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Hiring a Tree Service in New Jersey: What I’d Want to Know Before Anyone Starts Cutting
By Tiffany Slowinski
Tree work is one of those things I completely ignore until I suddenly cannot.
A branch is hanging over the driveway.
A giant tree looks a little too close to the house.
A storm comes through and now something that was part of the landscaping yesterday is lying across the yard.
At that point, I am not looking to become an expert in trees.
I want to know who to call and whether the person standing in my yard actually knows what they are looking at.
Because there is a pretty big difference between someone who can cut down a tree and someone who can tell me whether the tree should come down in the first place.
That is probably the first thing I would want to understand.
Do I need a tree removed, or do I need someone to evaluate it?
Those are not always the same job.
If I have a dead tree that clearly needs to come down, that is one conversation.
If I have a huge tree leaning toward the house and I am trying to decide whether it is dangerous, whether it can be saved or whether cabling or another treatment makes sense, I want someone qualified to make that judgment.
New Jersey actually distinguishes between those types of work.
A Licensed Tree Care Operator, or LTCO, can perform routine tree work such as pruning, removals and stump grinding.
A Licensed Tree Expert, or LTE, can do that work too, but can also perform more specialized services including tree-risk assessment, diagnosis, consulting, cabling and bracing.
That was new information to me.
It also completely changes how I would choose someone.
If I already know I need a stump ground out, I may not need the same person I would call if a 70-foot tree is suddenly leaning toward my bedroom.
Is this company actually registered in New Jersey?
This would be my next question.
Tree care businesses working for hire in New Jersey are supposed to register with the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts and have at least one full-time Licensed Tree Expert or Licensed Tree Care Operator, depending on the services they provide.
The state also requires registered tree care businesses to maintain liability insurance and workers’ compensation coverage.
That matters.
Tree work involves chainsaws, heavy equipment, enormous pieces of wood and, occasionally, someone hanging 40 feet in the air over your roof.
This is not the project where I am interested in saving $400 by hiring somebody’s cousin with a pickup truck.
I want a real company.
What happens after a storm?
This is probably when homeowners are most vulnerable to making a bad decision.
A tree comes down.
Everyone in town needs help.
Someone knocks on the door and says they can take care of it right now.
I understand the temptation.
I would still check them.
New Jersey’s tree-care licensing law was created in part because of concerns about unqualified and uninsured tree companies, especially after storms.
If someone shows up after a storm, I want the company name, the NJTC registration number and proof that they are actually the business I am hiring.
The tree will still be there five minutes later while I look them up.
Do you carry enough insurance for this job?
I would ask this directly.
The Board checks insurance when a tree-care company registers and again when it renews, but that does not necessarily tell you what the company’s coverage looks like on the exact day someone is standing in your yard.
So I would still ask for a current certificate of insurance.
Especially on a large removal.
Especially near the house.
Especially if there are power lines, neighboring property, a pool or anything else nearby that I really do not want a tree landing on.
I do not need to become an insurance expert either.
I just want confirmation that the company doing potentially dangerous work on my property is properly covered.
How exactly are you planning to take this tree down?
This is where I want the explanation.
Are you climbing it?
Using a bucket truck?
Bringing in a crane?
Will equipment need to cross the lawn?
Are you taking sections over the roof?
How are you protecting the driveway, landscaping and neighboring property?
I do not need to tell the crew how to do its job.
I do want to understand what is about to happen in my yard.
Especially if the answer involves a crane parked next to the hydrangeas I have spent five years trying not to kill.
What is actually included in the estimate?
Tree estimates can sound deceptively simple.
“Remove oak tree.”
OK.
Does that include hauling everything away?
Does it include the stump?
Does stump grinding mean the stump disappears completely or that it gets ground below grade?
What happens to the wood chips?
Are larger logs removed?
Is cleanup included?
Will the lawn need repair after heavy equipment comes through?
If a crane or additional equipment becomes necessary, is that already included?
I want the boring details before the work starts.
Because “tree removal” can mean very different things once the tree is no longer standing.
Do I actually need the stump ground?
Maybe.
If it is in the middle of the lawn where I will stare at it every day, probably.
If we are replanting or doing landscaping in that area, I would want to understand how much of the stump and root flare needs to be removed.
If it is hidden at the edge of the woods, I may care considerably less.
This is another area where I would rather have someone tell me what makes sense for my property than automatically tack another service onto the bill.
What about pruning?
This is where I would be careful with anyone who immediately wants to “take a lot off.”
