Oh my, what will the kitties think about the missing tree?!

Yes, it's much better to preemptively remove a tree. Tell the single-syllable-named guys that the tree is named "Lorax' and see if they know of Dr Seuss....

Oh I like that! I don't think any of the cats has ever shown interest in that tree. They do love the shrubs though. Quiet and hidden places for naps or just hanging out.

There's a tree in my upstairs neighbour's garden (which runs alongside mine), a huge oak tree. It was in the very large garden of the old house that used to be on this site before it was demolished in the 1960s to build our little street of houses and maisonettes. It really should have been cut down then, as it's huge and dominating, but it wasn't, and now it has a preservation order on it, so nothing can be done to it without permission, and only then by using approved tree surgeons.

It's meant to be 'managed' and have the crown reduced every five years or so. But my old Neighbour From Hell let it grow so big that it was almost touching the roof. The roots also caused problems to our foundations, drains and serious subsidence to a neighbour's property. The damage to my place wasn't as serious but I did need to have 'ties' put into the cavity walls to stabilise the building (covered by insurance, thankfully).

When my new neighbour moved in 5-and-a-half years ago, one of the conditions of sale was that the tree had to be sorted out and cut back. It was done pretty quickly. You'll see from how tiny the man is in the photo what a huge tree this is.

Five years on, and it needs doing again, and, good as gold, my lovely neighbour has applied to the council for permission to reduce the crown and remove any dead parts. The tree as a whole can only be removed if it is dead, dying or dangerous, and even then it would have to be in stages, to avoid 'ground heave'. It's none of those, so it has to stay, even though, 50 yards away, are tens of thousands of oak trees in the forest.

≡ Click to see image ≡

That's one seriously big tree!

so I went looking for tree removal services.
They all seem to be named (guy's first name) Tree Service. Mike's Tree Service, Tom's, Dan's, etc.

FWIW, my experience has been that pretty much all tree services are guys with no actual training in how to properly work on trees. They're simply guys armed with a Dodge Ram pickup, a trailer, ladders, and a chainsaw. Maybe a polesaw, too. Oh, and rarely do any of them carry any insurance or bonding.

They're the same guys who offer tree-trimming, and almost always denude the tree of branches, forcing the tree to re-grow into a cartoonish puffball shape.

So far I have had no luck. Tree folks seem to be about as sketchy as driveway pavers and roofers. So tired of this.

Have you looked for an actual certified arborist?

I feel your frustration about finding someone to do work.

I keep asking folks who I know for recommendations for someone to work on mom's house, and it's a crap shoot if you even get a call back.

I wish you luck.....keep asking around and eventually it will work out; but I know how hard it is to make those phone calls.

Thoradad, these ARE certified arborists. As mightshould says it can be a bitch to try to get trades to call you back.