Nobody puts prices on a tree service website, and there is a reason for it: the same tree in two different yards is two different jobs. But "it depends" is a useless answer when you are trying to work out whether to call at all. So here are real numbers.
The range
Across Massachusetts, most residential tree removals land somewhere between $750 and $1,800. For Brockton specifically, HomeAdvisor puts the average removal at about $1,145, with a typical range of $651 to $1,592.
That range covers the ordinary majority of jobs. Underneath it sit small trees — a 20-foot ornamental, a dead birch in the open — that can be a few hundred dollars. Above it sit the genuinely difficult ones: a mature oak over a roof, a tree that has to be dismantled from the top down over a driveway with cars in it, or anything the power company has to be involved in.
What actually moves the number
Size, but not the way you think. Height matters less than mass. A 60-foot white pine has far less wood in it than a 45-foot red oak, and the oak costs more to take down and more to haul away.
What is underneath it. This is the big one. A tree that can be felled in one piece into an open yard is a couple of hours. The same tree with a house on one side and a fence on the other has to come down in sections, each one lowered rather than dropped, and that can triple the time on site.
Access. Can the truck get within throwing distance of the trunk, or is every piece of wood being carried 150 feet around the side of the house? Carrying is the most expensive thing on any tree job because it is pure labour with nothing to speed it up.
Wires. Anything tangled in the service drop to your house adds care and time. Anything in the primary lines at the top of the pole is not a tree company decision at all until the utility de-energizes or drops them.
The stump. Usually quoted separately, because plenty of people would rather leave a flush cut than pay to grind it.
Debris. Hauling the wood and the brush off the property is standard on our quotes. If you want the wood left for firewood, say so — it comes off the price.
Why one quote comes in at half
If three companies look at the same tree and one number is dramatically lower, it is worth asking what is different rather than assuming you found a deal. Usually one of these:
- The wood and the brush are not going anywhere. "Removal" turns out to mean the tree is on the ground, in your yard, in pieces.
- The stump is not in the quote and you assumed it was.
- The tree is going to be felled in one piece into a space that is not really big enough for it, and the plan for the fence is optimism.
Get each quote to say, in writing, whether debris removal and stump grinding are included. Once they all say the same thing, comparing them is easy.
The best money you will spend on a tree
It is pruning. A few hundred dollars of clearance work on limbs over your roof, done every few years, is the thing that stops a $1,500 emergency removal after a storm. If you are calling us about a removal and the tree does not actually need to come out, we will tell you that on the estimate.
Estimates are free and same day when you call or text early in the day. That is the fastest way to turn a range into a number.