Good trimming is mostly about what you leave. A live oak that has been thinned properly still looks like a live oak from the street, just with the deadwood gone and eight feet of clearance over the roof. A live oak that has been topped looks like a coat rack and spends the next three years growing weak, upright shoots to replace what it lost.
We do not top trees. If someone has quoted you for that on a cedar elm or an oak in Austin, get a second opinion. Send a photo and we will tell you what the tree actually needs.
What a trim covers
Four things, in roughly this order of how often people ask for them. Clearance, which means lifting the canopy off a roof, a driveway, a fence line or the street. Deadwood removal, taking out the dry limbs that will come down on their own eventually. Thinning, opening the canopy enough for wind to pass through instead of pushing the whole tree. And structural pruning on young trees, which is the cheapest tree work you will ever buy and saves a removal in twenty years.
Every cut goes back to a branch collar. Brush is chipped and taken away, and the ground under the tree is raked and blown before we leave.
What tree trimming costs in Austin
| Job | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Small tree, under 25 ft | $300 – $500 | Crepe myrtle, young cedar elm, ornamental pear. |
| Medium, 25 – 45 ft | $450 – $800 | Most suburban front-yard trees. Half a day. |
| Large live oak or pecan | $800 – $1,800 | Climber and ground crew. Often a full day. |
| Roof clearance only | $250 – $600 | Lifting limbs off the roofline, nothing else. |
Booking two or three trees on one visit is always cheaper per tree. Getting the crew and the chipper to your address is the fixed cost, and we would rather pay it once.
Signs a tree needs trimming
- Limbs touching or rubbing the roof, which wears shingles and gives squirrels a bridge.
- Dead branches still hanging in the canopy after a dry summer.
- A canopy so dense that nothing grows underneath and the whole tree rocks in a gust.
- Branches low over the driveway that a delivery truck keeps catching.
- Two leaders growing into each other with bark trapped in the join.
- Sightlines blocked where the driveway meets the street.
How the job runs
- You tell us what is bothering you, with a photo. Roof clearance and deadwood are different jobs and it helps to know which one you want.
- We check the species and the date, because oaks have a closed season here.
- Flat written price, usually the same day.
- The climber works the canopy on rope, cutting back to collars, while the ground crew feeds the chipper.
- Rake, blow, and a walk round with you before we load up.
Do not prune oaks February through June
Oak wilt is the single biggest tree problem in Central Texas, and pruning at the wrong time of year is how it spreads. Between February 1 and June 30 the sap-feeding beetles that carry the fungus are active, and a fresh cut on a red oak or live oak is exactly what they are looking for. We do not open oaks in that window. If a storm breaks one during those months, the cut gets painted the same day, every time.
Outside that window, mid-summer through January is fine, and January is the best month of all for a big oak: the beetles are dormant, the canopy is thin enough to see the structure, and the schedule is quiet. More detail on the oak wilt page and in the best time of year to trim trees in Austin.
Non-oaks have no closed season. Cedar elm, pecan, hackberry and Ashe juniper can be trimmed any month, though we avoid heavy work on anything during the worst of an August drought.
Questions about trimming
What is the difference between trimming and pruning?
In practice, almost nothing, and most Austin crews use the words interchangeably. Where people do draw a line, trimming means cutting for clearance and shape, while pruning means cutting for the health of the tree, taking out dead, diseased or crossing limbs. We quote both as one job because any decent trim does both at once.
Can you kill an oak tree by trimming it?
You can, and in Central Texas the usual way is oak wilt. Pruning a live oak between February and June, or leaving the cut unpainted, can introduce a fungus that kills the tree and spreads through connected roots to every oak nearby. The other way is topping, which removes so much canopy that the tree cannot feed itself. Both are avoidable.
How much of a tree can you take off at once?
No more than about a quarter of the living canopy in a single season, and less than that on a mature or stressed tree. Austin summers already push trees hard. Strip too much and you get a flush of weak water sprouts, sunburn on newly exposed bark, and a tree that looks worse in two years than it did before.
How often should trees be trimmed?
Every three to five years for a mature shade tree in Austin, and every two years for a young tree you are still shaping. Fast growers like hackberry and Arizona ash need it more often than live oak. If you are only clearing a roofline, you will be back sooner, since most species put on one to two feet a year here.
Can trimming a pine tree kill it?
Yes, more easily than most hardwoods. Pines do not resprout from old wood, so a limb cut back past its green growth simply never comes back, and cutting the top out of one will kill it outright. Pines are uncommon in Austin, mostly planted rather than native, and they need a lighter hand than the oaks and elms around them.
Will you trim a tree that is over a power line?
Only the service drop to your house, and only once Austin Energy or your provider has de-energised or sleeved it. Primary distribution lines, the ones running pole to pole down the street, belong to the utility and they trim those for free. Call them rather than paying anyone. We will tell you which one you are looking at.
Where we trim trees
Across the metro, including tree trimming in Austin, Round Rock and Cedar Park, plus Georgetown, Leander, Pflugerville, Hutto, Lakeway, Kyle and Buda.