Costs for fallen tree removal

trees101

Storm barra caused a large branch of a cyprus fir from bottom of my garden, circa 8m long to fall on neighbours shed, been quoted €1000 to remove, is this a reasonable cost? Only moved in a week ago so no awareness that it might happen :-(

endacl

Your home insurance would be the first port of call.

new or secondhand chainsaw from classified adverts for under 100 quid. cut up branch. throw over boundary. store for a few months sheltered from damp and you get firewood for fire. re-advertise chainsaw for sale. net cost under 50 quid and a few nights of fuel.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058222367/costs-for-fallen-tree-removal

Would your home insurance cover that, some home insurance would have third party liability

Uncle Pierre

Am not being "smart", but am actually just back inside myself after spending the last few hours cutting up a tree that blew down at the bottom of our lawn, using a second-hand chainsaw I bought a couple of years ago for about €80. Your eight metre branch is probably fairly hefty all right, but it's nowhere near as much wood as I've just cut. Is it an option to just cut it up yourself?

P.S. I see somebody else suggesting the same thing just as I type this

whisky_galore

A grand to take away a branch?

Someone's having a giraffe.

magicbastarder

having known a couple of people who have had near misses with chainsaws, i'd be slow to advise someone who may not know the first thing about them to go out and buy one to chop up a branch.

how big is the branch, i.e. in diameter?

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305025#Comment_118305025

A fair point. Hopping in there with a chainsaw wouldn't be advisable if you've never used one before.

Could get a handsaw instead for €20 and take 100 times as long to cut it up.

Seriously though, a grand seems a hell of a lot to take away one branch. About a year ago, I got a properly certified tree surgeon in to take down four large trees around the old farmhouse at home that were in danger of toppling. Price was €1500 and there was a lot more work in it than OP would have for somebody here. Granted, I didn't have him cut it all down to log-sized pieces (I have a chainsaw myself, remember!), but even still, €1,000 for a branch is steep.

magicbastarder

one issue might be that if it's still sitting on a broken shed, this could easily complicate a removal if it's precarious, compared to whether it's just sitting on the ground. also, how much brash would removing it generate, etc.; you might need to source a garden shredder for an hour or three also.

but yeah, €1000 seems enormous.

The Ging and I

Unless you have experience with a chainsaw, do not touch. I visited a neighbour who had bought one and the chain was stretched to the point of falling off. He didn't know you had to adjust it.

Get a quote from a tree surgeon.

It is criminal that shops are allowed offer chainsaws for sale to the Public.

trees101

Thanks for your comments. Home insurance only covers damage to our house, it would only cover public liability if we were legally liable, which we are not as we did not know there was if there was any difficiency in the tree and a tree falling is an act of nature. Radius is about 50cm. Quite a lot of small branches/leaves as its a fir tree.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305328#Comment_118305328

So the quote is €1000 to fell and remove the whole tree?

How tall is the tree?

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305251#Comment_118305251

I don't agree with you because lot's of us have use for chainsaws and we need somewhere to buy them.

It is however bordering on criminal for someone to operate one without following safety guidelines.

BorneTobyWilde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305251#Comment_118305251

True, you see so many chainsaw pranks on youtube .I'm just waiting for some idiot to do a prank and leave the chain on through absolute cluelessness that in the prank videos it's actually taken off.

sarcasm. see first comment from me in thread.

Capt'n Midnight

You could try a reciprocating saw if you are handy with DIY. Safer than a chain saw. Buy lots of spare blades as they're cheap and change when the saw starts to slow down. Gloves, goggles etc.

Be very aware of the forces on the tree and branches as it might swing when some weight is removed. Consider holding down with rope / weights and cut off branches , bits of branches first.

It's about a tenner to dump a car load of cuttings in Ballymount so other recycling centres should be similar.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305328#Comment_118305328

aha, so the quote is to remove the tree, rather than just the branch? the price is making more sense. a tree with a 50cm diameter trunk is not a small tree.

that would also settle the question about buying a chainsaw and doing it on your own, you'd be insane to try that.

A tree that has a 1 meter diameter and is only 8 metres tall?

magicbastarder

I suspect the 50cm is diameter, not radius.

cnocbui

I had a chat with someone about removing a couple of trees, asking for a quote if I let him have the wood to sell as firewood. We didn't arrive at a precise figure, but I am quite certain it wouldn't be costing me anything. Now if I had sounded desperate, insisting I wanted all that nuisance wood cleared away, I wouldn't be surprised to get a 1k quote.

Wood is not valueless waste and a burden, it's a valuable commodity.

My mother was still using her beloved electric chainsaw at 84.

Car99

Before you can judge that €1000 is expensive, Is the branch still sitting on top of the neighbours shed? How tall is the shed ? What's access like to the branch. Be careful cutting big timber that is not attached to a tree , know where the balance is important, cut it in the wrong place and could do more damage to property or worse a person. A local guy here is recovering from broken hiç leg and pelvis after making a bad decision on where to cut a large branch that had become stuck after it was cut .

Uncle Pierre

I thought it was €1,000 to cut up and take away the branch that had fallen off. If the €1,000 is to remove, chop up, and take away the entire remainder of the tree as well, it's starting to sound more reasonable.

3d4life

OP, head over to the insurance forum with regard to this.

( I may be wrong but think that your neighbour will be covered for this on his house policy - at least that is how it was when we were at the receiving end of a neighbours tree )

Also, if you elect to do a DIY removal on your neighbours property then check you are insured

trees101

No the quote is only to remove and discard of the Branch. It is about 8m long resting on a shed, the radius at the bottom of the branch is about 40- 50cm. The original tree is probably 20m high, but the quote dies not include felling the tree. Hoping to get some more quotes.

enricoh

Did the guy that quoted you come out? Nice work if you can get it! Put up a photo or two

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118306058#Comment_118306058

Back to the drawing board 🙂

For the amount of work involved €1k sounds a bit much.

If you are not up for a DIY solution maybe post your approximate location and someone will recommend a contractor.

trees101

20211209_150007.jpg

Location is meath, Louth.

Car99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118306351#Comment_118306351

That looks like a tree that dell over not a branch. A bit of work and kit needed to cut that up and remove it from site , €1000 for a profesional insured outfit to remove that seems ok.

rolling boh

contact a few tree surgeons and get a quote to cut and take either all the wood or part 1k is way too much would not recommend using a chain saw without somebody who knows about them at least being present .If you can take the smaller bits safely that might help .

Truckermal

Who has cut the existing branches off?