Taking a tree out, start to finish

When removal is the right call

A tree comes out when it is dead, structurally failing, diseased past recovery, or in a position where no amount of pruning fixes the problem — roots lifting a slab, a trunk hard against a wall, a canopy that cannot be reduced enough to clear a roof without wrecking the tree.

It also comes out when the species was simply wrong for the spot. A lemon-scented gum four metres from a house is not a pruning problem. It is a planting mistake that gets more expensive every year it is left.

What removal is not is the default answer to "it's got too big". A large share of enquiries that start as removals end up as a crown reduction and deadwood, which is cheaper, keeps the shade and does not leave a hole in the garden.

How the job runs

Assessment. Species, height, lean, condition of the unions, what is underneath, where the truck and chipper can sit, and whether anything overhangs a powerline. This is also where the council question gets answered — Western Australia has no statewide tree preservation order, so it depends entirely on which local government the property sits in.

Set-up. Drop zone marked out, driveway and paving protected where needed, pedestrian control if the work touches the verge or footpath.

Take-down. Either a straight fell if there is genuinely room, or a sectional dismantle — a climber in the tree or an elevated work platform, limbs cut in manageable pieces and lowered on rigging lines to a controlled landing area.

Processing. Brush through the chipper, timber cut to firewood lengths or to a size that can be carted. Chip stays on site as mulch if you want it.

Ground work. The stump ground below grade, or the root plate extracted entirely if a slab, pool or footing is going in. Hole backfilled, and it will settle over the first wet winter, so plan to top it up.

Clean-up. Rake down, blow down, gone.

Powerlines and the things that stop a job

Anything close to live conductors changes who may do the work and how close they may get. Network lines along the street sit with Western Power; the service line running into the house is a different problem again, and the safe options are an accredited crew or an arranged isolation, not a homeowner with a pole saw.

The other common stoppers are access — no gate wide enough for a chipper, no room on a narrow verge, a right-of-way blocked by a neighbour's car — and the discovery of something at the base of the tree that nobody mentioned, usually reticulation or a soakwell.

What it costs

Height is only one input. Access, drop zone, rigging complexity, species, powerline proximity and whether the stump and debris are included matter as much or more. The cost guide sets out each of those.

For the Perth-specific side of it — councils, local species, coastal and hills conditions — see tree removal in Perth. To get a tree looked at, call (08) 9516 2804 or send the details through.