Tree removal and felling in Teesside
Tree removal on Teesside costs £150 to £400 for a small tree that can be felled in one piece, and £500 to £1,500 for a large tree dismantled in sections. Most suburban gardens need the dismantle: the tree is climbed and lowered branch by branch on ropes, so nothing touches the greenhouse, the fence or next door's roof.
Felling vs dismantling, and why it sets the price
A tree in an open field can be felled in one piece: a notch, a back cut, and it is down in minutes. Almost no tree in a Teesside garden works that way. Terraced and semi-detached plots in Middlesbrough and Stockton mean the average removal is a sectional dismantle: a climber works up the tree, removes the crown in pieces, and lowers everything on rigging ropes to a ground crew who feed the chipper. It is slower, more skilled, and it is why two trees of the same height can be £400 apart on price.
The other price drivers are access (can the chipper and timber get out through the house or a side passage?), what is under the tree (sheds, conservatories, ponds and next door's extensions all add rigging time), and the timber itself. Dead ash, now common across Teesside as ash dieback takes hold, is brittle and unpredictable to climb, so a dead tree is not automatically a cheap tree.
What a removal quote should include
- Felling or dismantling of the tree to near ground level.
- All brash chipped and timber removed, or stacked as logs if you want to keep it. State your preference when you request the quote, it changes the price.
- The stump. Grinding is normally priced separately (£60 to £250 depending on diameter), so check whether it is in or out.
- VAT and any council permission costs if the tree is protected.
Permission comes first
Before any removal, two checks: is the tree covered by a Tree Preservation Order, and is the property in a conservation area? Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar & Cleveland and Hartlepool all hold public TPO registers, and in a conservation area any tree over 75mm diameter needs six weeks' written notice (a Section 211 notice) before work. Removing a protected tree without consent carries unlimited fines. Dead, dying and genuinely dangerous trees have exemptions, but the evidence has to exist, photos and, for ash dieback, a note of how far the dieback has progressed. Our permission guide walks through all four Teesside councils.
How the job runs on the day
A straightforward two-person dismantle of a medium garden tree takes half a day to a day. The crew will want parking for the chipper and truck as close as possible, and a clear route from the tree to it. Everything above head height comes down on ropes in controlled pieces; the lawn gets sheets or boards where the drag routes run. When it is done, the brash is chip, the rings are gone or stacked, and you are left with a stump and a decision about grinding it.