I get this question almost every week. Somebody in Bristol or Plymouth has a tree they're worried about, they've Googled what removal costs, and they've gotten a range so wide it's useless — anywhere from $200 to $5,000, depending on which article they read. Then they call three local outfits and the quotes come back all over the map. So they stop, stare at the tree for another year, and eventually call me when a branch has already come down on the roof.
The honest truth is tree removal pricing isn't that mysterious — there's just a lot of variables, and most companies don't explain them. I want to walk through exactly what drives the number so you can look at your own tree and roughly ballpark it before anyone quotes you. That way you'll know if the quote you're getting is reasonable, or if someone is overcharging you, or — more commonly — if someone is dangerously underbidding and you should walk away.
The five things that set the price
Every tree removal quote comes down to these five factors. Change any one of them and the number moves.
- Diameter at breast height (DBH). This is trunk diameter measured about 4.5 feet off the ground. A 12-inch tree is a small job; an 18-inch tree is a moderate job; a 24-inch tree is a real job; anything 30+ inches is a big job. Price roughly doubles at each of those tiers, because wood volume cubes with diameter and hauling/cutting time stretches accordingly.
- Height. A 40-foot tree and an 80-foot tree with the same trunk diameter are very different jobs. Height determines whether I can fell it in one piece or have to climb and rig it down in sections. A tall pine that has to come down in pieces can triple the labor compared to dropping it clean.
- Access. Can I back a truck and chipper up to the tree? Is it in the middle of a fenced backyard with a 36-inch gate? Is the driveway 800 feet down a winding camp road on Newfound Lake? Access is often the single biggest cost swing after diameter. If I need a crane truck to reach over a house, that's a $1,500+ line item right there.
- Condition. A healthy, living tree is predictable. A dead tree is not. Dead hardwoods other than ash are usually manageable. Dead brittle ash, or any tree that's been dead 3+ years, gets harder and more dangerous the longer it's been gone — which I'll explain in a minute.
- Stump: yes or no. Dropping the tree is half the job. Grinding the stump is the other half. You can skip it, grind it flush, or grind it 6+ inches below grade for regrowth-free planting. Each level is a different price.
Four real jobs, four real prices
Abstract ranges don't help anyone. Here are four jobs I've done in the last 18 months in the Lakes Region, with the prices I actually charged.
Job A: Healthy 18-inch maple, backyard access, Franklin. Roughly 50 feet tall, open lawn, nothing underneath to protect. Drove in through the side yard, felled in one piece, limbed, bucked, hauled, stump ground flush. $525. Normal day, 2 people, half a day's work including cleanup. Range for this kind of job runs $450 to $650 depending on haul distance.
Job B: Slightly declining 24-inch ash, open yard, Hill. Tree was showing early EAB signs — some blonding, thin upper canopy — but still structurally sound. Dropped in one piece, the wood was solid all the way through. Ground the stump 4 inches below grade so the homeowner could seed over it. $725. Range $600 to $850. The size bumps it up, but the open yard kept it clean.
Job C: 24-inch ash, dead 3-4 years, near a power line, Bristol. Same species, same diameter, but this one had been dead long enough that the wood was brittle. Climbing it was out of the question — the top would have snapped under a climber. Set up a crane truck, lifted sections out over the house and the service drop, landed everything in the driveway, chipped, hauled, ground stump. $2,100. Range $1,500 to $2,500. Same tree species. Same diameter. Three-to-four times the price, purely because the homeowner waited.
Job D: 60-foot white pine near a house on Webster Lake. Live tree, sound wood, but leaning toward a camp roof with a 10-foot clearance on the drop zone. No way to fell it safely — had to bring in a crane, rig sections off the top down, walk the trunk down piece by piece. Full day, crane rental included. $3,400. Range $2,800 to $4,500 depending on crane duration and wood removal. This is what a serious pine job near a structure really costs.
Why a dead ash costs more than a live ash
This is the single thing that surprises homeowners most. Dead trees should be easier, right? Lighter, more flexible to drop, less wood to deal with.
Not ash. I wrote a full post on why ash is different — emerald ash borer is killing them across NH, and the way EAB kills changes the wood's structure in a way most homeowners don't expect. Once an ash has been dead 3+ years, the trunk dries out brittle throughout, not just on the surface. It can snap mid-fell. Branches break off without warning. Climbers won't climb it. That's why the dead-ash job above was three times the live-ash job right next to it.
The takeaway: if you have ash trees on your property and you suspect EAB, the smart move is to take them down while they're still structurally sound. The $750 job at year two becomes the $2,100 job at year five. I say this every week and homeowners still wait.
Stump grinding — the add-on
Stump grinding is almost always a separate line. Here's roughly what it runs solo (meaning without a tree-drop job attached):
- Small stumps (under 16 inches): $75 to $120 each, more if there are multiple in one visit.
- Medium stumps (16-24 inches): $120 to $200.
- Large stumps (24-36 inches): $200 to $350.
- Giant or hard-access stumps: $350 and up, especially if the grinder has to be walked through narrow gates or over rough terrain.
When it's bundled with the tree removal on the same visit, grinding adds less because the setup cost is already paid. A stump ground in the same visit as the tree drop is usually $75 to $150 cheaper than a standalone grind of the same stump.
“Same tree species. Same diameter. Three to four times the price, purely because the homeowner waited.”
Red flags when shopping quotes
If you're getting multiple quotes, here's what to watch for. Some of this matters more than price.
- No certificate of insurance (COI). If an operator won't show you proof of general liability and workers' comp, walk away. If one of their guys gets hurt on your property and they're uninsured, your homeowner's coverage becomes the backstop and you may be personally on the hook.
- Cash-only, no written estimate. A real business writes things down. Cash-only with no paper trail usually means someone's avoiding taxes or insurance, and you don't want to be their customer.
- Pressure tactics. “We can do it today if you sign right now, price goes up tomorrow” is a scam. Legitimate tree work runs on scheduling, not artificial urgency.
- A lowball quote under $200 for anything 20 inches or larger. That price means someone is cutting corners — no insurance, no proper equipment, or they're going to show up, do half the work, and try to upsell you for the rest once they're on site.
- A quote 3x higher than everyone else's. Sometimes this is a real number — the tree actually does need a crane and nobody else was willing to bid that honestly. But get the high bidder to explain why. “It's just a bigger tree” isn't an answer.
When to call — timing matters
Tree work has a season, and shopping that season saves money. The slowest stretch for most Lakes Region operators is January through early March — frozen ground, slow phones, crews looking for work. That's the cheapest time to drop a tree, and the frozen ground means I can put heavy equipment in spots I'd tear up in July.
I wrote a whole post on this — why winter is the best time to take a hazard tree down. If you've got a tree you know needs to come down and it's not an immediate emergency, waiting for January rather than rushing in June often saves 15-25% on the quote.
The other side of the coin: post-storm work during an active storm season is the most expensive time. Demand spikes, operators are triaging emergencies, and the normal schedule flexibility disappears.
What I do on a quote visit
When I come to look at a tree, I'm reading the five variables above and telling you honestly what the job takes. I'll measure diameter, eyeball height, walk the access, look at what's under the drop zone, check condition, and write you a flat-rate quote. If there's something about the job that's hard to predict until we're in it — buried electrical, unknown root structure — I'll flag it up front rather than surprise you with a change order.
I don't charge for the visit. If you've got a tree you're wondering about, the only way to get a real number is to have someone who does this for a living look at it. You can read more about my tree work service on the main site, or reach out and I'll come walk it with you.