Tree Removal in Wollongong

Removal is the last option, not the first

A good share of the trees we get called out to look at do not need to come down. A lean is not automatically a hazard, a few dead limbs are not a death sentence, and lifting a canopy off a roof is usually a fraction of the cost of removing the whole tree. Our arborist will tell you when that is the case, even though it is the smaller invoice.

When removal genuinely is the answer, it is normally one of these: the tree is structurally failing, the roots are into the sewer or the slab, it is the wrong species for the block, it is dead or dying, or it has to go to make room for a build.

Wollongong blocks make removals harder than most

The Illawarra squeezes a lot of geography into a narrow strip. West of the highway you are on the escarpment foothills, where blocks are steep, access is a single driveway and there is often no drop zone at all. East of it you are on coastal sand and clay with houses close together and neighbours' colorbond within a metre of the trunk. Both make a straight fell impossible.

So we climb it and take it apart from the top down, rigging each section on ropes and lowering it under control. Where a tree is too compromised to climb, or the sections are too heavy to rig, we bring in an elevated work platform or a crane and lift limbs out over the roofline to the street. That call gets made at the quote, not on the day, so the price does not move.

The species we remove most around here

• Blackbutt and Sydney blue gum - the big escarpment eucalypts. Tall, heavy, and often on the steepest part of the block.
• Turpentine - dense, wet, brutally heavy timber that punishes an undersized rigging setup.
• Camphor laurel - a declared weed across much of the Illawarra. Enormous root systems, into pipes and footings, and usually exempt from council protection.
• Coral trees - brittle, weedy and prone to dropping whole limbs without warning.
• Cocos palms - another weed species. Seed everywhere, harbour rats, and cheaper to remove once than to trim every year.
• Norfolk Island pines - the coastal strip favourites. Protected in a lot of streets and usually better reduced than removed.

What it costs

Most residential removals in the Illawarra land between $450 and $4,000. Four things move that number: height, access, what sits underneath the tree, and whether the stump goes too. A small ornamental in an open Horsley backyard is a couple of hours. A mature blackbutt on a Mount Keira slope with no side access and powerlines through the canopy is a full day with extra gear.

Every quote is fixed and in writing. We never quote hourly, because an hourly rate only ever protects the contractor.

Council approval

Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama councils all protect trees above a certain size through their development control plans, and each one draws the line slightly differently. Some species are exempt, weed species usually are, and dead or dangerous trees have their own pathway. If your property is in a mapped 10/50 bushfire entitlement area, different rules again may apply.

We work out which of those applies to your address before we quote and tell you plainly. If an application is needed, we write the arborist report that goes with it.