Tree Service in Charleston, SC

Good tree service in Charleston starts with knowing what grows here and what knocks it down. The city sits about three feet above sea level where the Ashley, Cooper and Wando rivers meet the harbor, and almost half of its yearly rain falls between June and September, mostly in thunderstorms. Hurricane season brings the rest of the risk. The trees that shade the peninsula, West Ashley and the sea islands are big, old and close to houses, and the ground under them is often wet. Most of what we do comes down to three questions: is the tree sound, what is under it, and what do the city's rules allow?

Hugo still shapes how people see their trees

Hurricane Hugo came ashore at Sullivan's Island just after midnight on September 22, 1989, as a Category 4 storm. Downtown Charleston recorded sustained winds of 87 mph with a gust of 108 mph, and about three quarters of the homes in the historic district were damaged. Francis Marion National Forest, just north of the city, lost about 75 percent of its marketable timber. People who lived through it remember which trees went over and which stood. Clemson Extension's list of the most wind-resistant trees reads like a Charleston street: live oak, southern magnolia, sabal palmetto and bald cypress. Water oaks, pecans, Bradford pears, maples and pines are on the list of trees that broke or blew over in recent storms.

Live oaks, laurel oaks and the difference between them

A live oak in an open yard can grow 40 to 80 feet tall and 60 to 100 feet wide, and some live 200 to 300 years. They are worth keeping, and they rarely need more than careful pruning: shortening long limbs that reach over a roof, clearing dead wood and keeping weight balanced. Laurel oaks look similar from the street but behave very differently. University of Florida research notes that they do not wall off decay well, so old pruning cuts, trunk wounds and root damage can turn into hollows, and older laurel and water oaks blow down more often in hurricanes. If a big oak in your yard has mushrooms at the base, a cavity or dead limbs at the top, we will tell you which kind it is and what that means.

Grand trees and city street trees

The City of Charleston protects any tree 8 inches or more in diameter at 4.5 feet, except multi-stem crape myrtles, and calls a tree 24 inches or more a grand tree, excluding pines and sweet gums. On lots used for single-family homes or duplexes, trees under 24 inches need no removal permit. A grand tree needs an inspection first, and a permit is issued when it is hazardous, diseased, irreparably injured or damaging the house. Pruning a protected or grand tree needs no permit, but the city says it must be done by a qualified tree service to national pruning standards. Trees in public places, such as most trees between the sidewalk and the curb, belong to the city, and no one may cut or prune them without written permission from the Department of Parks.

Asian longhorned beetle

Asian longhorned beetle was first found in South Carolina in May 2020, by a homeowner in Hollywood, and again in Mount Pleasant in August 2025. Federal and state quarantines cover parts of Charleston and Dorchester counties, and as of July 2026 more than 9,000 infested trees had been removed. Red maple is its favorite host here, but it also attacks elm, willow, birch, sycamore, poplar and several others. Inside the quarantine, firewood and woody host material half an inch or more across cannot leave without being processed under the rules. If your address is in or near a quarantine zone, we plan the wood handling before we cut.

Get a Free Estimate

What an estimate covers

• Species, size and trunk diameter, measured where the city measures it
• Decay signs: cavities, fungus, cracks, dead tops, lifted soil
• What sits underneath: roof, porch, pool, driveway, the neighbor's side
• Power lines, and whether Dominion Energy needs to be called first
• Permit status: grand tree, street tree or neither
• What happens to the logs, brush, chips and stump, and a written price

Charleston is the center of our service area, and the city itself is spread out: the peninsula and its historic neighborhoods, West Ashley across the Ashley River, James Island and Johns Island to the south, and Daniel Island and the Cainhoy peninsula across the Cooper. From there we work in North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville, Goose Creek, Hanahan, Folly Beach, the barrier islands and the towns along the rivers. The trees and the storms are much the same across the Lowcountry. The rules are not: Charleston County, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston and the island towns each set their own tree protections, and the Asian longhorned beetle quarantine covers only some areas. Each town page explains what we know about that place.