How can I cheaply trim trees in my yard?

[the_fella]

I have 4 fairly large silver maples that need trimmed badly. I've got several quotes. They're all in the thousands, which I feel is ridiculous. I had the thought of renting a boom lift or similar and just trimming them myself, but I'm struggling to find a rental place near me that has one. Any suggestions?

[nereo]

How tall are these trees?
For rentals, if you can’t find one via Google ask some contractors who they use. Almost all rent this kind of stuff, and every medium sized town has at least one place that rents lifts.

[the_fella]

They're taller than my house. Probably 30 or so feet, if I'm guesstimating. My house was built in the 1940s, and I suspect the trees are "original" to the house.

[sonofsven]

Yeah, call the rental outfit nearest you, they will deliver it right to your jobsite. They aren't cheap. You want the one designed for off pavement use, but they aren't quite as off road capable as they look.

Do you have any experience? Just asking, because the possibility of damage to your property or yourself is great involving chainsaws and lifts individually,let alone together.

[the_fella]

I do not. But my thinking was to take the limbs down in as small pieces as practical. I was intending to use a pole saw. We only have one rental place in my city. It's locally owned and not a chain.

[nereo]

You need a cherry picker (aka a bucket lift). Shockingly you can rent smaller ones with nothing more than a CC and a drivers license in my state. A day rental will set you back a few hundred dollars plus mileage and drop off fees, so you can judge for yourself if the savings over the quotes from the tree guys are worth it

Regarding the age of your trees… it’s unlikely that a 30-40 foot silver maple out in the open is aomit a century old.  More likely a 30 foot tree like that was planted in the 1990s. If they were from the 1940s they would be 70+ feet and at least 24” in diameter

[sonofsven]

Well, it sounds like the boom lift is out then.

Hopefully you aren't topping them? I'm not an arborist but I know that's bad for the tree.

30' is not really that high if you're using a pole saw and a ladder. How high off the ground would you need to be to reach the highest limb you want to cut?

A 28' ladder is made up of two 14'+ sections to provide a working height of 28' off the ground. Same with the 20' 24' 32', etc.

If you use a ladder tie it off to the tree at the top really well, and re set it as needed to reach everything without having to lean way out. Stay centered on the ladder.

Have a shovel handy to dig a little for the base so the feet are mostly level.

Are there any power lines nearby? If so forget everything I said and call the professionals.

[GilesMM]

A self-powered boom is going to cost you $400/day plus delivery and pickup fees.  And you still will have trouble accessing the areas of the tree you need to access. That's why the professionals all climb the trees with full safety harnesses.  If you don't know what you are doing you may well damage the tree or mess it up with a bad cut.  You could potentially flip or damage the lift as well.  I recommend you hire the right people for the job.  Tree trimming is part of owning a house and most people do not budget for it properly and their trees look terrible, pose a risk to their house and are not as healthy as they would be properly trimmed.

[Omy]

After watching professionals trim and take down trees in my yard, there's no way paying experts is more expensive than my medical bills would be if I made a mistake. Even a small tree or limb can do something unpredictable that lands you in the hospital.

My BIL decided to save some money by climbing his silver maple to trim some branches in his younger years. He ended up falling 10 feet out of the tree (no safety harness) and was still holding the RUNNING chain saw (he never released the trigger) when he hit the ground.

He was extremely fortunate that he only twisted an ankle. Watching it in slow motion as it happened, it looked like we were in for a bloodbath.

[lthenderson]

I certainly wouldn't trim a silver maple tree with a bucket lift and a pole saw, especially limbs of any size. Not only are you increasing the risk factor significantly to your safety, silver maples are especially susceptible to wound infections from improperly made cuts and without knowing the proper way of cutting, you are likely decreasing the life of your trees.

Also like someone mentioned above, I planted a silver maple tree about ten years ago and it is already 30 feet tall. They grow like weeds which is why they are kind of junky trees with week limbs and shallow roots. I planted mine as a screen and not anywhere near the house or lawn.

[the_hobbitish]

Why do the trees need trimmed? Are there dead limbs? Are they unhealthy? Are you trying to control size or how close they are to the house? Are you trying to remove a single limb or do a largescale weight removal?

