Tree Service in Westchester, FL

What does a tree service actually do?

A tree service handles the work on a property that is too tall, too heavy, or too close to something expensive for a homeowner to take on. That covers taking a whole tree down, thinning or shortening a canopy that has gotten out of hand, cutting fronds and seed pods off palms, and grinding out the stump once the tree is gone. It also covers the cleanup: hauling brush, raking the beds, and blowing off the driveway so the yard looks finished instead of wrecked. We carry insurance because the cost of a limb through a barrel tile roof is not something a homeowner should be carrying.

Why do trees fall here when they seem fine everywhere else?

Westchester sits on a shelf of oolitic limestone with a thin layer of soil over the top of it. Roots cannot drive down into rock, so they run sideways instead, spreading wide and shallow under lawns, driveways, and slabs. A tree that looks enormous and healthy may be anchored in eighteen inches of dirt. Add a summer afternoon where four inches of rain turns that layer to soup, then a downburst off a thunderstorm, and the whole root plate can lift like a trap door. This is why a tree failing here is usually an anchoring problem, not a health problem. The trunk is sound. The ground let go.

Which trees cause the most trouble on Westchester lots?

Ficus is the usual suspect. The laurel figs and benjamina hedges planted across these neighborhoods in the sixties have roots that lift driveways, crack walkways, and find their way into old clay sewer lines. Black olive drops heavy limbs and stains everything under it. Royal poincianas get top heavy and split at the trunk union. Queen palms planted in this soil run short on potassium and start dropping fronds early. Mango and avocado get too big for the lots they were planted on forty years ago, and avocado in particular is vulnerable to laurel wilt, which kills a tree fast enough that people think it happened overnight.

When should you have your trees looked at?

Call before hurricane season rather than during it. Beyond that, a few things are worth a look no matter the month:

• Limbs over the roof, the pool cage, or the driveway
• Branches growing into the FPL service drop
• Mushrooms or shelf fungus at the base of a trunk or palm
• A trunk that has started leaning, or soil lifting on one side
• Cracks in the driveway or walkway that follow a root line
• A palm whose oldest fronds are browning from the tips inward

A tree with a hollow base or lifting soil is not a wait-and-see situation. If the structure is gone, the right move is to take the tree out before it decides on its own.

What does hurricane season do to a canopy?

Between June and November, wind finds whatever the tree has not dealt with on its own. Dense, unthinned canopies catch wind like a sail and put the whole load on the root plate. Dead limbs that have been hanging for two years come down first. Palms throw fronds, and coconuts turn into projectiles at forty miles an hour. The work that actually helps is cutting the canopy back and letting wind pass through it, done in spring, not during a watch. Once a storm is named, every crew in the county is booked.

Do palms need different work than shade trees?

Yes, and this is where a lot of damage gets done in South Florida. A palm does not heal a cut the way a hardwood does, and it cannot grow a new bud. Stripping fronds up into a narrow plume, what crews around here call a hurricane cut, takes away the food the palm lives on and leaves the growing point exposed. It does not make the palm safer. Because palm work follows its own rules, we cut to the horizontal, take the seed pods and the dead fronds, and leave the green ones alone.

What happens to the stump after the tree is gone?

A cut stump left in the ground keeps doing things. Ficus and schefflera will send up shoots and start rebuilding themselves. Subterranean termites, which are everywhere in this part of the county, treat rotting wood near a foundation as an invitation. And you cannot lay sod or pour anything over it. We grind the stump and the surface roots down below grade, then backfill with the grindings or haul them out, whichever you want. On limestone lots we usually hit rock before we hit the bottom of the root, which is normal and does not affect the result.

What affects the cost of tree work?

Nobody can price a tree over the phone with any honesty, but the factors are straightforward. Height and trunk diameter drive most of it. Access drives the rest: a tree in an open front yard is a fraction of the cost of the same tree behind a house with a five-foot side yard and a pool cage in the way, because the second one has to come out in small pieces by rope instead of being dropped whole. Proximity to the house, the neighbor's roof, or power lines adds rigging time. Species matters too, since a black olive is far heavier per foot than a queen palm. Debris volume and whether you want the wood hauled or left for firewood affects the final number. We look at all of it on site and give you a written price before anything starts.

Do you need a permit to remove a tree?

In most cases, yes. The county regulates tree removal on private property, and there are exemptions, commonly for certain fruit trees and for species on the prohibited invasive list such as Brazilian pepper and Australian pine. The rules change often enough that guessing is a bad idea, and removing a protected tree without approval carries real penalties. We tell you where your tree falls before we quote it, and we handle the application when one is needed.

What does the property look like when you leave?

Better than a tree crew usually leaves it. Brush goes in the chipper as we cut rather than piling up in the street. Logs get cut to length and loaded. We rake the beds, blow the driveway, sidewalk, and street, and walk the yard looking for the pieces that end up in a hedge. If we drive equipment across the grass we tell you first and we use mats where the turf is soft. You should not be able to tell where the chipper sat.

Common questions from homeowners

How much does tree removal cost?

It depends on size and access more than anything else, which is why we do not quote sight unseen. A medium palm in an open yard and a mature ficus wedged between two houses are different jobs entirely. The estimate is free, it is written, and it is the price you pay unless you ask us to add something.

Do you haul everything away?

Yes. Chipping, hauling, and cleanup are in the quoted price, not added afterward. If you want logs left for firewood or mulch left in the beds, say so and we will leave them. Otherwise nothing stays behind.

How soon can you get here?

Estimates usually happen within a day or two. Scheduled work typically runs one to two weeks out, and longer in late spring when everyone is getting ready for storm season. If a tree is already on a structure, we can usually get a crew out the same day.

Are you insured, and can I see proof?

We carry general liability and workers' compensation, and we will send certificates before we start. Ask any company for both. If a worker is hurt on an uninsured crew, the claim can land on the homeowner's policy, and that is a bad way to find out.

Do I need to be home when you do the work?

Not for most jobs, as long as we have gate access and you have marked anything you want protected. We will confirm the plan with you first and send photos when it is finished. For work near a pool cage or a screen enclosure, we would rather walk it with you before the saws come out.

Where we work

We work in Westchester, from the Palmetto out to SW 97th Avenue and from Coral Way down past Bird Road. The shop is on SW 47th Street.