4.9 · 462 Google reviews · Licensed & Insured
Tree Removal in Seminole, Florida
Many Seminole addresses are actually unincorporated county, which changes the tree rules. We check first. (727) 365-1803.
“Fast quote and when we decided it was time to remove our Oak, they were there on time and ready to get to work. They have all the equipment necessary for this huge job and work very efficiently.”
- 462 Google reviews
- Licensed & Insured
- ISA Certified Arborist on staff
- Pinellas since 1989
Start here, because it decides everything else: a Seminole mailing address does not mean you are in the City of Seminole.
Large parts of what everyone calls Seminole, including much of the area toward Bardmoor, and pockets on nearly every side of the city, are unincorporated Pinellas County. Two houses on the same street can sit under different rulebooks. One needs a city permit application; the other goes straight to the county. Nobody can tell which from the mailbox.
So the first thing we do on a Seminole job is check the parcel’s jurisdiction. It costs nothing and it is the difference between a permitted removal and a $150-per-DBH-inch penalty on a tree somebody assumed was unregulated.
Check whether you are actually in the City of Seminole. A large number of addresses that say "Seminole" sit in unincorporated Pinellas County, under a different code with a homesteaded-residential threshold that exists only outside city limits. The postal address will not tell you, and neither will the school district or the fire station. How to check: look the parcel up on the Pinellas County Property Appraiser’s site and read the jurisdiction or taxing-district field. If it shows City of Seminole, the city code applies; if it shows unincorporated, the county rules apply instead.
If you are unincorporated
Pinellas County Code Chapter 58, Article XIX applies directly and there is no second layer. Protected trees are anything 4 inches DBH or larger and every palm 6 feet or taller, unless the property carries a Pinellas County homestead exemption with an existing, occupied single-family detached house, in which case only trees greater than 24 inches DBH are protected. That homestead threshold covers a great many ordinary Seminole yard trees.
If you are in the city
The county code still applies. A municipal ordinance prevails only where it conflicts with it, so the parcel is generally read against both.
The City of Seminole’s own code. Chapter 62, Article II, §§ 62-31–62-41, last substantively rewritten by Ord. No. 09-2014 in October 2014. Under § 62-33(a), on a platted lot under one acre it is unlawful to remove any protected tree, exempt species aside, with a trunk DBH of four inches or more without a permit; § 62-34 says the same for tracts of an acre or more. The threshold is 4-inch DBH either way; lot size only decides which subsection you are reading. Seminole permit detail.
Either way there is no dead-tree, storm-damage or emergency exemption in the county’s Article XIX. A dead tree grades "0, Poor," which allows removal with an approved permit and without replanting obligations, a real saving, but not a free pass. And under the code’s liability provision, the property owner and the tree contractor are jointly and severally liable, with liability following a former owner even after a sale.
What actually comes down in Seminole
The city’s residential stock is heavily 1960s and 1970s: single-story block homes on generous lots, with the oaks planted at the same time now sixty feet tall. Laurel oak is the species that fails, UF/IFAS puts its useful life at 50 to 70 years, and it hollows from the center while the crown still looks green. Those trees are all reaching that point together, on the same streets, for the same reason.
Live oak is a different tree entirely and worth keeping. The specimens around Lake Seminole Park are a fair local benchmark for what a mature, well-structured one looks like.
The removals themselves are usually rigging problems: a big oak in a back corner, a pool cage under it, a fence on two sides and a single-width drive. We solve that with a crane picking sections clear of the structure, or with lowering-device rigging where a crane cannot set up, and a grapple truck loading from the street. Which of those it is gets decided at the Seminole estimate, not in your driveway on the day.
Start here
Send us a photo of the tree.
You do not have to know whether it needs to come down. That is the part we are for.
- One photo, whole tree in frameTrunk base to top. A close-up of anything that looks wrong helps.
- Text us the photoThe text button below opens the right thread. Add your street and city.
- We come out and lookEvery estimate is in person, free, sometimes the answer is that it needs nothing.
The one route around the permit
Florida Statute § 163.045 removes the permit requirement entirely for a single-family detached residence when the owner holds documentation from an ISA Certified Arborist, assessed under ISA tree-risk-assessment standards, that removal is the only practical way to bring the tree’s risk below moderate. We have that certification in-house, we use it where the tree genuinely qualifies, and we file the permit where it does not.
Mangroves along the Boca Ciega Bay side, including the shoreline at Boca Ciega Millennium Park, are outside all of this, under the county’s separate mangrove article and the state mangrove act.
Free estimate
(727) 365-1803. Working Pinellas since 1989.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I’m in the City of Seminole or the county? Not from your address. It comes down to the parcel, and the county maintains a jurisdiction lookup for exactly this reason. We check it as part of the estimate.
My house is homesteaded. Which trees can I remove without a permit? On unincorporated parcels, the county protects only trees larger than 24 inches DBH on a homesteaded, occupied single-family detached property. Inside the city, the municipal ordinance may set a different line where it conflicts with the county’s, which is why the jurisdiction check comes first.
Can you remove a tree over my pool cage? Routinely. With crane access we lift sections vertically clear of the enclosure; without it, everything is rigged and lowered on a controlled line. We will tell you at the estimate which method your lot allows and what it changes about the price.
The tree is leaning after the last storm. Is that an emergency? A new lean, particularly with cracked or heaving soil at the base, means the root plate has moved and should be looked at quickly. It is also not automatically exempt from permitting, the county’s code has no storm exemption, so the route is either a permit or the F.S. § 163.045 arborist assessment.
Google reviews
Rated 4.9 by 462 of your neighbors.
Reviews · Tree Removal in Seminole, Florida
4.9
462 reviews on Google, the count on our public Google listing
“Steven was great, him and his crew got out early and was here all day taking out my four laurel oaks for me. Start to finish it was a pleasure working with happy tree service. The speed and efficiency of the work was fantastic.”
“This was the second time I'd hired Happy's to take down some dead trees and I couldn't be happier with the job they did. First off they gave me a great price for the amount of work I needed done.”
Every one of these lives on our public Google listing, where we cannot edit or delete a word. Read them all on Google →