Storm Damage and Emergency Tree Removal in Pensacola, FL

If a tree has come down on your house, your car or across your driveway anywhere in the Pensacola area, call (984) 328-3971. Someone picks up, day or night, and you will speak to the person who runs the crew rather than a call centre.

I am Steve Beard. I have been taking trees down for thirty years, most of it in North Carolina and a good part of it in the week after a hurricane. My crew and our equipment are staged for this storm, and we work the Gulf Coast through hurricane season and for as long afterwards as there is damage on the ground to clear.

Emergency tree work we handle in Pensacola

After a storm this size the work falls into a few predictable buckets. These are the ones to call us for.

• Tree on a house or roof. The priority is getting the weight off the structure without making the hole bigger. This is slow, rigged, piece-by-piece work, and it is the job most likely to go wrong in untrained hands.
• Fallen and uprooted trees. Whole trees down across driveways, fences, yards and outbuildings, including root plates that have lifted.
• Hanging and broken limbs. The widow-makers left in the canopy after the wind drops. They are the quiet danger once everyone comes back outside.
• Leaning trees in saturated ground. A tree that survived the wind but is now sitting at an angle in soft soil is not stable. We assess it and tell you straight whether it has to come out.
• Crane-assisted removals. For trees that cannot be climbed or reached, or where the only landing zone is a roof.
• Storm debris and brush removal. Hauling off what the storm left, including what other crews have already cut and walked away from.
• Lot and land clearing. Clearing damaged stands so that rebuilding can start.
• Stump grinding. Once the urgent work is done and you want the yard back.

We bring our own Bobcat, saws and rigging. Every job finishes with the site raked and cleared, because a storm cleanup that leaves a mess behind is not finished.

Areas we cover for storm response

Pensacola is our base for this storm. We also cover the surrounding communities inside the warning area and across the state line, because the worst damage will not respect county boundaries.

Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, Florida

• Pensacola, including East Hill, Downtown, Scenic Heights and Warrington
• Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach
• Pace and Milton
• Navarre and Navarre Beach
• Cantonment and Molino
• Perdido Key and Innerarity Point
• Ferry Pass, Brent and Bellview

Baldwin and Mobile counties, Alabama

• Foley, Fairhope, Daphne and Spanish Fort
• Gulf Shores and Orange Beach
• Robertsdale, Loxley and Elberta
• Mobile and Theodore

If you are just outside these areas, call anyway. If we cannot get to you we will say so plainly rather than take your details and leave you waiting.

What to do right now

While the storm is still coming through

• Stay inside and away from windows, and put as many walls as you can between you and the nearest large tree.
• Do not go out to check on a tree, tarp a roof or move a branch while the wind is up. Most storm injuries happen outdoors, during and immediately after the worst of it.
• Treat every downed or sagging power line as live. Keep well clear, keep children and pets clear, and report it to your utility.
• If you can still do it safely before the weather arrives, move vehicles out from under large trees and away from the drip line.
• Photograph your trees and your property now. Before-and-after pictures make an insurance claim far easier to settle.

Once conditions are safe

• Walk the property in daylight, from a distance, and look up. Hanging limbs, split trunks and lifted root plates are the three things to find.
• Photograph every piece of damage before anything is moved or cut.
• Call your insurer and open a claim. Ask what they need documented before the tree is cut, because once it is in pieces the evidence is gone.
• Call us on (984) 328-3971 and tell us what you have. You will get a written quote, not a number shouted over a chainsaw.
• Be careful who you hire. After every hurricane the area fills up with crews knocking on doors asking for cash up front. Ask for proof of insurance, get the scope in writing, and do not hand a large deposit to someone you will not be able to find again.

Why call us

These are our own crew and our own kit, photographed on North Carolina jobs. The same people and the same equipment travel to the Gulf Coast for storm work.

• Thirty years of removals, including a lot of storm work. Trees under tension behave differently from trees standing in a quiet yard, and that is something you only learn by doing it.
• Fully insured, with certificates of liability and workers compensation insurance available on request before anyone sets foot on your property. Ask us. Ask everyone else too.
• Written quotes. You get the price and the scope in writing before we start, and no price-gouging on emergency work.
• The right equipment on the trailer. Bobcat, rigging, climbing gear and crane access for the removals that cannot be reached any other way.
• We work with your adjuster. We document what we find and give you the paperwork your claim needs.
• The site is left clean. Debris hauled, yard raked, and an honest account of what is left to do.

One thing we will not do is pretend to be a Pensacola company that has been here for decades. We are a storm-response crew, we travel to the damage, and we would rather be straight with people about that. What we bring is thirty years of removals and the equipment to do them safely.

Frequently asked questions

How fast can you get to me after the storm?

It depends on road access and how many calls are ahead of you. Our crew and equipment are staged close to the warning area, so we expect to be working as soon as the authorities allow access. Call us and we will give you a real window rather than a promise we cannot keep.

Do you work at night and at weekends?

Yes. Emergency tree work is 24/7. A tree sitting on a roof in the rain does not wait until Monday morning.

Does homeowners insurance cover storm tree removal?

Usually yes when the tree has hit an insured structure such as your house, garage or fence, and most policies then cover removing the part that caused the damage. A tree that falls in your yard and hits nothing is often not covered, or only up to a small debris-removal limit. Photograph everything, open the claim before the tree is cut, and ask your adjuster what they need documented.

What does emergency tree removal cost?

It depends on the size of the tree, what it has landed on, and how we have to reach it. A whole tree across a roof needing crane access is a very different job from a limb down in the yard. You get a written quote before we start, and we do not raise our prices because there has been a hurricane.

Can you get a tree off my roof safely?

That is the job we are most careful about. The tree is under tension, the roof is already compromised, and cutting in the wrong order drops more weight onto the structure. We rig it and take it off in pieces. It is slower, and it is the reason the hole does not get bigger.

A downed power line is tangled in my tree. Can you still come?

Not until the utility has made the line safe. We will not cut a tree that is in contact with a live conductor, and nor should anyone else. Report it to your power company first, then call us and we will schedule you for as soon as it is cleared.

Can you show proof of insurance before you start?

Yes. We will send you our certificates of liability and workers compensation insurance before anyone sets foot on your property, so you can check the cover and the dates for yourself. We would encourage you to ask that of any crew that turns up after a storm, and to be wary of anyone who cannot produce it.

Will you take the debris away, or just cut the tree up?

We haul it away. The price we quote includes removing the debris and raking the site, unless you specifically ask us to leave the wood for you. Cutting a tree into pieces and leaving them on the lawn is not a finished job.