Calling for tree service in Kissimmee usually starts with one question: whose rules apply here? The city itself covers about 22 square miles on the northwest shore of Lake Tohopekaliga, but the Kissimmee name stretches across a much larger piece of unincorporated Osceola County, including most of the U.S. 192 corridor. Your address decides which permit office, which electric utility and which pickup rules you are dealing with. Here is how that works, and what local storms have shown about the trees here.
Tree Service Orlando FL is not a tree company. It is a free phone line. Call (689) 407-5379, tell the automated assistant what the tree is doing and give your Kissimmee address or ZIP, and your call is transferred to an independent, locally owned tree service company that works in Osceola County. That company looks at the tree, quotes its own price and does the work.
Kissimmee: a lake town that turned into a tourist gateway
Kissimmee incorporated in 1883 as a steamboat and drainage town. Hamilton Disston's effort to drain land to the south made it a shipping point on the lake and the Kissimmee River, until the Panic of 1893 and the freezes of 1894 and 1895 left the area leaning on cattle ranching for decades. The opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 changed it again, into the tourism and housing center it is now.
Lake Tohopekaliga, or Lake Toho, covers about 22,700 acres and is the largest lake in Osceola County. Shingle Creek, often called the headwaters of the Everglades, runs through the city to it. The 2020 Census counted 79,226 people in the city, and the Census Bureau's 2025 estimate is 85,591. That mix of an old lakefront core and decades of newer subdivisions along 192 means a Kissimmee tree job can be a big old oak near the lakefront or a few pines and palms behind a much newer house off 192.
Which tree rules apply at your Kissimmee address
Check the top of your property tax bill or the county property appraiser's record. "City of Kissimmee" and "unincorporated Osceola County" lead to different offices.
Inside city limits
The City of Kissimmee handles a request to remove a tree through its Site Development and Tree Removal permit, which also covers debrushing and tree removal that is not part of a construction project. Call the Permitting Division at 407-518-2379 or email permitting@kissimmee.gov before work starts.
Unincorporated Osceola
Article 4.8 of the county's Land Development Code requires a development permit, land clearing authorization or tree removal permit before work on a site, unless an exemption applies. Listed exemptions include naturally fallen vegetation, dead or diseased trees that threaten public health and Category I invasive plants.
A risky tree at a house
Florida Statute 163.045 overrides both for a single-family home. If an ISA certified arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect does an onsite risk assessment and documents that the tree poses an unacceptable risk, no permit, fee or replanting can be required.
KUA, Duke Energy or OUC: who handles a tree on a line
The City of Kissimmee bought a private electric company in 1901, and that system became the Kissimmee Utility Authority, which says it served about 100,000 customers as of January 2026. KUA keeps trees clear on its easements and rights of way, and trees that threaten its lines and equipment, revisiting each area about every two to three years. If a tree is growing into a KUA line between visits, KUA has an online tree trimming request form. If a tree or branch is on a line, or a wire is arcing or sparking, call KUA's emergency line at 407-933-9898.
Not every Kissimmee address is on KUA. The Florida Public Service Commission's Hurricane Milton outage reports list KUA, Duke Energy and the OUC-run St. Cloud system as separate providers in Osceola County, with Duke serving tens of thousands of accounts there. The name on your electric bill tells you whom to call.
- Keep everyone, including pets, well away from any tree touching a line, and from the ground around it.
- Call 911 if a line is down, sparking or on fire, or someone is hurt.
- Once the utility has made the line safe, a tree company can remove what is left. Mention the line when you call so the summary says so.
What Charley and Milton taught Kissimmee about its trees
Hurricane Charley, August 13, 2004
The National Hurricane Center's report on Charley says its center passed near Kissimmee and Orlando that night. A Kissimmee observing station logged sustained winds of 53 knots, about 61 mph, with a gust of 65 knots, about 75 mph, while Orlando International Airport to the north measured a gust of 91 knots, about 105 mph. Local coverage recalls old trees down across the county, roofs torn off and damage at Kissimmee Gateway Airport, the first hurricane-force winds there in 44 years. Frances and Jeanne followed within weeks.
Hurricane Milton, October 2024
Osceola County reported a 76 mph gust at the Kissimmee airport and 4 to 7 inches of rain. Downed limbs and some larger trees fell on power lines. County leaders said about 15,000 KUA customers lost service at the peak; at noon the next day, the state's outage report still showed 5,449 KUA accounts out. Curbside collection resumed that Friday, and dedicated debris drop-off sites opened the following week.
