Are you based in Wilmington?

No, and I would rather say so. I am at 532 McClammy Rd, Hampstead, NC 28443, and Wilmington is the south end of my area — a run down US-17, not an office in town. The drive is mine to deal with. It does not go on your bill.

Should the live oak over my roof come out, or be trimmed?

Trimmed, nine times out of ten. A healthy live oak will outlast the roof it is leaning over, and what is actually causing the trouble is usually a few limbs rather than the tree. Trimming starts at $400, or $800 where the lift is needed to get over the house.

There is no gate access and no room behind the house. How does the tree get out?

Down the side and out the front, in pieces small enough to carry. My equipment is built to fit a 36-inch gate for exactly this, and where even that will not go the tree is climbed and every piece roped down to the drive. Nothing gets dropped on a lot that size.

We are on a narrow street with cars parked both sides. Is that a problem?

It is the first thing I look at and it is usually solvable: screens up, trailer tucked in, and one space kept clear for the hour that pieces are coming down. Tell me what the street is like when you call — it changes how long the job takes more than the tree does.

Tree Service in Wilmington, NC

Wilmington is the south end of my area and the hardest place in it to get a tree out of. Old neighborhoods on small lots, live oaks that were big before the houses were built, parked cars both sides of the street and a back yard you can only reach down one side. None of that is a reason not to do the work. It is the reason it has to be planned.

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Where I actually am

Up the road. I am at 532 McClammy Rd, Hampstead, NC 28443, which is a run down US-17 — not an office in town, and I am not going to put a Wilmington address on a web page to look like something I am not. The drive is my problem, not yours: there is no trip charge on the estimate and none on the work.

What it does mean is that I am worth calling for the job you have to think about, not the one that needs a truck in ten minutes. If something is already through the roof, call whoever can get there soonest. If you want the tree taken off properly and the yard left clean, I will tell you the day I can be there and be there.

Live oaks are usually worth keeping

The big spreading oaks over the old streets are the best trees in the area, and most of the time what they need is a trim, not a removal. They hold limbs out horizontally over a roof for decades, and a healthy one will outlast the shingles it is shading. A limb back off the roof and the dead wood out of the middle runs from $400, or from $800 where the lift has to be set up to reach over the house.

Bucket lift raised above a roofline in the narrow gap between two houses, climber working in the canopy. — Up over the roofline in the gap between two houses. On a lot this size the only route for a piece of wood is straight down.

When the only way in is four feet wide

A city back yard with a fence, a shed and a neighbour three feet the other side of it is the standard Wilmington job. My equipment is sized to fit a 36-inch gate for exactly that reason, so in most cases the machines come through rather than the fence coming out.

Where even that will not go, the tree is climbed and everything comes down on rope in pieces a man can carry, out the side and onto the trailer at the kerb. Removals like that price as close work — $6,000–$8,000 for a tree hard against a building, against $1,500–$3,500 with room around it.

Tight-space and backyard removals · Trees up against the house.

Working on a street instead of in a yard

Half of a city job is everything that is not the tree: where the trailer goes, which cars move, whose drive we stand across, how long the kerb is tied up. Screens go up between the grinder and anything a stone can chip, and the street stays passable. Tell me what the parking is like when you call — it shapes the day more than the tree does.

Stump grinder working a front-yard stump with a safety screen set up between the wheel and a parked car. — Screen set between the grinder and what is parked beside it. Standard on a close lot, and it is why nothing ends up in anybody's paintwork.

Stumps where there is no room for a machine

Same rate as everywhere — $7 per inch of diameter, $200 minimum, taken up to 12 inches below grade — and on an old city lot the question is never the price, it is whether the grinder can get to it. If it fits down the side it is ground while the crew is already there, which beats bringing one back for it. The phone is answered open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, storm or no storm.

Stump grinding, priced by the inch · Tree on the house right now · Porters Neck and Scotts Hill, just up US-17.

Recent work from our crew

A few of my crew's jobs on tight lots, where the only route for a piece of wood is straight down.

Bucket lift trimming a large oak reaching over a single-storey ranch home. — Trimming a large oak reaching over a single-storey ranch home.

Bucket lift taking a bare hardwood apart inside a fenced backyard with the tractor standing by. — Taking a bare hardwood apart inside a fenced backyard.

Bucket lift removing an ivy-covered tree standing close against a house. — Removing an ivy-covered tree standing tight against a house.

Wilmington questions I get asked

Are you based in Wilmington?: No, and I would rather say so. I am at 532 McClammy Rd, Hampstead, NC 28443, and Wilmington is the south end of my area — a run down US-17, not an office in town. The drive is mine to deal with. It does not go on your bill.
Should the live oak over my roof come out, or be trimmed?: Trimmed, nine times out of ten. A healthy live oak will outlast the roof it is leaning over, and what is actually causing the trouble is usually a few limbs rather than the tree. Trimming starts at $400, or $800 where the lift is needed to get over the house.
There is no gate access and no room behind the house. How does the tree get out?: Down the side and out the front, in pieces small enough to carry. My equipment is built to fit a 36-inch gate for exactly this, and where even that will not go the tree is climbed and every piece roped down to the drive. Nothing gets dropped on a lot that size.
We are on a narrow street with cars parked both sides. Is that a problem?: It is the first thing I look at and it is usually solvable: screens up, trailer tucked in, and one space kept clear for the hour that pieces are coming down. Tell me what the street is like when you call — it changes how long the job takes more than the tree does.

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