Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on the tree, and the only honest number is a written estimate after someone has looked at it. The factors that move the price are height and trunk diameter, what is underneath the tree (a roof, a driveway, a Dominion service drop, a fence, a septic field), how equipment can reach it, and the tree's condition — a brittle standing-dead pine takes slower, more careful rigging than live wood. Nationally, most residential tree work runs from a couple hundred dollars for a small trim or stump to several thousand for a large tree over a structure; those are typical market figures, not our price list. Every job we do starts with a free written estimate. One caution: a bid far below the others usually means an uninsured crew or no cleanup. Ask any bidder for proof of insurance before they start a saw.

Yes. Every estimate is free and in writing. To set one up, call (757) 771-8309 or use the Get Free Estimate form on this site and tell us what the tree is doing and what sits under it. We will reach out to schedule a visit, walk the property with you, look at the tree, the targets beneath it and how the equipment will reach it, and put the price in writing before any work is scheduled. There is no obligation. It helps if you are home for the walk-through, because the history of the tree — when the lean started, whether the yard flooded, when it last leafed out normally — is half the answer. If a tree is already down or hanging, skip the form and call; the phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cut 'Em Down Tree Service is bonded and insured, and we will show you proof before work begins — just ask. That is the credential that actually protects you on a tree job. Tree work is one of the most dangerous trades there is, and when a 50-foot loblolly is coming down in sections over your roof, the question is who carries the liability if something goes wrong. With an uninsured crew, the answer is you. It also matters who is actually on your property: 100% of our jobs are done by our own crews, so the people who quoted the work are the people doing it, under our coverage. When you compare bids, ask every company for a current certificate of insurance and ask who will be doing the cutting. The cheapest bid is usually the one that cannot answer both questions.

Yes. Emergency service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On the Peninsula the trees that fail tend to fail together — a rain-soaked nor'easter or a tropical system puts whole pines on roofs across York County in the same night — so the phone is answered whenever it rings. Before you call us, two things come first. If a tree or limb is touching a power line or the service drop to your house, call Dominion Energy first and keep everyone away from it; the utility clears its lines and can disconnect service so a tree crew can work safely. If the tree has opened up the house, you smell gas or anyone is hurt, call 911. Then call (757) 771-8309. We will make the situation safe first and give you a free written estimate for the full cleanup. What we can promise is that the call gets answered.

Treat it as one. If the lean is new, or the soil on the far side of the trunk is cracked or mounded, the root plate has moved — and on the Peninsula's wet, platy Coastal Plain subsoil a tall loblolly's roots are shallow to begin with. That is exactly how Hurricane Isabel toppled thousands of trees across Tidewater in 2003. Leaning pines rarely re-anchor themselves. Keep people and cars out from under it, do not try to cable or cut it yourself, and call (757) 771-8309; emergency calls are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If the tree is also touching a power line, call Dominion Energy first. A pine that has leaned the same amount for years, with firm soil at the base and a full green crown, is a calmer conversation — a tree health assessment will tell you which situation you have.

Often trimming is enough, and we will tell you when it is. A single dead, cracked or hanging limb over the roof, branches rubbing the shingles or clogging gutters, a crown that has never been thinned or raised — those are pruning jobs, and the tree stays. Removal is the answer when the problem is the whole tree: a new lean with root-plate movement, decay at the base (mushrooms or shelf fungus at the root flare), a split at a main union, a pine already killed by bark beetles, or an ash the emerald ash borer has taken past saving. If you are not sure, start with a tree health assessment rather than a removal quote; some trees just need deadwood taken out and a re-check next season. We make our living on the work, and we would still rather tell you a tree can stay than sell you a removal it does not need.