I want to know why something is being pruned.
Is the goal safety?
Clearance from the house?
Removing dead wood?
Improving the structure of the tree?
I also want to know what the tree will look like when they are done.
Because I have seen enough trees hacked into strange shapes to know that “we trimmed it” is not always the outcome I am looking for.
If it is a tree I care about keeping for another 20 years, I want someone thinking about the health of the tree, not just how fast they can get the branches into the chipper.
If a tree is close to my neighbor’s property, I am asking questions before anyone cuts anything
Trees have a funny way of becoming neighborhood diplomacy.
A trunk may be on my property while branches hang over someone else’s yard.
Or the tree may sit close enough to the property line that nobody is entirely sure whose problem it is.
Before doing anything major, I would make sure I understand where the tree actually sits and whether the work could affect neighboring property.
If there is any real uncertainty, that is not something I am solving with a chainsaw and a guess.
What happens if you find something unexpected?
Maybe the tree is more decayed than it looked.
Maybe access is harder once equipment arrives.
Maybe there is a hollow section nobody could see from the ground.
I understand that tree work can change once the crew gets closer to the problem.
What I want to know beforehand is how those changes are handled.
Who talks to me?
Do we stop and discuss additional cost?
What could reasonably change the estimate?
Again, surprises happen.
Surprise invoices do not have to.
I care a lot about whether someone is trying to save the tree
This is probably my biggest personal filter.
If I call about a tree and the immediate answer is “take it down” without much of an evaluation, I am going to have questions.
Sometimes removal is absolutely the right answer.
Sometimes it is the safest answer.
I just want to know why.
If a beautiful mature tree can reasonably stay, I would like to know that too.
You can plant another tree.
You cannot replace 50 years of growth by next spring.
So how do you actually choose a tree company?
This is exactly why Garden State Circle built this guide around the state record.
For Long Branch and Red Bank, we checked businesses against the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts’ public register and looked at whether each company is registered, who the licensed person attached to the company is and whether that person is a Licensed Tree Care Operator or a Licensed Tree Expert.
That distinction matters because the licenses cover different types of work.
We also looked at the services each company actually publishes and whether it states that it offers storm or emergency service.
At the time we checked the guide, 10 businesses in this local cluster were shown as registered and two were shown as suspended.
That does not tell you which company will do the best job.
It does tell you something much more useful than a random list of names.
It tells you who the state record says is currently registered and what kind of tree-care license is attached to that business.
From there, the questions depend on your tree.
If I need routine trimming, I may make one choice.
If I am standing in my driveway looking at a massive tree leaning toward my house and asking, “Do you think this thing is actually dangerous?” I want someone licensed to answer that question.
Because with trees, the most important decision may happen before anyone ever starts the saw.
The Guide: Tree Service Companies in Red Bank, NJ
A large tree that’s leaning, storm-damaged, or growing too close to the house is a judgment call before it’s a job — deciding whether it should come down, be cabled, or be left alone is work the state limits to a Licensed Tree Expert. Routine work — pruning low branches, grinding a stump, clearing storm debris, or taking down a smaller tree — can be handled by any registered tree care business, including one licensed only as a Licensed Tree Care Operator, and that’s often the more affordable choice for the job. The comparison table below shows which license each business on this page holds. No business based in these towns currently lists a Licensed Tree Expert on its registration; every business listed is licensed for removal, pruning and stump grinding.
How We Selected These Businesses
Every business on this page carries an active registration with the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts, showing a status of Registered and naming at least one individual the Board licenses as a Licensed Tree Expert or a Licensed Tree Care Operator. We read the register ourselves and recorded what it showed, on the date printed next to each business. This guide covers Red Bank, Fair Haven, Rumson, Little Silver, Shrewsbury Borough, Monmouth Beach, Sea Bright and Middletown Township (Lincroft, Navesink, Locust).
4 businesses returned for this cluster (Red Bank, Fair Haven, Rumson, Little Silver, Shrewsbury Borough, Monmouth Beach, Sea Bright and Middletown Township (Lincroft, Navesink, Locust)). 4 are Registered, 0 with a Licensed Tree Expert. 0 are Suspended.
About This Guide
This guide is produced by Garden State Circle. Tree service companies appear here because the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts’ public register shows their registration status as Registered and names at least one licensed individual — a Licensed Tree Expert or a Licensed Tree Care Operator — on that registration. That is a test, not a judgment, and it is the only route onto this page. No business can pay to be included in this guide, to be listed higher, or to change what the table says about it. Businesses are listed alphabetically, and every detail in the table was verified against each business’s own website and the NJ Board of Tree Experts’ public register in September 2026.
