Jason Lewis has been taking trees down in Grand Rapids for over ten years — an owner-operated, Black-owned, family-focused crew working out of a yard on Paris Avenue in the south end. What sets the work apart isn't equipment, it's the refusal to guess. If a tree can be saved with pruning or with bracing and cabling, Jason will tell you that instead of selling you a removal. When it does have to come down, it comes down in rigged, lowered sections — nothing free-falls near a house.
Ten-plus years in business, BBB accredited, and 5 out of 5 from 13 reviews. Free estimates, and we respond within one business day.
Jason walks every large removal before the first cut
A 70-foot oak leaning over a roofline can't be felled. It has to be dismantled piece by piece, with every section rigged, lowered and landed exactly where the plan says it lands. Jason personally walks every large-removal site before the crew arrives — anchor points, drop zones, bucket access, and protection for landscaping, fences and hardscape. That walk is the difference between a clean job and an insurance claim.
Every removal we do includes a full hazard assessment, a written itemized scope and price, complete dismantling down to a low stump, and full debris removal: limbs chipped, wood hauled or bucked for firewood if you want to keep it, and the site raked clean. Stump grinding is available as an add-on so the spot is replant-ready.
Glad I waited for the right professional. Jason was very careful in his approach with my fallen tree after the storm. If not for him I would have definitely damaged my roof. Very happy. — Tom
Dead, diseased and dangerously close to the house
West Michigan's ash borers, oak wilt and maple decline leave thousands of trees standing dead around Grand Rapids every year. A dead tree is unpredictable — branches shear off with no warning, and trunk wood loses the fiber strength a climber depends on. We treat every dead or diseased job as a hazard job: assessing decay from the ground, setting aerial rigging points in adjacent trees when the subject tree can't be trusted, and lowering wood in controlled sections. If your tree has been dead more than a season, don't let the next windstorm make the decision for you.
Call for a free inspection if you notice two or more of these:
- A new lean, or soil lifting at the root plate
- Vertical cracks or cavities in the trunk
- Large dead limbs — widow-makers — hanging in the canopy
- Mushrooms or fungal growth at the base
- More than half the canopy dead or thinning
- Root damage from construction or a change in grade
- Storm damage that split a main union
- A hollow sound, carpenter ants, or borer holes
What removal day actually looks like
The crew arrives on schedule with everything staged the night before — saws, rigging, chipper, haul truck. We confirm the plan with you at the door, protect turf and hardscape along the work path, and hold a clear safety perimeter while sections come down. Most residential removals finish in a single day.
- Free on-site inspection — Jason or a crew lead walks the property, the access and the hazards, and answers every question.
- Written estimate — itemized, covering removal, cleanup and optional stump grinding. No pressure, no expiration games.
- Rigging and site plan — anchor points, drop zones, equipment staging, lawn and fence protection, all decided before a saw starts.
- Controlled dismantling — rigged, lowered sections. Near structures, nothing free-falls.
- Complete cleanup — limbs chipped, wood hauled or stacked to your preference, lawn raked, driveway blown clean, and a final walk of the site with you.
Storms don't keep office hours, so neither do we. The phone is answered at 3 a.m. on Christmas, and from the Paris Ave SE yard most of the metro is inside 20 minutes in normal conditions. Emergency tree removal is a core service here, not an upsell.
I had 2 trees growing over and around my garage. They took them down without a scratch on anything. — Marvin Fulbright
Permits, insurance and what happens to the stump
We serve Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Grandville, Byron Center, Caledonia, Moline, Jenison, Hudsonville, Dorr, Ada, Wayland, Alto, Marne and Comstock Park. Tell us what the tree is doing and we'll come look at it — free, within one business day. Call (616) 407-0044 or email thegreatestwoodchucker@gmail.com.