Rochester Superior Tree Care removes, trims, and grinds trees across Rochester and southeastern Minnesota — silver maples that have outgrown the yards they were planted in, bur oaks worth keeping healthy for another fifty years, and ash trees the emerald ash borer is quietly working through. Most calls start with a tree somebody has been watching for a while.
We handle the whole range: tree removal when a tree has to come down, trimming and pruning that keeps a good tree healthy and off the roof, and stump grinding so the stump is gone, not just cut low. We also clear lots for building, look after tree health and ash before the borer decides for you, and answer storm calls when a tree comes down on its own schedule.
Here is how it works. You call or send the form, we come look at the tree in person, and you get a free written estimate before anything starts. The price we write down is the price — no day-of surcharges, no 'we found more wood' games.
Tree work is priced per tree, by height — never by the square foot of anything. These are the published national ranges we bid from. Run your tree through the same math, then get the exact number in writing, free. The calculator prices one tree at a time; several trees on one visit usually come in lower per tree, and we will show you that discount in person.
Priced per foot of height: $11–$19 a foot. A typical mid-size tree — about 45 feet — runs about $495–$855 around Rochester with standard access; most single removals land between $250 and $2,000. A short, thick oak can out-price a tall, thin pine — trunks much over two feet across price like a bigger tree, which the in-person estimate settles. Stump grinding is a separate line (see Stump Grinding). If the tree needs a crane, the crane day adds $500–$2,500 that no online range can fold in sight unseen — this range is the base a crane quote starts from.
Also per foot of height: $9–$17 a foot. A typical 45-foot shade tree runs about $405–$765 to trim around Rochester; most trimming visits land between $150 and $1,200. Trimming is the cheap year of a tree's life — deadwood out, canopy lifted off the roof, weak crotches lightened before storm season tests them.
Priced per inch of diameter: $3.50–$7 an inch, measured across the widest point at ground level, root flare included. Most single stumps run $120–$400 around Rochester — there is a minimum charge to bring the grinder out, and on stumps under about 30 inches that minimum, not the inches, is most of the price, exactly how published pricing behaves. Extra stumps on the same visit are usually discounted per stump in person.
A damaged or dangerous tree that can't wait, on a priority daytime response: $17–$30 a foot — the standard removal band with the urgency premium figured in. A storm-damaged mid-size tree runs about $765–$1,350 around Rochester. Two honest exceptions: a tree already down in an open yard that hit nothing is NOT an emergency job — it prices at or below the Removal service. And a tree on a house that needs a crane is quoted in person ($1,500–$5,000+ published); this range is the starting point, not the quote.
Priced per acre, by what's growing on it: light $1,100–$2,300, moderate $2,300–$4,200, heavy $4,200–$7,500 an acre. Clearing a typical half-acre building lot with moderate growth runs about $1,150–$2,100 around Rochester. The base price figures trees and brush cut and mulched or chipped on site, stumps cut flush — not ground out — and no grading, excavation, or permits.
Ranges are the published numbers we bid from: Angi's tree removal and trimming data by height band, HomeGuide's removal, trimming, stump, and land-clearing guides, and Lawn Love's per-foot and per-inch rates — the same sources our fleet's tree-care rate card documents, with every fitted band checked against the published height bands at 25, 45, 70, and 90 feet.
A note on how the work gets done. These ranges figure a tree taken down by a climber or a bucket truck — whichever can reach it — with the brush chipped and hauled away and the stump left cut flush at the ground. Two things can move you within the range, or a little past it. The first is the tree itself: a thick hardwood like oak is heavier, harder on saws and grinders, and slower to haul than a pine the same height, and a trunk much over two feet across prices like a bigger tree than its height suggests. The second is the method: a tree that can't be climbed or reached by a bucket — dead, split, or boxed in over a roof — may need a crane, and a crane day adds $500 to $2,500 that no online range can fold in sight unseen. Leaving the trunk wood for firewood instead of hauling it can bring the price down. Tell us what's standing and what's under it, and we'll confirm the method and the exact price at the in-person estimate, before any work starts.
Best guess is fine — measure the shadow on a sunny day or compare to the house (about 10 ft per story).
Priced per tree. Stump grinding is priced separately — see Stump Grinding.
Best guess is fine — about 10 ft per story of house next to it.
Priced per tree.
Measure across the widest point at ground level, including the root flare where the trunk spreads into the ground.
Priced per stump. Grindings are left in the hole unless haul-off is arranged at the estimate.
Best guess is fine — the situation matters more than the exact height.
