I'd still want to see general liability and workers comp insurance certificates.......it's a litigious society and people are looking for a free ride......plus makes for a level playing field when giving quotes........hard to compete with a dead beat with no insurance when you pay $15,000 or more a year. Do it your self or get it done properly. You better make sure they are paying the state taxes.......they(the State of TX and NM anyway) will come after the owner........they don't care what you have been told.

 

Somebody on here has to live near this guy's house and own a chainsaw.
30' tall pine???? Could cut it down with a sawzall. With a chainsaw, it's down, chopped up and loaded out in about 30min, including raking up the dead needles. Add a couple hrs and re-sharpening the saw chain to dig around it and cut it off under ground 6".
If I lived closer, I'd come over and do it for a case of beer!
The same people that get charged $500 a tree for a little pine tree are teh ones that think diesels cost too much to maintain because they get $150 oil changes at the dealer. (Not saying this is you, know you're too far away to do it yourself..........although you could probably get a round trip plane ticket and rental car for a day for less $!)

 

I did a pine for a budie of mine and I dont even own a saw. It was abought 25 foot. He had a saw but dident want to have to have a stump removed so this is what I did.



We then drug the entire tree 4 miles down the blacktop to the tree dump.
Took a little tugging but with the chain hooked abought 8 feet high it adventualy came over and out of the ground roots an all. No stump to deal with. The trunk was abought 16 inches in diameter.

 

If I was there, I would climb my 30' extension ladder, put a good notch in the top 1/3 of the tree while my buddies pull it down away from the pool and then do the same thing with the trunk. I own an 18" chain saw (gas powered) and could get it done myself. Since the tree has been dead a little while, it would that much closer to being a beer drinking excuse (while burning after cutting) and not a subject of a $500 charge. Anybody in the Atlanta area that can roger up on the above accusations, let me know!

Kevin

 

I think the bids I got to take out two big elms (they are pretty good size) were around $2200 to $2500.

This is to grind stumps, and leave everything too big for the shreader as it lays. Another guy wanted the wood, and would cut it up and remove it for free.

These are large enough and hanging over the street and close to utility lines that I wouldn't let anyone who isn't licensed and bonded touch them.

 

Bonded is a bunch of bull.......you need someone who carries the insurances.......don't be fooled by bonded.......some of my bonds are only $100.00 a year, and are only used to take out permits from the city.......bonded is deceiving.....means nothing.

 

350-500 is a fair price either way.


My BIL took me to Grumps last time I was in Texas. Awesome burger and the Shiner was frosty cold.

Good luck.

 

Listen to your gut, pay for a professional to do it. It is a rental and a expense use it on your taxes as part of improvements to off set the income. Tree cutting is easy even a cave man could do it. But there is a lot to loose, why do you think the insurance rates are $5500 a month. Good luck and thanks for your service to our country.

 

Work done on a rental property is tax-deductable as a "business expense" ........... have it done right.

 

Something goes wrong, I have 7 Million $( in insurance) to back up my work.......you really going to risk your rump so you can save a couple of hundred on some tailgate Contractor........who do you think you will be able to find if something goes wrong.