Now make like a tree, and get out of here!

A little bit ago, a giant rain-soaked limb broke off its tree, and fell what had to be at least six stories to the ground. This is a huge, old, sprawling tree whose roots would probably rip my house right off the ground if it ever fell down. It's become pretty clear that this tree needs to come down, and by a professional.
Had anyone needed to do this? And if so, how much do these jobs run? Hundreds? Thousands? Money's pretty tight, so it'd be nice not to fall off my chair when I hear an estimate tomorrow.

 

Never had to do it, but was talking with a neighbor who had another neighbor's tree overhanging his yard and getting ready to fall. Said when they called a tree service it was going to be around $1,200.
That's a lot of money, but you might have a few options.
If it's threatening several homes, talk to your neighbors and see if they're willing to split the cost. A couple hundred apiece is better than a couple thousand out of your pocket.
Or, if it's overhanging power lines, call your electric company. A lot of them will come out and cut it down if it's a threat to knock down some lines.

 

See Mr. Richfield. He'll hook you up with a few tree-pushers, and you'll be all set.

 

Did you just reference Dinosaurs? Which lasted like five episodes? 15 years ago?

Seek help, Mikey.

 

Ok, now what the hell is that? Your capacity for obscure references is far greater than I had estimated.

 

Dinosaurs? With the "Not the momma" and "We're going to need another Timmy"?

 

Martin, it can vary widely from one tree service to another.

A couple of years ago, we had a diseased 80-foot oak taken down for $600.

A month ago, we had two smaller trees taken down and the front-yard oak trimmed up for $100. And that was by an arborist who climbed 100 feet into the canopy and inspected everything to check the tree's health.

 

I thought you were talking about these guys.

 

Four seasons, DC. Four glorious seasons on ABC, in a lineup with Step By Step/Full House, Boy Meets World and Family Matters. It was great stuff. I actually bought all four seasons a month ago, though not for me.

Exactly, Martin. Good pull on the "Timmy."

 

Thanks, Inky. (Also, thanks Batman above.) Very useful stuff. I suppose the pricing depends on equipment needed (climbing vs. hydraulic arm/bucket), and probably varies from place to place. We'll see when I get an estimate. One thing I'm interested in knowing...did you sign a contract before they did any work?

 

Awesome. Martin, you're officially awesome in my book.

"not the momma!"

As for the tree issue, my former neighbors had some bigs trees up and they were able to get the electric company to negotiate a cheaper rate with a company since the tree was threatening lines. Good luck!

 

Just handshakes in both cases.

I really don't think it'll be too expensive for you. It's relatively simple, unless it's right up against the house.