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Does this removal need a permit?

There is no national rule, so this cannot tell you the answer — only whether you are in the territory where an answer must be found. Six questions, one size threshold you fill in from your own municipal code, and an honest verdict.

Pre-filled with a realistic job. Change any input and the figure updates as you type — nothing is sent anywhere, and Print gives you a clean sheet without the buttons.

Permit possible18 in is at or over your 8 in threshold
  • Size triggerhit
  • Other triggers checked0
  • Hazard exemption claimedno
  • Indicator score3

Finding your threshold

The size trigger is a number in your municipal code — commonly somewhere between six and twelve inches DBH, but genuinely local. Search your city or county name with "tree ordinance" or "tree protection" and read the definitions section; the threshold is usually in the first paragraph that defines a "regulated tree".

Then measure the tree properly. DBH is at 4.5 feet, and multi-stem trees combine by quadratic mean rather than by addition — get it right in the DBH calculator, because the difference frequently straddles a threshold.

The hazard exemption is real, and conditional

Almost every ordinance exempts a genuinely hazardous tree — and almost every ordinance requires the hazard to be evidenced, usually before removal and usually by someone qualified. Ticking that box here lowers the score because it changes the process, not because it removes the rule.

Watch

Photograph and document before anything is cut. A dated risk assessment is what turns "it looked dangerous" into a defensible exemption.

What to do with the verdict

Permit unlikely: confirm the threshold, keep a note of what you checked, and price the job in the removal calculator. Permit possible or likely: call the planning department before you book anyone — they answer this question all day and the call is free. The structure of what they will tell you is in the permit guide.

Sources

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