Trees over 60 feet are the ones that make homeowners nervous, and fair enough: a mature silver maple in Etobicoke or an old oak in Oakville can have limbs bigger than most of the trees on the street. Pruning at this scale is a rigging job. Our climbers work the full canopy on rope, and any piece with a target under it gets lowered under control, not dropped. The typical large tree call is a crown clean to get years of accumulated deadwood out, weight reduction on long horizontal limbs over the house, and clearance where the tree has swallowed the roofline. Done right, this work is what lets a big tree stay instead of coming down. We price large tree pruning starting at $500, quoted in writing at the property, and we will tell you plainly if what the tree actually needs is cabling, a reduction, or a removal conversation instead. We work across Toronto, Etobicoke, Oakville, Burlington and the west GTA. The trees at this size are usually older than the houses, and the goal is to keep it that way.
What's included
- A proper ground inspection before the climb: root flare, trunk, major unions and old pruning wounds checked for decay, cracks and cavities that change how we work the tree.
- Full canopy access on rope and saddle. On a 70 foot tree, most of the deadwood is where a bucket cannot reach and a ground crew cannot see.
- Crown cleaning throughout: dead, broken, hung up and rubbing limbs cut out through the entire crown, which on an old silver maple is often the bulk of the job.
- Weight and end load reduction on overextended limbs over the house, driveway and yard, cut back to strong laterals to reduce leverage.
- Rigging and controlled lowering for every piece over a roof, fence, pool, garden or line. Ropes, blocks and a ground crew, not gravity.
- Clearance from the roof, chimney and any structures, with cuts placed so regrowth heads away from the house instead of back at it.
- An honest flag on anything structural we find up there: cracks, cavities, included bark unions. We photograph what we see and tell you what it means.
- Complete cleanup: brush chipped, wood bucked to movable lengths or hauled, sawdust raked, lawn blown off, and a walkaround before we invoice.
How it works
- Call and tell us about the tree. For trees over 60 feet we always quote in person. Big tree pricing from photos is guessing.
- Free written on-site quote. We assess the tree from the ground, agree exactly what comes out of the crown, and give you a fixed number in writing.
- Permit and bylaw check. Most pruning needs nothing, but big trees are protected trees in most west GTA municipalities and heavy work gets checked, especially on Toronto ravine lots.
- Work day: climbers up, ground crew managing ropes and the drop zone, every significant piece over a target lowered under control. Large prunes typically run a full day.
- Cleanup, walkaround and photos of the finished crown. If we flagged structural concerns during the climb, you get those photos too, with a straight recommendation.
What moves the price above starting at $500
- Sheer size. Starting at $500 covers the low end of the 60 foot plus range. An 85 foot silver maple with a crown as wide as the lot is multiples of the work of a 62 foot locust.
- Rigging complexity. Limbs over open lawn get worked quickly. Limbs over the roof, a pool, a sunroom or the neighbour's garage get pieced down small and slow, and time is the price driver.
- Deadwood volume and wood condition. Decades of accumulated deadwood in a mature maple is a long climbing day. Brittle, decayed or EAB killed wood slows everything further because it cannot be trusted to hold a rope or a climber.
- Access. Chipper close to the tree is the base case. Backyard giants with narrow side yards mean dragging brush the length of the property, and occasionally a conversation about working from a neighbour's side.
- Scope. A deadwood only clean, a clean plus weight reduction, and a full clean, reduce and clearance package are three different jobs, and the written quote will show you the price of each if you want options.
- Disposal. Large tree prunes can produce multiple chip loads plus real wood volume. Hauling is included in the quote, and leaving bucked firewood on site is one way to bring the number down.
- Permits, where heavy work on a protected tree needs one. Most pruning does not, but when a reduction on a regulated tree crosses into permit territory, the application time and paperwork get built into the quote up front.
Starting at $500, quoted in writing before any work starts.
On-site visit, written quote, no obligation. Usually within 24 hours of your call.
When you need this
- Your mature silver maple sheds branches every storm and there is always something on the lawn. Silver maples are the west GTA's most enthusiastic self pruners, and a proper crown clean stops the constant drop.
- A long horizontal limb hangs over the roof or the kids' play area and it visibly rides up and down in the wind. End weight reduction shortens the lever before it fails.
- A big ash killed or badly hit by emerald ash borer stands within reach of the house. At this size, dead ash is a serious hazard and the pruning versus removal call needs to happen now, not next year.
- After a storm, something up in the canopy is cracked, hanging or resting where it should not be. Hangers in a 70 foot tree are invisible from the ground until they come down. Same-day response during business hours for hazardous situations.
- An old oak or Norway maple has not been touched in decades and the crown is full of dead tips, crossing limbs and dark interior. A staged clean brings it back without shocking it.
