Tree Care Apps & Tools

Cost Estimate

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Tree Care Apps & Tools Cost Estimate
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Tree Care Tool

Tree Service Cost Estimation Wizard

A price range for removal, trimming, stumps or emergency work — built from the same bands this crew prices from, with every driver named.

4 screens, about a minute Nothing you type leaves this page How it works

Rates and bands last reviewed October 2026 · coastal San Luis Obispo County market rates

Terms of use, and the limits of these tools — please read before you rely on a figure

In short: these are estimates and general information, not quotes, appraisals or advice. Prices here can be higher or lower than Cambria Pines Tree Service Inc. or anyone else would charge, and ticking the box on the first screen means you accept the terms. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Read all 13 terms in full →

Tick the box above to begin — 9 screens, about a minute, one question at a time.

Step 1 of 9

What needs doing

How to answer this

Every job is priced in the same three parts: getting the material down, getting it out of the garden, and the risk the crew takes to do both. Tell the calculator which one you need.

What needs doing?

Before you answer
  • A removal is priced by the trunk at breast height rather than by the height of the tree — the diameter is what decides the rigging.
  • Emergency work is the same removal with the crew pulled off the schedule and done in the dark, which is what the urgency factor pays for.
  • A written inspection is a report and not tree work, which makes it the cheapest line on this page.
  • Fire clearance is priced by the parcel rather than by the tree, because the work is the gaps between them.

Step 2 of 9

Trunk diameter

How to answer this

Measure around the trunk at about chest height, then divide by 3.14 — or just estimate.

in. Measure around the trunk at about chest height, then divide by 3.14 — or just estimate.

Before you answer
  • A tape around the trunk divided by 3.14 gives the diameter — a 57 in. circumference is an 18 in. trunk.
  • Past 60 ft most coastal pines are rigged rather than dropped, and past 90 ft the crane and the traffic control arrive with it.
  • Access and obstacles are priced per tree: the oak out front and the pine behind the shed are not the same job, even on the same day.
  • Coastal pines are often sound at the base and top-heavy at the crown, which is where removals here go wrong.

Step 3 of 9

How tall is it

How to answer this

Measure the trunk at about chest height, and divide the circumference by 3.14 if your tape only reads around. Then say how the crew reaches THIS tree and what sits underneath it — every tree you add carries its own three answers.

How tall is it?

Step 4 of 9

How easy is access

How to answer this

Measure the trunk at about chest height, and divide the circumference by 3.14 if your tape only reads around. Then say how the crew reaches THIS tree and what sits underneath it — every tree you add carries its own three answers.

How easy is access?

Step 5 of 9

What is underneath it

How to answer this

Measure the trunk at about chest height, and divide the circumference by 3.14 if your tape only reads around. Then say how the crew reaches THIS tree and what sits underneath it — every tree you add carries its own three answers.

What is underneath it?

Step 6 of 9

How soon

How to answer this

Measure the trunk at about chest height, and divide the circumference by 3.14 if your tape only reads around. Then say how the crew reaches THIS tree and what sits underneath it — every tree you add carries its own three answers.

How soon?

Step 7 of 9

What happens to the debris

How to answer this

Cleanup is the one answer that belongs to the whole job rather than to one tree: one truck leaves with every tree's brush and wood, so it is asked once and applied once.

What happens to the debris?

Before you answer
  • Leaving the chips is mulch for the garden and takes roughly 7% off the work; leaving split firewood as well takes about 15% off.
  • Hauling is priced per load, and a two-tree job is usually still one load when the wood is cut to length.
  • Nothing is left in the gutter or the neighbour's garden — the clean-up is part of the job, not an extra.

Step 8 of 9

Stumps to grind

How to answer this

Leave at 0 if you are not grinding stumps.

stumps Leave at 0 if you are not grinding stumps.

Before you answer
  • Grinding runs about $12 to $20 per inch of stump diameter, with a $150 minimum per stump.
  • Leaving the chips is mulch for the garden and takes roughly 7% off the work; leaving split firewood as well takes about 15% off.
  • Grinding goes below grade and the hole is closed — never a stump left at grade with the spoil piled beside it.