Everything under the heading that begins this guide is governed by the rules above, on every guide we publish. Where a sponsor’s message appears above that heading, it is paid for and labelled, and it buys nothing in the guide. Garden State Circle is supported by the businesses that participate in it. Participation pays for our ongoing work: keeping a business’s entry accurate, re-checking its record, and publishing a page of its own details that the business maintains. There is no paid placement in this guide. Participation does not buy a place here, a position here, or anything the comparison table says. Where a row carries a verification date, that is when we last checked that business’s record ourselves. A row without one has not been checked recently — that is a fact about our work, not about the business. The NJ Board of Tree Experts checks each business’s insurance when it registers and again at its two-year renewal; nothing checks it in between, and we did not verify insurance coverage ourselves on the date shown for each row.
Garden State Circle is published in New Jersey by Tiffany and Jake Slowinski and covers Red Bank, Fair Haven, Rumson, Little Silver, Shrewsbury Borough, Monmouth Beach, Sea Bright and Middletown Township (Lincroft, Navesink, Locust). Contact the publisher at jake@gardenstatecircle.com. How every guide is made, in one place: how every guide is made.
The Businesses, Compared
Listed alphabetically.
| Business | NJTC Registration # | Licensee and class | Based in | Services published | Storm / emergency availability | Record checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avery Tree Experts LLC | 777440 | Christian Avery (LTCO) | Red Bank | No site found | Not stated | 2026-09-07 |
| Fritz’s Tree Service | 834924 | Adam Froehlich (LTCO), Jamie McCarron (LTCO) | Red Bank | Emergency tree removal, tree trimming/pruning, stump grinding, tree cutting, general tree care | Not stated | 2026-09-07 |
| Knittel Tree Service, LLC (Facebook) | 924281 | Isidro Martinez Ramirez (LTCO) | Red Bank | No site found | Not stated | 2026-09-07 |
| Xelhua Tree Services LLC | 939728 | Israel Xelhua Garcia (LTCO) | Red Bank | No site found | Not stated | 2026-09-07 |
Checked against the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts.
Nearby options
| Business | NJTC Registration # | Licensee and class | Based in | Services published | Storm / emergency availability | Record checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brummer’s Tree & Shrub, LLC | 791353 | Robert Brummer (LTCO) | Oceanport | Insect & disease management, tree & shrub fertilization, tree & shrub injections, tree preservation consulting, cabling & staking, plus routine trimming/pruning/planting | Not stated | 2026-09-07 |
| Keith Brummer Tree and Firewood Service, LLC | 816333 | Keith Brummer (LTCO) | Oceanport | Trimming, take-downs, stump grinding, crane services, planting, firewood delivery | Not stated | 2026-09-07 |
| Cruz Tree Service, LLC | 914538 | Cipriano Martinez Cruz (LTCO) | Long Branch | Emergency service, general tree care | Published: 24/7 | 2026-09-07 |
| Bostwick Tree Service LLC | 768105 | Daniel Bostwick (LTCO) | West Long Branch | Tree trimming and pruning, tree removal, stump grinding, residential and commercial tree services, custom tree care programs | Not stated | 2026-09-07 |
The Businesses
Avery Tree Experts LLC. Based in Red Bank, Avery Tree Experts carries NJTC Registration #777440 and Licensed Tree Care Operator Christian Avery; the company publishes no website we could find, so its services are not stated here.
Fritz’s Tree Service. Based in Red Bank, Fritz’s Tree Service carries NJTC Registration #834924 and Licensed Tree Care Operators Adam Froehlich and Jamie McCarron; the company’s website lists emergency tree removal, tree trimming and pruning, stump grinding, and general tree care among its services, with posted hours of 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Knittel Tree Service, LLC. Based in Red Bank, Knittel Tree Service carries NJTC Registration #924281 and Licensed Tree Care Operator Isidro Martinez Ramirez; we could not confirm a website matching this registration, so its services are not stated here.
Xelhua Tree Services LLC. Based in Red Bank, Xelhua Tree Services carries NJTC Registration #939728 and Licensed Tree Care Operator Israel Xelhua Garcia; we could not confirm a website matching this registration, so its services are not stated here.
Common Questions
What does “Registered” mean in the table?
It is the status the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts’ public register showed for that business on the date in the Record checked column. A registered business names at least one licensed individual on its registration; the register lists businesses, and licenses are held by people.
