Tool 1 of the Get Paid Kit · For arborists

Arborist hourly rate calculator

This free calculator works out the hourly rate a solo arborist — a tree surgeon working for themselves — should charge, starting from the income you need, then builds the per-job prices clients actually pay out of real climbing hours. Nobody books “an hour of tree work”; they book a crown lifted, a dead limb down, a tree gone safely. With the honest presets below the rate lands near $110 an hour, $881 for a full day — and the conversions that price is built from: a small-tree crown lift is about three hours of climbing and clearing, $330 of your labour, a half-day sectional dismantle about four hours, $440 — with a grounds worker, crane or access platform, where a job needs them, billed as their own lines on top, never absorbed into your hour.

Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, sent to a server or stored anywhere except this device.

The pricing reality for solo arborists

Jobs are bought flat and earned by the hour, and the two only agree if the job price was built from the climbing hours in the first place. A removal quoted from the last removal assumes the same access, the same lean, the same targets underneath — and the tree in front of you has its own opinions. Inside the flat price sit the assessment, the rigging, the cuts, the lowering, the chipping and the site left clean. A price copied from a day-rate guess carries all of that whether it covers it or not. Price the climbing hour first, and the job price becomes an assembly: so many of your hours, at a rate that adds up, plus the crew and kit the job honestly needs as their own lines.

This page is written for the solo operator, and that boundary matters. Most tree work is quoted by firms with a crew, and a solo climber cannot — and should not — price a large removal over a house as if they were three people. The honest solo offer is assessments, pruning, small-to-medium removals and the skilled climbing inside jobs you lead, with a grounds worker hired by the day and billed openly when the job needs one. The presets below use a 50% billable share: assessments, travel between gardens, rigging set-up, clean-up, quoting and weather all take their share before a single cut bills.

The numbers below are starting presets, not a survey: a $58,000 target income, $17,000 a year of expenses — truck and chipper running costs lead, with saws and climbing gear, the public liability insurance tree work honestly demands, servicing, waste disposal, training and certification and marketing — a 22% tax estimate, four weeks of vacation, a 40-hour week and 50% billable time. A grounds worker’s day, a crane or a hired access platform are billed to the job as their own lines, as the maths section explains. With those starting numbers the calculator lands near $110 an hour.

Your numbers — arborist presets

Your recommended rate

$0 / hour
$0Day rate (8 hours)
0Billable hours per year
Income + expenses needed$0
Grossed up for tax$0
With profit margin$0
Working weeks0
Total working hours0
Billable hours0

Your rate is saved on this device only, so the Proposal Generator can show it when you price a project.

Easy to miss

Costs arborists forget to put in the rate

  • The insurance line. Tree work injures people and drops things on roofs, and public liability cover priced for climbing with chainsaws costs what it costs. It is the expense new operators most often under-set — and the one whose absence ends the business in a single afternoon. It belongs in the rate at its real price.
  • Gear that is retired, not repaired. Ropes, harnesses and carabiners have service lives and inspection dates, and a rope that has taken a load or a nick is replaced, not trusted. Climbing gear is a recurring cost with a schedule, and the schedule does not negotiate. A real annual line keeps you replacing on time instead of on luck.
  • The clean-up half of the job. Clients remember the tidy garden, and chipping, raking and hauling are often a third of the hours on site. If the quote was built from cutting time alone, the clean-up is unpaid labour funded by the next job. Price the whole visit — or state plainly what “cleared” means in the quote.
  • Weather and the empty day. High wind and lightning close the canopy, and a week booked solid can lose a day to a forecast. The billable share carries the weather honestly: at 50%, the rate assumes a fair share of days never reach a tree. Operators who price as if every day climbs discover the gap in February.
  • Assessments that go nowhere. Looking at a tree, judging its health and quoting fairly is skilled work, and some owners are collecting three quotes for a job they may never book. A stated assessment fee, credited against the work, is the honest shape many solo operators use — free looks quietly tax every booked job.
The maths

How this calculator works

Start with the hours you can genuinely sell. Take 52 weeks, subtract your vacation weeks, multiply by your hours per week, then multiply by your billable percentage. With the arborist presets — four weeks off, 40 hours a week, 50% billable — that is 960 billable hours a year: the hours climbing and cutting that clients can pay for, once assessments, travel, set-up, clean-up and weather have taken theirs.

Next, work out what those hours must bring in. Add your desired income and your annual business expenses together — $75,000 on the presets — gross the total up for tax by dividing by one minus your tax rate — at a 22% estimate, divide by 0.78 to get $96,154 — then add your profit margin to reach $105,769 and divide by your billable hours. That final number, $110, is the rate below which the year stops adding up.

