Tree Removal in Pittsburgh, PA

Tree removal in Pittsburgh is mostly sectional work. Very few city lots have a clear landing zone the length of a mature tree, so a climber or a lift takes the crown apart from the top: small limbs first, then larger limbs and finally the trunk in pieces. Anything heavy, or anything above a roof, a wall or a neighbor's yard, is tied off and lowered on a rope instead of dropped. The tree's height matters, but access, what lies underneath and the condition of the wood usually decide how long the job takes and what it costs.

When a tree should come out

Some cases are clear: a dead tree, a large cavity or bracket fungus at the base, a trunk split down a fork, or a fresh lean with cracked or heaving soil on the far side. Others are judgment calls, like a healthy maple that has simply outgrown a 30-foot-wide lot, a Callery pear that drops a major limb every few winters, or a Norway maple with roots wrapped around its own trunk. We tell you what we see, and when pruning or cabling would solve the problem instead, we say so.

Dead ash and other brittle wood

Emerald ash borer was found in Butler County in 2007 and Penn State Extension reports it in every Pennsylvania county. Heavily infested ash die within a few years, and as dead ash dry out the wood gets brittle, so limbs can snap during rigging instead of swinging where they are aimed. That often means more lift work and smaller pieces, which takes longer. The same is true for trees killed by oak wilt or long-dead black locust and cherry on wooded hillsides. Taking a dying tree down before it is fully dead is usually simpler and cheaper.

Street trees, wires and neighbors

If a tree stands in the City of Pittsburgh right-of-way, it belongs to the city. Removing it privately requires a tree work permit through the Forestry Division, and the city asks residents to call Forestry first; the city may also remove hazardous street trees itself. We do not cut near energized lines. Duquesne Light handles conflicts with its wires, and we take down the rest of the tree once the line is clear. For limbs hanging over a neighbor's house, it helps to let the neighbor know before work day, since a climber or ground crew may need a few feet of their yard.

What happens to the wood

You decide. Logs can be left in rounds, cut to firewood length, or hauled away; brush is chipped, and chips can stay for mulch or leave with us. Pennsylvania's experience with emerald ash borer and oak wilt is the reason to keep firewood local and not carry it to a camp or another county. The stump is its own line on the quote and can be ground the same day or later.

When a crane makes sense

Occasionally a tree is too big, too decayed or too close to a house to climb safely, and there is no way to get a lift to it. In those cases a crane can lift whole sections over the house to the street. It costs more per hour but can shorten a long, risky climb into a few hours, and on some Pittsburgh lots it is the only sensible way. We tell you at the estimate if a job looks like crane work.