Tree risk assessment · Asheville, NC
ISA Certified arborist in Asheville. Every job starts with a written assessment — and about a third of them end with a recommendation to keep the tree.
Section 1 — Findings
Real entries from the last season, anonymised. 3 of the six do not end in a removal.
Ref A-1
Montford · rear boundary
— recommended action: Removal
Included bark union at 22 ft with a visible crack extending below it. Directly over a bedroom.
Removal Removal. A codominant union with an open crack over an occupied structure is the textbook case, and no amount of cabling makes it acceptable here.
Ref A-2
Kenilworth · side yard
— recommended action: Retain
Deadwood in the upper crown, no decay at the base, no lean change across two visits.
Retain Retain. Crown clean to remove the deadwood — about a tenth of what removal would cost. This tree has decades left.
Ref A-3
West Asheville · street side
— recommended action: Monitor
Basal decay confirmed by resistance drilling; roughly 30% of cross-section compromised.
Monitor Reduce the crown by 20% to lower the sail area, then reassess in twelve months. Not a removal yet, and it may never be.
Ref A-4
North Asheville · driveway
— recommended action: Removal
Root plate lifting after saturation, soil cracking on the windward side, fresh lean of about 8 degrees.
Removal Immediate removal, driveway closed until the crew arrives. This is the one rating that means today rather than this month.
Ref A-5
Haw Creek · front lawn
— recommended action: Retain
Surface roots lifting a walkway. Structurally sound; the conflict is with the hardscape, not the tree.
Retain Retain and move the walkway. Cutting those roots to save a path is how a sound tree becomes a hazard in five years.
Ref A-6
Oakley · near power drop
— recommended action: Removal
Classic multi-stem union failure pattern, already split on the north side, over a service drop.
Removal Removal, coordinated with the utility. The species fails this way as a rule rather than as an exception.
Section 2 — Rating scale
Published, so a rating on your report can be checked rather than taken on trust. Only one of the four means today.
| Rating | What it means | Urgency |
|---|---|---|
| No action required. Reassess at the normal interval. | Routine | |
| Mitigation worth considering — pruning, reduction, target removal. | This season | |
| Mitigation recommended. Often removal, sometimes not. | Weeks | |
| Failure likely and consequences severe. Restrict the area now. | Today |
Section 3 — Costs
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Small tree, 10–30 ft | $100 – $400 |
| Medium tree, 30–60 ft | $300 – $1,000 |
| Large tree, 60 ft+ | $1,500 – $3,600 |
| Typical removal | $400 – $1,200 |
| Rule of thumb | $9.50 – $14.50 per foot of height |
| Emergency / storm, same day | $1,500 – $6,500 |
| Crane-dependent hazardous | $12,000+ |
Those four are separate line items on our quotes because burying them is how a quote stops matching the invoice.
Section 4 — Storm
After-hours and storm response carries a 25–50% surcharge over the standard rate. We would rather print that than surprise you with it at 2am.
Section 5 — Coverage
Montford · North Asheville · West Asheville · Kenilworth · Oakley
Haw Creek · Swannanoa · Black Mountain · Fairview
Arden · Fletcher · Mills River · Biltmore Forest
Weaverville · Leicester · Candler · Woodfin
Section 6 — References
“Two companies quoted removal on the poplar. Roman climbed it, wrote a report, and told me it needed deadwooding and nothing else. That was four years ago and it is still standing.”
“Hemlock lifted its root plate after the September rain. He looked at it that evening, closed the driveway, and had it down the next morning.”
“The report is what sold me. Actual measurements, actual photos, a rating, and a recommendation I could take to my insurer.”
“Told me the maple roots lifting my path were not the tree's fault and that moving the path was cheaper than losing the tree. Nobody else said that.”
Section 7 — Questions
We can quote a removal, but we will look at the tree properly first and tell you if it does not need to come down. Roughly a third of the trees we are called to assess get a recommendation to keep them. That is not generosity — it is what the assessment is for.
An exam, continuing education, and a code of ethics through the International Society of Arboriculture. TRAQ is a separate qualification specifically for risk assessment. Neither is a licence, and plenty of competent climbers hold neither — but if someone is telling you a tree is dangerous, it is fair to ask what training that judgement rests on.
Usually only if the tree hit something insured. A tree down in the yard that hit nothing is typically your cost. Sublimits are commonly $500–$1,000 per tree and around $5,000 total, so a large removal often exceeds what the policy pays.
A 25–50% surcharge, because it is night work, in wind, often with the tree under load and next to something it has already damaged. It is the most dangerous work we do and it is priced accordingly.
Sometimes. A tree that has always leaned is different from one that started last week — the second is a root failure and usually not salvageable. We look for soil cracking and a lifted root plate, which is why we ask when you first noticed.
No. Topping removes the crown's structure, forces weak regrowth, and creates the hazard you were trying to avoid. Any company willing to top a tree for you is telling you something about how they work.
Request an assessment
If anything is on a structure or near a wire, call the storm line instead. Fields marked with an asterisk are required.