A tree looks simple from the road. Then you find the conservatory below the crown, a narrow side gate and nowhere firm to stand a MEWP. A sound tree surgeon removal quote starts with those facts, not a price per tree.
Inspect the site. Write the finished result. Record the permission check. Choose the removal method. Then cost the work created by that method.
Inspect the site before issuing a tree surgeon removal quote
Do not fix the price from enquiry photographs alone. Use photographs to qualify the enquiry and prepare for the visit. Walk the site before committing to the scope.
The crown may sit above a conservatory even though the first photograph showed only the trunk. That changes the targets, removal method, protection and ground work.
Identify the tree and nearby targets
Record the exact tree. Use its position, species if known, approximate dimensions, lean and visible condition. Note broken limbs, cavities, deadwood and anything else that could affect the production plan.
Photograph the whole tree, crown, trunk base and working area. Add a short note explaining what each photograph proves. A folder of unlabelled images is weak evidence when the crew arrives weeks later.
Check and record:
- Who owns the tree and where the trunk sits against the property boundary
- The house, conservatory, fences, garden structures and neighbouring property below or beside the work
- Root-plate movement, lifting ground, decay and other visible conditions around the base
- Overhead lines, known underground services and any digging or stump-grinding area
- Roads, footways, public access and any highway controls that the setup may need
- Wildlife signs that need assessment by a competent person before the method or date is fixed
Walk from the tree to the chipper
Follow every piece of material from the tree to the processing or loading point. Measure gates where machine clearance matters. Record steps, slopes, tight corners, soft ground and retaining walls.
A chipper might park close to the property while every limb still has to pass through a narrow gate and around a wall. Cutting time may not change much. Carrying, turning, processing and loading will.
Mark the proposed positions for the van, chipper, MEWP or crane. Check whether parked vehicles, kerbside restrictions or soft ground could block those positions. Record who must clear the space and by when.
Write down the unknowns
Name any condition that still needs another inspection, a competent assessment, an assumption or an exclusion. If the planned MEWP position depends on firm ground, write that condition beside the price.
Write the tree removal scope before costing the crew
The tree removal scope must describe a finished result. Remove the large tree does not settle the stump, logs, chips, protection or cleanup.
Set the removal boundary
Identify each tree by location and a marked photograph. If several trees are involved, give each one a separate scope line.
State the removal outcome. It might be complete removal to a stated stump height or sectional dismantling to a defined point. Name any trunks, nearby trees or garden features that must remain untouched.
State the finished stump height. Stump grinding is not automatically part of tree removal. If it is included, describe the grinding area, treatment of grindings and any backfilling or surface restoration included in the price.
Describe what happens to the arisings
Write a destination for every material type:
- Chip branches and remove the chips from the property.
- Leave chips in the customer’s nominated area.
- Cut timber into rough sections and leave it beside the stated access point.
- Remove all timber from the property.
- Rake the immediate work area and remove loose cutting debris.
Do not call rough log sections firewood. Splitting, moving and stacking timber create more work. Price them separately when the customer wants them.
The same applies to excess chips. State whether they remain, leave with the crew or require another haulage movement.
Name the surfaces you will protect
List the protection included in the production plan. This may cover ground mats, plywood, temporary fence removal or a controlled pedestrian area.
Name the lawn, paving, bed, wall or structure involved. Avoid a sweeping promise that every surface will remain untouched. Describe the protection you will provide and the customer preparation the plan depends on.
Put extra outcomes on separate lines
Keep stump grinding, timber splitting, stacking, extra carrying and broader garden restoration outside the base scope unless they are genuinely included.
Give each option its own outcome and price. The customer can accept stump grinding without changing what the base removal means. Adapt the tree work quote template so these options remain separate from the accepted base work.
Do not book the crew until the permission checks are recorded
Protected-tree consent or notice requirements and a felling licence are separate questions. Assign each check to a named person, record the answer and make any required approval a condition of booking.
Ask the local planning authority responsible for the property what consent or notice the proposed work needs for a Tree Preservation Order or conservation area. Record the identified tree, proposed work, question asked, response, reference and person who completed the check. The quote itself does not grant permission.
Complete a separate felling-licence check with the statutory forestry body for the country where the tree stands:
- In England, use the Forestry Commission felling-licence guidance (opens in a new tab).
- In Scotland, use Scottish Forestry guidance on felling permissions (opens in a new tab).
- In Wales, check the position with Natural Resources Wales through the Welsh Government’s forestry guidance (opens in a new tab).
- In Northern Ireland, ask the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (opens in a new tab) about felling licences.
Keep these fields in the job record:
- Property address
- Identified tree and proposed work
- Local planning authority and statutory forestry body checked
- Question asked for each check
- Person responsible
- Response, reference or document received
- Condition that must be cleared before scheduling
If a body cannot answer until it reviews an application or notice, make that decision a written condition of booking. Do not promise a start date that depends on it.
Neighbour access is separate. If a person, machine or piece of material must enter neighbouring property, assign responsibility for obtaining written access. Record it before booking the crew.
For workplace health and safety questions, use the Health and Safety Executive (opens in a new tab) for work in Great Britain. For work in Northern Ireland, use the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (opens in a new tab). Keep workplace safety checks separate from planning and felling-permission questions.
Choose the removal method before pricing labour and equipment
The method creates the cost. Select the planning method before estimating crew time, equipment costs or disposal movements.
Record whether the quote assumes:
- Clear felling into an available area
- Climbing and sectional dismantling
- MEWP access from a stated position
- Crane support from a confirmed standing area
- Controlled rigging around stated targets
This is a planning assumption. It is not an instruction for how the crew should make cuts or arrange rigging.
