Tree Service in Roswell, GA

People calling us for Tree Service in Roswell often expect a long permit process. For many single-family lots, Roswell's code is simpler than that. The city's Unified Development Code exempts the removal of non-specimen trees from a lot under one acre that holds a house. The catch is the word specimen: a large oak, hickory, pine or even a mature dogwood can cross that line, and then the Engineering office and City Arborist get involved.

Sizing up a specimen tree

Roswell's permit packet lists the trunk sizes, measured at 4.5 feet off the ground, at which a tree in fair or better condition counts as a specimen:

• 8 inches for small trees such as dogwood, sourwood and cherry
• 16 inches for mid-story trees such as maple, birch, magnolia and holly
• 20 inches for overstory hardwoods such as oak, hickory, sweetgum and ash
• 30 inches for pines

When we look at a Roswell job, we measure the trees in question before we quote. If one is near or over the line, we tell you so you can contact the city before work starts instead of after.

Lots over an acre and properties near water

The homeowner exemption is for lots under one acre. Larger parcels, especially the wooded ones toward Mountain Park and the Cherokee County line, need a closer look. So do properties that drop toward Vickery Creek, Big Creek or the Chattahoochee. Those slopes are often where the biggest trees grow, and they are also where buffers and erosion rules apply. Steep ground also changes how a tree comes down: lowering sections by rope is often safer than felling toward a creek bank.

When the river rises

The Chattahoochee forms Roswell's southern edge. During Helene in September 2024 it reached its 9-foot flood stage, with flooding along Riverside Drive and at Azalea Park. The city logged more than 200 mostly storm-related calls in less than a day, and most incidents were trees across roads. In the Pine Valley neighborhood off Warsaw Road, about half of roughly 150 homes lost power for about a day. Saturated soil along the river plain is where root plates fail first, so trees there are worth checking after any long wet stretch.

Older yards in and around the historic district

Roswell was chartered in 1854 around Roswell King's mill on Vickery Creek, and the neighborhoods near Canton Street, Bulloch Hall and Barrington Hall hold some of the oldest yard trees in north Fulton. Those trees usually need careful structural pruning, deadwood removal over roofs and old outbuildings, and occasional cabling rather than wholesale cutting.

Call (770) 758-8959 or send a request with your address. We will look at the trees, measure the ones that matter for the permit question, and give you a written estimate.