Tree and Stump Removal
Delray Beach, FL

Delray Beach is an incorporated city, so a tree on a Delray Beach lot is a City question and not a Palm Beach County one. Building permits run through the City’s Development Services Building Division at 100 NW 1st Avenue, (561) 243-7200. Some Delray Beach mailing addresses sit just outside the city line in unincorporated county territory, so we confirm which side your parcel is on before we write an estimate.

Then the work itself. The Bobcat T740 and its 60-inch grapple grip the trunk, lay it down where we want it, then grip the stump and work the root ball loose, so the stump comes out whole instead of being ground in place. Limbs and brush go to a pile for haul-off. This is ground-level removal with a machine, not a climbing or canopy-trimming crew, so a tree that needs to be taken apart piece by piece over a roof is something we will tell you plainly on the first call. Estimates are free: give us the address, the community and what is standing on the lot, and call (561) 779-3213.

Delray Beach has five locally designated historic districts: the Old School Square Historic Arts District, Del-Ida Park, Nassau Park, the Marina Historic District and the West Settlers Historic District. In those districts the City’s Historic Preservation Board reviews exterior changes to contributing properties, and tree removal can be caught up in that review. Del-Ida Park, platted in 1923 with its diagonal street grid of Mediterranean Revival and Craftsman bungalows, is one of the streets where a mature shade tree is part of the look the board protects. Ask the City whether your address is inside a district before the tree is touched.

Further west the second approval is your community. Kings Point and Rainberry Bay are large 55+ gated communities that run their own architectural approval, and a tree that shows from a common area is generally something the board wants approved in writing. Lake Ida, Osceola Park and the canal-front lots of Tropic Isle in East Delray do not carry the historic layer, so the City desk is usually the only desk. Plan around the board calendar as well as the permit counter.

The first step is to confirm with the City what your tree needs before it is cut, because we do not guess at a permit requirement. One state rule helps homeowners: under Florida Statute 163.045, a city may not require a permit to remove a tree on residential property when a Florida-certified arborist or licensed landscape architect has documented that the tree is a danger to persons or property, though the owner must keep that documentation. We tell you which path your tree is on.

Two checks ride along with every removal. Protected species first: gopher tortoises are a state-threatened species, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission generally requires a permit before a burrow is disturbed, and mangroves on Intracoastal and canal shorelines are protected under Florida law, so a mangrove is never a quick removal. Drainage second: many Delray Beach lots back onto canals or drainage easements, and much of the area drains through Lake Worth Drainage District canals, so a machine that has to cross a swale, culvert or easement is planned for ahead of the day. Every dig near the property line starts with a free Sunshine 811 utility locate.

Delray Beach sits inside the Florida Building Code’s Wind-Borne Debris Region, and the oceanfront and Intracoastal parcels take the worst of the wind and salt air. A tree that has been leaning since last season is the one that comes down on a roof in the next storm, so removal before June is cheaper than cleanup after. After a storm, call (561) 779-3213 and tell us if the trunk is touching a roof, a power line or a pool cage, because that changes how it comes out. We make no promise about how fast a storm call can be reached; give the number and the address and we will say what the job is.

Stump calls here sort into two kinds. On the older downtown streets the stump belongs to a ficus, an oak or a Brazilian pepper that outgrew a small lot, with roots that have found a slab, a wall or a drain line. Toward the west it is usually what is left after a storm or an approved removal, sitting where a pool deck or driveway is going. We pull the stump instead of grinding it, so the root mass leaves the ground and the hole can be filled and graded in the same visit. If you want the ground level and ready for sod or a slab, read Bobcat grading in Delray Beach. If the whole lot needs clearing, land clearing in Delray Beach covers it.

Once the trees are down, a Delray Beach lot usually needs one of four things next: the building work the clearing opened up, from impact windows to a remodel that the City permits (construction in Delray Beach), a new roof over the same ground (roofing in Delray Beach), association help when a community board has to approve the change (property management in Delray Beach), or food for the crew and the open house afterwards (food truck catering in Delray Beach).