40 services · Philadelphia, PA
Tree services for Philadelphia, sorted by what your tree is doing
From a limb through the roof at 2 a.m. to a stump ground out of a rowhome yard, the forty jobs below are grouped by the problem in front of you. Find yours, or call and describe the tree.
Where to start
Six kinds of tree trouble, forty ways to deal with them
Quick answer
Most tree calls fall into one of six groups: storm damage, planned removal, trimming, stumps and roots, tree health, and clearing land. If a tree is on a house, a car or a wire, start with emergency removal. If it is standing but worrying you, an inspection sorts out whether it needs trimming, support or removal before you pay for any of them.
Tree work in Philadelphia rarely looks like the photos in a catalog. Rowhomes make up about 70 percent of the city's housing, so many trees grow in walled yards with no alley, beside slate roofs, or in a sidewalk strip the city controls. That is why wood here is lowered on ropes, carried out by hand when it has to be, and lifted over the roof by crane when nothing else reaches.
We have split the work the way callers describe it. Some of it cannot wait, like a trunk across the driveway. Some is planned, like a maple that has outgrown the yard. And some is upkeep that keeps the second kind from turning into the first.
Each service page explains how the job runs and what moves the price, with published survey ranges where one exists. Those ranges are planning numbers, not our prices; we price a job after seeing the tree.
5 services
When a tree or limb has already come down
Storms here rarely drop a single tree. In the February 2014 ice storm and the June 2020 derecho, falling trees cut power to hundreds of thousands of PECO customers at once. When a trunk is resting on the house, start with emergency tree removal: the weight comes off the roof in pieces so the damage does not spread. A tree across the lawn or driveway, but not on anything, is a fallen tree job that can usually wait for daylight.
Call 911 first for a tree on a house or across the road and PECO first for a tree on a power line; then call us to clear it.
Emergency Tree Removal
A tree cracking, leaning hard or blocking the way out. We answer around the clock and make it safe first.
Storm Damage Cleanup
Limbs and trunks scattered after a microburst or nor'easter, cut up and hauled away.
Fallen Tree Removal
Rigging a trunk off a roof, car or garage without making the damage worse.
Broken & Hanging Limb Removal
Snapped branches hung up in the crown, brought down before they drop on their own.
Leaning Tree Removal
A tree that shifted in the last storm, checked at the root plate and taken down under control.
9 services
Taking a standing tree down on purpose
A planned removal starts with one question: how does the wood get out? A front-yard maple beside the street is a straightforward day. The same tree behind a rowhome with no alley means smaller pieces and every log carried through a gate or the house, as our tight-access backyard removal page explains. When no path is wide enough, a crane pick lifts sections over the roof, and on a Philadelphia street that needs a Streets Department closure permit.
Some trees come down because of what they are. Ash infested by the emerald ash borer can die within three to four years and turns brittle once it does, Bradford pears split at their tight forks, and tree of heaven feeds the spotted lanternfly, so each has its own page.
Tree Removal
Sectional takedowns sized to the yard, with the wood, brush and cleanup handled.
Large Tree Removal
Tall shade trees taken down in rigged sections, the way mature Philadelphia trees need.
Crane Tree Removal
Big picks lifted over roofs when there is no safe way to lower the wood by rope.
Tight-Access Backyard Tree Removal
Rowhome and twin yards with no alley, worked by rope and by hand.
Dead Tree Removal
Brittle dead wood taken down from a lift or by rope instead of climbing it.
Ash Tree Removal
Ash trees killed or failing from emerald ash borer, removed before they shed.
Tree of Heaven Removal
Cut, stump-treated and followed up so the root sprouts do not come back.
Bradford Pear Removal
Callery pears that split in wind and spread across yards, taken out at the root.
Street Tree Removal
Sidewalk-strip trees, with the Parks and Recreation permit step sorted before any cut.
10 services
Trimming that keeps a tree where it is
Most trimming calls are about clearance: limbs on the roof, branches scraping a box truck at the curb, or a canopy shading the whole yard. Tree trimming covers general thinning and shaping. The wire from the pole to your house is a special case: PECO trims its distribution lines but leaves the service line to the owner, so trimming near the service drop starts with a PECO make-safe requested at least two weeks ahead.
Young trees, fruit trees, Japanese maples and hedges run on calendars of their own; cut a spring bloomer in the wrong month and you lose a season of flowers.
Tree Trimming
Cleaning, thinning and shaping that keeps a shade tree healthy and out of the way.
Crown Reduction
Shortening a crown back to healthy side branches instead of topping it.
Crown Raising & Clearance Pruning
Lifting low limbs off sidewalks, driveways, parked cars and the lawn.
Deadwood Removal
Dead branches cut out of the crown before they drop on someone.
Roof & House Clearance Trimming
Branches pulled back from roofs, gutters, siding and chimneys.
Tree Trimming Near Service Lines
Clearing the wire to your house, with the utility make-safe step booked first.
Young Tree Structural Pruning
Early cuts that set a strong structure so the tree needs less work later.
Fruit Tree Pruning
Late-winter pruning that opens backyard fruit trees to light and air.
Ornamental Tree Pruning
Careful hand pruning for Japanese maples, dogwoods and flowering cherries.
Hedge & Shrub Trimming
Hedges, screens and overgrown shrubs cut back to clean, even lines.
