Tree removal in Marietta, GA
Hollow water oaks, leaning pines, trees that have outgrown the spot they were planted in. We take them down in controlled sections and leave the yard clean.
Call (770) 802-1864
Most of the removals we do in Marietta are not emergencies. They are trees a homeowner has been watching for two or three years — a lean that keeps getting worse, a hollow at the base that widened after a wet spring, a pine that has started dropping big deadwood on the driveway. The right time to deal with those is a scheduled weekday, not the night a storm takes the decision away from you.
When a tree in Cobb County genuinely needs to come down
A removal is warranted when the risk cannot be pruned away. The signs that matter most on our local species:
- Cavities and hollow trunks. Mature water oaks across Marietta's older subdivisions hollow from the inside out. A tree can look full and green in the canopy while the structural shell holding it up is an inch thick.
- Mushroom conks at the base. Bracket fungi on the root flare mean the wood inside is already being digested. By the time fruiting bodies show, decay is well established.
- Root plate movement. Cracked or heaved soil on the side opposite a lean is the clearest warning a tree gives before it uproots. In saturated red clay this can happen fast.
- Southern pine beetle and Ips activity. Popcorn-sized pitch tubes on a loblolly, sawdust at the base, and a crown fading from green to yellow to red. Infested pines cannot be saved and become brittle quickly.
- Storm damage past 40 percent of the crown. A tree that has lost most of its leaf area rarely recovers well and often becomes a decay problem instead.
- Construction damage. Trenching through a root zone or grading fill over roots kills trees slowly — often three to five years after the work, long after anyone connects the two.
How we take a tree down near a house
Very few Marietta lots have room to fell a large tree in one piece, so most of our removals are climbing or bucket jobs where the tree comes apart from the top down. A climber sets a line, limbs get roped off in pieces small enough to control, and each piece is lowered rather than dropped. The trunk then comes down in rounds.
Where a tree overhangs a roof, pool or neighbor's fence, we set rigging points and use friction devices to slow every load. Where the wood is too decayed to rig from safely, we bring in a crane and lift sections out clean. That costs more, and it is the honest answer when a hollow trunk cannot be trusted to hold a climber.
Before any saw runs, plywood and mats go down over driveways and irrigation, and we identify drop zones, escape routes and anything underground the grinder might find later.
Power lines are a hard line. We work around the service drop to your house. The primary distribution lines on the poles belong to Georgia Power or Cobb EMC and have to be handled or de-energized by them. Anyone who tells you otherwise is gambling with your property and their crew.
What drives the price
Height and trunk diameter set the baseline; everything else is access and risk. A 60-foot oak in an open front yard where a bucket truck can park next to it is straightforward. The same tree in a fenced back yard, twelve feet from a sunroom, with a service drop running underneath, is a rigging job that takes twice as long with more crew. Decay adds cost because it removes the option of climbing. Around metro Atlanta, residential removals commonly run $200 to $2,000, and the average job lands near $750. Our tree removal cost guide breaks this down by size with the factors that move a quote up or down.
The Marietta tree removal permit: what actually applies
If you own a single-family home inside Marietta city limits, you generally do not need a permit or to notify the city to remove a tree on your own property. Commercial, multi-family and apartment properties are a different matter — those require a tree removal permit application through the Department of Development Services, submitted with a site plan, species, trunk diameter measured at 4.5 feet above ground, photos and usually an arborist's report. City staff typically issue a decision within about ten days of a complete application, and major land work requires a Land Disturbance Activity application first.
Unincorporated Cobb County has its own tree protection ordinance administered by the Community Development Agency, with density requirements tied to land disturbance permits. Emergencies do not wait on paperwork. Because ordinances get amended, verify your specific situation with Marietta Planning & Zoning at 770-794-5671 before you schedule commercial work — and if you would rather not deal with it, we will handle the application on your behalf.
One thing worth knowing: a dead or obviously hazardous tree you have been told about and left standing can shift liability onto you if it falls on a neighbor's property. Documented negligence is a much more expensive problem than a removal.
The removals we are called for most
People describe this work in a lot of different ways — tree cutting service Marietta GA, tree felling, taking one down. In practice our tree removal service Marietta GA homeowners call for covers the same handful of situations over and over:
- Hazardous tree removal. A tree with structural defects that could reach a house, a car, a play area or a neighbour's property.