What is the difference between a Licensed Tree Expert and a Licensed Tree Care Operator?
Both are individual licenses issued by the Board. New Jersey law lists the services each may perform; the Licensed Tree Expert’s list is longer and includes work such as diagnosis, cabling and fertilization. The table shows which license the register names for each business.
Does the table show whether a company is insured?
No. The Board checks insurance when a business registers and again at renewal; nothing on this page confirms coverage on any given day. Ask the business for a current certificate of insurance before work begins.
Do I need a permit to remove a tree?
It depends on the municipality. The local-rules section below gives each town’s published requirement and the office that handles it, as it read on the date shown.
When was this list last checked?
The Record checked column shows the month and year each business’s register entry was last read. If something here is wrong or has changed, the correction note at the end of the guide says how to tell us.
Tree Removal Rules, Town by Town
Monmouth Beach. Monmouth Beach regulates tree removal by caliper — generally 6 inches, with lower thresholds for dogwood, holly, and other ornamentals — and defines clear-cutting as removing more than 20% of a lot’s trees. Fees for an existing single-family home run $50 to $200 by the number of trees removed. Trees under 6-inch caliper, removal within 15 feet of a structure footprint, and dead, dying, or diseased trees with approval are exempt.
Rumson. Rumson’s Tree Conservation Officer (or the Borough Clerk, if the role is undesignated) administers tree removal, with a reduced fee schedule — $50 to $500 by the number of trees — for existing, owner-occupied single-family homes. A $500-per-tree in-lieu payment is available when on-site replacement is waived. There is no blanket exemption.
Little Silver. Little Silver’s Tree Preservation Commission reviews tree-removal applications, issued through the Borough Clerk, for any tree of 8 inches in diameter or greater “regardless of location.” The fee is $25, with a $240-per-tree (and up) in-lieu payment by size. There is no general exemption; severely declining, diseased, damaged, or high-risk trees may be removed.
Fair Haven. Fair Haven’s own Licensed Tree Expert reviews tree-removal applications, issued through the Borough Clerk’s Office, for a non-street tree of 6 inches or a street tree of 2.5 inches in diameter or greater. The fee is $50, plus a possible $25 inspection fee. Hazard trees, as determined by the Borough’s own Licensed Tree Expert, are exempt from the fee and replacement requirement.
Red Bank. Red Bank routes tree-removal permits through its Planning and Zoning Department, for a deciduous tree of 6 inches in diameter or a coniferous tree of 10 feet in height or greater. Fees run $50 plus a $25 inspection fee, with a $300–$1,200-per-tree in-lieu payment by size. There is no specific homeowner exemption; hazard trees are exempt from the fee and replacement requirement.
More Garden State Circle Guides
Dentists in Long Branch and Oceanport, NJ · Electricians in Long Branch and Red Bank, NJ · Heating and Cooling Contractors on the Monmouth Coast · Med Spas on the Monmouth Coast · Oral Surgeons Serving Long Branch and Red Bank, NJ · Orthodontists in Long Branch and Red Bank, NJ · Plumbers in Long Branch, Red Bank and the Shore Towns, NJ · Roofing Contractors on the Monmouth Coast · Siding and Window Contractors on the Monmouth Coast · Tree Service Companies in Basking Ridge and Bernardsville, NJ · Tree Service Companies in Belle Mead and Skillman, NJ · Tree Service Companies in Bridgewater, NJ · Tree Service Companies in Clinton and Flemington, NJ · Tree Service Companies in Franklin Township, NJ · Tree Service Companies in Somerville, NJ · Tree Service Companies in Warren and Watchung, NJ · Every guide we publish is listed at Garden State Circle Guides.
Something out of date?
This guide is maintained. If anything here is wrong or has changed — a name, an address, a registration number, or whether a business has closed — tell us and we will check it. Businesses listed here are welcome to write in directly, and a business that publishes a registration number we have recorded as absent is exactly the kind of correction we want.
And if you run a tree service company that should be on this list and is not: the test is the same one every business here cleared — that the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts’ public register shows your business as Registered, with at least one licensed individual named on the registration, based in Red Bank, Fair Haven, Rumson, Little Silver, Shrewsbury Borough, Monmouth Beach, Sea Bright and Middletown Township (Lincroft, Navesink, Locust). Show us that and you go on the page.
admin@gardenstatecircle.com
Additional Resources
NJ Board of Tree Experts register
This is not a ranking.
Part of Long Branch and Red Bank Guides