A crane does not make tree work easy. It makes certain jobs possible without a climber hanging in rotten wood or pieces swinging toward a roof. For a big tree with nowhere safe to fall, the crane lifts each section up and away, over the house, and sets it down where the crew can cut it up. Here is when that is the right call and how a careful company plans it.
Tree Service Orlando FL has no cranes or crews. It is a free phone line. Call (689) 407-5379, tell the automated assistant about the tree and what is around it, and your call is transferred to an independent, locally owned tree service company in your part of the Orlando area. That company decides on the method, quotes its own price and does the work.
When a crane is the safer method
If one or more of these describes your tree, mention it on the call so the company can plan for a crane from the start.
Nowhere to put the wood
- A large oak leaning over the roof or growing against the house
- Limbs spread across a screened pool enclosure
- A narrow side yard with a fence, air conditioner or shed below
- A back yard tree with no truck or lift access
Wood nobody should climb
- A dead pine or oak with dry, brittle limbs
- A trunk with a hollow, a cavity or fungus at the base
- A storm-split tree or one already resting on the house
- A tree leaning hard after its roots lifted in wet soil
How a crane removal is planned
A good crane job is mostly decided before the crane arrives. Expect the company to visit the site and work through these points with you:
- Crane size and setup spot. The crane has to reach the far side of the tree with each piece's weight at that distance. The setup spot is usually the driveway, front lawn or street, and it decides how much reach the crane needs.
- Outriggers and ground protection. The crane is held level on extended outriggers. On Central Florida's sandy soils, over driveways and near septic systems and sprinkler lines, a careful crew sets the pads on mats or cribbing to spread the load.
- Overhead lines. Any power line near the boom's path has to be identified first. If the tree touches a line, the utility handles that part before the tree crew starts.
- The landing zone. Where each section is set down, ideally right next to the chipper or log truck so it can be processed without being dragged across the yard.
Pick weights: the number the whole job depends on
A crane has a load chart that shows how much it can safely lift at each boom length and angle. Trees do not come with a weight label, so the climber and the operator estimate how heavy each section is before it is cut. TCIA's Best Practices for Crane Use in Arboriculture manual covers site selection, setup, weight calculations, communication and rigging, and includes a green log weight chart for 72 species for exactly this reason.
Writing in TCIA's Tree Care Industry magazine in 2025, a certified crane operator recommended keeping planned pick weights around 50 to 60 percent of the crane's capacity, and described a pick at 75 percent or more of capacity as a critical lift that needs extra planning and documentation. He also recommended that climbers give the operator a minimum, likely and maximum weight for each piece. Leaving that margin is what keeps a misjudged section of waterlogged oak from overloading the crane.
What the safety rules say about cranes in tree work
Federal OSHA rules and the tree care industry's own standards set the floor. These are points you can check the crew against.
Never past the rated load
OSHA's standard for crawler, locomotive and truck cranes, 29 CFR 1910.180, says no crane shall be loaded beyond its rated load except for testing, that the crane must be level and blocked where necessary, and that the load must be well secured and balanced before it is lifted.
Not a ride for people
The same standard says no hoisting, lowering, swinging or traveling may be done while anyone is on the load or hook. A state workplace fatality investigation of an arborist hoisted into a tree recommended employees never be hoisted on a crane's hook or load line except in uncommon situations as outlined by OSHA.
Industry standards and training
ANSI Z133 is the tree care industry's safety standard. A TCIA article on crane use for arborists points crews to ANSI Z133, ASME B30.5 for mobile cranes and the crane maker's manual, and stresses reading load charts and range diagrams correctly.
Who does what on a crane job
A crane removal is a team job, and each role should be named before work starts. TCIA's Crane Operations Specialist training, for example, is written for the crane operator, the arborist in charge, the climber or lift operator, the signal person and the ground worker, and covers proximity to electricity, safe lifting, poor ground conditions, slings and rigging.
- The crane operator runs the machine and watches the load chart.
- The climber or lift operator sets the sling on each piece, makes the cut once the crane has the weight and stays clear as it lifts.
- The signal person talks the operator through any lift the operator cannot see, by hand signals or radio.
- The ground crew keeps the landing zone clear and feeds the chipper.
The TCIA magazine article puts it simply: communication between the climber and the operator, by hand signals, radios or headsets, can make or break the job. Ask how the crew will talk during lifts over your roof.
Why a crane job can be faster overall
On a big tree over a house, the slow part of a conventional removal is lowering every limb and log on ropes, often in small pieces so the rigging and the roof can take the weight. With a crane, larger sections can be lifted at once and set straight at the chipper or loader. TCIA's crane article describes the crane turning a difficult removal into a simple, straightforward one: set the sling, cut, lift and set the piece in a designated area.
That does not always mean a lower bill. Angi's national cost guide puts crane service at an additional $500, or about $250 to $600 per day, and notes that difficult crane removals can total about $6,000 to $7,000. Fewer hours on site and less risk to your roof are often the trade. Compare two quotes on the same scope if you can, one with a crane and one without, and ask each company why it chose its method.
Questions to ask before a crane is booked
- Where will the crane set up, and what mats or pads go under the outriggers?
- Who operates the crane, and what crane training does the operator and crew have?
- How heavy are the biggest pieces expected to be, and how does that compare with the crane's load chart at that reach?
- Does setup in the street need any permission from the city or county at this address?
- Does the general liability certificate your insurance agent sends me cover crane work, and does the crew have workers' compensation coverage?
- Who pays to repair the driveway, lawn or sprinkler heads if they are damaged?
- Is stump grinding and hauling every piece included in the price?
Check the company yourself. Florida has no state license for tree trimming or removal, so ask the company for a certificate of general liability and workers' compensation insurance, and for the ISA certification number of its arborist. You can confirm a certification with the ISA's credential lookup (opens in a new tab).
Big tree over the house or pool cage? Call and describe it. The company you are put through to decides whether a crane is needed and gives you the price before work starts.
Related services
Crane work often goes with these.
Tree Removal
Taking down a dead, leaning or unwanted tree safely, from small yard trees to big laurel oaks near the house, and what a fair quote includes.
Emergency Tree Removal (24/7)
A tree on the house, the car or across the driveway. What to do in the first hour and how emergency removal is handled and priced.
Stump Grinding and Removal
Grinding stumps below grade, what happens to the roots and the chips, and when full stump removal makes more sense.
Arborist Tree Assessment
A certified arborist's look at a tree's health and risk, what the visit costs, and the written report Florida's tree law relies on.
How a crane removal call works
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (689) 407-5379 and asks what kind of tree work you need.
- Describe the jobGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the tree is doing, including anything on a roof, a car or a line.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company looks at the tree, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Tree Service Orlando FL is a free phone line, not a tree service company. It does not trim, remove, quote or schedule tree work and holds no license or arborist certification. Calls are transferred to independent, locally owned tree service companies in the Orlando area. Those companies may pay Tree Service Orlando FL a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.
The line takes calls from across the Orlando area:
- All Orlando-area service areas
- Orlando
- Kissimmee
- St. Cloud
- Clermont
- Winter Garden
- Ocoee
- Apopka
- Winter Park
- Altamonte Springs
- Longwood
- Lake Mary
- Sanford
- Oviedo
- DeLand