Compared two quotes for taking down a big maple tree and the price gap was ridiculous

I got quotes from two different tree services last week for a 60 foot maple in my backyard here in Portland. One company came in at $1,800 and the other was $3,200 for the exact same work including stump grinding and cleanup. The cheaper company was a smaller operation with just a couple trucks, while the bigger company had a whole fleet and a fancy office. I went with the cheaper one after checking their insurance and some references, and honestly the crew did a great job in about 5 hours with no damage to my fence or lawn. The expensive quote seemed to be padding a lot for their overhead and marketing costs. Has anyone else noticed big price differences like this and what did you end up going with?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin62811d agoMost Upvoted

$3,200 for basically the same tree work sounds like they were pricing for that fancy office and marketing instead of the actual job. Did you end up finding any hidden issues with the cheaper crew that the bigger company might have caught?

ray35611d ago

Always been happy asking around for personal references instead of picking from an ad.

kelly38511d ago

Wait, you think the cheap crew could have hidden issues? Yeah, I learned that one the hard way actually. The low price turned out to be for a crew that didn't have insurance, so when a branch landed on my shed I was on my own sorting it out. Guess my "savings" went straight to the repair guy instead, lol. But honestly, the fancy company I tried later was way overpriced and still messed up the job, so I guess you either pay through the wallet or pay through the headache.