Florida
Tree removal in Miami-Dade County, FL
Tree removal in Miami-Dade County: storm damage, trees on power lines, leaning and dead trees, and what the work costs. From 2016 through 2025 the National Weather Service logged 47 thunderstorm wind reports here that mention trees.
Call (888) 239-7893 free call, 24/7Calling is free and commits you to nothing. The work is priced after someone has seen the tree.
What is particular to Miami-Dade County
Storm reports with trees in them
From 2016 through 2025 the National Weather Service logged 75 reports of damaging thunderstorm wind in Miami-Dade County, and 47 of them mention trees, limbs or branches. It also logged 16 tornadoes, 13 of them with trees in the report. The latest report that mentions trees is dated September 23, 2025, near Miami New Tamiami Ar. The places named most often in those tree reports are South Miami (6), Westwood Lakes (6), Kendall (4), Key Biscayne (3) and Miami (3).
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, 2016–2025
What brings trees down here
FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Miami-Dade County’s risk from hurricanes as very high, and from tornadoes as relatively high. A tree that already leans toward the house, or carries dead limbs over the roof, is cheaper to deal with standing than after it has come down on something.
If a tree is on a line
Call the electric utility before anyone else, and treat the line as live: OSHA’s guidance for tree crews is to assume all power lines are energized. EIA lists 2 electric utilities with service territory in Miami-Dade County in 2024: Florida Power & Light Co and City of Homestead. Each publishes its own outage and downed-line number.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 service territories, 2024; OSHA QuickCard, Tree Trimming and Removal (OSHA 3301)
Homes and who decides
About 964,810 households live in Miami-Dade County. About four in ten homes are detached houses and about half the occupied homes are lived in by their owners. Half the homes were built before 1980.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates
Towns and communities in Miami-Dade County
- Miami
- Hialeah
- Miami Gardens
- Miami Beach
- Homestead
- Kendall
- Doral
- North Miami
- The Hammocks
- Fountainebleau
- Westchester
- Kendale Lakes
- Tamiami
- Country Club
- Coral Gables
- Cutler Bay
- North Miami Beach
- Princeton
- Aventura
- South Miami Heights
- Richmond West
- Kendall West
- West Little River
- Miami Lakes
- Leisure City
- Ives Estates
- Palmetto Bay
- Coral Terrace
- Hialeah Gardens
- The Crossings
- Sunny Isles Beach
- Sweetwater
- Country Walk
- Glenvar Heights
- Pinecrest
- Pinewood
- Ojus
- Palmetto Estates
- Three Lakes
- Brownsville
- Opa-locka
- Gladeview
- Naranja
- Key Biscayne
- Sunset
- Miami Springs
- Olympia Heights
- Florida City
- Goulds
- South Miami
- Westview
- Miami Shores
- Westwood Lakes
- West Perrine
- Richmond Heights
- North Bay Village
- West Miami
- Bay Harbor Islands
- Surfside
- Palm Springs North, FL
- Biscayne Park
- Bal Harbour
- Virginia Gardens
- El Portal
- Homestead Base
- Medley
Tree down, or about to come down?
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On the house or roofGet people out from under it, photograph everything, call the insurer, then a crew. -
On a power lineThe utility comes first. Stay away and treat the line as live. -
On a carPhotograph it where it lies. The car claim goes to the auto policy. -
On a fence or shedDamage to a fence or shed is often covered differently from the house. -
Across the driveway or roadOn the street it is the city’s call. In the driveway, check the policy first. -
After a stormHanging limbs, split trunks, trees on houses, and the ones that look fine. -
LeaningLifted soil or cracked roots at the base turn a lean into a warning. -
Dead or dyingDead wood is brittle and unpredictable, which is why it often costs more to remove. -
Split or cracked trunkTwo stems from one point, or a crack down the trunk, are common failure points. -
Hanging broken limbIt can fall without warning. Keep people and cars out from under it. -
A neighbor’s treeWeather is nobody’s fault. A tree the neighbor was warned about can be.
Rules in Florida
We did not find a Florida state license that applies to tree work as such. That does not settle it for your address: cities and counties may license contractors or businesses. Before work starts, ask any company for a certificate of liability insurance and proof of workers’ compensation coverage.
Florida limits what a city or county can require. Under section 163.045 of the Florida Statutes, a local government may not require a notice, application, approval, permit, fee or mitigation for pruning, trimming or removing a tree on a single-family residential lot if the owner has documentation from an ISA-certified arborist or a Florida-licensed landscape architect that the tree poses an unacceptable risk to persons or property. The assessment has to follow the ISA tree risk assessment procedures, and no replanting can be required. The section does not cover mangroves.
The state insurance regulator is the Florida Department of Financial Services.
What you will be asked
- Where the tree is and what is under it or near it: the house, a power line, a car, a fence, the street.
- Whether it is standing, leaning, split or already down, and since when.
- Roughly how tall it is and how thick the trunk is at chest height. A guess is fine.
- Whether a truck can get close, or the tree is in a back yard behind a fence or a narrow gate.
- Whether there is damage your insurer should see, and whether you have called them yet.
- The address, and whether you own the property or rent it.
The line takes: tree removal, emergency removal after a storm, trimming and pruning, lot and land clearing, tree health checks, cabling and bracing, and brush and debris cleanup, for homeowners, renters and businesses. It is not for: jobs, equipment, firewood, tree services looking for work, or a price quoted over the phone without anyone seeing the tree.