Snap a few photos for an instant tree removal or trimming estimate — the service, size, and risk, as a price range. Then set your budget and let vetted local companies bid. No account needed.
How the instant estimate works
Upload photos of the tree — ideally one of the whole tree, one of the trunk, and one looking up into the canopy. timber.bid reads height and trunk diameter against the reference objects in frame, works out roughly how much wood is up there and what has to happen to get it down safely, and returns a price band rather than a single number.
A band is the honest answer. Nobody can quote a tree exactly from photographs — the things that move a price most are access, what is underneath, and the condition of the wood, and two of those are only fully knowable on site. The estimate exists so you know whether you are looking at a $400 job or a $4,000 one before anyone comes out, and so you can tell a fair quote from a bad one.
Nothing is charged for it and no account is required. When you are ready, post the job and local companies bid on it — you set the budget and pick the crew.
What actually moves a tree removal price
Height and trunk diameter
The single biggest driver. A 25-foot ornamental is a couple of hours with a chainsaw and a chipper; a 70-foot oak is a rigging job. Diameter matters as much as height — wood volume grows with the square of the trunk, so a 30-inch trunk is more than twice the wood of a 20-inch one.
What is underneath it
A tree over open lawn can be felled in one piece. The same tree over a roof, a fence, a pool or a neighbour’s driveway has to come down in controlled sections on ropes, which is slower and carries real risk. This is usually the difference between two quotes on the same tree.
Access for equipment
A crew that can back a chipper and a bucket truck to the trunk works far faster than one carrying every limb through a side gate. Backyard removals with no vehicle access commonly run half again the price of the same tree out front.
Crane versus climbing
A crane costs more per hour and less per job when the alternative is a full day of climbing and rigging. Crews reach for one when the tree is large, dead, or positioned so that lowering pieces by rope is unsafe. Any estimate that involves a crane should be confirmed on site.
Condition of the tree
Dead, hollow or storm-damaged trees are more dangerous and often more expensive, because a climber cannot trust the wood to hold. Decay is also the usual reason a removal cannot wait.
Power lines nearby
Work close to service drops or primary lines requires clearance, and in many places the utility — not the homeowner — is responsible for trees touching their conductors. Worth one phone call before paying for it.
Stump: grind, remove, or leave
Stump grinding is usually quoted separately and priced by diameter. Leaving the stump is cheaper today and a problem later if you intend to replant or resod. Full excavation of the root plate costs more again.
Cleanup and hauling
Chipping brush on site and hauling the wood away is labour and tipping fees. Keeping the rounds for firewood, or letting the crew keep them, can reduce a quote — timber.bid’s free-wood board exists because that wood has value to someone.
Emergency and storm work
A tree on a house at 2am is priced for the call-out and the risk, not the cubic feet. If a tree has already caused damage, photograph everything before anything is moved — your insurer will ask.
Typical prices where you live
Labour, disposal fees and demand vary by market, so the same tree is not the same price in Houston and San Francisco. Price bands by tree size for every state and major metro are on the
tree removal cost pages, computed with the same pricing engine behind this estimator.
If a tree has already fallen
Storm damage is a different sequence: document first, cut second. Photograph the damage from several angles before anything is moved, then get an estimate you can hand to an adjuster.
How tree claims get triaged walks through what insurers ask for, and
emergency tree removal covers getting a crew out the same day.
Related