Tree Felling Johannesburg: The Crew Based in the City
Get My Free Quote arrow_forwardTree felling in Johannesburg is local work for Tree Felling Guys. Our yard is in Cosmo City, inside the city limits, which means the crew that quotes your tree is the crew that drives past it on the way to work. We take down dead, dangerous and unwanted trees anywhere in Joburg, from Midrand to Lenasia, rig them down in sections where there is a roof or a wall in the way, and leave with every branch and log.
Johannesburg is not an easy city to fell trees in. Almost every big tree here was planted by someone, most of them between 1890 and 1960, and they are now full size on stands that were never laid out for a 25-metre blue gum. That is the work we have done for ten years, fully insured, with a written itemised quote before anyone starts a saw.
"Had a huge tree in our yard in Cosmo City that we'd been putting off for ages. Finally called these guys and honestly so glad we did. They pitched up on time, were super careful around the house and our boundary wall, and cleaned up everything after. The yard was spotless when they left. Would 100% recommend if you need a tree taken down."
Why Johannesburg's Trees Are a Different Job
Johannesburg sits on open Highveld grassland. The forest you see from any koppie was planted. The first plantation went in on the Struben farm near Roodepoort in 1888, and within a few years more than a million blue and red gums had been planted at Sachsenwald, today's Saxonwold and Zoo Lake, to supply timber for the deep mines. The Randlords then planted the oaks, planes, pines and jacarandas that still line Parktown, Parkview, Houghton and Melville.
City Parks now counts more than 3.2 million trees across the city and says openly that many of its iconic trees are nearing the end of their lifespan. That is the problem in one sentence. A blue gum lives about a century. An exotic oak on thin Highveld soil does not reach the age it would in Europe. A city's worth of trees planted in the same two generations is now failing in the same two decades, and most of them stand over houses, walls, pools and cables that arrived after the tree did.
So a Johannesburg felling is rarely a straight drop. It is a climb, a rope on every heavy section, a ground crew lowering each piece onto a controlled spot, and a trunk brought down in rings. It takes longer than felling in open ground, and it is the only method that keeps the tree off your neighbour's roof. Our guide to what tree felling involves explains the method step by step.
Where We Fell Trees in Johannesburg
The City of Johannesburg is divided into seven administrative regions. We work in all of them, but the order below is roughly the order of how often our truck is there.
- placeNorthwest (Randburg, Roodepoort, Northcliff, Cosmo City): home ground. Our yard is at the top of Malibongwe Drive, so tree felling in Randburg, Roodepoort, Northcliff and Randpark Ridge are the shortest drives we do, and emergency call-outs here are usually inside the hour.
- placeNorth (Sandton, Bryanston, Fourways, Lone Hill): the estate and complex belt. Tree felling in Sandton, Bryanston, Fourways and Lone Hill, where most jobs run through a security gate and a body corporate.
- placeMidrand and the north edge: tree felling in Midrand, Kyalami and the smallholdings towards Diepsloot, where the trees are younger but the gum windbreaks are tall.
- placeThe old suburbs and the inner city: Parktown, Houghton, Saxonwold, Parkview, Melville, Westdene, Observatory, Kensington and Bezuidenhout Valley, where the biggest and oldest trees in the city stand on the narrowest streets.
- placeThe south: Rosettenville, Mondeor, Glenvista, Mulbarton, Winchester Hills and Alberton's Joburg side, where the trees are a mix of gums planted for the mines and suburban stock from the 1960s and 70s.
- placeSoweto, Lenasia and Ennerdale: mostly street trees planted under the City's greening programmes, which belong to the City, and private garden trees that have outgrown small stands. We cover both, and we tell you which is which before anyone cuts.
If your suburb is not named here, we almost certainly still cover it. See the full areas we serve in Gauteng list.
The Old Suburbs: Century-Old Trees on Narrow Streets
Parktown, Houghton, Saxonwold, Parkview, Melville and Kensington hold the oldest planted trees in Johannesburg, and the hardest removals. A 30-metre blue gum in a Saxonwold garden has a canopy over three properties and a root plate under two driveways. The London planes along the Parkview and Greenside streets drop limbs the size of a small tree. The pin oaks of Houghton are at the age where the crown dies back from the top.
These jobs need a climber, a full ground crew, a chipper on a street that was laid out for horse carts, and a plan for where every section lands. We tell you before the day where the truck and chipper will stand, and it helps if the neighbours know. On these stands we usually suggest an arborist assessment first, because a tree of this age is sometimes safe to keep for another decade with a crown reduction, and that is a fraction of the cost of removal.
Koppie and Ridge Properties
Northcliff, Melville Koppies, Linden Ridge, Observatory Ridge and the Kensington ridge put trees on quartzite, on a slope, with the house below them. A log that lands on a gradient rolls, so nothing is dropped. Every section is roped and lowered to a flat spot, then carried or winched out. Stumps in rock can only be ground down to where the rock begins, and we say so before we quote rather than after.