Step 9 of 9

Stump diameter

How to answer this

The width of the stump across, not the trunk height.

in. The width of the stump across, not the trunk height.

Your answer

Your estimate

How to read this

A range with every driver named, so you can see which answer moved the number and what a walk-through would still have to confirm.

Go deeper

What moves the number, and how a price is actually built and paid

What can change this number

The estimate is a range because these are the things that move it, and every one of them is decided on the day rather than on the form.

A crane instead of a climber
A tree with no safe rigging point, or one that must come down whole and be lifted out, needs a crane and the traffic control that comes with it. It is the single largest jump a removal takes.
The drop zone and the access
A narrow gate, a steep slope, soft ground or a fence in the way means hand carrying and winching — roughly a quarter to half again on the labour, before anything else changes.
Utility coordination
Work inside a conductor exclusion zone needs the utility, insulated tooling and a crew briefed for it. It changes the method as well as the price, and it can add days of waiting.
Permits and protected species
A coastal-zone parcel, a protected oak or a heritage tree can need a permit or a season restriction before any cut is made. That is schedule and paperwork, and occasionally a refusal.

When this estimate will be wrong

A browser cannot see inside a tree. These are the ways the real job turns out to be different from the form, and the direction the error almost always runs.

Decay you cannot see
A hollow base, a cracked union or a rotten root plate is found when the first cut opens the wood. A tree that was going to be felled can become a rigged dismantle in an afternoon.
A wider canopy than it looks
From the ground, a coastal pine looks narrower than it is. Rigging, exclusion zones and the time in the air are all set by the real spread.
A neighbour's tree involved
Half a tree hanging over a boundary means permission, access across someone else's land, and sometimes a shared cost that nobody has agreed to yet.
A tree already resting on something
A tree lying on a roof, a fence or a car is a different job from a standing removal — every piece is under tension and has to be released rather than dropped.
What moved this
  • Read it as an indicative range and not a quote: the species, the rigging and any hidden decay are confirmed on site.
  • The written price that follows a free walk-through holds the range you were shown rather than drifting above it.

About Cost Estimate

A tree is priced in the same three parts every time: getting the tree down or the branches off, getting the material out of your garden, and the risk the crew takes to do both. The estimator below asks for those three things directly — trunk diameter and height, the access around the tree, what sits underneath it, how soon it has to happen, and what happens to the debris.

Cambria adds its own variables. Coastal pines on a bluff can be sound at the base and top-heavy at the crown; a narrow lot between two houses means every piece is lowered on a rig rather than dropped; and salt and wind mean more deadwood than an inland tree of the same size. That is why the estimate is a range and why the walk-through is free.

The bands below are the estimator's own. They are a coastal San Luis Obispo County market rate and they include labour, equipment and insurance — not the cost of a permit, which some parcels and some protected species will need us to check for you.

How much does tree removal cost in Cambria?

Most residential removals on the Cambria coast land between $900 and $3,200, with small trees under 12 in. starting near $450 and large bluff pines over 48 in. reaching $9,500 or more once rigging, access and clean-up are counted. Every job is priced in writing after a free walk-through.

Does it cost more to remove a tree near power lines?

Yes. Work inside the utility exclusion zone needs coordination and insulated tooling, and the estimator applies roughly a 1.4x factor for it. It also changes the method, not just the price.

Is stump grinding included in a removal price?

Not usually, and the estimator keeps it as its own line so you can see it. Grinding runs about $12–$20 per inch of stump diameter with a $150 minimum per stump.

Why is emergency work more expensive?

A 24/7 call-out reshuffles the crew, runs in the dark and often means the tree is already resting on something. The estimator applies about a 1.6x factor, and hazard work to make a site safe is always done first.

Why is a coastal pine priced higher than an inland one?

Salt and wind leave more deadwood in the crown, and a bluff pine is often sound at the base and top-heavy above it, so more of the removal is rigged rather than dropped. Add a narrow lodge lot and the access factor rises with it. Inland, the same trunk diameter is usually the cheaper job.

Does the estimate include the permit?

No, and it cannot. Some parcels and some protected species need a permit or a season check before any cut, and both the fee and the wait are set by the county or the city rather than by us. We flag it on the walk-through so it appears in the written price as its own line.