- Construction is coming: an addition, a pool, a new garage. Big tree crowns and roots need pruning and protection planned before excavation, not patched up after the damage is done.
Local notes for the west GTA
Most trees over 60 feet in the west GTA are protected trees. In Toronto and Etobicoke the private tree bylaw applies from 30 cm DBH measured at 1.4 m, and essentially every 60 foot tree qualifies, with ravine protected land regulated at any size. Hamilton and Brampton regulate from 30 cm, Burlington from 20 cm, Mississauga from 15 cm in some zones, and Oakville from 76 cm circumference. None of that stops proper pruning. The bylaws exist to prevent removal and injury, and good maintenance pruning is neither. It does mean two things in practice: heavy reduction work on a protected tree gets scoped carefully so it stays on the right side of the injury line, and anyone who suggests topping a protected tree is proposing something that can trigger enforcement. The big trees here are mostly silver maple, Norway maple, oak, willow and old ash. The maples and willows shed, the ash is dying region wide, and the oaks are worth every dollar of careful work.
Where we provide this service
Frequently asked questions
Why does large tree pruning start at $500 and what makes it go higher? +
Starting at $500 reflects what it takes to put a climbing crew, rigging gear and a chipper on site for even the smallest 60 foot plus job. Above that, the honest answer is time. A quote is our estimate of how many climber hours the crown needs and how slowly material has to come down over whatever is underneath. A wide open 65 footer over lawn is in the starting price neighbourhood. A tall maple wrapped over a roof, a pool and a neighbour's fence, carrying decades of deadwood, is a full crew day or more and priced accordingly. You get a fixed written number before we start, and if you want options we will price a deadwood only clean separately from the full scope so you can choose.
When should a big tree be pruned, and how often? +
Dormant season, late fall to early spring, is the best window for most large tree work: structure is visible, the ground is firm for equipment, and gardens are asleep. Oaks are the strict case. We do not prune oaks in the growing season as an oak wilt precaution, so oak work gets booked for the cold months. For frequency, a mature tree that has been properly cleaned typically wants attention every three to five years, sooner for fast shedding species like silver maple and willow. If a company proposes pruning your big tree hard every year, they are selling work, not tree care. Storm damage overrides the calendar. A cracked or hanging limb in a big tree is a same-day call during business hours, and after hours you leave a voicemail and we call back first thing.
Can you prune a big tree without climbing spikes damaging it? +
Yes, and this is worth checking with every company you get a quote from. Spikes, also called spurs or gaffs, punch wounds through the bark into live tissue, and every puncture is a potential entry point for decay. They belong on removals, where the tree is coming down anyway, and nowhere near a tree you are paying to keep healthy. Our climbers work pruning jobs on rope using friction systems, which is the accepted standard for live trees. From the ground you can spot the difference on past work: rows of small holes up a trunk mean someone spiked a keeper. If one quote is dramatically cheaper than the others, a crew planning to spike up your tree in an hour instead of climbing it properly is one common reason.
How much can you take off a large tree at once? +
Conservatively, and less as trees age. A mature tree runs on stored energy, and stripping a big fraction of its live crown in one visit pushes it toward decline, watersprout regrowth and sunscald on newly exposed bark. Deadwood is free. We can remove all of it, and it costs the tree nothing. Live canopy is where restraint matters, and on an old maple or oak we prefer to stay modest in any single season and return in a couple of years if more is wanted. If a tree genuinely needs a major size reduction, that is a different service, a staged crown reduction, and sometimes the honest answer is that the tree is too big for the spot and we should talk about what replacing it looks like. We will tell you which conversation you are in at the quote.
Is it cheaper to prune a big tree or remove it? +
Pruning is almost always the cheaper single transaction, and usually the cheaper decade. A large removal involves the same climbing and rigging as a large prune plus bringing down the entire stem, dealing with the wood volume, grinding the stump, and in most west GTA municipalities a permit process with fees, since big trees are protected from around 30 cm trunk diameter in Toronto, Brampton and Hamilton, 20 cm in Burlington, and lower in some Mississauga zones. A maintained big tree also carries real property value: shade, cooling and the look of an established street. Removal is the right call for dead, dangerously decayed or hopeless trees, and we do plenty of them. But if your tree is healthy and just scary looking, get the pruning quote before you price the removal.
Do you use a crane or bucket truck, or climb? +
We climb by default. Rope access reaches every part of the crown, puts the cut exactly where it should be, and does not require driving equipment across your lawn or septic bed. A bucket truck helps on some street side trees with good access, and on certain removals a crane earns its cost, but for pruning a healthy large tree, a skilled climber does better work with a lighter footprint. This matters when you compare quotes, because bucket only companies can only prune what the bucket reaches, which produces trees cleaned on the road side and untouched over the house, exactly where the risk is. Ask any company how they will access the parts of the crown that hang over the roof. The answer tells you a lot.