If a tree or large branch has come down on your house, car, fence or driveway, please call Arbor Pride on 1300 887 417. On weekdays during office hours, from 8:30am to 4:30pm, we do our best to reach you the same day, and we will reschedule other jobs to make that possible.
If anyone is injured, or a tree is touching power lines, please call 000 or your electricity network first. The safety steps are in the box below.
Call 1300 887 417, or request a quote online.
What to Do Before We Arrive
- If anyone is hurt or in danger, call 000.
- Stay at least 8 metres away from fallen power lines, and anything they touch. Report them to your electricity network: Ausgrid on 13 13 88 or Endeavour Energy on 131 003, depending on your area. Both answer 24 hours a day. Ausgrid covers most of Sydney’s north and east, including the North Shore, Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai and the Northern Beaches; Endeavour Energy covers Greater Western Sydney, including the Hills District. Then call us: we treat a tree on power lines as an emergency.
- For emergency help with storm damage to your home, such as a damaged roof, call the NSW SES on 132 500.
- Keep people and pets away from the tree. Do not go under it, or under a hanging branch, even to move a car.
- Do not try to cut it yourself. A fallen or hung-up tree is under tension and can move without warning.
- Take photos from a safe spot before anything is moved. Your insurer may ask for them.
When Can You Come?
On weekdays between 8:30am and 4:30pm, we do our best to reach you the same day. We treat an emergency as a priority and move other jobs to make room for it.
Outside those hours, and at weekends, our phones are not answered. Please leave a message, and our team will ring you back first thing the next working day. A form or email sent at night or at a weekend is also seen first thing the next working day. If the danger cannot wait until then, please use the numbers in the box above.
Very occasionally, urgent work has to happen after hours or at a weekend. When there is no other choice, we will do it, at an extra cost (see below).
What Counts as a Tree Emergency?
A tree emergency is anything that poses an immediate or imminent risk to people or property. For example:
- a tree or large branch on a house, car, fence or driveway
- a split or hanging branch over a path, a pool or a neighbour’s yard
- a branch caught up in another tree, where it could fall at any time
- a tree leaning after a storm, with the roots lifting
- a tree blocking the only way in or out of your property
- a tree or branch resting on, or affecting, power lines
A branch already lying on the lawn, or a tree that worries you but is not moving, is not an emergency. Please request a quote and we will book a visit, or see our tree removal page for planned work.
What Happens on the Day, and After It?
We aim to finish an emergency job in one visit, making the tree safe and clearing it the same day wherever possible.
- We assess the tree, including what it has landed on and anything still hanging.
- We make it safe, bringing down broken sections in a controlled way.
- We clear the debris, chipping the branches and taking the logs away.
- We agree any further work with you, such as removing the rest of a damaged tree.
- We grind the stump, if you would like, now or later. See stump grinding.
Occasionally we have to secure a branch in place and come back to finish, but that is rare. If the SES has already made your tree safe overnight, please call us the next working day to book the rest of the work.
Insurance Claims for Storm Damage
Whether your insurance pays depends on your policy, so please check with your insurer early, and take photos before anything is moved. For your claim, we normally provide a quote, with our insurance and accreditation details, for you to pass on to your insurer. Our guide Does home insurance cover tree removal? explains more.
Do I Need Council Approval in an Emergency?
It depends on your council and the situation, and we check this with you at the visit. Some councils have an emergency process for dangerous trees. At Bobbin Head Road, the work needed Ku-ring-gai Council’s approval, and the strata committee agreed to the emergency work while that approval was sought.
Our council regulations pages explain the rules where we work most. The NSW Government is also considering tighter exemptions for trees posing an imminent risk. These changes are still in draft and have not yet come into effect.
What Does Emergency Tree Work Cost?
Emergency work is charged at our normal rates. If urgent work has to be done after hours or at a weekend, there is an extra charge of about 30 per cent. Our guide to tree removal costs explains how our pricing works.
The price depends on the tree’s size, how easy it is to reach, what it has landed on, and whether a crane or traffic control is needed.
Storm Jobs We Have Done
These are real storm jobs from our project pages.
- Cheltenham, February 2025. A eucalyptus’s main leader broke in a storm and was left hanging. We brought it down and tidied the tree cleanly so it could regrow. See the Cheltenham job.
- Baulkham Hills, January 2025. A storm dropped a large liquidambar branch into a pool. We lifted it out without further damage. See the Baulkham Hills job.
- Oxford Falls, February 2025. After a storm, we cleared fallen branches and trees and removed a dead tree, in a day. See the Oxford Falls job.
- Bobbin Head Road, North Turramurra, June 2025. Lightning struck a 26-metre Norfolk Island pine at a strata property. Over two days, with a 60-tonne crane and traffic control, we made the tree safe. See the Bobbin Head Road job. If you manage a strata property, see our strata properties page.
For what storms do to trees, and how to spot damage, read Wind and storm damaged trees.
Who Does the Work
Our work is done by three crews, each led by a team leader with climbers, ground staff and a driver. Our founder, Julian Parry, is an AQF Level 5 Consulting Arborist, and our team carries $20 million public liability insurance.
What Our Customers Say
“We have used Arbor Pride for a number of jobs. We appreciate their prompt replies to messages and detailed quotations but, even more importantly, their skilled work and the time they take to tidy up after a job.”
Paul, Google review
“I engaged Arbor Pride to prune off branches and upper trunk of a tall mature Turpentine which had died. The tree was protected and Arbor Pride gave a prompt and competitive quote with insurances provided and once the NSW Government License was obtained proceeded without delay to carry out the work.”
John, Google review
“Every step was managed professionally and the quality of their work was excellent. They understood the local council approval process which was important as we live in a tree preservation area. They also cleaned up after completing the work and left our backyard looking better than they found it!”
Pip, Google review
