Seattle, WA Tree Trimming & Pruning

Seattle pruning is not a ladder and a pole saw. It is a bigleaf maple over a 1920s roof, a cherry in a four-foot planting strip, and a fir grown into the service drop. The city splits that work in two: private trees behind the sidewalk ( SDCI, SMC 25.11) and street trees between sidewalk and curb ( SDOT, SMC 15.43). MTS Tree and Landscape prunes both with ISA-certified arborists, ANSI A300 cuts, and the right notice or permit before a saw starts.

This page is planned trimming. A tree on the house or a blocked exit is emergency tree service. A tree that needs to come out is tree removal.

MTS Tree and Landscape provides permit-aware, ISA-certified pruning across Seattle neighborhoods. Call (425) 369-8733 .

Key Takeaways

• Routine pruning of a private-yard tree is usually not an SDCI removal permit. Topping is not routine pruning. The city treats topping as a form of removal.
• Hire a registered tree service provider for commercial work. SDCI “reportable work” — live branches 4 inches and up, live roots 2 inches and up, or 25% or more of the foliage-bearing area — needs an online Tree Public Notice at least three full business days before we start. Fruit trees grown for fruit, and hedges, are not reportable work.
• Street trees are SDOT, not SDCI. Adjacent owners usually maintain the tree in front of the house unless SDOT planted and listed it. Major pruning — branches or roots 2 inches or more, or more than 15% of the canopy — needs a free Street Trees Plant/Prune/Remove permit. Those thresholds are not the same as SDCI reportable work. Do not mix them up.
• Sidewalk clearance in Seattle is 8 feet over the walk and 14 feet over the roadway. We raise crowns to those numbers with reduction cuts, not hat-racking.
• Seattle City Light owns high-voltage clearance. Most private crews cannot work inside 10 feet of a primary. SCL may do “make-ready” pruning. The first 10 feet of the service drop from the pole is typically theirs; past that is usually yours. We do not cut live electrical.
• Typical residential prune jobs in Seattle run about $300 to $2,500+. Tight lots, lift time, and street-tree permits push large maples and firs higher.
• We do not top. We do not lion’s-tail. We do not “take the top off so I can see the Sound.”

Ready to talk through a Seattle prune? Call MTS Tree and Landscape at (425) 369-8733 or email info@nwmts.com.

Why Seattle Pruning Is Different From the Eastside

Sammamish trees sit on large lots. Seattle trees sit on 30- to 50-foot lots with a roof, a neighbor, an alley, and a planting strip. A Ballard cherry that scrapes the sidewalk is an SDOT clearance job. A Queen Anne Douglas fir on the house is a reduction and risk call, not a view-hack. A Capitol Hill maple fused into the service drop is a City Light question before it is a climbing question.

Neighborhoods we regularly prune: Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford, Phinney Ridge, Green Lake, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Capitol Hill, Central District, Beacon Hill, Columbia City, Rainier Valley, West Seattle, Alki, Northgate, Lake City, and Georgetown. If your street is not on that list, we still run Seattle jobs. Call.

How Much Does Tree Trimming Cost in Seattle?

Most single-tree residential prunes fall between $400 and $1,800. Small ornamentals are less. Large backyard conifers over a roof, or a row of street trees that need an SDOT permit, run more.

Seattle Pruning Cost Ranges

What we are pruning	Typical cost	What we see in Seattle
Small ornamental	$250 to $600	Japanese maple, plum, small cherry in a side yard
Medium shade tree	$500 to $1,400	Alder, birch, mid-size maple, fruit tree
Large backyard tree	$1,200 to $2,500+	Bigleaf maple or fir off a roof; Queen Anne, Magnolia, West Seattle slope
Street-tree clearance	$350 to $1,200 per tree, plus permit time	8 ft sidewalk / 14 ft street; SDOT permit when the prune is major
Line clearance (after SCL make-ready)	Quoted on site	Service drop past the first 10 feet from the pole

Costs go up when: the only work position is over shingles; the alley will not take a chipper; we need a lift on a narrow street; the tree is a street tree; or the lot is an ECA steep slope.

Get a written Seattle estimate. Call (425) 369-8733 .

Do I Need a Permit To Prune a Tree in Seattle?

Often you need a notice, a street-tree permit, or both — not the Tree Removal and Vegetation Restoration path used for taking a tree down. Outside of an emergency, do not assume “it’s just a trim.”

Private trees (your lot, behind the sidewalk) — SDCI

SMC 25.11 still applies. Normal, routine pruning that follows ANSI A300 is generally exempt from the removal rules. That does not mean anything goes.

• Topping is not pruning. Topping is cutting limbs to stubs, or to laterals less than half the diameter of the cut limb, so the normal canopy is gone. Seattle also treats irreversible root or trunk damage as removal. “Take 40% off so it is smaller” is how a prune becomes a violation.
• Reportable work(current SDCI language): removing live branches 4 inches or greater; pruning or removing live roots 2 inches or greater; or removing 25% or more of the foliage-bearing area. Fruit-production trees and hedge maintenance are not reportable. We still prune those to A300; we just do not file them as reportable work.
• Public notice: for reportable work, the registered provider posts an SDCI Tree Public Notice online at least three full business days before start (plan extra days for the portal to generate it) and posts it on site during the job. Taking down a 6-inch-and-up tree is a longer notice — that is the removal page.
• Tiers 1–4 matter more for removal than for a proper prune. We still measure diameter at standard height (about 4.5 feet up the trunk) so we do not “prune” a Tier 2 fir into a stub. Old blogs that say “exceptional tree” mean what the code now calls Tier 2. Species lists live in the current Director’s Rule (SDCI now points to DR 7-2024). We classify on site.

