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Arborists in Hornsby, NSW

Tree Removal
in Hornsby

Hornsby is one of the few Sydney councils where the size of your tree is beside the point. Hornsby Shire Council's position is that all trees in the shire are protected unless they are an invasive or environmentally detrimental species. There is no height to clear and no trunk to measure. What sits outside the rules is a list of names, and camphor laurel, privet, cocos palm, willow, coral tree, umbrella tree and peppercorn are the sort of thing on it. So the first question on a Hornsby block is what species is standing there, and the second is what the land it stands on is mapped as.

The land settles most of the rest. Every exemption falls away inside a heritage conservation area, a locally significant ecological community or an endangered one, the last of those carrying a 50 metre buffer, and council's map viewer will tell you which of the three, if any, covers your address. Then there is the ground itself, which is sandstone ridge and gully country. Council's own guide to the shire's native trees puts blackbutt at 30 to 40 metres on ridges and moist sandstone slopes, Sydney peppermint on the valley slopes down to the creek edges, and turpentine where the shale meets the sandstone. A blackbutt of that height standing below the house does not get felled; it comes down in sections, roped off the stem. The listings below cover Hornsby and the streets around it. Read them, see what tickets each crew holds, then ring around yourself.

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Pricing

What tree removal costs in Hornsby

Small tree removal
$500-$1,300
under 5 m
Large tree removal
$2,500-$8,500
mature eucalypt, 20 m+
Pruning & deadwooding
$400-$1,700
per tree, to AS 4373
Stump grinding
$180-$600
per stump
Arborist report
$450-$1,300
AQF 5, for a permit or DA

Every figure above is indicative and GST inclusive. What moves them here is the ground rather than the tree. Where the trunk stands on a ridge with a driveway to it, a chipper gets close and the quote behaves; where it stands below the house on a gully block, every limb is carried or winched uphill and the same job costs half as much again. Height compounds it, and anything that has to come out over a roof, a pool or a neighbour's fence needs a crane on standby, which changes the shape of a quote entirely. Council's inspection fee is separate from the arborist's, and it is charged by how many trees you ask about rather than how big they are: $224 for one to three trees, $279 for four to nine and $553 for ten to a hundred in the 2026-27 schedule. Read it off the schedule on the day you apply, because those amounts are reset each 1 July.

Services

Tree removal, stump grinding and arborist reports in Hornsby

Tree removal, garden trees through to mature blackbutt and turpentine
Stump grinding & surface root removal
Pruning and deadwooding to AS 4373, as the shire's plan requires
Storm damage & emergency make-safe call-outs
Evidence and reports for the dead or dangerous tree exemption
Tree permit applications & owner's consent paperwork
Tree protection zone plans to AS 4970, for trees being retained
Arboricultural impact assessments & consulting reports
Bushfire hazard reduction & 10/50 clearing
Weed control and removal of species listed under the Biosecurity Act 2015
Replacement planting of like habit, indigenous to the shire
Mulching, wood chipping & green waste removal
Powerline clearance & vegetation control near lines
Advice

How to choose a qualified arborist in Hornsby

Check the map before you look at the tree

Everything downstream depends on what your land is mapped as, so start there. Council's environment map viewer shows whether a property sits in a heritage conservation area, a locally significant ecological community or an endangered one, and the exemptions do not apply in any of the three. Ten minutes on the viewer tells you whether you are having a simple conversation or a long one.

The exempt list is names, not numbers

Most councils publish a threshold. Hornsby publishes a species table, and the list runs from camphor laurel and privet through to cocos palm, rhus, golden robinia and edible fruit and nut trees, with native fruit species such as lilly pilly and macadamia written back out again. If your tree is not on that table, assume it is protected. An arborist who tells you a native gum is exempt because of its size has not read the chapter.

The three metre rule has a method

The exemption people reach for most is the one for trees close to the house, and it is measured a particular way. Council measures from the trunk to the external wall of the approved dwelling at 1.4 metres above ground level, and detached garages, carports and other structures ancillary to the house do not count as the building. A shed three metres away does nothing for you. Take the measurement before anyone quotes on it.

Dead or dangerous is council's call, not the crew's

This is where Hornsby jobs go wrong most often. The exemption is real but it runs in a fixed order: council has to be given photographic or video evidence, or a written statement from an arborist holding a Diploma of Arboriculture, and a dead tree still has to not be the habitat of native wildlife. Evidence first, agreement second, saw third. A contractor offering to drop it today and sort the paperwork afterwards is offering you the fine.

Know which ticket you are hiring

Two qualifications hide behind the one word arborist. Level 3 under the AQF covers the climbing and removal side, and the shire's plan defines a project and consulting arborist as somebody holding AQF Level 5, the Diploma of Arboriculture. Council assesses trees with its own Level 5 arborists, so a statement written a tier below is being read by somebody above it. Ask which of them is in the tree and which of them signs the report.

