Most people asking what an arborist costs are really asking two questions: what will I pay to find out what is wrong, and how do I know I am not being sold work I do not need. Here are my fees in plain numbers. I am Christopher Hodge, an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist and TRAQ qualified consulting arborist based in Placerville, serving El Dorado, Sacramento, Placer and Amador counties. I run no removal crews and sell no tree work, so the assessment is the product.
The short answer: from $500 for a site assessment and report
A site assessment with a written report starts at $500. The site visit on its own is $250 and covers up to one hour on site, without the report. The $500 assessment is the starting point for most residential questions, and for a single tree or a small group on one property it is usually the whole job. What that hour buys is a trained look at the things that actually decide the outcome:
- An inspection that works from the ground up: the site and soil, drainage and grade, the root collar and root zone, the trunk and scaffold branches, and the canopy.
- Identification of what is present, including fungi in the field and, where the question warrants it, under the microscope.
- A judgment about the tree's condition and, where that is the concern, its structural risk.
- A written report you can hand to a contractor, an insurer, an HOA or a county planner, giving the finding, the evidence behind it, and the options.
- A straight answer about whether anything needs doing at all, which is frequently no.
What makes a job cost more than the base fee
That assumes one property, one visit, and a question that can be answered in about an hour on site. The fee goes up with:
- Number of trees. Assessing thirty trees on an acre is not the same work as assessing one oak beside a driveway.
- Site complexity. Steep ground, dense stands, long walks between trees and access problems all add time.
- Report type. A short letter documenting a condition is not the same document as a formal risk assessment report with photographs and ratings.
- Permit and regulatory reports. Oak ordinance and permit related reports are quoted separately, because their scope is set by the agency rather than by the tree.
- Laboratory work. Culturing or microscopy to settle a pathogen identification is additional, and I give you that cost before I do it.
- Repeat visits, where a condition has to be tracked across a season.
Anything beyond the base assessment is quoted before it is scheduled. You will not get a surprise invoice from me.
Species matters to the scope as much as the tree count does. A single valley oak in a Folsom back yard is a straightforward visit. A stand of blue oak and interior live oak spread across a sloping parcel outside Placerville, or a group of ponderosa pine and incense cedar up toward Pollock Pines, takes longer to walk and longer to write up, because each species carries its own failure pattern and its own set of questions.
Why an independent opinion is usually the cheapest step
Removal is the expensive outcome in this business. A medium sized tree removal near a house commonly runs somewhere in the range of $1,500 to $4,000, and the price climbs with size, lean, access and what sits underneath the tree. Against that, $500 for a documented answer on whether the tree needs to come out at all is inexpensive insurance.
There is a structural reason to get that opinion from someone who does not do the cutting. A tree service quotes removals for a living. That does not make anyone dishonest, but it does mean the person diagnosing the tree and the person selling the solution are the same person. I do not prune and I do not remove trees, and I have no crew whose schedule needs filling. If the answer is that your tree is fine, or that it needs a change in irrigation rather than a chainsaw, there is nothing in it for me to say otherwise.
The reverse matters just as much. When the finding is that a tree really is a hazard, an independent written assessment from a credentialed arborist is a document that stands up with an insurer, an attorney or a county in a way that a removal estimate does not.
Consulting arborist fees versus tree service pricing
These are two different businesses that share a job title. A tree service prices production work: crew hours, equipment, debris and disposal. A consulting arborist prices judgment: inspection, identification, analysis and a document. The fee buys the finding, not the labor, which is why a consulting visit costs a fraction of the work it may prevent, and why the deliverable is a report rather than a pile of chips.
It also means you should expect a different conversation. I will ask what decision you are trying to make, because that changes what kind of report you need. Someone deciding whether to buy a property, someone who has to satisfy a county permit condition, and someone worried about a limb over a bedroom need three different documents out of the same visit.
What is not included, so nobody is surprised
- A site assessment starts at $500, and that is the one most people need. It is the document you can hand to a county reviewer, an insurer, an HOA or an attorney. The $250 option is the site visit alone: up to an hour of my time on site and my findings in person, with nothing written afterward.
- I do not prune trees and I do not remove them. No removal crews, no cutting, no bidding on the work I recommend.
- I do not assign a dollar value to a tree for an insurance claim or a damage dispute, so a litigated appraisal figure is referred out.
- I hold a California Qualified Applicator License and can apply control materials where a registered material fits a diagnosed problem. Where a report of mine identifies a treatment I am licensed to apply, I disclose that in the report so you can weigh it accordingly.
- Fees on this page are for consulting work in El Dorado, Sacramento, Placer and Amador counties. Sites outside that area are quoted individually.
How to get a number for your job
Call or text (530) 391-6100 and describe the property and the question: how many trees, the species if you know it, what you are seeing, and what decision the report has to support. Most single property questions are the site assessment with a report, from $500. If the job is bigger than that, I quote it before scheduling, so you know the fee before anyone books a date.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an arborist cost?
In my practice a site assessment with the written report starts at $500, and the site visit on its own is $250 for up to one hour. The $500 fee applies to most single property residential questions in El Dorado, Sacramento, Placer and Amador counties. Larger or more complex jobs, including multiple trees, difficult sites and permit related reports, are quoted before scheduling.
How much does a tree inspection cost?
A tree inspection is the same site assessment: from $500 with a written report of what I found and what it means, or $250 for the site visit alone if you only want my eyes on the tree. If the inspection turns up a question that needs laboratory identification of a fungus or pathogen, I quote that separately before doing the work.
How much does an arborist report cost?
A site assessment with the report starts at $500, and what moves the price from there is the kind of report. The $250 site visit does not include a written report at all. A straightforward letter documenting a condition sits at the starting fee. A formal risk assessment report with photographs and ratings, or a report written to a county's permit submission requirements, takes more time and is quoted before it is started.
How much does a tree risk assessment cost?
A tree risk assessment with a written report starts at $500, and the fee rises with the number of trees and the complexity of the site. The site visit on its own is $250 for up to one hour. You receive a written report with photographs, a risk rating and recommendations you can use with insurers, attorneys or an HOA. Call (530) 391-6100 for a fee estimate before scheduling.
Is hiring a consulting arborist cheaper than removing the tree?
Usually, by a wide margin. A medium sized removal near a home commonly runs $1,500 to $4,000 depending on size, access and what is underneath. Paying $500 for a documented answer on whether that removal is necessary is inexpensive by comparison, and quite often the answer is that the tree can stay with a change in care.
Do you charge for an estimate?
There is nothing to estimate, because I do not sell tree work. The assessment itself is the service, and it starts at $500 with the written report. If you want the site visit without a report, that is $250 for up to one hour. If your job is larger than a standard site assessment, I give you the fee for it in advance at no charge.
Do you appraise trees or give a tree's dollar value?
Not for a claim or a dispute. I can appraise a tree, but I do not produce a dollar figure for insurance or litigation, and I refer that to a qualified appraiser. What I provide is a diagnosis of condition, a tree risk assessment, and written documentation of what is happening to the tree.
What areas do you cover at these rates?
El Dorado, Sacramento, Placer and Amador counties, California, working out of Placerville. That includes Placerville, El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Folsom, Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Granite Bay and Auburn. Sites outside that area are quoted individually.