Tree Service in McKinney, TX

Most calls we get for Tree Service in McKinney start with the same question: am I allowed to take this tree down? The answer here depends on the tree, its size and where it stands, and it is worth knowing before anyone fires up a saw. McKinney protects trees through Article 4 of its Unified Development Code, and the city's own tree permit checklist spells out the thresholds. We walk homeowners through that part first, then price the work.

What the city protects

McKinney's permit checklist says trees on its Quality Tree List are protected from 6 inches to 41 inches in trunk diameter at breast height, and that every species is protected at 42 inches and larger. The list carves out a few weak-wooded or weedy species, naming box elder and silver maple among the maples and Siberian elm among the elms. For an existing house, the application asks for an aerial exhibit or plot plan showing which trees come out, their diameters and how the rest will be protected. The residential removal fee on an existing home is listed at $0; grubbing under drip lines is $150, and where replacement trees cannot be planted the city takes a payment into its Tree Reforestation Fund.

Texas law adds another layer. Local Government Code section 212.905, added in 2017, bars a city from charging a mitigation fee for a tree under 10 inches in diameter on an owner-occupied one- or two-family home, and from blocking or charging for removal of a tree that is dead, diseased or an imminent threat to people or property. That does not mean paperwork disappears. It means a large, healthy live oak and a split, dying hackberry are handled very differently, and we will tell you which category we think your tree falls in before you decide.

Who hauls the wood

The city's residential yard-waste page is clear on a point that surprises people: limbs cut by anyone other than the resident are not eligible for curbside pickup. Homeowner bundles have to be 4-foot lengths, no branch over 6 inches across, tied with twine in bundles of 50 pounds or less, with a limit of 10 bags or bundles a week. A single mature pecan can produce far more than that. So every estimate we write states whether we chip and haul everything, leave firewood rounds stacked where you want them, or leave the chips for your beds.

Clay, creeks and canopy

McKinney sits in the Texas blackland prairies, where the Houston Black clay, the official state soil, shrinks and swells as it dries and wets. Roots on these soils run wide and shallow, and a wet spring followed by a dry August is hard on them. The city averages about 41 inches of rain a year, with May the wettest month, which is also when the strongest thunderstorms tend to come through. Large trees along creek corridors and in the older blocks around the historic square are the ones most likely to reach the protected size range, so we measure before anything else.

Ash trees are on the clock

Texas A&M Forest Service confirmed emerald ash borer in Collin County from samples collected in May 2024. Ash trees can lose most of their canopy within two years of infestation, so if you have a green or white ash planted with your house, now is the time to decide between protective treatment and planned removal, rather than waiting for a brittle, dead tree over the driveway.

Call (469) 421-7984 or send the form. We look at the trees with you, check whether a permit question applies, and leave a written, itemized estimate. Get a free estimate