Maybe so. Pictures can be deceiving of course...
Assuming that tree can go whole with just wedges, what would you charge? Literally walk up, face cut, back cut, bang it over, walk away.
Also, note, I am not a true professional. Trees are not my day job, so probably not a apples to apples comparison.
Yes, he asked what a pro would charge, not a weekend warrior. Keep in mind, when you hire a pro, the expectations increase, as do the costs.
This is actually a good post, and a way to describe a typical day for a professional tree service. I am going to describe it from my time as a lead climber/foreman perspective when we were running 3 crews in Bastrop County TX.
The customer calls for an estimate. He has stated 1/2 hr. drive from the shop. We might be lucky, and myself or the owner might be passing that way in the next day or two, so we can just swing by, or maybe not. If the owner has to make a special trip, that will be a minimum of 1-2 hours out of his day... travel time, time with the homeowner, and then travel to wherever he is going next... so, with gas, use of his truck, and time out of his day, we have to at least call it $75.00 just to bid on the job. Let's say it is in my general neighborhood, say 15 minutes out of my way, so the boss asks me to swing by and look at the tree on the way back to the shop. I usually ran a 5 man crew, so 15 min. drive time, and a 1/2 hour with the customer. Meanwhile, I have 4 guys sitting in the chip truck, but it isn't fair to expect them to sit for free, so they have to be paid, right? So, at roughly $100,00 an hour in labor, plus amortization on the equipment, we are back at 75-100 bucks just to bid the job.
So, we bid the job, and it is scheduled. It is decided to just drop it safe. We have 2 choices: Boss can send me up in a pickup with a groundie, and we can catch up with the crew later, or just swing by with the whole crew, knock it out, and move on to another job. Probably more efficient to just go there with the whole rig and crew, even though I don't need them, so our day isn't totally screwed up by this one stupid tree.
I'm going to set a line in it while my guys get the masdaam or the 3 in 1 out of the truck, find a suitable anchor point, and gas up the saws, etc. Keep in mind, if my boss bid the tree, I haven't seen it yet, so I have 5-10 minutes at about 5 bucks a minute to assess the tree and assemble a game plan... Meanwhile we have a out a 150k worth of equipment sitting out on the road, rusting and amortizing, lol.
In under an hour, the tree is down, assuming I didn't hit old wire or metal in the tree and trash an 80 dollar chain, and half to swap out, etc. Since we bid the job, we eat the cost, because the homeowner isn't going to be happy if we try and get him to pay for it, even though he swore there was no metal... like he would know at 50 the entire history of a hundred year oak... cost of doing business...
Now, since I am conscientious, and the 660 is already running, I will probably go ahead and limb it at least until the trunk is on the ground, and no danger of rolling on the homeowner, and probably even buck the trunk into some fashion of workable lengths, since we all know once that tree is on the ground, it is more dangerous than when it was standing, and I don't want to read about the customer in the paper... by then the boys had better be all loaded up and ready to roll... I produce the invoice, get the check or process the card, so the boss doesn't have to make another trip out, and we head to the next one... probably get there just about in time for lunch... day half gone...
So, even being simplistic, and without adding maintenance, insurance, repair costs, shop space, etc. It costs a professional tree company a minimum of 4-500 just to drop it.
In return... all you have to do is write a check... neighbor's fence gets damaged? Our problem. Tree goes wrong? Our problem. We hit an old galvanized conduit in the middle of the tree? Our problem.
I make this post mostly for education, and also to maybe show just what is involved behind the scenes of a professional tree company...
Now, scenario 2, is the boss just sends me out Saturday morning with my lead groundie to drop it... we are back at the shop by noon, but I still have to swap the blades on the chipper, rotate the greenteeth on the stump grinder, change the oil in the F350, and my lead man has 18 saws he has to run through... we aren't gonna make that cookout after all, unless we want to come in sunday... because Monday is a whole new week, and we are already behind...