Regular maintenance of trees protects their health as well as well as the health of other plants from disease and infestations. Maintenance also contributes to the long life of your trees and other aspects of your landscaping. You can perform regular maintenance chores yourself at a fraction of the cost if you were to hire a professional. But inexperience and lack of knowledge might come at a price — a price that will rise significantly if you want to keep your trees alive.
That’s why many people rely on the services of a landscape contractor or arborist to maintain the health and aesthetic beauty of their trees. Depending on the type of tree and the number of trees, a homeowner or business owner could spend thousands of dollars to maintain the health and look of trees.
Whether tree maintenance is expensive is up to the individual. What might be considered an expensive bill for one person might be a routine payment for another. One thing is for certain, when it comes to tree maintenance, people should consider hiring a licensed and certified professional.
Cost to remove a tree
Factors such as size and age of a tree, the type of tree, the tree’s height and complexity of getting to the tree as well as your locale and the time of year will help determine the cost of removing a tree. Removing a tree usually is not as simple as just firing up the chain-saw and cutting.
Professional tree removal companies have the expertise and experience to remove unwanted trees that pose dangers. Doing it yourself is hazardous and could result in death. In 2012 alone, more than 60 people suffered fatal injuries from either falling out of a tree or being struck by a limb during attempts to cut a tree down.
Costs could be as low as a couple of hundred dollars and as high as a couple of thousand dollars depending.
Tree maintenance
Not taking care of trees, whether it involves trimming branches or removing a dying tree can cause widespread problems, for not just the home or business owner but for an entire community. There have been reports of entire neighborhoods having to treat diseased trees that have not been taken care of. In these instances, yes, tree maintenance has been expensive, and could have been avoided.
Cases have been reported where questionable trimming near major power lines has interfered with a utility’s effort to provide electricity. The result: a massive power failure similar to what occurred in Ohio in 2003 and along the West Coast in 1996. While those outages were massive in numbers, there have been plenty of reports blaming poor maintenance of trees on smaller-scale outages.
Cost factors with tree maintenance
The number one cost associated is insurance. Tree maintenance is a high-risk industry. Workman’s compensation insurance rates rival that of coal miners. Companies lament they must pay 25 percent of what an employee earns to cover insurance costs. Respected maintenance companies carry more than $1 million of liability insurance just to cover any accident or property that might be damaged.
The cost of labor could range from $50 to $100 per hour, per man on the project. The difference is based on experience and equipment. Those companies that have invested in better equipment and better-trained workers are able to complete jobs quicker.
We talked with Panorama Tree Care about cost factors, and they added, “Another important factor is the accessibility of the trees that need to be taken care of. Obstacles such as fences, power lines and other trees and shrubs might make it more difficult to maneuver equipment, thus the price to maintain the trees increases.”
Offset cost of maintenance
One way to make tree maintenance less costly is to plant a big shade tree. Not only do trees improve the quality of life, they can save you money. Well-planned landscaping can cut a homeowners’ electric bill by 50 percent, according to the American Power Association.
A well placed shade tree will reduce summer temperature by up to 10 degree under their canopies. Not only will a maple or ash tree reduce heat reflected from areas that are paved, these trees also will attract and sustain wildlife and increase your property value.
If your yard already is costing a lot in maintenance, there are shade trees, such as the Thornless Honeylocust that require little care. Check with a local County Extension agent to get advice on which trees might be best for your area to keep maintenance costs in line.
