The method
How this tool reaches its answer
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.
Removal rate bands by trunk diameter (at breast height), before the multipliers
Rates and bands last reviewed October 2026 · coastal San Luis Obispo County market rates
| Trunk diameter | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Under 12 in. trunk | $450 – $900 |
| 12–24 in. trunk | $900 – $1,800 |
| 25–36 in. trunk | $1,600 – $3,200 |
| 37–48 in. trunk | $2,800 – $5,500 |
| Over 48 in. trunk | $4,800 – $9,500 |
| Over 60 in. trunk | $7,500 – $16,000 |
Before you answer each screen
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What needs doing
- 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.
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The tree itself
- 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.
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What happens to the debris
- 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.
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Stumps and debris
- 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.
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Your estimate
- 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.
What the tool cannot know
A browser cannot see a tree. Decay inside a trunk or a root plate, soil and drainage, hidden utilities, access and crane reach, permits, protected species and boundaries are confirmed on site or not at all — which is why every figure here is a range with its method beside it, and why the only price that binds anybody is a written one after a walk-through.