How to cut down a tree. Step by step, with the bits most guides skip.

Before you start: council permit check

Even if a tree is on your property, you may not be allowed to remove it. Australia's state and local governments protect trees aggressively — and the fines for illegal removal are not symbolic.

In New South Wales, the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and individual council Development Control Plans (DCPs) set the thresholds. City of Sydney Council, for example, requires a permit for any tree 3m or taller, or with a trunk circumference over 30cm measured at 1m from the ground. Georges River Council, Lane Cove Council, and Ku-ring-gai Council each have different trigger sizes. In Victoria, local Tree Protection Overlays can capture trees as small as 4m in height. Queensland's Vegetation Management Act 1999 applies broadly to any "significant tree" as defined by Brisbane City Council and others.

The checklist before you do anything:

• Search your council's website for "tree permit" or "tree management policy"
• Check whether the tree appears on your council's Significant Tree Register
• Check whether the property sits within a Heritage Overlay or Vegetation Protection Order area
• If in doubt, call the planning department — a 20-minute call is faster than responding to an enforcement notice

Fines for unauthorised removal range from $3,000 (many councils' starting point) up to $1.1 million in New South Wales under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act for heritage trees. You also risk a replanting order — which means paying to remove the tree and paying again to plant and maintain a replacement specimen. See our full guide to council tree permit rules by state if you're not sure where your property stands.

Equipment list

A small tree can be felled with a chainsaw, two wedges, a sledgehammer, and the right PPE. That's the full kit for a straightforward job. Do not cut corners on the protective equipment — SafeWork Australia publishes chainsaw injury data, and the injuries that hospitalise people are nearly always ones where chaps weren't worn or eye protection fogged up and got pushed aside.

The chainsaw

Bar length must be longer than the diameter of the trunk at the cut point. For trees up to 25cm diameter — which covers most small backyard removals — a 35cm bar is adequate. A 40–45cm bar gives you more clearance and room for the wedge. Never use a bar shorter than the trunk diameter. A partial cut from an undersized bar leaves the tree standing on a stressed, unpredictable hinge.

Check the chain is sharp and correctly tensioned before the job. A blunt chain increases kickback risk and makes it harder to control the saw's path through the cut.

PPE — what SafeWork Australia requires

• Chainsaw chaps: Class 1 minimum (cuts to 20 m/s), Class 2 for any commercial or repeated DIY work
• Helmet with integrated face shield and hearing protection: a standard hard hat is not enough
• Steel-capped or chainsaw-rated boots: leather uppers, no sneakers
• Cut-resistant gloves
• High-visibility vest if working near a road, footpath, or driveway with vehicle access

Wedges and sledgehammer

Two plastic or aluminium wedges minimum. These go into the back cut to prevent the tree sitting back onto the bar. Never use steel wedges near a chainsaw chain — a chain strike on steel creates metal fragments and can cause kickback. A 1.5kg or 2kg sledgehammer drives the wedges without bending them.

Guide rope (optional)

A 7.5m section of 12mm braided rope, tied high on the trunk, gives a spotter gentle directional pull to encourage the fall the right way. This is a light assist — it does not replace the notch cut doing its job. Do not use the rope as the primary directional tool.

Step 1: Assess the lean and clear hazards

Stand back at least twice the tree's height. Look at the tree from two directions — front and side. Natural lean is the direction the tree wants to fall. The canopy weight usually tells you clearly. Work with the lean if you can; working against it requires deeper wedging and adds risk.

Check the canopy for deadwood

Dead branches — often called widow makers — can detach when the tree vibrates during the cut. Look for branches with no leaves (or dry, brown leaves in season), peeling bark, or visible decay. A dead branch the diameter of your wrist, falling from 8m, has enough force to fracture a skull. If there is significant deadwood in the crown, this is not a DIY job. See the section below on when to stop.

Map the fall zone precisely

The fall zone is the full length of the tree, plus a 20% buffer, in the fall direction. Include the area where the crown will hit and bounce. Everything in that zone needs to be clear: people, animals, vehicles, fences, garden structures, and powerlines. Walk the zone before you start the saw.

Step 2: Clear your escape paths

Two paths. Each runs at roughly 45 degrees behind the intended fall direction — one to the left, one to the right. Each path should be clear for at least 5m.

The zone directly behind the stump is dangerous. As the tree falls, the base can kick backward — this is called butt kick or stump kick — and it moves fast, often faster than the crown hits the ground. Most serious chainsaw injuries during felling happen in this rear zone, not in the fall zone. Keep that area clear and never position yourself there during the back cut.

Remove anything from the escape paths that could trip you: branches, hoses, tools, uneven ground. The plan is that the moment you feel or hear the tree begin to move, you release the throttle, take the saw off the cut, and walk briskly along one of those paths. Do not run — running increases the chance of a fall. Do not look back at the tree while moving.

Step 3: The notch cut

The notch goes on the fall side — the side facing where you want the tree to land. It is the directional mechanism. Everything else follows it.

For a standard open-face notch:

• Top cut

  Start with the saw angled 60–70 degrees downward into the trunk. Cut to a depth of one-quarter of the trunk's diameter. A wide angle (70 degrees) gives more control over the hinge than a narrow notch (the old 45-degree approach most older guides show). Australian chainsaw training providers, including the Forest Industry Safety Council, now teach the open-face method as standard.

