Cost of tree removal

mrfxit, Aug 8, 9:21pm
As for the stumps, There are some monster stump grinders around that may be worthwhile checking hirage prices.
The unit that Hamilton Council uses, has a blade about 1M wide & some nasty teeth.
Took out a 500mm stump in about 3 minutes to nearly 200mm below the surface.
Would be a good comparison cost to the digger job
webworth, Aug 9, 12:51am
Until recently Cochrane and Son advertised regularly on air that they were interested in buying smaller areas of pines. I think they were loggers &/or sawmillers. Its worth trying to get some return from your trees although 100 may not be enough to be commercially viable.
pisces47, Aug 10, 7:54am
They are a special type of pine grown for posts. Most would just need skimming to get to the required size. Thanks for the comments
onl_148, Aug 12, 3:52pm
Will the local council / regional council let you cut them down ?
pisces47, Aug 15, 8:54am
. never even considered they would not, they were planted as a long term investment in a group on a small portion of a rural property. Why would the council have any say in the matter.
andrew1954, Aug 18, 7:13pm
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I think you will find that you most likely will need a resource consent. the council will most likely let you cut them down, but they will want to put conditions on it. protecting water ways, heavy trucks etc using country roads, control of “slash” etc etc, what you are going to do with the land after the clear falling and when you do it. if the land is prone to slipping how long will it remain bare?
pisces47, Apr 13, 7:36pm
Have some land in West Auck with around 100 pine trees. 400 to 600 across and say 25m high. One person said will be very expensive to remove, the other said sell to firewood firm and they will pay me, the I just get the stumps removed. Bit hard to phone anyone at present. What would be the best way for the removal. TIA
callum.irvine, Apr 13, 9:23pm
Firewood is essential under Govt. guidelines. A lot (all?) of these places are still going. So there are plenty to ring or email

A quick search under firewood in Auckland on here would give you dozens to look through and see if any seem like dealers.

Also checking out the services listings shows another half a dozen or so with phone numbers and email addresses.
comadi, Apr 13, 10:31pm
How long is a piece of string ?

If you can mill them for timber they will return a lot more $$$ than firewood I think.
But there are huge variables like terrain, access etc.
Stump removal would be pretty costly I would think.
omamari, Apr 14, 8:05am
And how does that help the op?
lythande1, Apr 14, 8:27am
Then wait.
Then ring a firewood firm, which would be the best way.
jacinda2059, Apr 14, 8:39am
Firewood, but make sure they either mulch, or burn ALL the remaining branches etc. agree on a price, we used to get trees for nothing, as long as we agreed to cleanup, eg. burn . then re erect fences, backblade fire area etc.
callum.irvine, Apr 14, 8:43am
Well they didn't say if they were pruned or not. Nothing wrong with mentioning they are worth more if they have been? OP might not have been aware of that.
blueviking, Apr 14, 9:00am
With 100's of 1000's of logs sitting on the wharves and forrests, it's unlikely anyone will bother milling them. You could try getting in contact with a smaller mill and see how much it would cost to turn into usable timber.Turning then into firewood seems a waste unless they are all twisted.You could try the local school to see if they want to help out, by selling the firewood. Parents may know an arborist or 2 and own chainsaws and have access to a splitter. If they're more than 20 yrs old, they're old man pine, good firewood, Sell for about $120-150 a trailer load delivered or $80 pick up.
brouser3, Apr 14, 4:13pm
When I made some enquiries the firewood merchants that I rang said that they got their logs from loggers - they did not fell their own trees. Basically trees are a liability when it comes to removal. Finally got a logger to remove them - the bottom line was they would fell and take the trunks (it was taken for export) - they would arrange AT MY COST - the removal of the 'slash' or leave it in heaps for ME to deal with. Oh Yeah - as the last 20 odd years, there is never enough 'in the timber' to pay anything. It's all very well for various organisations to promote the value of growing trees for timber, but the reality is, mature trees that need removing are a costly liability regardless of their size, age, location or variety.
brouser3, Apr 14, 4:14pm
'Old Man Pine' is older than 35years. Also firewood is not a great fundraiser anymore - there is just to much in the way of safety protocol to deal with so very few places are interested.
harm_less, Apr 14, 4:26pm
We had a stand (~12) old man pines on our present property when we purchased. About half of them had usable trunks so we cut them into 6m lengths and contracted a portable mill to make them into 6x2, 4x2 and a few 8x2 for a workbench top and some 2x2 battens. Ended up with about 12m3 of lumber most of which we got CCA treated at the local mill.

We've now got a lot of railing fences, retaining walls and a set of stock yards built with some of the 4x2s still to use. Take a look at timber yard prices and compare with what you can produce yourself. Our miller charged $250/m3 plus $100/m3 for treatment which made the lumber produced a bargain.

The stumps now are part of the chook run. Cheaper to cut them off flush as even with a 14 tonne excavator on the job originally removal was going to be a major undertaking.
tegretol, Oct 7, 9:53am
Yep good idea harm_less. If you have the space to stack and store these properly, they are worth serious dollars when naturally dried. I've done the same with a pile of norfolk-pine and the 6m x 70mm x 500 wide slabs are selling as soon as I advertise them.