Tree Removal in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Tree Removal in Fort Lauderdale is shaped by water more than anything else. The city has roughly 165 miles of canals and inland waterways inside its limits, which is where the "Venice of America" nickname comes from, and a great many backyards end at a seawall. A mahogany or black olive that has grown over a dock, a pool cage or a neighbor's roof cannot simply be dropped. It has to come apart in pieces, lowered on ropes, with the debris carried out through a side yard that is often no wider than a gate.

Permits: the short version for homeowners

The city's Development Services Department, through its Building Services division, issues tree removal and landscaping permits. Pruning is a different matter: the city states that a permit is not required to prune a tree in Fort Lauderdale, though the work has to follow accepted national pruning standards (in practice, ANSI A300). Removal of most trees still goes through the permit process, so we look at what you have before we quote and tell you whether an application is likely to be needed.

There is also a state rule worth knowing. Under Florida Statute 163.045, if the owner of a detached single-family home has a signed tree risk assessment from an ISA-certified arborist or a Florida-licensed landscape architect showing the tree poses an unacceptable risk, a local government may not require a permit, fee or replacement tree for removing it. That exemption covers hazard trees only. A healthy tree you simply don't want anymore is still a city permit question.

Older neighborhoods, bigger canopies

Fort Lauderdale was incorporated in 1911 and had its first major building wave in the Florida land boom of the 1920s, then grew fast again after World War II, from 83,648 residents in 1960 to 139,590 in 1970. Neighborhoods such as Colee Hammock, Rio Vista and Tarpon River are among the oldest in the city, and their yard trees have had the longest to grow. Live oaks and ficus with decades of growth put out wide surface roots that lift driveways and crowd sewer laterals. On those jobs the stump and roots are often as much work as the tree itself.

Rain, saturated soil and leaning trees

On April 12, 2023, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport recorded 25.91 inches of rain in a single day, the most ever measured in the city in one day and roughly a third of a normal year's rainfall. The city is only about 7 feet above sea level, and sandy soil over a high water table holds water for a long time after a storm like that. Trees that have been standing in waterlogged ground lose grip. A tree that starts leaning after heavy rain, with cracked or heaved soil on the side away from the lean, should be looked at before the next squall line.

What usually happens on a removal here

• We walk the property, measure the tree and the drop zones, and note seawalls, pool enclosures, overhead service drops and fences
• You get a written quote that says what is cut, what is hauled away and whether the stump is ground
• Large limbs are rigged down in sections when there is no open ground to fell into
• Logs and brush leave with us unless you ask to keep wood or mulch
• The stump can be ground below grade so the spot can be sodded or replanted

Curbside limits if you're doing some of it yourself

City yard-waste collection is weekly and takes limbs up to 12 feet long and 12 inches in diameter. Bulk trash is monthly, with piles capped at 10 cubic yards, and tree stumps are not accepted at all. A whole tree rarely fits those rules, which is why haul-away is built into our removal quotes rather than left for the curb.

Call (954) 314-3415 or send the form with a few photos of the tree and the access to it. Get a free estimate