Tree Removal in Birmingham, AL

RJ Tree Service takes down trees for homeowners in Birmingham, Homewood, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills and Hoover – including the ones that hang over a roof, lean toward a neighbor or grow up through the power lines. We have been doing it since 1995. The estimate is free, Wesley comes out himself, and the price we give you includes hauling everything away.

We would rather save a tree than cut it. Plenty of customers call about a tree they think is dying and end up with a pruning job instead. But some trees really are done, and around Birmingham we see the same reasons again and again:

• Dead or dying trees – pines killed by bark beetles after a dry summer, oaks with rot at the base, trees that leafed out on one side only.
• Storm damage – split trunks, hangers, a tree that started to lean after the ground got soaked.
• Water oaks past their prime – they grow fast and are all over older neighborhoods, but at 50 to 70 years they often start rotting from the inside.
• Wrong tree, wrong place – a pine ten feet from the house, roots lifting the driveway, a tree that keeps dropping limbs on the carport.
• Room for something new – a pool, an addition, more sun for the garden.

If you are not sure, we will tell you honestly. One of our longtime customers put it this way: Wesley won’t cut a tree down that doesn’t need cutting.

Most trees in Birmingham yards cannot simply be felled – there is a house, a fence, a deck or a neighbor’s garden in the way. So we take them down in sections:

1. Estimate on site. We look at the tree, what is under it and how we can get equipment in. You get a price and a plan before anything starts.
2. Climbing and rigging. A climber works from the top down. Limbs that cannot fall free are tied off and lowered on ropes, so they don’t hit the roof, the gutters or the flower beds.
3. Crane when it makes sense. For big trees over a house, or in a backyard with no access, a crane lifts sections out over the roof. It is often faster and safer than climbing. See crane removals.
4. Trunk and cleanup. The trunk comes down in rounds. We chip the brush, haul the wood and rake up – customers mention the cleanup in their reviews more than anything else.

Every tree is priced on site, because the same 60-foot oak can be a half-day job in an open front yard and a two-day job behind a house on a slope. What changes the price:

• height and trunk size, and whether the wood is sound or rotten,
• what is under the tree – roof, power lines, a pool, a neighbor’s fence,
• access – can we get a truck and equipment near it, or does everything go out by hand,
• whether we need a crane,
• whether you want the stump ground out (we quote it separately) and whether you want to keep some firewood.

Getting a few quotes is smart. Make sure each one covers the same things: removal, hauling, cleanup and the stump.

On private property in most of the Birmingham area you do not need a permit to remove a tree. Some cities have their own rules, though – Homewood has a tree protection ordinance, and trees on the city right-of-way (the strip by the street) belong to the city. If your tree might fall under a city rule, we will tell you at the estimate so you can check with the city before we start.