Ask ten tree guys how they price a removal and you'll get ten answers, most of them some version of "I look at it and throw out a number." That works until it doesn't: the stump that took twice as long, the dump fee you forgot, the crane day that ate your margin. A repeatable method fixes that. Here's the one we built our tree-care estimate template around.
Step 1: Estimate the hours, honestly
Start with time, because time is what you actually sell. Walk the job and estimate crew hours for each phase:
- Setup and rigging: parking, cones, ropes, protecting the lawn and anything underneath.
- Climbing or bucket work: limbing and sectioning the tree down.
- Ground work: dragging brush, chipping, bucking and loading wood.
- Stump grinding if it's included.
- Cleanup: raking, blowing, haul-off, final walk with the customer.
Then add a buffer for the things that always happen: a tight drop zone, a dead top, a fence you have to work around. If your last ten jobs ran 15% over your estimates, add 15%. Your job history is the best pricing tool you own.
Step 2: Price the crew at their true cost
A climber you pay $28 an hour doesn't cost you $28 an hour. Add payroll taxes, workers' comp (expensive in tree work), and any benefits, and the real number is often 25–40% higher. Multiply your loaded hourly crew cost by the hours from Step 1.
Example: a three-person crew with a loaded cost of $38, $32 and $26 an hour costs you $96 for every hour on site. Six hours on a removal is $576 in labor before anything else.
Step 3: Charge for equipment by the hour or by the day
Your chipper, stump grinder, truck and bucket or crane all wear out, burn fuel and need insurance. Give each machine an hourly or daily rate that covers its payment, maintenance, fuel and eventual replacement, and add it to every job that uses it. If you rent a crane or a mini loader for a job, pass that cost through at cost plus your markup.
Step 4: Add disposal and materials
Dump fees, wood haul-off, and fuel for the trip all belong on the estimate. Chips you can drop at a customer's request are a bonus; chips you have to pay to dump are a cost. Know which is which before you price.
Step 5: Add overhead
Overhead is everything you pay for whether or not a saw is running: insurance, phone, software, the office, your own non-billable time, advertising. The easiest way to apply it is per billable hour. Add up a year of overhead, divide by the crew hours you actually bill in a year, and add that rate to every hour on the job.
If your overhead is $60,000 a year and your crew bills 1,500 hours, that's $40 an hour of overhead on every job. Leave it out and you're working for free a few days a week.
Step 6: Price the risk
A tree over a house, near power lines, or in a backyard you can only reach by hand is a different job from a clear drop in an open field. Many tree services use a risk multiplier so they don't have to reinvent the number each time:
- Low risk (open drop zone, easy access): no adjustment.
- Medium risk (some rigging, obstacles, tight access): add 15–25%.
- High risk (over structures, near lines, crane work): add 30% or more.
Work near energized lines often requires a qualified line-clearance arborist or the utility itself, so check your local rules and your insurance before you bid it.
Step 7: Add profit, and know the difference between markup and margin
Profit is not the same as paying yourself. It's what's left for the business to grow, replace equipment and survive a slow winter. Decide on a target margin (the percent of the final price that's profit) and price to hit it. A 20% margin needs a 25% markup on cost, not 20%. We explain why in Markup vs. Margin.
A worked example
A 60-foot oak, medium risk, three-person crew, six hours, plus stump grinding:
- Labor: 6 hrs × $96 = $576
- Equipment: chipper and truck at $45/hr × 6 = $270; grinder $120
- Disposal: $90
- Overhead: 6 hrs × $40 = $240
- Cost before risk: $1,296
- Medium risk (+20%): $1,555
- 25% markup for a 20% margin: about $1,945
Your numbers will be different, and that's the point. Plug in your own crew cost, equipment rates and overhead, and the method gives you a price you can defend, instead of a guess you have to hope works out.
Put it in writing
Once you have the number, send a written estimate that spells out exactly what's included: whether you're grinding the stump, how deep, whether you're hauling wood or leaving it, and what happens if you find hidden damage. Clear scope prevents the "I thought that was included" phone call. Pair it with a signed liability waiver for jobs near structures.
Run your own numbers in two minutes with the free Job Profit Calculator.
Want the whole system? The Tree Care Estimate & Quote Template has the job-cost check built in, and the Tree Care Toolkit adds the invoice, crew calendar, safety checklist and waiver.
The rates in this article are examples to show the method, not recommended prices. Your local market, insurance and labor costs set your real numbers.