- Dead tree removal and dead tree cutting. Standing dead wood dries out and becomes brittle fast, which makes it both more dangerous and more expensive to take down the longer it waits.
- Large tree removal. Mature oaks, hickories and 80-foot pines, generally dismantled by climbing or lifted out by crane.
- Storm damaged tree removal. Split trunks, hung limbs and half-failed trees left behind after a front comes through.
- Tree felling in open ground. Where there is genuinely room to drop a tree whole — usually the back of a larger West Cobb or Cherokee County lot — it is the fastest and cheapest method available.
- Residential and commercial tree removal. Homes, HOAs, rental properties, churches, office parks and construction sites.
What is included in a removal quote
- Takedown of the tree in controlled sections, with property protection in place.
- All brush chipped and hauled away, trunk wood removed unless you want it left as firewood rounds.
- Site raked and blown clean, driveway and street included.
- Certificates of general liability and workers' compensation before we start.
Stump grinding is quoted as a separate line because not everyone wants it — but if you do, adding it to the same visit is always cheaper than a return trip. See stump grinding for how that is priced.
Still deciding whether it has to go?
Plenty of trees people ask us to remove do not need removing. Deadwood cleaned out of the crown, clearance pruned back off the roof, and a proper look at the root flare solves the problem for a fraction of the price and keeps the shade. If you are unsure, book an arborist assessment first — we would rather prune a tree you keep than remove one you did not have to lose.
Get a written price for this job
Call (770) 802-1864 and talk it through with someone who has actually done this work. The site visit and the written estimate are free either way.
Call for a free on-site estimate
One call, no obligation, and a written price before anything starts. The line is answered 24 hours a day — including storm nights and holidays.
(770) 802-1864Tap to call · Open 24/7
Have this ready and we can quote faster
- Roughly how tall the tree is, and the species if you know it.
- What it is closest to — house, driveway, fence, power line.
- Anything that has changed: a new lean, a crack, deadwood appearing.
- Your address or nearest cross street in Marietta or Cobb County.
If a tree is on a structure, blocking your way out, or touching anything electrical, call straight away rather than waiting for business hours.
Tree Removal — common questions
Most single-tree residential removals are a half-day job. A straightforward medium tree with good access can be down, chipped and cleaned in two to three hours. A large hollow oak over a roof, taken apart by rope, can take a full day with a full crew. Crane jobs are often faster on site but need coordination and sometimes street access permission.
For the free estimate it helps, because you can point out irrigation heads, septic lines, invisible-fence wire and where you do want the truck parked. On crew day you do not need to be there — but leave gates unlocked, cars off the driveway and pets inside.
Some marking on grass is normal where heavy rounds land, and it recovers. Driveways get plywood or mats under equipment. Damage beyond that is on us, which is exactly what the insurance certificate is for. Point out anything fragile before we start — septic lids, French drains and shallow irrigation lines are the usual casualties elsewhere.
Usually yes, and it is one of the more common jobs in Smyrna and downtown Marietta. It becomes a climbing and rigging job where every piece is lowered by rope through a narrow corridor, sometimes carried out by hand. It takes longer, so it costs more than the same tree in an open yard.
Brush is chipped on site and hauled off. Trunk wood is removed by default. If you want firewood rounds left and stacked, tell us up front — it typically takes $100 to $300 off the price because we are not paying to haul and dispose of it.
In a sense, yes — every species has a working lifespan, and around Marietta that varies enormously. Water oak is largely done structurally at fifty to sixty years, Bradford pear at twenty to twenty-five, while a white oak can carry on for two or three centuries. What actually kills an old tree is rarely age itself: it is decay getting into wood the tree can no longer wall off, or roots damaged by construction, compaction or drought. An old tree that has been left alone in good soil can outlive several owners of the house beside it.
Usually not, and it is worth being blunt about it. A trunk that has split, or a co-dominant stem that has torn out at the union, has lost the structural core that held it up, and the exposed wood decays fast in Georgia's humidity. Occasionally a single limb tearing off a large healthy tree can be cleaned up and the tree keeps going. A split down the main stem is a removal. Do not leave it standing over anything you care about while you decide.
Yes, and it is the single best way to lower your per-tree cost. Mobilizing a crew, a chipper and a truck is a fixed expense whether we take down one tree or five. Bundled jobs are quoted at a meaningfully lower rate per tree.
Other tree work in Marietta
Get that tree handled this week
Free on-site estimate, written price before anything starts, and a crew that cleans up before it leaves.