Tree service in Austin

Austin has rules, and they have teeth

This is the part most people find out about too late. In the City of Austin a tree measuring 19 inches or more in diameter, taken at four and a half feet up the trunk, counts as a protected tree and needs a permit before it can be removed.

At 24 inches, certain species — live oak, pecan and Texas ash among them — become heritage trees, and those are not a permit matter at all. Removing one requires a variance from the city, and the same protection covers taking more than a quarter of the canopy or disturbing the root zone.

We are not the city and we do not issue the paperwork. What we will do is measure your tree and tell you which side of those numbers it falls on before anyone starts a saw, because that conversation is a lot cheaper than the alternative.

The oak wilt capital of Central Texas

If there is one place where sealing every oak cut stopped being optional, it is Austin. Live oaks here grow in connected groups with their roots grafted together, which is how the fungus moves from one tree to the next without ever crossing open ground. Above ground it travels on sap-feeding beetles that find a fresh wound within hours.

So: every oak cut painted the same hour, no exceptions, no matter the season. Non-urgent oak pruning stays out of the February-through-June high-risk stretch. And if a run of oaks on your street is browning from the top down in a line, that is the pattern worth getting looked at before anybody prunes anything.

Old neighborhoods, tight access

Central Austin lots were laid out long before anyone needed to get a chipper down the side of a house. Alley access, power drops across the back, and a mature live oak filling the entire yard is a normal picture.

That work gets rigged down in sections rather than dropped, which takes longer and is priced accordingly. Knowing what the access looks like before we quote is the difference between a real number and a guess.

Honestly, about the distance

We are based in New Braunfels and Austin is about fifty minutes up the interstate. We are not going to pretend we are the closest crew to you, and for a small trim you are probably better served locally.

For removals, storm damage and oak work where it matters who is holding the saw, it is a trip worth making and we make it regularly. Call and describe the job — we will tell you straight whether it is one for us.