends 2–4 in of organic mulch on beds — with the flare kept clear. A removal generates more mulch than most gardens can use.
The standards that exist, and the credential that means something
Tree care has consensus standards and a recognised individual credential. Neither is a licence, and neither is universal — but asking about them is a fast filter.
ANSI A300 — the industry consensus standards for tree care operations. These are the industry consensus standards for how tree care operations should be performed — pruning, support systems, planting, management. A specification that references them is a specification; "we will tidy it up" is not.
ANSI Z133 — the safety requirements for arboricultural operations, applying to employers and employees engaged in tree work. This is the safety side: the requirements applying to employers and employees engaged in arboricultural operations. A firm that works to it has a documented position on approach distances, rigging, drop zones and personal protective equipment.
Tree Care Industry Association is the ANSI secretariat for both. That is worth knowing because it tells you these are consensus documents developed under an accredited process, not one company’s marketing.
An honest note about our retrieval. tcia.org returned 403 to automated retrieval on 5 September 2026. The titles, scope and secretariat are recorded as consistently published by TCIA; no clause text is quoted here, because we did not read the standards themselves.
The individual credential is certification, not licensing. A certified arborist has passed an examination and maintains it with continuing education. It is not a state licence, it does not by itself make a firm insured, and it is held by an individual rather than by a company — so "we use certified arborists" is a claim worth converting into "which certified arborist is assessing my tree, and what is their certification number".
And the thing that actually protects you is insurance. General liability and workers’ compensation, verified by a certificate sent to you directly from the insurer or broker rather than a photocopy from the contractor. Tree work is the trade where this matters most, because the failure mode is a large mass landing on a structure.
What a good tree quote says, and what to ask before it arrives
The highest-value section on this page. Two quotes containing these items are comparable. Two quotes without them are not, whatever their numbers say.
The method: fell, sectional dismantle, or crane
This is the largest single determinant of the price and it should be stated. A bidder who has not decided the method has not priced the job.
What happens to the wood, in specific terms
Chipped and taken away; chipped and left on site; logs cut to a stated length and stacked where; brush removed. Each is a different quantity of work and "cleanup included" covers all of them ambiguously.
Whether the stump is included, and to what depth
Grinding is a separate machine, often a separate visit, and priced separately. Ask for the depth and whether the grindings are removed or left — a stump grind produces a surprising volume of material.
A certificate of insurance sent directly from the insurer
General liability and workers’ compensation. Ask for it to come from the broker or insurer to you, not as a photocopy. In this trade specifically, an uninsured crew on your property is your problem.
Who is responsible for the permit, if one is needed
11 of the 23 jurisdictions we verified require one for a typical private-yard tree. Establish whether it is needed, who applies, who pays and what the replanting condition is, before the saw starts.
A price per tree with no method, access or disposal stated
It is a number without a job attached to it. It cannot be compared with another number, and it leaves every expensive item available as an extra.
A door-knocker offering a discount because "we are already in the area"
The classic approach after a storm, in the trade with the highest injury risk and the largest property-damage exposure. The urgency is the sales technique. Verified insurance and a written scope are not negotiable, however good the price sounds.
The cheapest tree work is often not removal
A page written by somebody who removes trees cannot easily reach this conclusion. We do not remove trees, so we can: quite often the right answer is less work than you were about to buy.
Close enough to even that guessing is not a strategy. Your own city is the only answer for your address.
The question is usually risk, not the tree. Risk is a combination of the likelihood of failure, the likelihood of hitting something, and the consequences if it does. A large decayed limb over a shed is a different proposition from the same limb over a driveway you park on. Removing the target is sometimes cheaper than removing the tree.
Targeted pruning may resolve it. Reducing an over-extended limb, removing deadwood, or crown-reducing to lower the sail area can address the specific defect at a fraction of the cost of removal, and keeps the shade. It is not always the answer, but it is very rarely offered by a firm quoting for removal.
Topping is not pruning and is not a solution. Cutting the crown off at an arbitrary height removes the tree’s foliage, triggers a mass of weakly attached regrowth from the cut points, and creates the exact failure risk it was supposed to prevent — three to five years later, higher up, and attached badly. Any firm proposing it is telling you what they know.
An independent assessment costs less than the work. An arborist who assesses the tree and does not bid for the removal has no financial interest in the recommendation. That is a small fee against a large decision, and it is the same logic that applies to foundations, roofs and every other trade where the inspector and the contractor are the same person.
And a healthy mature tree is not replaceable in your lifetime. Whatever you plant, you are not getting that canopy back for thirty years. That is not sentiment; it is the reason many of the jurisdictions in our dataset regulate removal at all.
The vocabulary of a tree quote
DBH — diameter at breast height
Trunk diameter measured at a standard height above ground. The unit most quotes and most ordinances use. A fair basis for comparing two bids on one tree; not a basis for comparing your tree against an average.
Sectional dismantle
Taking the tree down in controlled pieces from the top, rather than felling the stem whole. Required wherever there is something below that must not be hit, and the main reason two identical trees price differently.
