Tree Removal
Whole-tree takedowns on tight peninsula blocks, sectional dismantle or crane where the driveway will not take a truck.
Learn more →The first twenty minutes
Move people away from the tree and stay out from under anything hanging. Do not walk beneath a limb resting on a roof, a gutter or a fence — the load can shift without warning when the wind picks up again. Keep clear of every wire on the ground and assume it is live.
Then photograph it, from a safe distance and from several angles, before anything is touched. Those photos are what your insurer will ask for, and they are also how a crew can triage the job over the phone before anyone drives out.
How callouts are prioritised
Storm work is queued by risk, not by who rang first. That is the only honest way to run it after a front has gone through. Trees through roofs, limbs loaded onto structures and blocked sole access go first. Trees leaning on fences or over gardens come next. Clean-up of material already on the ground is last, and is usually a daylight job.
If a job can safely wait until morning, we will say so. Night work in wind, on a wet sandstone slope behind Avalon, with a torch and a chainsaw, is how people get hurt, and it costs more for a worse result.
Why the Northern Beaches loses trees
Three reasons, stacked. The beachfront strip from Manly through Freshwater, Dee Why and Collaroy up to Palm Beach takes direct salt-laden southerlies, which kill the seaward face of a canopy over years and leave dead wood ready to go. The sandstone ridges carry big eucalypts on thin soil, where the root plate is spread across rock rather than anchored into it. And the bushland interface along the Ku-ring-gai Chase side puts mature trees hard up against houses on narrow, dead-end roads.
Add an east coast low with sustained rain, and saturated soil around a shallow plate on a slope is what puts whole trees over. It is rarely the wind alone.
After the immediate danger is gone
Once a site is made safe, the rest is normal work. A split or partly failed tree usually needs full removal rather than repair. A tree that lost a single limb often only needs corrective pruning and deadwooding of what the storm loosened. Whatever is left in the ground can be dealt with through stump grinding.
One point on approvals: Northern Beaches Council's controls include an exemption for trees presenting an immediate risk, but that exemption is narrow and is judged after the fact. Photograph the tree before it is cut, keep the record, and do not let anyone talk you into removing an intact protected tree under the word "emergency".
Call (02) 9000 1858 any hour. Coverage across the peninsula is listed on the service areas page.
More services
Explore our other services
Tree Lopping and Pruning
Crown thinning, deadwooding and clearance pruning that leaves a eucalypt stable through a southerly buster.
Learn more →Stump Grinding and Removal
Grinding stumps and surface roots below grade so you can turf, pave or replant over sandstone shelf.
Learn more →Palm Tree Removal
Cocos, Canary Island date and bangalow palms cut down or cleaned up, with the seed heads bagged before they drop.
Learn more →Hedge Trimming and Height Reduction
Lilly pilly, viburnum and pittosporum screens cut back to a line, plus honest advice on what a height reduction can and cannot do.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
What counts as an emergency and what can wait?
A tree on a house, a limb resting on a roof or a fence under load, a trunk blocking the only vehicle access, or anything leaning over a bedroom counts. A branch hung up in a canopy with open ground underneath, a fallen tree lying flat in a back paddock, or a partly split limb over a lawn can safely wait for daylight and costs much less in the morning.
Who do I call if the tree is on powerlines?
Ausgrid, not a tree company, and treat every fallen wire as live. No arborist may work near the aerial mains without the network's clearance. If a person is in danger or there is a fire, call triple zero first. Once the network has made the site safe, the remaining tree work can be quoted and carried out normally.
Will insurance cover storm damage tree removal?
Often partly. Home policies commonly cover removing a tree that has damaged an insured structure, and commonly exclude removing a tree that simply fell in the yard. Photograph everything before anything is moved, get the job documented with a written scope, and talk to your insurer early. We cannot advise on your policy and will not tell you what it covers.
How bad does the peninsula get in a storm?
Bad enough to matter. East coast lows and summer southerly busters hit the beachfront blocks and the exposed ridges hardest, and the narrow peninsula roads mean one fallen tree can cut off a whole street. Trees already weakened by salt exposure on the seaward side, and eucalypts carrying long unbalanced laterals, are the usual casualties.
Free, no-obligation