Tree removal in Snohomish County
A removal is the one job you cannot undo, so it is the one we look hardest at before we agree to it. If the tree can be kept and made safe, we will tell you that first, and then it is your call.
- Constraint
- Tight lots, houses, fences, power drops
- Method
- Climbed and rigged in pieces
- Outcome
- Wood cut, brush chipped, ground blown clean
Before you book this one
When you need this
- The tree is dead, dying, or has failed at the root plate
- It leans over the house, the drive or the power drop and the lean is getting worse
- The trunk has a crack, a cavity, or fungal bodies at the base
- It is the wrong tree in the wrong place and no amount of pruning fixes that
- You are building, and it sits where the work has to happen
What we do
- An owner walks the tree, the target zone and the access before anything is quoted
- We climb and rig it down in pieces where a drop is not safe, which is most Snohomish County lots
- Brush is chipped on site and the wood is cut down to what you asked for
- On a removal, stump grinding is part of the job when you want it
- The ground is raked and blown off before we leave
What to know
- A removal can include stump grinding, but we do not book stump grinding on its own, because a stump on its own is rarely worth a truck and a crew turning up
- We do not quote a removal from a photograph or over the phone. Every tree is a different job and the access is half of it
- If the tree does not need to come out, we will say so at the estimate
Most removals in this county are not a matter of felling a tree into a field. They are a hundred foot Douglas fir with a house on one side, a fence on the other and a neighbor's greenhouse behind it. That is a rigging job. Somebody climbs it, takes it apart from the top, and every piece is lowered on a rope to a spot on the ground somebody else has already cleared.
Because of that, the estimate has to happen at the tree. We look at the lean, the root plate, the wood itself, what is under it and how we get a chipper close enough to it. Two trees that look identical from the street can be a day apart in work once you have stood under them.
Devin is an ISA Certified Arborist with a Tree Risk Assessment Qualification, and on a removal that credential earns its keep in the conversation you have before the work, not after. Sometimes a tree that frightens a homeowner is sound, and the honest answer is a reduction and a rope. Sometimes a tree that looks fine has a root plate lifting on one side. Telling those two apart is what the certification is for, and it is the standard every estimate we write is held to.
Questions people ask about this
Do you need a permit to take my tree down?
It depends on the city, the size of the tree and where it stands on the lot. Some cities in Snohomish County ask for a written assessment from a certified arborist before they issue anything, some regulate only trees over a certain diameter, and some do not regulate a private yard tree at all. We will tell you what we believe applies to your property at the estimate, and if a written report is what unlocks it, Devin can write one.
What happens to the wood?
That is your call and we ask at the estimate. Brush goes through the chipper. The trunk and limbs can be cut to firewood rounds and stacked for you, left in longer lengths, or hauled off the property entirely. Hauling is a separate line on the estimate because it is real truck time, so you get to choose rather than pay for it by default.
Will you take the stump out too?
On a removal, yes, stump grinding is something we add to the same job and it goes on the estimate as its own line. What we do not do is turn up for a stump on its own, because it almost never adds up to a day of work for a crew and a machine. If you already have a stump sitting there from somebody else, call us anyway and we will be straight with you about whether it is worth our drive.
Related work
Have a certified arborist look at it
Tell us what the trees are doing and we will come out, walk the property with you and write it up. The visit is free, it takes about 20 to 30 minutes, and you get an itemized estimate you can hold on to.
Call or text
(360) 842 7433Washington contractor licence WARRIBT777DF. Licensed, bonded and insured. Verify on LNI.wa.gov.ISA Certified Arborist PN 368801AEstimates are scheduled Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm Pacific.