4 services
What is left at ground level
A stump can be ground or pulled. Grinding it out chews the stump into chips below the surface and leaves the deeper roots to rot, which is enough for lawn, a planting bed or a new tree a few feet over; published national figures put it at about $120 to $500 per stump. Pulling the stump and root ball digs the whole mass out, which makes sense before a patio, an addition or a fence line goes in.
Roots drive the other half of these calls. Philadelphia owners must keep the sidewalk out front safe even when a street tree lifted it, and a healthy street tree has to stay, so root pruning lets the repair happen without killing it. Running bamboo sits here too, since the real work is digging out rhizomes.
Stump Grinding
Stumps ground below grade, the chips raked out or left as mulch.
Stump & Root Ball Removal
Digging the stump and main roots out when the spot is getting a slab or a new tree.
Root Pruning
Cutting problem roots cleanly so a sidewalk can be fixed without killing the tree.
Running Bamboo Removal
Cutting the canes and digging out rhizomes so running bamboo stops crossing the line.
7 services
Keeping a valuable tree standing
Before paying to remove a big tree, it is worth knowing whether it really has to go. A tree inspection looks for decay, cracks, root trouble and the pests moving through the region, and it often ends with a smaller answer than removal: a dead limb taken out, a weak fork held together with cables and braces, or a treatment plan.
Ash borer injections, lanternfly control and deep root feeding pay off on trees that are still mostly healthy. Planting and construction protection belong here as well: the easiest tree to keep is one that went in properly and had its roots left alone.
Tree Inspection & Risk Assessment
A walk-around look at decay, cracks, lean and roots, with a straight answer on what needs doing.
Tree Cabling & Bracing
Steel cables and rods that support weak unions in trees worth keeping.
Emerald Ash Borer Treatment
Trunk injections that protect healthy ash worth saving from the borer.
Spotted Lanternfly Tree Treatment
Protecting the trees lanternflies hammer and removing the host trees they breed on.
Deep Root Fertilization
Feeding and loosening compacted root zones around stressed city and suburban trees.
Tree Planting
Planting replacement trees, including the replacements some towns require.
Tree Protection During Construction
Fencing root zones and pruning ahead of additions, driveways and sewer work.
5 services
Clearing ground, brush and wood
This group is about land more than single trees. Lot and land clearing takes out trees, brush and stumps across a whole parcel, and published national ranges run from $1,500 to $8,000 per acre depending on how heavy the growth is. On the New Jersey side, much of Burlington and Camden counties lies in the Pinelands Area, whose pitch pine uplands are among the most fire-prone forests in the country.
Smaller jobs land here too, like ivy stripped off trunks or a pile of logs someone else left behind. Property managers, schools and churches can see how several sites are handled together on the commercial tree work page.
Lot & Land Clearing
Wooded lots and overgrown ground cleared, with the trees you want kept left standing.
Brush & Overgrowth Clearing
Overgrown yards, fence lines and alleys cut back and hauled out.
English Ivy & Vine Removal
Ivy and vines cut free of trunks before the extra weight pulls a tree over.
Log & Debris Haul-Away
Logs, brush piles and storm debris loaded up and hauled off the property.
Commercial Tree Service
Tree work for HOAs, landlords, churches and campuses, scheduled around their people.
Not sure which one
Match what you see to where to start
Six common sightings, the page to read first, and why it comes first.
| If this is what you see | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A trunk or big limb resting on the roof | Emergency removal | The weight has to come off in controlled pieces before anything else in the house is safe. |
| A branch lying on the wire that feeds the house | Service line trimming | PECO makes the drop safe first, and only then can the limb be cut away from it. |
| A bare top on an ash while the lower crown is still green | Ash borer treatment | With most of the crown alive, injections may still be worth it; past that point, removal is safer. |
| Mushrooms at the base or a fresh crack in the trunk | Inspection first | Decay inside a trunk is hard to judge from the ground, so it gets looked at before anyone climbs. |
| Sprouts popping up all over the yard where a tree was cut | Tree of heaven removal | Cutting it without treating the stem or stump sets off a flush of root sprouts. |
| Sidewalk slabs heaved by roots out front | Root pruning | The sidewalk is yours to fix, and a healthy street tree has to survive the repair. |
Questions
Questions about picking the right tree service
That is common. A storm-split maple might need a hanging limb brought down, the rest of the crown reduced, and the stump ground later. Describe all of it on the call and we plan the pieces as one job where it makes sense.
Yes. Landlords, property managers, schools and churches call for the same work homeowners do, with scheduling around tenants, classes and services. The commercial page explains how several sites can be covered together.
Usually, yes. With ropes, a chipper and a truck already set up at your house, pruning a second tree that day often saves the cost of a separate trip. Mention every tree you want looked at when you call.
In Philadelphia, major pruning or removal of a street tree in the sidewalk strip needs a Parks and Recreation permit. Several suburbs, including Cherry Hill, Moorestown and Lower Merion, set their own tree rules, which the town pages explain.
Two trees of the same height can be very different jobs. A maple beside the street and one behind a rowhome with no alley differ in rigging, carrying and hours. We show survey ranges for planning and price each job after seeing it.
Talk to us
Call about the tree, any hour
Tell us what the tree is doing and what sits under it, and we will tell you which of these jobs it really is.
Call (916) 312-2373- Phone
- (916) 312-2373
- Hours
- Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Office
- 578 Washington Ave, Burlington, NJ 08016