A 70 foot oak leaning toward your roof calls for a very different job than a 25 foot dogwood in the side yard. Big trees need rigging, a planned drop zone, and sometimes a crane. That is the work Durham Tree Removal Pros handles, and this page walks you through what it involves and what it should cost.
Why So Many Big Trees Are Coming Down Now
Much of the city’s older canopy dates to the 1930s and 1940s, when the Garden Club of Durham and Duke University forester Clarence Korstian led an effort to plant willow oaks across town. In urban soil, a willow oak usually lives 80 to 90 years.
Do the math.
The City’s 2016-17 street tree inventory covered 3,460 willow and water oaks and found 200 in decline and 30 already dead. Those figures only count public trees. Plenty of backyard oaks in older neighborhoods like Trinity Park and Watts-Hillandale come from the same planting era, and they face the same clock.
What Large Tree Removal Costs Around Here
Height drives price more than anything else. Access and what sits under the canopy come next. Here are published 2026 ranges for the Durham area:
| Tree Height | Typical Price Range |
|---|---|
| 50 feet | $580 to $1,110 |
| 60 feet | $700 to $1,340 |
| 70 feet | $810 to $1,560 |
| 80 feet | $930 to $1,780 |
| 100 feet and up (NC average) | $1,500 to $3,000 or more |
Treat those numbers as a starting point. One Triangle contractor’s 2026 job records put most residential removals between $400 and $4,800, and the high end almost always comes from tight lots: fenced backyards, a house ten feet from the trunk, or power lines running through the crown. Crew time in the area generally runs $190 to $250 an hour for a three person crew.
Our take: on an open lot, you pay for hours. On a cramped lot, you pay for rigging and risk. Ask every bidder which one they priced.
How We Take Down a Big Tree
- We walk the site and check lean, signs of decay (hollow sounding wood, fungal conks near the base, dead scaffold limbs), and anything the tree could hit, including roofs, sheds, fences, and the service line to your house.
- We pick a method. In an open yard, we can often fell the lower trunk in one piece. Near structures, a climber sections the tree and lowers each piece on ropes. When a tree hangs over a house with no room to lower wood, we bring in a crane.
- We cut and clear. Our climbers work with Stihl and Husqvarna saws, from light top handle saws up in the canopy to a Stihl MS 881 for thick trunk wood on the ground. Brush goes straight through a Bandit or Vermeer chipper, so your yard doesn’t sit under a debris pile for days.
Before You Call Anyone
- If the tree grows between the sidewalk and the street, the City may own it. Call Durham One Call at 919-560-1200 before you pay a private company to remove it.
- Ask whether the quote includes stump grinding and log hauling. Many quotes leave both out.
- Ask for proof of liability and workers’ compensation insurance. If an uninsured crew drops a limb on your neighbor’s roof, that bill can land on you.
Send us a photo of the tree with something in the frame for scale (a person or a car works fine), and we’ll give you a rough price range before we ever come out.