Now translate the hour into the per-job prices clients actually pay. A small-tree crown lift — climb, prune, chip and clear — is about three hours: $330 of your labour. A half-day sectional dismantle is about four hours, $440. A full climbing day is the day rate, $881. Your labour is priced at your rate; a grounds worker hired for the day, a crane, a hired platform and stump grinding, where a job needs them, sit on top as their own lines — the client sees exactly what their money bought: your skill, and the crew and kit the tree required.

Disclaimer: This is a planning estimate, not tax advice. Tax rates, deductions and allowances vary by country, state and business structure. Enter the rate you expect to pay, and check significant decisions with a qualified accountant.
Next: build a proposal with this rate Use the general rate calculator
Questions

Arborist rate questions

Because the job price is built out of climbing hours whether you count them or not: the assessment, the rigging, the cuts, the lowering, the chipping and the clean-up. The hourly rate is how you check a job quote against your own insurance bill, your own gear and your own diary. Solo operators who skip the check often find their busiest season was their worst paid, and the job prices, not the workload, were the reason.
Because the tree is not the whole week. For every hour climbing there are gardens to assess, quotes to write, ropes to inspect, waste to haul and days the weather closes the canopy. Fifty percent is a realistic start for a solo operator. A clear week of booked pruning bills a higher share; a week of assessments and storms bills less. Set the number that matches your diary, not your best week.
Your labour, yes — priced at your rate for the hours the job honestly takes. A grounds worker’s day, a crane or a hired platform, no: they are costs the specific tree creates, at prices that vary honestly from job to job, and one straightforward prune should not average in another client’s crane. Price them as their own lines when the job needs them and your time at your rate, and the client sees exactly what their money bought.

Rates differ by trade — the same maths runs with different presets for graphic designer rates, freelance writer rates, web developer rates, marketing consultant rates, photographer rates, video editor rates, virtual assistant rates, social media manager rates, bookkeeper rates, translator rates, business coach rates, illustrator rates, copywriter rates, UX designer rates, SEO consultant rates, data analyst rates, motion designer rates, technical writer rates, podcast editor rates, email marketer rates, life coach rates, proofreader rates, event planner rates, voice actor rates, online tutor rates, personal trainer rates, interior designer rates, music producer rates, grant writer rates, UX researcher rates, book editor rates, transcriptionist rates, presentation designer rates, brand strategist rates, video producer rates, art director rates, WordPress developer rates, mobile app developer rates, 3D artist rates, game developer rates, Shopify developer rates, online business manager rates, podcast producer rates, data entry specialist rates, UX writer rates, copy editor rates, wedding photographer rates, resume writer rates, data scientist rates, instructional designer rates, business analyst rates, email designer rates, interpreter rates, audiobook narrator rates, landscape designer rates, wedding planner rates, wedding videographer rates, personal chef rates, dog trainer rates, music teacher rates, florist rates, cake baker rates, tour guide rates, pet groomer rates, house painter rates, handyman rates, locksmith rates, home organizer rates, pressure washer rates, carpet cleaner rates, chimney sweep rates, pool cleaner rates, window cleaner rates, tattoo artist rates, massage therapist rates, barber rates, makeup artist rates, hairstylist rates, nail technician rates, tailor rates, house cleaner rates, electrician rates, plumber rates, pest control technician rates, ppc specialist rates, content strategist rates, wedding DJ rates, dog walker rates, audio engineer rates, caterer rates, mover rates, appliance repair technician rates, nanny rates, piano tuner rates, garage door technician rates, bicycle mechanic rates, house sitter rates, upholsterer rates, jeweller rates, cobbler rates, blacksmith rates, sign writer rates, farrier rates, mobile car detailer rates, genealogist rates, saddler rates, travel agent rates, watch repairer rates, doula rates, sleep consultant rates, home stager rates, wedding officiant rates, college admissions consultant rates, mobile notary rates, personal shopper rates, welder rates, carpenter rates, glazier rates, plasterer rates, tiler rates, roofer rates, bricklayer rates, HVAC technician rates, dressmaker rates, concrete finisher rates, drywall installer rates, flooring installer rates, gardener rates, fence installer rates, gutter installer rates, solar installer rates, stonemason rates, deck builder rates, insulation installer rates, cabinet maker rates, paving installer rates, furniture restorer rates, blind installer rates, driving instructor rates, picture framer rates, aerial installer rates, car mechanic rates, clock repairer rates, oven cleaner rates, smart home installer rates, alarm installer rates, drain cleaner rates, curtain installer rates, irrigation installer rates, shutter installer rates, artificial grass installer rates, fireplace installer rates, bathtub refinisher rates, snow removal professional rates, landscape lighting installer rates and radon mitigation specialist rates, or start from the general freelance hourly rate calculator.