The Pavement Tree Is the City's
Johannesburg is stricter about street trees than most of Gauteng. The tree on the verge outside your gate, even if its roots are through your driveway, belongs to the City of Johannesburg, and under the City's bylaws only Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo may prune, remove or maintain it. Fines for damaging one run up to R327,000 per tree. If a street tree is dead, dangerous or down, report it to City Parks on 011 712 6600 or Joburg Connect on 011 375 5555, and do not let anyone cut it without the City's approval. We check the boundary before we quote, every time.
Trees inside your boundary are yours to remove, with one exception: species on the national protected list under the National Forests Act need a licence before anyone cuts them. In a Joburg garden the one you are most likely to meet is a yellowwood. Our guides to tree felling permits and bylaws in Gauteng and protected and indigenous trees cover the detail.
Shot Hole Borer: Johannesburg Is the Centre of the Outbreak
The polyphagous shot hole borer was first found in South Africa in 2017 and Gauteng has been the centre of the outbreak since. A 2024 study in Houghton Estate found the beetle in 48 of the 157 trees researchers checked, close to one in three, and the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute at the University of Pretoria lists the City of Johannesburg as a confirmed area.
The beetle carries a fungus that blocks the tree's sap flow. Branches die back from the tips, then the whole tree. Dead borer-killed wood is brittle and drops without warning, which is why a borer tree over a house is an urgent job, not a someday job. The signs are tiny round holes in the bark with wet stains or fine powder around them. If you see them, book an arborist check. If the tree is already dying, it comes down, the wood is chipped on site, and none of it leaves the area as firewood. Our shot hole borer guide lists the species most at risk in Joburg.
What Tree Felling Costs in Johannesburg
We are based in the city, so there is no travel fee anywhere in Johannesburg, and the northwest suburbs are the cheapest for us to reach. After that the price is about the tree, not the suburb. A small garden tree with room to work starts from around R850. A century-old gum rigged down over a Parktown roof is a full crew for a full day or two, and is priced as such.
Three things move a Johannesburg quote more than anything else: how much of the tree is over something that cannot be hit, whether a chipper can get within reach on the street, and how much of the wood you want taken away. Keep the logs for a fireplace and the quote drops. The size-based ranges are on our tree felling prices page, stump grinding is quoted as its own line, and photos or a site visit gets you a written figure.
Tree Emergencies in Johannesburg
Highveld storms run from October to March and every season they put trees on roofs across the city. From Cosmo City we reach most emergencies in the northwest, including Randburg, Roodepoort, Northcliff and Fourways, within 60 minutes, and the rest of Johannesburg the same day.
If the tree is on a power line, stay back and call City Power through Joburg Connect on 0860 562 874 before you call us. Once the line is safe we remove the tree. For everything else, including what to photograph for your insurer, see our emergency tree felling page.
Everything Else We Do in Johannesburg
Felling is most of our work, but a Joburg garden usually needs more than one thing done. We grind stumps so you can pave or plant over the spot, trim and reduce crowns on trees you want to keep, take out palms, clear alien and invasive trees such as gum, wattle and syringa, and haul away green waste whether we did the cutting or not. Estates and body corporates that want the common property trees handled on a schedule can see our estate and commercial tree maintenance service.
Tree Felling Johannesburg: Questions We Get Asked
Who removes a tree on the pavement in Johannesburg?
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Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo. Verge and street trees are City property and only City Parks may prune or remove them. Report a dangerous one on 011 712 6600. If it has fallen onto your property, we can clear what is on your side and make it safe.
Does City Parks remove trees on private property?
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No. Trees inside your boundary are your responsibility, and the City does not fell them for you. That is what we do.
How much does tree felling cost in Johannesburg?
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From around R850 for a small tree with easy access, up to R25,000 or more for a very large tree that has to be dismantled over buildings. There is no travel fee anywhere in Johannesburg. Photos get you a written quote.
Can I cut down a blue gum in Johannesburg?
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Yes, if it is on your property. Several gum species are listed invasive aliens, not protected trees, so removing one needs no permit. A gum on the pavement is the City's, whatever its species.
How fast can you get to the northern suburbs?
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Randburg, Roodepoort, Northcliff and Fourways are usually within 60 minutes for an emergency and within a day for a quote visit. Sandton and Bryanston are a little further but still same-day.
Do you work in Soweto and the south of Johannesburg?
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Yes. We cover the whole city, including Soweto, Lenasia, Ennerdale and the southern suburbs. Many trees there are municipal street trees, so we check the boundary before we quote.
Is Johannesburg really the largest man-made forest in the world?
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The City calls it the largest man-made urban forest, and the claim has been argued over for years. What is not in dispute is that the forest was planted, mostly between the 1890s and the 1960s, and that City Parks now counts more than 3.2 million trees, many of them reaching the end of their lives. That is why tree felling is a bigger industry in Joburg than anywhere else in Gauteng.
Will you tell me if the tree does not need to come down?
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Yes. Our arborist assesses first on large or old trees, and a fair share of them are made safe with a crown reduction rather than removed. We would rather do the smaller job and have you call us again.
Get a Free Tree Felling Quote in Johannesburg
Send two or three photos of the tree and your suburb on WhatsApp, or ask us to come and look. You get a written quote that lists everything included, usually the same day.
Get my free quote, or call 083 761 7228 and talk to the crew that will do the job.
WhatsApp 083 761 7228