Arborist in Palm Beach, QLD
Working on trees between the two creeks at Palm Beach
Palm Beach is a long, narrow suburb with the Pacific on one side and the Gold Coast Highway on the other, and Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek marking its two ends. The trees that last here are the ones that handle sand and salt. Cocos palms stand beside pools and front fences, banksias and she-oaks hold the ground near the beach, and a few old gums survive from the days of bigger blocks. Along Palm Beach Avenue and the streets that run down toward the sand, most of our work is in front and back yards only a short walk from the water.
Access is the main puzzle. Many older beach houses have a single narrow drive, cars parked along the kerb, and a pool or a garage where the drop zone would normally be. Units often share one driveway and a basement car park, so a truck has to wait for a gap. The nature strip and the street trees on it belong to the City of Gold Coast, so a tree that stands on the verge is not ours or yours to cut. A palm over a pool usually means the fronds are lowered on a rope, not dropped, because there is no clear ground below it.
The ground is flat and sandy, and the houses are a mix of low fibro and brick beach homes from decades ago next to newer two storey builds and townhouses that fill the whole block. Salt wind dries and bends the tops of exposed trees, and summer storms find the weak ones. Sandy soil gives roots little to grip, so a tall palm or a gum with a heavy lean can lift after rain. That is why we look at the base and the lean before we look at the crown.
What we do here most
What Palm Beach yards keep asking for
Almost every job here comes down to the same thing, a tree that is too big for a small sandy block with a pool, a fence and a neighbour close by.
Palm Tree Removal
A tall Cocos palm beside a pool
Cocos palms put heavy fronds and sticky fruit onto the pool, the paving and the roof next door. When one has to come out, a climber works from the top down and lowers each frond and trunk section on a rope so nothing lands in the water. The stem is cut in lengths short enough to carry out through the side gate, and the stump can be dealt with afterwards.
Tree Pruning
Salt-burnt coastal trees on an exposed beach block
Trees close to the beach get wind from one side and grow lopsided, with dead twigs through the crown. We cut back to the branch collar, take out the dead wood and thin the heaviest side so the wind can pass through. The aim is a tree that sits more evenly on its trunk, with the roof and gutters clear of its branches.
Emergency Tree Service
A limb across a Palm Beach driveway after a storm
A summer storm can drop a limb across a single narrow drive and trap the cars inside. We look at where the limb is resting, what it is holding up and whether the rest of the tree is sound. Then the limb is cut into pieces and the drive is opened. If the tree has split further up, we say so before anything else is touched.
Commercial Tree Services
Shared grounds at a beachside unit block
Unit blocks have lawns, palms and old trees shared by many owners, with owners' cars and bins close underneath. Work is planned around where people walk and park, with the area taped off while branches come down. Cut material goes through the chipper on site and the mulch can stay for the garden beds, or it can be hauled away.
If it is urgent
If a limb comes down at your Palm Beach place
- 1Keep people and pets away from the fallen limb and look at the tree from a distance, especially if it has landed near the pool or the carport.
- 2Do not climb the tree, do not cut a limb that is bent or held under tension, and stay well back from anything touching a wire.
- 3When you ring, tell us which street you are on, which side of the house the tree stands, and whether the drive or the street is blocked.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Which areas do you cover?
Tweed Heads, the Tweed Coast, Murwillumbah and the Tweed Valley, and the southern Gold Coast as far as Palm Beach and Tallebudgera. Each place has its own page on the service areas page. If yours is not listed, ask, because the list is where we work most often rather than a boundary.
Do you work in Queensland as well as New South Wales?
Yes. The work crosses the border at Tweed Heads and Coolangatta and carries on through Gold Coast suburbs such as Currumbin, Elanora and Bilinga. Which council a tree falls under changes with the side of the border, and that can change what you need to check before a tree comes down.
Which tree jobs do you do?
Trimming, pruning, tree and limb removal, stump grinding, root removal, chipping and mulching, palm tree removal, land clearing and fire breaks, arborist services, commercial tree work, crane-assisted removal and emergency tree work. Each job has its own page on the services page.
Do you do emergency tree work?
Yes. Emergency tree service is one of the jobs on the services page. We are open 24 hours a day, Monday to Saturday, and closed on Sundays. Ring 0458 795 659, say what has come down and what it is lying on, and keep everyone well back until we have spoken.
What is the difference between pruning and lopping?
Pruning takes a branch off at the branch collar, the swelling where it joins the trunk, so the tree can seal the wound. Lopping cuts through a branch anywhere along its length and tends to leave a stub that decays. Pruning is the method for a tree that is staying.
What happens to the branches and the mulch?
Branches and leaves are put through a commercial chipper on site. You can keep the mulch for your garden beds or have it taken away, whichever suits the block.
How far down is a stump ground?
Below ground level, so the spot can go back to lawn, paving or a new planting. Roots are taken out as well when they need to be, and the chips and debris are dealt with as part of the job.
How often do palm trees need cleaning?
Once or twice a year is usual. The job is taking off the dead brown fronds, seed pods and berries that would otherwise land on paths, cars and people.
Do I need council permission to remove a tree?
Often you do, and it varies. Tree preservation rules depend on the council, the zoning, the size of the tree and whether it is a native or protected species. Check with your council before a large or protected tree comes down.
What is crane-assisted tree removal?
A crane takes the weight of each section while a climber makes the cuts, then lifts it clear. It is used for trees that are large, dangerous or too hard to reach any other way, such as ones standing over a house or close to power lines.
What should I tell you when I call?
Where the tree is, roughly how tall it is, what it stands near, such as a roof, fence, pool or wire, and whether it is leaning or has split. A photo taken from a safe distance helps. Say whether a truck can reach the back yard too.
What should I do if a tree or limb is touching a power line?
Stay well back, keep people and pets away, and do not touch the tree or anything it is touching. Treat the line as live and ring 000 if anyone is at risk. Once everyone is clear, ring the number at the top of this page and tell us what is touching what.
Everything we do here
Services in Palm Beach, QLD
Salt, sand and tight beachside blocks shape which of these jobs come up most often in Palm Beach.
Also nearby
We work in these suburbs too
Local, and on the phone
Tell us about your Palm Beach tree
Send us the street, the kind of tree, and what it is close to, such as a pool, a roof or a shared driveway. That decides whether we lower it by rope or bring in more gear.
0458 795 65924 hours a day, Monday to Saturday
Not urgent? Send us the job instead