If the tree is already down in an open yard and hit nothing, price it under Tree Removal instead — down trees cost less, not more.
A typical building lot is a quarter to a half acre.
Stumps are cut flush, not ground out; grading and permits are separate.
Free — no obligation. Your calculator numbers ride along with the request.
Your estimate is attached automatically. Add your info and tell us about the tree — where it stands, what's under it, anything we should know before we come out. Prefer to talk? Call (507) 486-4229.
Per foot of height: $11–$19 a foot, so a typical 45-foot tree runs about $495–$855 with standard access. Most single removals land between $250 and $2,000.
No. The visit, the look at the tree, and the written estimate are free, and the written price is the price.
No. Topping ruins a tree's structure and shortens its life. The honest options are structural pruning or removal — we price both and let you decide.
No — a tree already down in an open yard prices at or below regular removal. Emergency rates are for trees on structures and can't-wait danger.
Rochester Superior Tree Care is a local tree crew serving Rochester, Byron, Stewartville, Kasson, Zumbrota, Pine Island, and Oronoco. Tree work priced in writing before we start — every time.
Got a tree you're watching? Call us before it picks its own day to come down.
The kind of tree work we do around Rochester and southeastern Minnesota — what the job was, what it cost, and what the homeowner says after.
The projects below are representative of the work we do around Rochester and southeastern Minnesota — the kind of jobs, the way they're priced, and what homeowners tell us after. Verified customer projects replace these examples as jobs close.
A 55-foot silver maple that had swallowed the back fence line and was dropping limbs on the shed — roped down piece by piece, everything carried out the side gate, fence and shed untouched.
Final price: $1,250
Every quote I got wanted the fence panels pulled. These folks roped the whole tree down in pieces over the shed and never touched the fence. Yard was cleaner than before they came.
A 50-foot bur oak older than the house: deadwood out, canopy lifted off the roof and the garage, and the two weak crotches over the driveway lightened before storm season.
Final price: $875
That oak was here before the house and I intend it to outlive me. They took the deadwood and left the shape — the roof sees daylight and the tree still looks like itself.
Three stumps — 26, 20, and 16 inches — from the maples that came down last fall, ground below grade and the holes filled level so the mower stops scalping the yard.
Final price: $385
I have been mowing around those stumps for a year. One visit, ground below the dirt, holes filled — you would not know a tree ever stood there.
A 45-foot pine that came down in a summer straight-line storm and landed along the fence line — called in the morning, cut up and hauled the same day before the next round of weather.
Final price: $1,150
We woke up to it across the fence line, roots out of the ground. They had it cut up and hauled by dinner and the fence lost exactly one board. That is all I wanted from anybody.
Three-quarters of an acre of brush and medium trees on a building lot outside town — cut, mulched on site, stumps left flush for the builder's grader.
Final price: $2,400
We bought the lot wooded and needed it buildable, not landscaped. Cleared and mulched in two days, and the builder started the week after. Exactly what we asked for.
A 48-foot green ash in the third year of emerald ash borer decline — canopy half gone, bark shedding — taken down before a brittle dead ash became a storm problem over the driveway.
Final price: $975
I kept hoping the ash would turn around. They showed me the borer galleries under the bark, gave me the price in writing, and had it down in a day. Should have called a year earlier.
The silver maples planted by the thousands in the sixties are aging out all at once, summer straight-line winds test every weak crotch, and the ash in Byron and Kasson are on the borer's clock whether their owners know it or not. We look at every tree in person before we quote it.
Not sure what yours will run? The calculator near the top of this page runs your tree through the same published ranges we bid from — then call us and we will come give you the free written estimate.
A tree that has to come down, taken down in pieces where it stands and hauled away — $11–$19 a foot of height.
Deadwood out, canopy off the roof, weak limbs lightened before storm season — $9–$17 a foot.
The stump ground 6–12 inches below grade, not just cut low — $3.50–$7 an inch of diameter.
A tree down or coming down on its own schedule? We answer storm calls around the clock.
Wooded lots made buildable — cut, mulched, and left ready for the builder, priced by the acre.
An honest read on your ash and your older trees — treat, watch, or take down, priced in writing either way.
It starts with a free visit. We look at the tree in person — height, trunk, what's under it — and you hear real price ranges at the visit. Then you get the full price in writing, with the method named: climb, bucket, or crane.
Work day runs piece by piece: everything roped and lowered, the yard protected, brush chipped and hauled as we go. Trunk wood stays for firewood if you asked, or leaves with us if you didn't.
Before the job is called done, we walk the yard with you — stump plan confirmed, gates closed, nothing left hanging.