Rigging
Ropes, friction devices and blocks used to lower cut pieces under control instead of dropping them. Slower than dropping, and the reason a tree over a conservatory costs what it does.
Drop zone
The area a piece is allowed to land in. Whether one exists is the first question the crew asks themselves on arrival, and it determines the method.
Crown reduction
Shortening limbs back to appropriate lateral branches to reduce size and sail area while keeping the tree’s structure. Distinct from topping, which is cutting at arbitrary points and is a different thing entirely.
Topping
Cutting the crown off at arbitrary heights. Produces weakly attached regrowth, large decay-prone wounds and a worse risk profile in a few years. Proposed by firms who do not know better or do not care.
Stump grinding
Mechanically reducing the stump below grade with a dedicated machine. Almost always a separate line, often a separate visit, and it produces a large volume of grindings that someone has to deal with.
Root plate
The structural mass of soil and roots that holds the tree up. A partially lifted root plate is the clearest sign of a tree that is failing rather than a tree that has lost a limb.
Certificate of insurance
Evidence of general liability and workers’ compensation cover, ideally sent to you directly by the insurer or broker. The single most important document in this trade.
Heritage or specimen tree
A designation applied by a local ordinance to particular trees, sometimes by size, sometimes by species, sometimes on application. Removal is regulated separately and frequently more strictly.
What this tool cannot do
Real limits. This calculator multiplies a diameter by a rate you were quoted and adds extras you typed. It is a comparison instrument, not a price.
It does not know the method, and the method is the price. Felling, dismantling and craning the same tree are different jobs, and no form that asks about the tree can distinguish them.
It cannot see access. Gate width, ground conditions, slope, overhead wires, where a chipper can stand and how far the wood has to travel are frequently the largest term in a residential price, and they require somebody standing in the garden.
It will not price work near power lines and does not want to. That is specialist regulated work. The first call is the utility. Nothing on this page is instruction to attempt it.
It does not assess your tree. Whether the tree is dangerous, whether pruning would resolve it, and whether it can safely be climbed at all are judgements requiring someone on site. An arborist who is not bidding for the removal is the cheapest way to get that judgement honestly.
It does not answer the permit question. We publish what we verified in 23 jurisdictions and we publish the gaps as gaps. Your own city is the answer for your address.
And we do not cut trees. HyreYard performs no tree work, ranks no companies, and takes no referral fee from anyone who does — which is why this page is able to end on "you may not need to remove it". Figures verified 5 September 2026.
How this calculator works
The calculator multiplies diameter by the rate you type, then adds the two extras:
tree = DBH (inches) x your $/inch
total = tree + access $ + haul $
If DBH or the rate is 0, the total asks you to enter both. Access and haul still print as extras so a $0 rate does not hide a crane. That is the honest default. A national "average tree removal cost" would hide species, lean, targets under the crown and whether a chipper can park at the kerb.
Power lines and a tree on a house are named in the assumption string on purpose. They are not inputs, because putting them on a dropdown would imply this form prices them. It does not. Call the utility for lines. Call a crew that can rig for a tree on a structure. Do not fell either yourself.
HyreYard does not cut trees, does not climb, and does not clear lines.
What each input means
Inputs on this tool, in the order they appear on the form.
Input
What it is actually asking
DBH
Trunk diameter in inches, about 4.5 ft above the ground. Not the canopy spread, not the stump. Multi-stem: ask the bidder which stems count.
Quoted $/inch
From a written proposal for this tree, this access, this species. 0 is the honest default. A blog per-tree average is not a rate.
Access / rigging / crane
The drop-zone premium. Backyard, over a roof, next to glass, a crane in the street. Type the bid line or leave $0 visible.
Haul / disposal / stump
Wood off the lot, chips, grinding. Three different actions that get bundled in sales talk. Ask which of them you are buying.
Worked examples
Including one where the naive answer misleads, which is the example most calculators leave out.
A 24-inch tree with a real $/inch and named extras
DBH 24, rate $25/inch (from a bid, not from this page), access $400, haul $300. Tree line $600. Extras $700. Total $1,300. That is the arithmetic this engine is tested against. Replace $25 with the number on your proposal. If the tree sits over a greenhouse, the access line is the one that will move, not the diameter.
A smaller stem, haul only
DBH 12, rate $40/inch, access $0, haul $150. Tree line $480. Extras $150. Total $630. The higher per-inch rate on a small tree is common when the crew still has to mobilise. It is not a reason to apply $40/inch to a 36-inch oak and call it done. Access will dominate that job.
The one where a national per-tree average misleads
A roundup that says "tree removal costs $X." One tree is a 10-inch ornamental in the front lawn, chipper at the kerb. The other is a 30-inch stem in the wires over the garage. Applying one average to both hides that the second job is not a DBH times a blog rate. It is a utility conversation and a rigging job. This form will not take "in the lines" as an input, because the honest output is: stop using this form. Do not DIY-fell near lines.
What changes the result
Diameter moves the tree line linearly. Access does not. Doubling DBH does not double a crane day, and it does not double a permit. That is why access and haul are lumps.
