Tree Removal
Dead, failing or badly placed trees taken out whole, or dismantled in sections over a roof or pool.
Learn more →Gold Coast storm season, in practice
From late November through March the pattern is familiar: hot humid mornings, a build-up through the afternoon, and a line of storms coming through in the late afternoon with intense rainfall and severe wind gusts. The whole coastal strip sits in a cyclonic wind region, and the hinterland fringe at Nerang, Mudgeeraba, Tallai and Currumbin Valley gets terrain-accelerated gusts on top of that.
Two things fail. The first is limbs — poinciana, African tulip, camphor laurel and fig all extend long horizontal branches that fill with water weight and tear out at the union. The second is whole trees, when three days of rain saturates the soil and a root plate loses its grip. That second failure is why the biggest callouts come after sustained rain rather than after the single most violent storm.
There is also summer branch drop, which surprises people because there is no wind involved at all. A mature eucalypt on a still, 38-degree February afternoon will occasionally shed a healthy limb without warning. It is well documented and it is one reason not to park under a big gum in a heatwave.
What we attend
Trees and limbs on roofs, gutters and solar arrays. Trees across driveways, footpaths and carports. Split trunks and hung-up limbs still in the canopy. Trees leaning onto fences, pool enclosures or neighbouring property after the ground has let go. Root plates lifted out of saturated soil on canal-front and creek-front blocks.
What we do not touch
Anything in contact with an Energex conductor. A tree crew cannot legally work on a live line, and the ground near a downed conductor can be energised. Ring Energex on 13 19 62 first, keep clear, and once the line is isolated the tree work proceeds normally.
We also will not cut into a tensioned trunk from the wrong side to save time. Storm work is deliberate and it takes longer than the same volume of timber would take on a planned removal.
How the job runs
The crew assesses which parts are under load and in which direction. Anything hung up is brought down under control. Material over a structure is rigged and lowered rather than dropped, because the roof underneath has already taken one hit. Once the hazard is made safe, the rest becomes an ordinary removal or a reduction, and the stump is dealt with later by grinding.
Photograph everything before the saw starts if you intend to claim.
Reducing the odds before next summer
Most of what fails was visibly going to fail. Deadwood, decayed unions, over-extended limbs and lopsided crowns are all found and addressed in a planned prune or weight reduction, and the window for that work is roughly August to October.
Ring (07) 5230 8034. Say the suburb, what has come down, and what it is sitting on.
More services
Explore our other services
Tree Lopping
Weight reduction and limb removal on overgrown gums, figs and poincianas crowding a house or fence line.
Learn more →Tree Pruning
Crown lifting, thinning and clearance pruning done to AS 4373 so the tree survives the cut.
Learn more →Stump Grinding
Stump and buttress roots ground below ground level so you can turf, pave or replant over the top.
Learn more →Stump Removal
Stump and root plate dug out entirely where footings, a pool shell or new services need clear ground.
Learn more →Palm Tree Removal
Cocos, Alexandra, Bangalow and golden cane palms taken down in driveway-width space, roots and all.
Learn more →Palm Tree Lopping
Frond, seed-head and dead-skirt removal so palms stop dropping fronds on cars, paths and pool fences.
Learn more →Land Clearing
Building-envelope and acreage clearing, mulched on site or carted, with the overlay position checked first.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
What do I do first when a tree comes down?
Get people away from it and stay away yourself, especially from the uphill or under-tension side. If any part of it is touching a powerline, treat the ground around it as live, keep everyone back at least eight metres, and ring Energex on 13 19 62. Do not move anything, do not run a generator lead near it, and do not climb on it to look. Then ring us with the address.
Does home insurance cover storm tree damage?
Usually yes where a tree has damaged an insured structure, but the terms vary and most insurers want photographs before anything is moved and a written report of what failed. Take pictures from several angles before the crew starts cutting. Removing a tree that has not damaged anything is generally treated as maintenance and is not covered.
How quickly can someone attend?
It depends entirely on what else is running. After a widespread storm event across the Gold Coast every crew in the region is committed, and jobs are triaged: anything blocking access for emergency vehicles, anything on a roof over a bedroom, and anything under tension goes first. A limb resting harmlessly on a lawn waits. Ring and say plainly what has failed and where it is sitting.
Why is a partly failed tree more dangerous than a fallen one?
Because the energy is still stored in it. A limb hung up in the canopy, a trunk split at a union, or a tree leaning on a fence is holding load that releases the moment something is cut in the wrong order. Those jobs are worked from the outside in, with the tension relieved deliberately. It is the main reason storm work is not a chainsaw-and-ladder job.
Free, no-obligation