Stump grinding uses a cutter wheel to chew the stump into chips, typically 6 to 12 inches below grade — deeper, with the surface roots chased, where you plan to sod, replant, set a fence post or pour a slab. The hole is backfilled with the grindings or topsoil, and the roots left behind die and decay in place over several years. Full stump removal means excavating the entire root ball with a machine: several times the cost, a crater, and ruts across the lawn. It is only worth it when a foundation, driveway or pool is going exactly where the tree stood. For nine out of ten Peninsula yards, grinding is the right call, and the least expensive time to do it is the same visit as the removal — one mobilization, one cleanup. Grinding also removes the growth point that lets sweetgum, crape myrtle and Bradford pear stumps keep sending up shoots.

Yorktown, VA is home, and we serve York County and the Virginia Peninsula from there. That includes Grafton, Seaford, Tabb and Bethel Manor, Acree Acres, Poquoson, Newport News and Hampton; up I-64, Williamsburg; across the Coleman Bridge, Gloucester Point and Bena; and across Hampton Roads, Norfolk. Most of those places have their own page on this site with the tree problems specific to them — the 1980s subdivision pines in Grafton, the tidal lots in Poquoson and Dandy, the century-old oaks over Norfolk's older neighborhoods. If your town is not on the list but it is nearby, call (757) 771-8309 and ask. All five services — tree removal, trimming and pruning, stump grinding, emergency and storm damage, and tree health assessments — are available everywhere we work, and every job starts with a free written estimate.

The crew that shows up is our own — 100% of our jobs are done by our own crews, not subcontractors — and they arrive with the written estimate you already approved. Before anything is cut, we walk the plan: where sections will be lowered, what is under the tree, where the equipment will sit, and how soft ground will be protected. Limbs and trunk sections are rigged and lowered under control; nothing free-falls over a roof, fence, driveway or garden. When the tree is down or the pruning is finished, the debris is chipped or hauled, wood is handled the way we agreed on the estimate, and the yard is raked and walked before the crew leaves. If stump grinding is part of the job, it is usually done in the same visit. You do not have to be home during the work, though most people like to be there at the start.

Not until Dominion Energy has made it safe. Anything touching or within reach of a line is the utility's call first: Dominion clears its own lines and can disconnect the service drop to your house so a tree crew can work without the wire being live. Report it through Dominion's outage line or outage map, treat every wire as energized, and keep kids and pets inside until it is handled. Virginia law bars homeowners from trimming near energized lines themselves, and any crew that offers to just cut it off the line is the crew to send away. Once the utility has cleared or de-energized the line, call us and we handle the tree. Dominion trims its own right-of-way on a cycle and clears brush, but larger limbs, the trunk and every tree outside the right-of-way are the homeowner's responsibility — that is the part we take care of.

Usually yes, but two checks come before the crew is scheduled. First, York County lists 91 homeowner associations — Coventry, Kiln Creek, Running Man, Marlbank Cove and others — and many run architectural review that covers tree removal, so read your covenants before you book. Second, if any part of your lot is within 100 feet of a tidal shore, tidal wetland or perennial stream — Wormley Creek, Chisman Creek, Back Creek, the York River — you are in a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Resource Protection Area, where the county regulates removals and expects canopy to be retained. Dead or hazardous trees are generally handled differently from healthy ones, but the paperwork is real. Our free written estimate documents the tree — species, condition, what it threatens — so you have something to hand your board or the county. We do not file permits or HOA applications for you, but we will flag both issues at the estimate so nothing is a surprise.

Generally only when the tree has already fallen on something the policy covers — the house, garage or fence — and then the policy typically pays to remove the tree from the structure and repair the damage, often with a capped amount for debris removal. A tree that falls in the yard and hits nothing is usually not covered, and preventive removal of a standing hazard tree is almost always out of pocket. If a tree does come down on your house, photograph everything before anything is moved: a wide shot of the whole tree and what it landed on, close-ups of each impact point, and the failure point at the base or the split. We provide a free written estimate you can hand to your adjuster. The claim itself is between you and your insurer; we can only describe how policies generally work, and yours may differ.