Who would you call if you wanted a massive tree cut down in your yard?
I made two phone calls: one to Davey, and one to Weller.
Weller never called me back.
Davey called me back six days later.
Busy season for tree-cutting, I guess?
My dad had a massive tree cut down in his backyard, but he lives in Markham where people are a little less likely to write articles in the Toronto Star suggesting we give away our first-born to save saplings.
My dad told me that he basically had “Bob the tree guy” show up one day and take it down for about 1/8th of what a Davey or a Weller would charge.
But I live in Toronto.
I had no choice but to do this through proper channels.
Davey came by in June for the initial consult and walked me through the process. They said that we had to apply for an “exception” through the City of Toronto, and that if this exception were granted, we’d have 21 days to remove the tree.
How ironic, right?
You ask for permission, and when it’s granted, they tell you to do it right away.
The “exception” is based on imminent danger, which, to be honest, I felt this tree had. I’m no botanist, but if an ice storm hit Toronto this coming winter, a third of this tree could have slammed down on the roof and ended up in my bedroom.
I will admit, I’m glad I didn’t take my father’s advice and go black-market on this tree-cutting. The first day that Davey showed up, they were asked by three people, what they were doing, and if they had a permit.
Seriously?
I guess the pandemic has given a lot of people a LOT more free time!
Through the week that it took them to cut this tree down, we had gawkers, talkers, experts, complainers, and of course, people who showed up to take away the “firewood,” which I think some of them made a business out of. Really, just drive around the city, following Davey and Weller, and ask if you can have their logs. It saves Davey and Weller money for disposal, so why would they say ‘no’?
As I said in the video, the three-day process ended up bleeding into the following week. And it took two weeks for the sub-contractor to show up and grind the stump down. Only their “stump-grinder” broke after fifteen minutes, and they haven’t been back.
That was three weeks ago.
My daughter asked me, “When are the men coming back to get that stump?”
I told her that I didn’t know, and she said, “Their machine broke. It was like a big lawnmower.”
She’s 3 1/2 years old.
I’m such a Dad now.
Once the stump is gone, it’ll take a couple of years for that ground to properly flatten.
Then we pave over the yard and make a small hockey rink, and I become the father/coach that no child wanted. I figure at least one of my kids should play professional hockey, right?
Oh, wait, are we allowed to pave our backyards in Toronto? Or did we not address this in Wednesday’s blog? 🙂
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Johnny Chase
at 10:01 am
Your readers want to know – how much to take down a tree of that size?
jeanmarc
at 1:43 pm
In Toronto, I researched that if the tree is more than 30cm in diameter, then you must go through hell to remove it. I called a place in Toronto to cut down my overgrown apple tree (as per my previous posting). When the guy showed up, I told him what he thought. I mentioned the bylaw issue, etc. He said don’t worry about it and he will take care of it. I wanted a full receipt to cover my ass so I paid whatever he asked + HST. Within a few hours, it was cut down. This was an overgrown apple tree where the previous owner did not care. Given the amount of apples it produced, it made a mess of the backyard when attempting to cut the grass. I was ready to bag the apples and toss it on any neighbor who wanted to bitch at me for removing it. Mind their own xoxoxox business.
Fearless Freep
at 3:25 pm
Glad I’m not your neighbour.
jeanmarc
at 6:09 pm
Same here.
I am one of the best neighbour’s you can ever have. Every property I have ever owned, I keep my property clean as a whistle. It’s my immediate neighbours that don’t pick up garbage, etc. It’s always me that actually take care of my lawn, shovel snow, etc. It’s called respect which a lot of people don’t know the definition. Regarding that property with the apple tree, I ended up selling because I had an idiotic neighbour beside me who started ripping her hedge and throwing on my property. I ended up calling the police. Apparently she made up an excuse that she was starting to have dementia. Pure bs. She knew exactly what she was doing. The owner who bought my property surprising knocked it down and built a massive house. Karma always come back.
Real-tea Enthusiast
at 5:06 pm
My tree story, just an FYI
I have a detached in Whitby and had 4 massive trees and 1 dead “average” size tree on my property and I’ve cut down 2 so far (didnt want to wait until an accident happened). I didn’t need a permit.
I was getting quotes from $1500-3000 but found someone Kijiji who cut 2 down for $1200 last March. In June, a massive storm knocked down a huge branch from one of the remaining trees, went over into 2 other backyards. Insurance coverage stops at my properly line and neighbours were being assholes, screaming about the tree, which didn’t ruin anything on their property but debris fell in their pool. Ended up paying $900 to get it cleaned up. Whitby by-law officer came by and issued a notice that to cut down the “average” size tree which was another $700.
if you need to cut a tree, wait until fall/winter if you can! Once the leaves have fallen off, its cheaper for you and easier for the arborist!
J G
at 7:10 pm
https://m.imgur.com/a/pFqrVIr
Toronto condo market
Appraiser
at 8:01 am
Lest we forget. CMHC reported on May 27, 2020, that it forecasts a decline in up to 75% in housing starts, a drop of up to 25% in sales, and housing prices to shrink by up to 18%. We all know how the sales and price forecasts panned out. Now this:
Latest CMHC Report, August 12, 2020:
“CMHC reports annual pace of housing starts climbed nearly 16 per cent in July
OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) says the annual pace of housing starts in July rose nearly 16 per cent compared with June.
The housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose to 245,604 in July, up from 212,095 in June.”
https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/economic/2020/08/cmhc-reports-annual-pace-of-housing-starts-climbed-nearly-16-per-cent-in-july
No wonder Evan Siddall is going off his rocker. https://www.ratespy.com/7-reasons-cmhcs-letter-was-a-bad-idea-opinion-081215281
Steve
at 10:00 am
The City of Toronto’s tree planting program can also cause some interesting scenarios. Ever had the city plant a tree in the front yard between the offer being accepted and closing?
Presumably the outgoing owner received and ignored a notice that this was going to happen at some point but as you can imagine once it’s in, it’s in. To add insult to injury it was planted off center because the sold sign was still in the lawn when they did it.
Ironically despite best efforts to keep it alive the tree didn’t take in the end anyway and they were back to remove it within 2 years… We now enthusiastically await a replacement tree.
Clifford
at 6:55 pm
Any thoughts on TREB shutting Bungol down?
What’s this all about?
https://www.bungol.ca/treb-data-suspended/
Bungol was such a great source.
ashley
at 11:52 am
Hi, who was your arborist?
Hunter G
at 9:03 pm
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful blog post with us! For more info about tree care.
You may also want to visit the Tree Service of Charlottesville at https://www.charlottesvilletree.com/