Species, decay and lean change the work more than an extra inch. A hollow stem over a house is a different method than a sound stem over grass. This page cannot see any of that. A site visit is the quote.
Stump grinding, root-ball excavation and replanting are not removal. If you are rebuilding the bed afterwards, the landscaping cost estimator and the mulch calculator are the next pages, not a bigger $/inch.
Local considerations
Tree ordinances, protected species, diameter thresholds and work in the right-of-way are local. Neighbouring cities disagree. Some require a replacement planting. Some require an arborist report. Ask the city and the HOA before the saw starts.
Who owns the line in the crown is the utility’s question, not a landscaper’s. If any part of the tree is in or near electric supply lines, start there. A state average $/inch would be a fake localiser. We do not ship one.
When not to use this
Do not use this as a quote, an insurance figure, or a reason to start cutting. It cannot see decay, targets, lean, or a crane path.
Do not use it for a tree in or near power lines. Contact the utility. Do not fell near lines yourself.
Do not use it for a tree on a house, a garage, a car or a person. That is an emergency crew, not a calculator.
Do not use a $/inch you found in a roundup of "average tree removal cost." If you cannot name who priced it, on which trees, in which city, leave the rate at 0.
HyreYard does not perform tree work. Matching is still being built. The enquiry form is not a dispatch line.
Related on this site
Tree service as a tradeStructural work near buildings or lines is a safety trade. Topping is not a plan.
Often diameter at breast height times a $/inch for that species and that access, plus haul, stump, permits and any crane. We do not publish a national per-tree average because a 12-inch maple in the front yard and a 36-inch oak over a roof are different jobs. Type the rate from a written proposal. Leave it at 0 until you have one.
What is DBH?
Diameter at breast height: the trunk diameter measured about 4.5 ft above the ground, a forestry convention that ISA-style quotes often use. Measure with a tape around the trunk and divide by pi, or use a diameter tape. Multi-stem trees are a conversation, not a single number. Ask how the bidder measured.
Why is access a separate line?
Because a tree you can drop into an empty lot is not a tree you have to piece out over a conservatory. Cranes, rigging, a narrow side gate and a protected lawn change the job more than an extra two inches of diameter. Type the access premium from the bid, or leave $0 visible until someone who has seen the drop zone prices it.
Does this include the stump?
Only if you put grinding in the haul line, or if the $/inch already includes it. Ask. Stump grinding is a different machine. Removal of the grindings is another line still.
The tree is in the power lines. Can I use this?
No. Work near electric supply lines is not a backyard felling. Contact the utility. Line-clearance tree trimming is a qualified trade with approach-distance rules. OSHA 1910.269 is the federal rule for that work when it applies. Do not DIY-fell near lines. This form will not price that job.
The tree is on the house. Can I use this?
No. A tree on a roof, a garage or a person is an emergency for a crew that can rig, not a DBH times a blog rate. Call a certified arborist, and if lines are involved call the utility too. This form assumes a standing tree with a drop zone you can describe.
Do I need a permit to remove a tree?
Often, for a given diameter, a given species, or a tree in a right-of-way. Cities and HOAs disagree. Tree ordinances are local. Ask before the saw starts. A bid that is silent on permits is incomplete.
Should I hire a certified arborist?
For structural work near buildings, yes. ISA Certified Arborist is a credential you can look up. Anyone with a truck can offer to cut a tree. Insurance, workers compensation and a written scope are the other checks. The homepage on this site already says topping a tree damages it rather than reducing its risk.
Is topping a cheaper way to "remove" height?
No. Topping is not an acceptable pruning practice in ISA consumer guidance. It stresses the tree, starts decay at the cuts, and grows weakly attached sprouts. If the goal is to reduce risk, an arborist can prune or can remove. Topping does neither well.
Is this a quote?
No. It cannot see decay, lean, a target under the crown, or a crane path. Use it to check whether a bid started from DBH and named access and haul. Minus something to plus a lot, lopsided because access adds money.
Does HyreYard cut trees?
No. HyreYard is an information and matching layer. Matching is still being built. The enquiry form is not a dispatch line.
Sources and methodology
Figures dated 26 August 2026. Last reviewed .
TreesAreGood consumer guidance and Find an Arborist (International Society of Arboriculture, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited for hiring a qualified arborist and for topping as an unacceptable practice. Not a national $/inch table.)
Why topping hurts trees (International Society of Arboriculture (consumer handout, via public copies), retrieved 2026-08-26. ISA treats topping as harmful pruning. Height reduction is not the same job as removal, and topping is not a cheap substitute for either.)
29 CFR 1910.269, line-clearance tree trimming (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, retrieved 2026-08-26. Work near electric supply lines is a qualified trade. Homeowner felling into or next to lines is not this form.)
Hiring a contractor (Federal Trade Commission, retrieved 2026-08-26. Written estimates, licence where required, insurance. A cash-only chainsaw is not a bid.)
Cooperative Extension System (USDA NIFA, retrieved 2026-08-26. Regional tree care. Diameter thresholds for permits are still the city, not the extension office.)
Related
Tree service and pruningThe standards, the insurance question, and why the permit can come before the saw.