• Bottom cut

  Make a horizontal cut from below, meeting the top cut at its deepest point. The notch opens like a mouth, and the two cuts meet cleanly. Do not let them cross — a crossed notch creates an irregular hinge that compromises directional control.

• Remove the notch piece

  The wedge of wood should come out cleanly. If it does not, the cuts did not meet properly. Re-cut rather than force it. The notch opening should now be facing the intended fall direction.

The hinge is the strip of uncut wood that remains between the notch and the back cut. It is what controls the fall. A hinge that is too thin breaks unpredictably; a hinge that is too thick prevents the tree from falling cleanly. For most small trees, a hinge of 10% of the trunk diameter is the rule of thumb — so 3cm for a 30cm trunk.

Step 4: The back cut

The back cut goes on the opposite side of the tree from the notch. It should be slightly above (1–2cm) the floor of the notch. This prevents the tree from splitting down before it falls — a condition called barber-chair, which is one of the most dangerous outcomes in DIY felling.

Work slowly and steadily. The moment there is enough kerf to accept a wedge, stop the saw (or have a helper do it) and drive a plastic wedge into the cut. This prevents the tree sitting back onto the bar as the kerf closes under the tree's weight. If the tree has a back-lean, you may need two wedges driven alternately to maintain the kerf opening.

As the hinge narrows and the tree begins to tip, you will feel the saw bind slightly and may hear the wood cracking. This is your cue. Release the throttle, withdraw the saw from the cut, and move along one of your pre-cleared escape paths. Watch the crown, not your feet. The crown tells you where the tree is going.

If the tree does not move

Drive the wedges harder with the sledgehammer. If you are using a guide rope, have your spotter apply gentle tension from a safe angle. Do not return to the back cut with the chainsaw until you understand why the tree has not moved — there may be an unexpected back-lean, or a root connection that is holding. If the back cut has already reached the hinge thickness, the problem is usually that the wedges need more driving, not that the cut needs to be extended.

If the bar gets pinched

Shut the saw off immediately. Do not attempt to free a running saw from a pinched cut. Drive wedges above the cut to relieve the weight on the bar, then extract it. This is a common problem on trees with any back-lean and is exactly why you insert wedges early.

Step 5: Stump treatment

Once the tree is down, deal with the stump before the cut surface dries. On many Australian species, the window for effective chemical treatment is minutes, not hours.

Vigorous resprouters include eucalyptus (which can throw multiple coppice shoots from the base within weeks), wattle (Acacia spp.), camphor laurel, and cocos palm. If you leave an untreated stump of any of these, expect a multi-stemmed regrowth problem within a month or two.

The most practical treatment is undiluted glyphosate (Roundup or equivalent) painted immediately onto the freshly cut surface — including the cambium ring at the outer edge, where the transport tissue is active. For camphor laurel and other invasive species, triclopyr-based stump killers (available at Bunnings and Mitre 10) are more reliable. Drill 10–15mm holes around the outer 3cm of the stump first to increase penetration on large stumps.

If you want the stump gone entirely, grinding is the most practical option. A stump grinder — hired or operated by a professional — takes the stump to 200–300mm below ground, producing woodchip mulch you can use on garden beds. See our stump grinding service page for costs and what to expect.

When to stop and call a professional

Most guides on felling trees tell you how to do it for any tree. This one will tell you when you should not try.

The following situations are outside DIY scope. Not because the technique changes, but because the margin for error disappears and the consequences of a mistake are serious.

• The tree is taller than 4m. Falls from this height are potentially fatal. SafeWork Australia data shows chainsaw and tree-felling accidents kill 4–6 Australians per year, and height is the dominant factor. A 5m tree that falls the wrong way and lands on you weighs as much as a small car.
• There is visible deadwood in the canopy. Widow makers do not give warning. A dead branch the size of your forearm can fracture a skull if it falls from 6m. If deadwood is present, sectional dismantle by a climber is the only safe approach.
• The tree leans toward a structure. A fence you can probably manage with correct wedging. A house, garage, or neighbouring structure you cannot. If a mis-fell damages your home, your public liability cover does not apply to your own property — and the repair bill will be significant.
• The tree is within 3m of a powerline in any direction. Not us, not any arborist, not the council — the network operator handles this. Call Ausgrid (Sydney), AusNet (Victoria), Energex (Queensland), SA Power Networks (South Australia), or Western Power (WA). Powerline clearance work is done by their own linesperson crews.
• You have not done a chainsaw safety course. Chainsaw kickback — where the saw tip contacts wood and rotates backward at the operator — happens in under 0.1 seconds. If you have not been trained in kickback response, you cannot respond in time. Arboriculture Australia recommends at minimum a one-day chainsaw operator course before DIY felling of anything beyond saplings.
• The tree may be protected by council. Illegal removal of a council-protected tree carries a fine and a replanting order. Our professional tree removal service includes permit assessment and council liaison for any job that needs it, so you are not guessing.

If the job falls into any of those categories, call us on 0402 522 434. We will tell you honestly whether it is something we need to do or something you can manage yourself with a bit more preparation. Nine times out of ten, people who ring expecting to hear "you need us" actually get a free five-minute conversation about what to buy at Bunnings and how to approach it.

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