FAQ
Common questions — Apollo Arboreal, Lyme & Hanover
Pricing, certification, emergency response, and more — direct answers from an ISA-certified climbing crew covering the Upper Valley.
How much does tree removal cost in the Upper Valley?
A straightforward residential removal in Lyme or Hanover typically runs between $600 and $1,800 for a single-trunk hardwood under 60 feet. Larger specimens, ones requiring rigging over a structure, or removals that cannot reach with a bucket generally run higher. The price we quote is the price you pay — site access, complete debris haul-out, and a clean raked finish are included.
Learn more: tree removal, get a quote.
How quickly can you respond to storm damage?
During an active storm event across the Upper Valley, our crew is typically on-site within 90 minutes of the call. We confirm the hazard on the phone, dispatch directly from our own trucks, and prioritize trees on structures, on service lines, or blocking egress. Non-emergency storm cleanup — downed trees in open ground with calm weather holding — is scheduled within the same week.
Learn more: emergency storm damage, request emergency service.
Are you ISA certified and insured?
Yes. Apollo Arboreal is owned and operated by an ISA-certified arborist, and that certification carries onto every job — the person assessing your tree is the person climbing it. We carry comprehensive general liability and workers’ compensation coverage, and we provide certificates of insurance on request before any scheduled work begins.
Learn more: about the team.
What areas do you serve?
Our home territory is the Upper Valley — Lyme, Hanover, Norwich, Lebanon, Enfield, Orford, Plainfield, and the surrounding communities along the Connecticut River. We also run projects across New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine), the Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey), and select southern markets. Travel for storm-response and complex rig work is available — call to confirm coverage for your address.
Learn more: all services, service areas.
Do you use a crane or climb the trees?
We are a climbing-first practice — every member of the pruning and removal crew is a trained climber with full arborist rigging. For most Upper Valley lots a crane is impractical: the access is narrow, the terrain is sloped, and the lawn we’d have to drive across is the lawn the homeowner wants to keep. Climbing and sectional lowering let us dismantle a hazard tree piece by piece without ever putting a 12,000-pound machine on a wet yard.
Learn more: tree removal.
When is the best time of year to prune?
For most Upper Valley hardwoods — sugar maple, oak, birch, ash — late winter through early spring, before bud break, is the safest window. Wounds compartmentalize fastest on dormant wood, the canopy is bare so unions and defects are visible, and there is no foliage to damage with rigging lines. Summer pruning is fine for specific corrections (deadwood removal, light thinning) but is not the season for structural cuts. We never recommend pruning oaks and elms during the high-risk beetle and fungal pathogen windows of late spring.
Learn more: tree pruning, request a pruning estimate.
What does stump grinding leave behind?
We grind six to twelve inches below grade — no excavation, no chemicals, no root ball pulled out. What remains is a layer of coarse grindings mixed with soil, ready to be raked flat or backfilled with topsoil. You can seed a lawn over the area immediately, or leave the grindings in place as mulch. We do not haul the grindings by default, but can include removal in the quote if you want the site clean.
Learn more: stump grinding, get a grinding quote.
What’s involved in lot clearing?
Lot clearing takes raw or overgrown land and makes it buildable. We clear brush and undergrowth, selectively remove trees you don’t want kept, grind stumps below grade for any future construction footprint, and chip and haul all debris. The work is phased so the lot is never stripped bare in a single pass — topsoil is preserved, specimen trees you want to keep are flagged ahead of equipment moves, and access routes are planned before any cutting begins.
Learn more: lot clearing, get a lot clearing estimate.
How does cabling and bracing save a tree?
A cable system installed across a tight fork or co-dominant stem limits how far the union can flex under wind and ice load. It does not glue the fork together — it prevents a wind gust from flexing the union far enough to crack the bark seam that would propagate into a full split. Done early, on a healthy union with sound bark, cabling extends the safe life of a mature tree by decades. Done late, on an already-compromised union, it is money spent on a system that cannot save the structure. The right time is the time a certified arborist identifies a candidate union.
Learn more: cabling & bracing, request a cabling assessment.
Do you handle hazardous or hard-to-reach removals?
Yes — that is the bulk of our work. Trees leaning into structures, partially uprooted stems still pulling on a foundation, failed tops resting on service drops, conifers pinned against a roofline off a steep pitch. The approach is sectional dismantle with rigging: the climber attaches to the tree, lowers each piece on a controlled line, and never lets a section free-fall onto the lawn or the plantings below. The cost is higher than a straight fell, but the alternative — pushing a compromised tree over — is the failure mode the work is built to avoid.
Learn more: cabling & bracing, tree removal.
Will you handle insurance coordination after a storm?
We document every step of an emergency job with timestamped photographs from multiple angles and write up the damage in the format insurance carriers actually read. We do not negotiate your claim or act as your public adjuster, but the paperwork we hand you at the end of the job is what your carrier needs to process a storm-loss claim cleanly. If your situation involves a denied or disputed claim, we can refer you to a public adjuster we have worked with.
Learn more: emergency storm service, storm response field notes.
How do I get a quote?
Submit the form on our quote page with the address, the service type, and a brief note on what you are seeing. The owner reads every request directly and responds within one business day — usually with a same-week site visit, or a written estimate based on the photo and description if a visit is impractical. Quotes are free. There is no obligation to proceed, and there is no charge for a quick phone call to walk through the situation before you commit to anything.
Learn more: request a quote.