Storm Cleanup in Hampstead, NC
When the wind quits, my crew and I clear what it left — the tree off the house, a tarp over the hole, the snapped tops still hanging in the canopy, the brush across the yard. The phone is answered open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the estimate is free.
5.0 from 34 Google reviews (Nov 2026)
Is the tree still on the house?
Then don't read the rest of this page — call. A tree lying on a roof is not cleanup, it is an emergency, and it gets handled differently and priced differently. Emergency removals run $6,000–$15,000+.
24/7 emergency tree service — what to do first and how we work at night.
This page is about the part that comes after — once everybody is safe, the tree is off the structure, and what is left is a yard full of wood.
There is a third case in between the two: the tree is still standing, but it is leaning further than it was on Friday. That is worth looking at properly before anybody decides it can wait — what to check on a leaning tree after a storm.
Do you tarp the roof?
Yes. Once the tree is lifted clear we get a tarp over the opening so the next band of rain does not go through it — and around here the second band usually does arrive. Water coming in after the tree is gone can cost more than the tree did.
Be clear on what that is: it is a tarp, not a roof repair. It buys you a dry house until a roofer can get out, which after a widespread blow can be a while.
What does storm cleanup actually cover?
Whatever the storm left, in the order that makes the yard safe fastest — in practice, four things:
- Hangers and snapped tops. The broken piece caught thirty feet up in what is left of the canopy — the most dangerous thing in the yard, and the one people most often try to deal with themselves.
- Trees down across the yard. Cut into rounds, limbed out and moved off the grass, fence or driveway they landed on.
- The brush and the wood. Dragged out and hauled away, which is the longest part of almost every storm job and the part nobody photographs.
- Leaners that have not come down yet. A pine that has shifted in soft ground is a tree on a timer. We take those down while the equipment is already in the yard.
What does it cost?
Storm cleanup is priced like any other job, with a $800 minimum. Past that it is a free estimate rather than a price band, because no two storms leave the same mess — a pine across a lawn and a pine across a fence, a shed and a power drop are the same tree and two different days. If the tree is still on the structure it is emergency work at $6,000–$15,000+.
Just need the debris loaded and gone?
If somebody else already cut it and all that is left is loading — my dump trailer and a skid steer or tractor — the first $800 covers two dump loads locally, or one load from the outskirts of the service area. If there is more than that, tell me roughly how big the pile is when you call and I will price it before we start.
What about the stump and the root plate?
A storm-thrown tree usually brings its root plate up with it, so what you are left with is not a flat stump but a wall of roots and sand standing on edge. We grind those out the same as any other stump — $7 per inch of diameter, $200 minimum, up to 12 inches below grade — and push the grindings back into the hole the root ball tore open.
How stump grinding is priced and how deep it goes.
Will I have something for the insurance company?
Yes — the estimate is free and it is yours to send to your insurer. What they cover is between you and them, but the work and the number go in writing. Photograph the damage before anybody moves anything, the tree included. That picture is worth more to a claim than anything I can write afterwards.
Which towns do you clear storm damage in?
Hampstead, Wilmington, Jacksonville, Surf City, Sneads Ferry, Holly Ridge, Rocky Point, Burgaw, Topsail Beach, Scotts Hill / Porters Neck, across Pender County, New Hanover County, Onslow County. This is pine country on sandy ground, a combination that drops trees in weather that would not bother an oak inland. My equipment fits through a 36-inch gate, so a back garden full of storm wood behind a closed fence is still a job we can get to.
Questions I get asked
- Yes — open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, weekends and holidays included. Storms do not keep business hours, so neither does the phone.
- Yes. Once the tree is off, we tarp the roof so the next band of rain does not go through the hole the tree made. That is not a roof repair — it is what keeps the inside of your house dry until a roofer can get to it.
- Yes, and the yard is usually the bigger half of the work. Snapped tops still hanging in the canopy, limbs scattered across the lawn, brush piled against the fence — that is the part that takes the time after a storm.
- Storm cleanup is priced like any other job, with a $800 minimum. If all you need is the debris loaded and taken away — dump trailer and a skid steer or tractor — that first $800 covers two dump loads locally, or one load from the outskirts of the service area. If the tree is still on the house that is emergency work, and emergency removals run $6,000–$15,000+.
- No — leave it. A limb under tension looks like loose brush right up until it is not, and anything touching a power line is the power company's call before it is mine. Stay clear of it and let us take it apart.
Tell me what the storm left
Send me the details and a photo if you have one, or call — the phone is answered open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The estimate is free, and I'd love to be your tree guy.