Confirm where equipment can stand and how material will leave the site. A blocked MEWP position does not merely remove one equipment line. It can change crew roles, rigging, carrying and the order of work.
Turn rigging and access costs into production stages
Rigging and access costs are site-created work. They are not general overhead. Break them into stages that you can estimate before the job and measure afterwards.
Use stages such as:
- Site setup and surface protection
- Climbing or equipment positioning
- Cutting and controlled lowering
- Ground processing and chipping
- Carrying and loading
- Haulage and disposal
- Cleanup and site close
Calculate labour for each stage as:
People × stage hours × loaded labour cost = stage labour cost
Loaded labour cost must capture what employing or supplying that person costs the business, not just take-home pay. Build it from your own payroll, employment, paid-time and labour-overhead records. Keep the customer charge rate out of this calculation.
Calculate hired equipment, haulage and disposal from the quantity or movement the plan needs:
Required quantities or movements × written supplier cost = estimated job cost
For owned equipment, allocate the cost of keeping and using that machine from your own records. Capture purchase or finance cost, servicing, repairs, storage, insurance and job use without charging the same cost elsewhere. Use written subcontractor prices for the defined scope.
If CIS may affect a construction or subcontracting arrangement, check that job and payment arrangement with HMRC (opens in a new tab). Keep CIS treatment separate from the production estimate and customer price.
Build the quoted price from total estimated cost
Keep the internal calculation plain:
Labour + equipment + consumables + haulage + disposal + subcontractors = direct job cost
Then add the job’s share of business overhead:
Direct job cost + allocated overhead = total estimated cost
Apply markup to that total:
Total estimated cost + markup amount = quoted price
Overhead covers the costs of keeping the business able to perform the job. Use your own records for administration, premises, insurance, vehicles and other operating costs. Do not add overhead twice by putting it in the labour cost and then adding the same amount again.
Markup and margin answer different questions. Markup measures profit against cost. Margin measures profit against the selling price. Use the markup and margin calculation guide when setting up your costing sheet.
Worked example: Oak Street
Oak Street is the house electrical example, not a tree-work rate card. All figures are sample currency units.
Quote Q-1847 for R. Chen at 14 Oak Street covered a bathroom exhaust fan and four LED downlights. The original quote was 1,105. Job cost was 850, so profit against the original quote was 255:
1,105 − 850 = 255
Margin was about 23%:
255 ÷ 1,105 ≈ 23%
Markup was 30%:
255 ÷ 850 = 30%
Use the same calculation on your own tree job after adding every direct cost and the overhead allocation. Do not use the Oak Street figures as a target or rate.
Put assumptions, exclusions and customer duties beside the price
An assumption records the condition supporting your method and price. An exclusion names work outside the price. Keep both specific.
A useful assumption might state that the quoted MEWP position remains accessible on firm ground. Another might state that the side passage remains clear from the garden to the loading point.
Exclusions can cover stump grinding, timber splitting, utility relocation, work on unidentified trees or restoration beyond the defined cleanup area. Do not exclude something that another scope line says is included.
Assign customer duties with dates. State who will move vehicles, secure pets, unlock gates, clear garden furniture and obtain neighbour access. A vague instruction to provide access is not enough when the method depends on a particular gate or standing area.
If the accepted work or inspected condition changes, stop and write a variation. Describe the change, its effect on the price and any effect on timing. Get acceptance before the extra work continues.
On Oak Street, the ceiling was lined and the quote excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing became an approved 160 variation, taking invoice INV-1847 to 1,265 sample currency units. The variation costs are not given, so profit cannot be calculated by combining the 1,265 invoice with the original 850 job cost.
Present one base scope with selectable options
A tree surgeon removal quote does not need to expose your full internal costing sheet. It must tell the customer which tree is covered, what result they will receive, what happens to the material and which options they have accepted.
Keep the base removal intact. Put stump grinding, extra timber handling and restoration on selectable lines. Show the VAT treatment where needed, but check the current treatment with HMRC (opens in a new tab) rather than guessing rates or thresholds.
Use this blank structure for the customer document:
TREE REMOVAL QUOTE Quote number: [number] Quote date: [date] Customer: [name] Site address: [address and postcode] Identified tree: [location, description and photograph reference] Base tree removal scope: [removal boundary and finished result] Finished stump height: [stated height or other defined result] Branches, timber, chips and sweepings: [what is removed, processed or left, and where] Access and equipment assumption: [gate, route, standing position, parking and ground condition] Protection included: [named surfaces, structures and measures] Permission conditions: [responsible person, planning check, felling-licence check and required records] Customer duties: [action, owner and deadline] Exclusions: [work outside the base price] Base price: [amount] Selectable options: [option, defined outcome, price, ACCEPT / DECLINE] [option, defined outcome, price, ACCEPT / DECLINE] Accepted base price: [amount] Accepted options: [selected option names and amounts] Tax treatment: [VAT treatment] Final accepted total: [base price + accepted options + tax treatment] Acceptance: [accepted scope, selected options, final total, name, date and method] Variation rule: [changed work requires written description, price and acceptance]
Attach the marked photographs and inspection notes to the accepted document. If you need help tightening the wording, use the practical guide to writing a quote.
Convert the accepted quote into the job record
Before arrival, reconfirm the permission records, access route, equipment position and customer duties. Put the accepted tree surgeon removal quote where the crew can read it with the marked photographs and option selections.
After the job, record actual labour, equipment, consumables, haulage, disposal and subcontractor costs under the same headings used in the estimate. Compare estimated and actual cost under each matching heading, then record why each variance happened. Capture the cost and revenue of every variation separately. Calculate profit only from revenue and costs that cover the same final scope. Use the finished-job cost review to check job profitability while the crew notes, receipts and supplier charges are still in front of you.