Building near a tree is its own application

Concrete counts as tree work in this shire. A tree permit is required for construction such as driveways, slabs and retaining walls, and for earthworks such as trenching or changes in soil level, inside a protected tree's tree protection zone, which the plan sets at 9 metres for a trunk 800 millimetres or thicker at breast height, 7 metres between 400 and 800, and 4 metres below that. Measure the trunk before you design the driveway, not after the excavator arrives.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Do I need council approval to remove a tree in Hornsby? +
Usually yes, and Hornsby arrives at that answer differently from its neighbours. Council's own statement is that all trees in the shire are protected unless they are an invasive or environmentally detrimental species, so no height and no trunk measurement puts a tree outside the rules. What sits outside them is a list of names, Table 1.2.6-a of the tree and vegetation chapter of the Hornsby Development Control Plan, together with a short set of exemptions covering dead and dangerous trees, trees under three metres, trees close to an approved dwelling and light pruning. Damaging or removing a protected tree without council's written consent is prohibited, and council asks residents to report illegal removal with photographs, video or vehicle registrations, because evidence is what lets it investigate and prosecute.
Which trees can I remove in Hornsby without a permit? +
There are six routes and every one of them carries a condition. A species on council's exempt list, which is where camphor laurel, privet, cocos palm, willow, coral tree, umbrella tree and peppercorn sit. A species listed under the Biosecurity Act 2015. A tree less than three metres tall that is not within native vegetation. A tree whose trunk stands within three metres of the foundation of an approved building, measured from the trunk to the external wall at 1.4 metres above ground level, with detached garages and carports not counting as the building. Pruning of less than ten per cent of the foliage area to AS 4373, not more than once a year. And a dead or dangerous tree, but only where council has agreed in writing on photographic or video evidence, or on a written statement from an arborist holding a Diploma of Arboriculture. None of the six survives inside a heritage conservation area, on land mapped as Biodiversity, or in threatened species habitat.
How much does tree removal cost in Hornsby? +
Budget somewhere near $500 to $1,300 on a garden tree no taller than five metres, and $2,500 to $8,500 once a eucalypt clears twenty metres and has to come down in pieces. Stump grinding runs about $180 to $600, pruning or deadwooding one established tree about $400 to $1,700, and a consulting report about $450 to $1,300. Hornsby quotes are driven less by the tree than by where it stands: a ridge block with a driveway to the trunk is straightforward, while a tree below the house on a gully block means every limb is carried or winched uphill. Council's inspection fee is separate again and is charged by the number of trees rather than their size. Every figure here includes GST and is a guide only.
Can I use the 10/50 rule to clear trees in Hornsby? +
Only where the Rural Fire Service has your address inside a 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Entitlement Area, which is settled lot by lot rather than suburb by suburb. Where it does apply, the entitlement covers trees within 10 metres of the home and understorey shrubs, though not trees, out to 50 metres, without council approval. Hornsby adds a local qualification that snares plenty of properties here: council states you still need a permit if you are in a designated 10/50 area but do not have the green tick, because the property is a heritage item or in a heritage conservation area, or has been assessed as regionally significant, threatened species habitat or an endangered or critically endangered ecological community. Put the address through the RFS tool on the day the crew is booked and save what it returns, since the entitlement area and the excluded matters can change.
What if my tree is in an endangered ecological community? +
Then the backyard exemptions stop being the right starting point. Council's rule is blunt: trees on private property that sit within an endangered or critically endangered ecological community need a permit whether they are alive or dead, regardless of the size of the tree or how close it stands to an approved dwelling. The same applies inside a heritage conservation area, on land mapped as Biodiversity on the local environmental plan, and on land within 50 metres of an endangered community. Trees in that category may also need approval from the state or the Commonwealth on top of council's. Council publishes a map viewer that tells you whether your address is in a heritage conservation area, a locally significant ecological community or an endangered one, and running your address through it costs nothing at all.
How do I check a Hornsby arborist is actually qualified? +
Ask which qualification is actually turning up, because one tier does not stand in for the other. Climbing and removal work is the AQF Level 3 ticket, and that is what you want held by whoever goes up the rope. Level 5 is the Diploma of Arboriculture, and Hornsby's own plan defines a project and consulting arborist as somebody holding it, which is the level council's assessors work at and the level a dangerous tree statement should come from. Then ask for the certificate of currency, in date, with the insured name matching the business on your quote: $5 million of public liability is the floor Arboriculture Australia sets for registration, not a going rate. Council itself does not recommend contractors and points residents to the Tree Contractors Association listings instead.
Local Arborists

Arborists in Hornsby

Verified arborists and tree services covering Hornsby and the surrounding shire. Every entry below carries the number to ring, what that crew takes on, and the hours they keep. Ask two or three of them to quote the same tree, on the same access, before you commit.

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