Tree-removal pre-teardown decision

The setup

Quote A: $20k to remove 4 trees + trim a 5th, while house is standing. The big number is driven by craning a 30-year-old water oak over the roof.

Quote B: $8k for the same job after the house is torn down (no overhead obstacle, no crane).

Two of the four trees are flagged as compromised (failure-risk), not just in-the-way.

Why the cheap option (defer all) is weak

Teardown isn’t 12 months out — founder estimates 18-24 months. That’s two hurricane seasons in Tampa, post-Helene-2024 underwriting environment. Compromised trees would have to survive both. The $12k savings is buying a probability-weighted bet on no-failure-event, not a free option.

Recommended path: hybrid (option 4)

Take down only the 2 compromised trees now, defer the 2 healthy + the trim until teardown.

• Estimated: ~$8-12k now + $3-5k after teardown = $11-17k total
• Captures most of the teardown savings (the crane premium only applies if you’re craning over the house — a smaller scope often dodges that)
• Eliminates the actual risk you’re paying to eliminate (life safety, neighbor liability, insurance non-renewal trigger)
• Healthy trees that just happen to be in the future-build footprint don’t earn the urgency premium

Load-bearing pre-commit checks

1. Insurance carrier call. “I have two compromised trees, planned removal in ~18-24 months, am I covered if one fails on the house or a neighbor’s property?” Post-Helene Florida carriers are jumpy; documented compromise + inaction can trigger non-renewal or coverage exclusion. If the answer is shaky, the math flips to “remove all now” regardless of cost.
2. Get the partial-scope quote. Same arborist, ask the price for just the two compromised ones, no crane required if achievable. That’s the real decision-relevant number — the $20k vs $8k frames it but doesn’t price it.

Payment structure (independent decision)

• Milestone schedule (always): 30/40/30 standard. Deposit at scheduling, 40% on day-of-work, 30% on cleanup-verified completion. Never pay 100% up front to any contractor — that’s contractor-risk hedging, not financial optimization. If the arborist refuses milestones, that’s a signal.
• Multi-month financing: only if Mercury cash position genuinely tight enough that $20k mid-month would hurt. If contractor offers Affirm/Greensky, watch for backloaded fees and “deferred interest” traps where one missed payment retroactively charges interest from day one.
• ACH discount: ask for ACH-vs-credit-card pricing. Often 3% off (~$600 on $20k) because the contractor avoids card processor fees.

Open items

• Insurance call (founder action)
• Partial-scope quote ask (founder action)
• Final commitment after both data points

Related

• README — home-rebuild-2027 project overview
• milestones — teardown date assumption (used here as 18-24 months out)
• zoning-flood-zone-findings — context on Tampa post-Helene exposure