I'm not a tree expert, but I work for a public garden and have watched the arborists do a lot of tree trimming. The level of concern they have about safety has really hit home for me that what they do is dangerous. They uses ropes to control the fall of even small limbs. Flipping a lift is a real possibility if you're not used to how to manage the spread of weight between the tires. They've got plenty of stories of branches I would've considered no big deal mangling or killing people.

I agree with @lthenderson about future issues with tree health. You could easily end up with an unhealthy tree that's likely to do more damage to your property.

I'd encourage you not to do this yourself, but if you do please do not work alone and wear basic protective equipment like a hard hat and chainsaw pants.

[the_fella]

I want to trim the branches hanging over my amd my neighbor's buildings. The absolute cheapest quote I've gotten is $2500.

[Sibley]

There are some things that even experienced DIYers leave to the professionals. Trimming big trees is one of the things you leave to the pros. Do it wrong and you could cause serious damage to yourself or property, and if you're lucky its your property. Even messing with small trees requires caution. I took down a small 20 ft tree this year with the assistance of my experienced neighbor, and we both had to duck very quickly when a section came down in a way we didn't expect.

[lthenderson]

I want to trim the branches hanging over my amd my neighbor's buildings. The absolute cheapest quote I've gotten is $2500.

This sort of situation definitely requires someone licensed, bonded and with the proper equipment.

[the_hobbitish]

A big benefit is that if the licensed professional damages your roof then their insurance will likely cover the damage. If you damage your roof dropping a limb your insurance probably will not cover it.

[Paper Chaser]

I rented a tow-behind boom lift from my nearest home depot last month to paint a two story house. It was around $850 for a weekend after damage insurance. That assumes you've got a vehicle that could tow it and move it around your lot safely.

Without seeing pics of the trees and knowing your plans I'm not going to comment on whether it's a good idea or not to DIY this. I will say that I had a similar issue with tree limbs hanging over the roof of the same 2 story house and I paid to have them done by a pro. I've done plenty of tree trimming and taken a few down completely but I felt like it made more sense to have it done. They have more experience, appropriate insurance, handled disposal, and had it done in a couple of hours when it would've taken me most of a weekend.

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

Unfortunately, I agree with a lot of the people saying "This may be beyond what you can safely DIY."  I have an elm that needs trimming, and I need to get quotes.  I'm entirely comfortable with a chainsaw and boom lift, but there is a LOT that can go wrong with trees (especially elms, they're assholes of the tree family with how they like to drop branches without warning) and trimming them.

It is probably wise to pay someone who knows what they're doing, has the proper equipment, and is a licensed/bonded sort of business for large scale tree work.  To make things more interesting, mine is near enough to some rather high voltage power lines that I wouldn't want to work on the "easy" side of it.

I'm quite comfortable with a chainsaw, including on ladders, but 30-40' in the air, around power lines, over uneven ground, exceeds my comfort level by a lot. :/

[Just Joe]

After watching professionals trim and take down trees in my yard, there's no way paying experts is more expensive than my medical bills would be if I made a mistake. Even a small tree or limb can do something unpredictable that lands you in the hospital.

My BIL decided to save some money by climbing his silver maple to trim some branches in his younger years. He ended up falling 10 feet out of the tree (no safety harness) and was still holding the RUNNING chain saw (he never released the trigger) when he hit the ground.

He was extremely fortunate that he only twisted an ankle. Watching it in slow motion as it happened, it looked like we were in for a bloodbath.

I met a girl back in the 1990s whose father died while trimming a tree. I DIY everything but this is one of those things I'll just pay someone to do.

I have two trees that need to come down. I'll prob pay someone to drop them properly and then chainsaw them up myself.

[WayDownSouth]

Do you have any experience? Just asking, because the possibility of damage to your property or yourself is great involving chainsaws and lifts individually,let alone together.

OP, please pay attention to this. There is a reason that costs are in the thousands, and there is a reason you needed to come here for an answer. I'm not saying it's impossible as DIY, but just pay to get it done. If you can't climb the tree with a rented chainsaw yourself and drop the limbs with confidence, don't try renting a lift.

My very best advice to you is ask a couple neighbors if they too are needing any tree work done, and (if so) try to get them to agree on a date and time. Tree guy will charge you less if he gets some extra business on the same street/block.

Edit: Didn't realize this post was so old. OP did you get the job done?