Search for a tree felling company in Cape Town and you will find everything from insured crews with climbing gear and a chipper to someone with a borrowed chainsaw and a bakkie. From the outside they can look much the same. The difference shows when a limb lands on your neighbour’s carport or a worker is hurt on your property, and you find out who was carrying the risk.
We are often asked how to tell them apart, so this is the checklist we would use ourselves: two things that rule a company out, the questions worth asking, what a written quote should contain and the red flags that mean you should walk away.
Two things that rule a tree felling company out
Before you compare prices or methods, check two things. If either is missing, the rest of the quote does not matter.
Insurance you can actually see
Ask for proof of public liability insurance, which covers damage to your property or a neighbour’s. Also ask whether the company is registered under COIDA (the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act), which covers its workers if they are injured on the job. Ask for the documents, not a verbal “yes, we’re covered”. If the answer gets vague, treat that as your answer.
A quote in writing
A price given over the phone without seeing the tree is not a quote. You want a written quote after a site visit or clear photos, so there is a record of exactly what was agreed. A company that will not put its price and scope in writing is keeping its options open, and that rarely works in your favour.
Questions to ask before you hire
Once a company clears those two filters, a short conversation tells you a lot.
- How will you bring this tree down? Near a house, wall or pool, the answer should involve climbing, rigging and lowering the tree in sections. If the whole plan is “we drop it and it will be fine”, keep looking. Our guide to the methods of felling trees explains when each approach is used.
- Who will actually be on site? Some outfits win the job, then pass it to whoever is free. You want the people who assessed the tree to be the people who do the work.
- What equipment do you bring? A professional crew arrives with climbing ropes, harnesses, a lowering device, a chipper and protective gear. One saw and a bakkie is fine for firewood, not for a pine leaning over your kitchen.
- How will you protect the paving, the pool and the neighbour’s side of the wall? A good team plans where every section will land and protects what sits beneath the tree before any cutting starts.
- Does this tree need any approval first? More on permits below, but a professional company should know when one applies.
- What happens if the wind picks up on the day? Taking down a tall tree in a strong south-easter is a bad idea whoever holds the saw. A sensible crew reschedules rather than pushing on.
- Is the stump included? Ask whether stump grinding is part of the price or optional, so you are not surprised by a stump left in the lawn.
What a proper written quote contains
Use this list to check every quote you receive. A missing item is not always a bad sign, but each one is worth a question before you accept.
- The trees: which ones, where they stand and roughly how big they are.
- The method: climbed and lowered in sections, or felled in one piece.
- The stump: ground out, cut low or left as it is.
- The waste: whether branches are chipped, the timber and refuse taken away and the site left clear. Our quotes include this, and we think every quote should.
- Approvals: any permit or licence needed, and who arranges it.
- The total price: and what happens if the job turns out to be bigger than expected.
- Payment terms: be cautious about paying in full upfront to a company you have never used.
- Insurance: confirmation that the work is covered.
Permits: what a good company checks first
Most ordinary garden trees on private property need no permit at all. There are three exceptions a professional company should check before quoting.
- Protected species. A good company will recognise a milkwood or real yellowwood and tell you that a DFFE licence is needed before anyone touches it.
- Trees on municipal land. A tree on the pavement or verge belongs to the municipality, even if it hangs over your garden. It is not yours to remove.
- Heritage areas. Properties in heritage areas may need heritage approval for work that changes the site.
A company that says “nobody checks” or offers to cut first and ask later is handing the risk to you. In older, leafy suburbs with big established trees, such as Constantia, it is worth raising the question before anything is booked.
Red flags to walk away from
- No insurance documents, or excuses about why they cannot be sent.
- A quote far below the others with no explanation. It usually leaves something out: the waste, the stump or the insurance.
- Pressure to pay everything upfront or to decide on the spot.
- A plan to fell a big tree in one piece right next to a building.
- Someone planning to work on a tall palm from a ladder. A palm should be climbed, which is how we handle palm cleaning and palm removal.
- No clear plan for the waste. If a pile of brush ends up dumped on an open plot, it still came from your garden.
- Ignoring nearby power lines or cables. A careless cut near service lines can take out power or fibre for the whole street.
- A general garden service offering to take down a large tree. Mowing and trimming is not the same as working at height on ropes.
Checking that a company is genuinely local
Search results rank advertising, not workmanship. Some names near the top are lead resellers who pass your number to whoever pays for it, or national directories with no crew in your area. You cannot tell from the listing, so the filter has to be yours.
Ask which suburbs they worked in recently. A local team answers straight away. Read reviews for specifics, such as suburb names, how the site was left and how the awkward limb came down, because vague five-star praise is easy to fake. If you can, look at a recent job nearby or ask the neighbour whose gum came down last year who they used. A tidy site and an intact boundary wall say more than any advert.
Local experience matters because Cape Town gardens differ so much. A salt-blasted coastal garden, an oak-lined Southern Suburbs street and big poplars and gums on a Durbanville smallholding are different jobs. A local crew plans tall work around the summer south-easter, and deals with hazardous trees before the winter cold fronts soak the ground and push shallow-rooted pines and gums over.
Size is not the test either. A small, insured crew that ticks every box on this page beats a big name that subcontracts your job.
Comparing quotes fairly
Two or three quotes is plenty, and more than that usually just delays the job. What matters is that every company is pricing the same scope: the same trees, the same method, the stump and the waste. Only then do the totals mean anything.
When one quote is far below the rest, find out what is missing before you accept it. For a sense of what drives the cost, see our tree felling prices guide.
We are happy to be judged by this checklist. WhatsApp a photo of the tree to 071 799 1993, or book a free site visit and written quote through our contact page.