Central Texas storms break trees in three predictable ways. Straight-line winds off a squall shear the top out of anything tall and shallow-rooted, which around here means Arizona ash and hackberry. Saturated clay after four inches of rain lets whole root plates tip over, taking mature trees down that looked perfectly sound. And ice, which we get perhaps once every few winters, loads a live oak canopy until the limbs snap at the union.
All three leave wood in places it should not be. Send photos and tell us what it is touching.
Photograph it before anyone cuts
This is the single most useful thing you can do in the first hour. Wide shots showing the tree and the damage together, close shots of the break, and photos of anything inside the house that got wet. Once the tree is chipped there is no way to prove what happened, and adjusters do not take your word for it.
We photograph every storm job before the first cut and send you the set. It costs us nothing and it has saved customers real money.
What storm cleanup costs
| Job | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Limbs down on the lawn, chipped and hauled | $350 – $800 |
| Split leader taken out, rest of tree kept | $600 – $1,400 |
| Whole tree down, nothing structural hit | $800 – $1,800 |
| Tree across a fence line | $900 – $2,200 |
| Tree on the house, make-safe and removal | $1,500 – $3,500 |
A tree already on the ground is not automatically cheaper than a standing removal. It is often lying under tension, bent against a fence or pinned by its own root plate, and cutting into that badly is how people get hurt. The climbing is gone but the rigging is harder.
What can be saved and what cannot
Not every damaged tree needs removing, and we would rather prune one than sell you a removal. A live oak that has lost a single limb cleanly will be fine with a proper cut back to the collar. A cedar elm that has lost a third of its canopy on one side will look lopsided for a few years and then fill in.
What does not recover: a trunk split down the middle, a tree with more than half the canopy gone, a root plate that has lifted at all, and anything with a crack running into the main stem. Those come down. Leaving them standing through the next storm is a worse outcome than taking them now.
How the job runs
- Photos from you, ideally before anything is moved.
- We assess tension and load before cutting anything, because that is what makes storm work dangerous.
- Make-safe first: get weight off structures, take down anything hanging.
- Cut up, chip, haul, rake.
- An honest call on whatever is left standing, including whether it needs corrective pruning or full removal.
Permits after a storm
Austin’s tree ordinance has provisions for trees that have become an immediate hazard, so a storm-damaged protected tree is not the same paperwork problem as a healthy one. That does not mean no paperwork at all. If a tree 19 inches or more in diameter has to go, we document the damage and handle the notification rather than cutting first and explaining later. The permit guide covers how this works in Austin, Round Rock and Georgetown.
Questions about storm damage
Does insurance cover storm tree removal?
Only where the tree hit something the policy covers. A pecan through your Austin roof is covered, with the removal itself usually capped near $500 to $1,000 and the roof repair covered separately. The same tree flat across the lawn, touching nothing, is almost always your own cost. Debris cleanup alone is rarely covered.
How long after a storm until you can come?
Anything on a structure gets same-day attention. Debris on the ground typically waits two to five days after a metro-wide event, because the whole of Austin calls in the same afternoon. We would rather give you a real date than a hopeful one, and we will call if we can pull you forward.
Can my tree be saved?
Often, if it has lost less than about a third of its canopy and the trunk is intact. Live oaks and cedar elms in Austin recover from limb loss well. What cannot be saved is a split trunk, a lifted root plate, or a crack running into the main stem. We will tell you which one you have and we do not upsell removals.
Should I clear the debris myself first?
Move small loose branches if you like, but leave anything under tension, anything hung up in another tree, and anything touching a wire. Photograph it all first for the insurance claim. A springy limb pinned under a trunk carries enough stored energy to break an arm when it is cut wrong.
Should I use a crew that knocks on my door after a storm?
Be careful. Storm-chasing crews follow weather into Texas, and some take a deposit and disappear. Ask anyone for a certificate of insurance naming them, and do not pay in full up front. If a crew will not give you that in writing before touching your tree, that answer is the whole answer.
Where we clear storm damage
Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Leander, Hutto, Lakeway, Kyle and Buda.