Real price ranges, 2026
Every job below is quoted free after a site visit and fixed in writing — but these ranges are honest guide figures for typical domestic work across Leicestershire, all plus VAT:
- Emergency call-out — from £180, with most storm jobs priced from photos before we leave the yard (emergency work)
- Small garden tree removal — £250–£450; larger trees or tight access push well above it (felling & removal)
- Domestic crown reduction — typically £350–£900 depending on size, species and what the crown overhangs (crown work)
- Stump grinding — from £90 for a small stump, with multiple stumps on the same visit discounted (stump grinding)
- Hedge cutting — typically £120–£400 depending on run length and height (hedge work)
The four things that move the number
Size is the obvious one, but it is rarely the biggest. Access usually is: a 12-metre sycamore in an open paddock might be a two-hour job for two people, while the same tree in a terraced back garden with no rear access is a full day for three, because every section is roped down and carried through the house.
Risk is next. Working over a conservatory, a boundary wall, a greenhouse or a public footpath means rigging every piece rather than dropping it — slower, more equipment, more people. Then disposal: chipping brash on site is quick; carrying timber forty metres to the road is not. Say at the quote stage if you want cordwood left for a burner — it usually takes money off.
Why one quote comes in at double another
Usually because the two contractors are quoting different jobs. One is pricing a proper sectional dismantle with everything roped down, chipped and taken away; the other is pricing a fast drop-and-go — or a topping job described as a "reduction", which costs you twice: once now, and again in five years when the weak regrowth has to be dealt with on a worse tree.
The fix is to make quotes comparable. Ask every contractor for the specification in writing, in BS3998 terms — "crown reduction of 2m in height and 1m in spread, cuts to suitable laterals, deadwood over 25mm removed" rather than "cut the tree back". Then compare price against specification, not price against price. Our services pages explain what a proper specification looks like for each job type.
What a proper quote includes
- A written specification in BS3998 terms you can put next to any competitor's
- A fixed price — if we find something on the day that changes the job, we stop and talk before anything moves
- TPO and conservation-area checks for your address, with any application handled as part of the job
- All waste chipped and removed (or cordwood stacked, if you want it)
- Public liability and NPTC certificates produced on request before work starts