Is Scotts Hill in Pender County or New Hanover?

The county line runs through this stretch — Scotts Hill sits on the Pender side of it, Porters Neck on the New Hanover side, and they are minutes apart on US-17. I work both, which is why they share a page, and the county your mailbox is in does not change the price.

You are close to us, right?

It is the shortest run I make in that direction: straight down US-17 from Hampstead. Where that matters is the week you want somebody to actually come and look at a tree instead of talking about it on the phone.

The builder left pines standing a few feet off the house. Can they come out now the house is up?

Yes, and it is the job I get called for most along here. A pine left through construction comes out in pieces with the lift set on the drive, which puts it in the $6,000–$8,000 band. Worth a number on it before one of them makes the decision for you.

I only want the limbs over the roof taken back. Do you do that?

Yes. Trimming starts at $400 where it can be reached from the ground or on rope, and $800 where the lift has to come off the trailer and be set up. On a healthy tree with one bad habit that is usually the right answer rather than taking the whole thing out.

Tree Service in Scotts Hill & Porters Neck, NC

Two names, one stretch of road. Scotts Hill sits on the Pender side of the county line and Porters Neck on the New Hanover side, a few minutes apart on US-17 with the Intracoastal Waterway out behind them to the east. They share a page here because they share everything that matters to a tree crew: the same corridor, the same mix of woods and new building, and the same short run from my place.

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The shortest run I make

I am at 532 McClammy Rd, Hampstead, NC 28443, so this is straight down the highway and barely a trip at all. Where that is worth something is the ordinary stuff: coming to stand under a tree and tell you what I think this week, rather than describing it to you over the phone and both of us guessing.

Which county you are in makes no difference to the price. It only ever comes up when somebody asks whose rules apply to something, and the answer there is to ask the county you actually live in — not a tree man.

Trees that were left standing when the house went up

This corridor has been building out for years, and the pattern I see over and over is a pine or two left a few feet from a new house because everybody wanted the shade and the look of mature trees on the lot. It is a good instinct. What it misses is that a pine which grew up inside a stand was being sheltered by every tree that came out to make room for the driveway.

Now it stands alone with its whole crown up top, and the roots have had construction traffic driven over them for a year. Those are the ones I get called back to. Taking one out beside a finished house means working off the drive and lowering every piece — the $6,000–$8,000 band — so it is worth a number on it while the decision is still yours to make.

Operator grinding a large fresh stump on bare sandy ground beside a newly built two-storey home. — Grinding out what is left of a big one beside a newer house. The bare ground around it is what a build leaves behind.

The older lots are a different job entirely

Between the newer places there are lots that have been wooded a long time, with live oak and magnolia in them that are wider than they are tall and evergreen the whole year. They are not removal candidates and I will say so. What they need is the limb over the roof taken back and the dead wood out of the middle: $400 and up on rope, $800 and up where the lift has to be set.

View down from the bucket over a dense evergreen magnolia canopy to the lift standing on the drive below. — Looking down into a magnolia from the bucket. From the ground you cannot see what is dead in the middle of one of these.

Trimming, and when it beats removal · Trees hard against the house.

Getting in off a busy highway

US-17 through here moves a lot of traffic, and on a property hanging straight off the highway the staging is half the planning: where the trailer sits, which way the tractor turns, and how we keep the end of your drive from becoming the problem. On the subdivision streets behind it none of that applies and the job runs faster.

Stump grinding goes the same visit either way — $7 per inch of diameter, $200 minimum, up to 12 inches below grade — and in this sandy ground that depth is what lets grass close back over it.

Stump grinding · Every price I have · Wilmington, the next run south.

Recent work from our crew

A few of my crew's jobs in newer yards: backyard pines, bare ground, and the stump put back to lawn.

Bucket lift reaching a tall pine over a fenced backyard with a children's playset below. — Reaching a tall pine over a fenced backyard with a playset below.

Bucket lift working high in a backyard tree alongside the back wall of a house. — Working high in a backyard tree alongside the back wall of a house.

Ground stump area levelled off on the lawn beside a suburban garage and driveway. — A ground stump levelled off on the lawn beside a garage and drive.

Finished grindings spread and levelled across a yard with a grapple truck working behind. — Grindings spread and levelled, with the grapple truck working behind.

Scotts Hill and Porters Neck questions

Is Scotts Hill in Pender County or New Hanover?: The county line runs through this stretch — Scotts Hill sits on the Pender side of it, Porters Neck on the New Hanover side, and they are minutes apart on US-17. I work both, which is why they share a page, and the county your mailbox is in does not change the price.
You are close to us, right?: It is the shortest run I make in that direction: straight down US-17 from Hampstead. Where that matters is the week you want somebody to actually come and look at a tree instead of talking about it on the phone.
The builder left pines standing a few feet off the house. Can they come out now the house is up?: Yes, and it is the job I get called for most along here. A pine left through construction comes out in pieces with the lift set on the drive, which puts it in the $6,000–$8,000 band. Worth a number on it before one of them makes the decision for you.
I only want the limbs over the roof taken back. Do you do that?: Yes. Trimming starts at $400 where it can be reached from the ground or on rope, and $800 where the lift has to come off the trailer and be set up. On a healthy tree with one bad habit that is usually the right answer rather than taking the whole thing out.

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