Last updated October 31, 2026

How much to charge for tree service work in 2026

The hourly rate a one-truck arborist needs to charge, built from what tree services actually earn, a price list for 13 common jobs with the arithmetic shown, what moves the number, and the mistakes that cost the most.

Short answer: a one-truck tree service business that pays its owner what the median tree trimmer earns, carries normal overhead, and keeps a 20 percent margin needs about $95 an hour. To pay yourself like the top quarter of tree services, charge about $105. Top ten percent, $120. Below $90 you are subsidizing the customer with your own wages. Every number on this page is built from published wage data and a model you can see, and the price list further down uses the $105 rate.

Tree work is the most dangerous trade on this site and the one with the highest insurance, and the price has to say so. The BLS wage for tree trimmers is higher than landscaping and the overhead is in a different league: a bucket truck or a climber's gear, a chipper, a stump grinder, saws, and a liability policy and workers comp that can cost more than a truck. A one-truck tree service that prices like a landscaper with a saw is one accident from the end.

Tree jobs are priced by the tree, by its size, its location and what is under it, and by the hours a crew will spend with a chipper running. Removals price above trims; anything over a house, a power line or a fence prices above anything in an open yard; stump grinding is its own line. The customer has rarely seen a tree bid with the pieces, and the one that explains them wins.

What tree services earn, and what that means for your rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 55,160 people working as tree trimmers and pruners in its May 2025 survey and published what they are paid. That is the wage an employer pays an employee, which is the floor for what an owner-operator should pay themselves. A rate is built on top of it: the hidden cost of an hour of labor, the overhead of running a truck, the hours you cannot bill, and a margin. The model here uses a 22% labor load for payroll taxes, workers comp and the liability share, $52,000 a year of overhead for the truck, insurance, phone, software, tools and licenses, 1,100 billable hours a year, and a 20% margin. Change any input and the rate moves; the hourly rate calculator runs it with your numbers.

If you pay yourself like the	BLS wage	Loaded	Overhead per hour	Rate to charge
Bottom quarter	$22	$26	$47	$90
Median	$25	$30	$47	$95
Top quarter	$31	$37	$47	$105
Top ten percent	$39	$47	$47	$120

Rate = (wage × 1.22 + $52,000 ÷ 1,100) ÷ (1 − 0.2), rounded to $5. Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, tree trimmers and pruners, national.

The $52,000 overhead is the highest on this site: a truck and chipper, a bucket truck or climbing gear, saws, a stump grinder, fuel, dump fees for wood, and the liability and workers comp premiums tree work carries. A tree crew is usually three, and the model rate is per person. Certified arborists bill above the table for assessments and pruning plans.

A tree service price list, with the math

Flat prices for the jobs tree services quote most, built the same way every time: hours at the $105 rate, plus materials at cost with a 30 percent markup, rounded to $5. The hours and material costs are example inputs for a typical job in a typical market, stated so you can swap in your own. A job with a crew of two doubles the labor line. Prices are per tree for normal access, debris chipped and hauled, wood cut to rounds and left unless haul-away is a line. Crew labor is shown as total person-hours. Anything over a structure or near utilities prices above these rows.

Job	Labor	Materials at cost	Price	What it assumes
Trim a small tree, under 30 ft	3 h	$20	$340	Crew of two, chipped
Trim a medium tree, 30 to 60 ft	7 h	$40	$785	Climber or bucket, crew of three
Trim a large tree, over 60 ft	14 h	$70	$1,560	Full day, crew of three
Remove a small tree, under 30 ft	5 h	$30	$565	Open drop, chipped, stump left
Remove a medium tree, 30 to 60 ft	12 h	$60	$1,340	Sectioned, roped where needed
Remove a large tree, over 60 ft	24 h	$110	$2,665	Crane or rigging; crane as its own line
Over a structure or line, add per tree	6 h	none	$630	Rigging and extra care
Stump grinding, per inch of diameter	0.06 h	$1	$5	Ground 6 in. below grade, chips left
Haul wood, per load	1.5 h	$90	$275	Rounds loaded and dumped
Crane rental, per half day	0 h	$1,400	$1,820	For big removals near structures
Emergency storm response, add per job	4 h	none	$420	Same-day, after-hours
Cabling or bracing, per cable	4 h	$160	$630	Hardware; arborist assessment extra
Arborist assessment and written report	3 h	none	$315	Certified arborist

Price = hours × $105 + materials × 1.3. Trip or diagnostic fees, permits and disposal are extra lines.