Street trees (planting strip) — SDOT

If you did not plant it in your backyard, check the SDOT street-tree map before anyone cuts. SDOT maintains roughly 40,000 trees it planted, mostly on arterials. Other right-of-way trees are usually the adjacent owner’s to water, mulch, and prune — still under SDOT rules.

• Minor prune: branches and roots under 2 inches, and under 15% of the canopy — usually no Urban Forestry permit.
• Major prune: 2-inch+ branches or roots, or more than 15% of foliage-bearing area — free Street Trees – Plant/Prune/Remove permit (SDOTTREE prefix), pruning plan, site plan, SDOT-registered provider. ANSI A300. SMC 15.43.
• Clearance: 8 feet over the sidewalk, 14 feet over the street, vegetation at least 1 foot back from the walk.
• We do not remove a street tree on a prune ticket. Removal is a separate SDOT permit, a 14-day yellow notice, and usually a replacement.

Environmentally critical areas — SMC 25.09

Steep slopes, wetlands, creeks, and shoreline lots (parts of Magnolia, Queen Anne, West Seattle, and the lake edges) follow the ECA chapter. Limited ANSI A300 pruning that is normal maintenance is often allowed. Removal is not “maintenance.” Larger vegetation work (Tip 331 still uses a 750-square-foot maintenance-area figure) and work in landslide-prone areas can need a vegetation plan and, on slopes, a geotech. Tiers in 25.11 often do not apply the same way once a 25.09 plan is required.

Hazard vs “I want it smaller”

Deadwood, a cracked leader over a bedroom, or limbs on the roof can come off without turning the tree into a removal. If the whole tree is failing, stop. That is emergency or removal. We do not use a prune to hide a take-down.

This page is a field guide, not a substitute for the code. We pull the current SDCI and SDOT path before we climb.

What We Prune — and What We Will Not

We do: crown cleaning (dead, damaged, diseased, rubbing); structural pruning on young trees (one leader, spaced scaffolds, cuts outside the collar); crown raising for sidewalks, driveways, and roofs; reduction back to laterals that can take the terminal role; thinning that does not strip the interior; fruit-tree work as fruit-tree work, not shade-tree logic.

We do not: top, hat-rack, round-over, or “window” a fir into a sail. We do not flush-cut. We do not use climbing spurs on a tree we are keeping.

Clearance from the house is a reduction problem: take the limb back to a proper lateral so the crown still has a shape. If the only way off the roof is to destroy the crown, we will say so and point you to removal.

Timing and Power Lines

Seattle’s own guidance: prune most deciduous trees in winter, after the solstice, while they are dormant and you can see structure. Avoid fall — more decay fungi, wounds close slowly. Summer is for water sprouts and suckers. Flowering cherries and plums: do not strip next year’s flower buds for a January haircut. Conifer deadwood can come off most of the year; heavy live reduction on a fir over a West Seattle roof is a species-and-risk call.

If the tree is in or on wires, stay back. Downed or sparking lines: 911, stay 30 feet off, then Seattle City Light (206) 684-3000. MTS does not work live conductors. City Light’s published clearance on distribution primaries is on the order of 10 feet (slow growers) to 14 feet (fast growers). They often make-ready a tree so a private crew can finish away from the primary. The house service drop after the first 10 feet from the pole is typically the owner’s to keep clear — still not a DIY job next to a weatherhead. Communication and cable lines are not City Light’s prune.

How a Seattle Prune Actually Runs

1. Look at the tree, the house, the strip, the wires, and whether this is SDCI, SDOT, SCL, or an ECA.
2. Say what it needs: clean, raise, reduce, structure — or stop and talk removal.
3. File the SDOT permit and/or SDCI public notice when the work is major or reportable.
4. Climb or lift. Rig over the roof and the neighbor. Chip what the alley will take.
5. Leave the tree with a crown, not a hat-rack.

We are licensed, bonded, and insured. Climbers and crew leads train to ISA and L&I standards. Stump grinding is a different line — Seattle stump grinding.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does tree trimming cost in Seattle?

Most jobs are $400 to $1,800. Large backyard maples and firs over a roof, or a permitted street-tree row, run higher.

Do I need a permit to trim my backyard tree?

Routine A300 pruning usually does not need an SDCI removal permit. Reportable work still needs a registered provider and a three-business-day public notice. Topping can be treated as removal. Street trees are a different department.

The tree is between the sidewalk and the curb. Can you just “shape it”?

That is almost certainly an SDOT street tree. Minor work may not need a permit. Major pruning does. We will not skip Urban Forestry because it is “just the strip.”

Will you top it so I can keep the tree and the view?

No. Topping is bad practice, it matches how Seattle defines a disfiguring cut, and it grows a worse hazard. Reduction to proper laterals, or honest removal, are the options.

When should we prune?

Winter after the solstice for most deciduous structure. Not fall. Summer for sprouts. Deadwood when it is a target.

Who do I call if a limb is on the roof tonight?

MTS Tree and Landscape, (425) 369-8733. If it is in the wires, City Light / 911 first. An active failure belongs on emergency.

Work With a Seattle Crew That Already Knows the Eastside

MTS Tree and Landscape is based in Sammamish (4580 Klahanie Dr SE #261, Sammamish, WA 98029) and runs King and Pierce County. Seattle prunes are a normal week: tight lots, street trees, and the SDCI/SDOT split. Same phone, same insured crew. We do not start reportable or major work until the notice or permit path is clear.

Call (425) 369-8733 , email info@nwmts.com, or use the quote form.