Which trees hold up, and which ones to watch
After the four hurricanes of 2004, University of Florida researchers studied which trees stood and which failed. In their findings, sand live oak, live oak, southern magnolia and cabbage palm ranked among the most wind resistant. Laurel oak, water oak, sand pine and camphor tree ranked among the least. Trees growing in groups did about 10 percent better than lone trees, and trees with more than 75 square feet of rooting space survived far more often than trees squeezed into small spaces. The same researchers warn against cutting major roots closer to the trunk than five times its diameter.
That has practical meaning in Kissimmee, where Charley and Milton both brought down old trees and limbs onto lines. UF/IFAS gives laurel oak a life span of 50 to 70 years and notes that its trunks and big limbs often hollow from decay, so an older one is worth a closer look. A lone laurel oak next to a driveway that was widened, or a pine left standing by itself when a subdivision was graded, deserves a careful look before the next storm season. A sound live oak or cabbage palm usually needs trimming rather than removal.
Things worth checking from the ground before June:
- Mushrooms or shelf fungus at the base of an oak
- Dead limbs over the roof, the driveway or a screened pool cage
- A new lean, or soil lifting on one side after heavy rain
- A palm with a shrinking or drooping crown
- Limbs within reach of the service line running to your house
Branches, curbs and hauling inside the city
The City of Kissimmee collects yard waste weekly from its green carts, with no plastic bags or yard waste bags inside the cart and no rocks, dirt or concrete. Ahead of the 2026 hurricane season, the city also offered a one-time free pickup of up to six cubic yards per household, set out by a Monday morning in late June, with branches cut to less than six inches in diameter and four feet long, stacked loose at the curb and at least four feet from cars, hydrants, mailboxes and storm drains. The idea behind it is worth copying every year: trim before a storm, not after one.
A removed tree is far more than six cubic yards. When you compare quotes, check that each one says whether the wood, brush and stump leave the property. If you live in unincorporated Kissimmee, the county's collection rules apply, not the city's.
Tree services Kissimmee homes ask for most
Tree removal covers dead laurel oaks and storm-weakened pines. Tree trimming lifts limbs off roofs and pool cages before hurricane season, and palm trimming keeps fronds and seed stalks off the gutters. When a storm puts a tree on a house or a car, storm damage tree removal is the call. On acreage south and east of the city, land clearing needs the right county authorization first, and a careful company will ask about it.
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.
Tree Trimming
Clearing limbs off the roof, raising canopies over driveways and thinning heavy oaks before storm season, without the damage bad cuts cause.
Palm Tree Trimming
Sabal, queen and Washington palms: which fronds should come off, why hurricane cuts hurt palms, and how often to trim.
Land Clearing
Clearing acreage, palmetto and underbrush for pasture, a homesite or a fence line, and the permits Central Florida counties ask for.
Why Kissimmee homeowners call the line
City address or county address, it goes in the summary
The Kissimmee name covers the city and a large stretch of unincorporated Osceola County along 192, and the two have different permit offices and pickup rules. Give the automated assistant your street address and ZIP, and that detail is part of what the local company hears when your call is transferred.
A KUA line first, then a crew for the rest
If a limb is on a KUA line, call 407-933-9898 and keep everyone back. Once the utility has made it safe, the line answers at any hour, storm night included, and puts you through to an independent tree company that works in Osceola County to clear what is left.
Lakefront oaks and 192 pines are different jobs
An old laurel oak near Lake Toho and a few pines behind a newer subdivision house call for different work. Describe the tree, then the company that comes out looks at it, quotes its own price and is paid by you. The call to the line costs nothing.
Questions ready before anyone climbs
This page lists what to ask for: a certificate of liability insurance and proof of workers' compensation from the company's agent, an ISA certification number for any risk call, and UF/IFAS Extension Osceola County for a free second opinion on a sick tree.
Before you hire a Kissimmee tree company
Ask for a certificate of general liability insurance and proof of workers' compensation coverage, sent to you by the company's insurance agent, and a written quote that lists cleanup, hauling, stump grinding and any permit work. If a permit or a risk call is involved, ask for the ISA certification number of the arborist making it. For free, research-based answers on a sick tree or what to plant next, UF/IFAS Extension Osceola County is at 1921 Kissimmee Valley Lane, (321) 697-3000.
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).
Not sure what the tree needs? Call and describe it. The company you are put through to looks at the tree and tells you the price before any work starts.
How a Kissimmee 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.
Areas near Kissimmee
Guides for Kissimmee homeowners
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