This is a sample. The free price book builder prices the full tree service book, 30 jobs, with your own wage, overhead and margin, and gives you the PDF for the truck and the spreadsheet that keeps the formulas.

What moves the price

What is under the tree. A removal in an open field is a drop. The same tree over a roof is sectioned and roped piece by piece. The location can double the price.
Utility lines. Anything near service lines is slower, and anything near primary lines is the utility's job. Say which on the bid.
Access for equipment. If the chipper and the bucket truck cannot reach, everything is dragged by hand. Walk the lot.
Wood and debris. Chipped and hauled is standard; cut rounds left for the customer is a credit; hauling rounds is a line. Say what stays.
Season and storms. After a storm every tree service is booked and emergency rates apply. Dormant-season pruning can be priced to fill the winter.

Hourly, flat rate, or by the unit

Per tree, with size, location and disposal stated, and stump grinding, hauling, cranes and rigging as their own lines. The customer sees why the oak over the garage costs three times the oak by the fence. A minimum charge covers the mobilization of a crew and a chipper.

Day rate for a crew on big clearing jobs where the count is high and the trees are small. Never hourly on removals: the customer cannot see the rigging plan and should not pay for the time it takes to do it safely.

A worked tree service bid

Remove a 50-foot pine leaning over a garage, grind the stump, trim a medium maple in the front yard. Removal: 12 person-hours plus 6 for the structure, chipped. Stump: 28 inches at 0.06 hours per inch. Trim: 7 person-hours. About 27 person-hours at the top-quarter rate from the table, a crew of three for a day. Chips and rounds hauled as a line. Materials and fuel marked up. No crane. Due on completion, with the certificate of insurance attached to the bid.

Most markets see $1,500 to $3,000 for a medium removal over a structure and $300 to $600 for a stump, and a bid that names the rigging and attaches the insurance certificate wins against the lower one that does neither. The sample tree removal estimate shows the finished bid.

The pricing mistakes that cost the most

Pricing from the ground without looking at what the tree will fall on.
Forgetting the stump, then doing it for free because the customer assumed.
A workers comp policy sized for landscaping. The comp rate for tree work is the real overhead.
Not attaching the certificate of insurance. It is the single best sales document in the trade.

Writing the price into a bid that gets signed

The number is half the job. The other half is a bid the customer can say yes to from their phone: the scope in lines, one price, the deposit and payment terms, the warranty, a date it expires, and a signature. The free tree service estimate template is laid out that way in PDF, Word and Excel, and How to bid tree service jobs covers the scope lines that keep you out of arguments. If you want the typing done for you, BidWriter Pro turns your notes into a clean bid your customer signs on their phone, with the deposit paid by card. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Sources and method

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Tree trimmers and pruners, national percentile hourly wages and employment.
Rate model: labor load 1.22, overhead $52,000 a year, 1,100 billable hours, 20% margin. Hours and material costs in the price list are example inputs, not survey data. Prices are examples, not advice for your market.

Questions contractors ask

How much do tree services charge in 2026?

By the tree: trims commonly $300 to $1,500 by size, removals $500 to $3,000 and more over structures or with a crane, stumps $3 to $6 per inch of diameter. Built from BLS wages, a one-truck tree service needs about $95 an hour per person at the median wage and $105 to earn like the top quarter, with insurance driving the overhead.

How much should I charge to remove a tree?

By size and location: a small open-yard tree is about five crew hours, a medium tree twelve, a large one a day or more, with an adder for anything over a structure and a crane line when one is needed.

How much should I charge for stump grinding?

Per inch of diameter at the widest point, commonly $3 to $6 an inch with a minimum of about $150, chips left in the hole.

Should tree work be priced hourly?

No. Removals are priced per tree with the rigging and disposal stated. A day rate works for clearing many small trees.

Why is tree work so expensive?

The equipment and the insurance. A chipper, a bucket truck and a liability and workers comp policy for climbing with saws are the overhead, and the price carries them. The bid should attach the certificate of insurance so the customer sees what they are paying for.

Write a tree service bid from your notes

Type the job the way you would text it. It comes back as a finished estimate in about five seconds, in your words. No account.

Type a job the way you would text it

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