Tree surgeon costs and recommendations

[JustADay]

Having moved into our house nearly a year ago we're starting to get around to a few more jobs, one in particular being tending to the trees at the end of the garden. There are 6 poplars in a row which I would guess to be around 100ft tall each. The neighbors at the end of our garden are understandably a little concerned at the height given the proximity to their house so we're looking at our options for reducing their height.

I guess I have two questions, firstly if anyone has any recommendations of tree surgeons in the Camberley area? We've had one quote so far and it was eye-watering to say the least...

This leads me to my second question, how much do you think would be the going rate to reduce all 6 to 50ft? Access is fairly good with roughly 30ft wide and 50ft long of lawn to aim for dropping them. We're happy to hold onto the trunks and shredded branches, so I'm hoping having no disposal will keep costs down?

I'd kind of based my estimates of costs on a 3 man team for 3-4 days, but this really is only based on vaguely comparable jobs I've found elsewhere so may be well out.

He're a photo of what we're dealing with, taken from our house looking down the garden:



Thanks for your help!

[JustADay]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions so far.

There's definitely no question that we at least want them reducing in height. Although we've only had one quote so far we've had two tree surgeons around and both have said they appear stable, but the neighbors that mentioned them have been more than reasonable in their request so I want to try to keep all parties happy.

Treehack, the quote we had was only verbal for the time being so I can't give you lots of details but to half the height of the trees was given as £6.5k, and to remove them completely more like £9k. As I say from my back of fag packet maths I was expecting more like £1.5k-£2k especially as there is no disposal; do you think this sounds more accurate or am I dreaming?

Edited by JustADay on Saturday 25th November 21:53

[JustADay]

treehack said:

Somewhere around the 2.5 would be a fair price if everything is left on site, you do have to realise that there will be ALOT of wood and brash there though, probably 3x what you imagine.
I always recommend getting a few quotes from different companies, if you can go with recommendations from people if you can. Just don't use our caravan dwelling friends .

Thanks for this treehack. It's a little more than I'd hoped for but certainly much more palatable than £9k! I'll look to get a few more quotes.

DonkeyApple said:

Given the cost, that they may well look pretty ugly after a half chop and that you might end up paying the same again to remove them in full at a later date, is it not worth taking them out completely now and planting something more appropriate in their place?

It's certainly a consideration. I like the privacy but as you say they can always be replaced with something else.

To be honest the problem we really have is funds, hence the reason for looking to only half them in height and to hold onto the cuttings/trunks to save removal. My wife is currently on maternity leave with our first so with only one income we are very tight as it is, especially after only moving in last year. Whilst the trees were on our to do list at some point we just haven't budgeted for this work at this time. I want to be as understanding as possible to the neighbors that have approached us regarding this work- I can totally understand their situation living so close to the trees- but we simply don't have thousands of pounds just sitting around at the moment.