Crane Assisted Oak Removal Next to an Outbuilding in Painesville Township

I climb most of what we take down. Rigging a tree down in pieces is safer than people think when the climber knows what he is doing, and it keeps the price down because there is no crane on the invoice. That is the way we work in Chardon, Mentor, Willoughby and the rest of Lake and Geauga County, and it is the reason the tree removal page says what it says.

This one was different. A big oak in Painesville Township, right against a pole barn, with the canopy spread over the roof and the open side of the yard too far away to swing the wood to. Every piece that came off that tree had to go up before it could go anywhere. That is the job a crane is for.

Crane boom reaching over a white pole barn to lift sections of an oak in Painesville Township, OH — The whole picture. Barn on the left, oak behind it, crane set up on the lawn.

How a crane removal actually works

The crane does not cut anything. I still climb the tree. The operator swings the hook to me, I set a sling around the section I am about to cut, the operator takes the weight, and I make the cut. The piece lifts straight up, swings clear of the barn, and gets set down on the lawn where the ground crew bucks it up. Then the hook comes back and we do it again.

The skill is in the cut and in reading the weight. Cut too big a piece and the crane is overloaded. Set the sling in the wrong spot and the piece tips when it comes free. Communication between the climber and the operator is the whole job, which is why we run headsets on every crew member.

Wes Ware on the oak trunk making a cut with the crane sling set, wearing the All Trees Considered shirt — Sling set, weight on the hook, cut going in.

Crane operator in the cab lifting a log section from the oak — Each section goes up, over the barn and down on the grass.

Watch the pick

When I will tell you a crane makes sense

The tree is over a roof and there is nowhere to lower the wood to.
The tree is dead or rotten enough that I do not trust it to hold rigging loads.
The yard has no room for the drop zone a rigged removal needs.
A crane gets it done in a morning instead of two days, and the saved labor covers the crane.

Everywhere else, I climb it. If you are not sure which one your tree is, send photos through the estimate form and I will tell you straight. Crane or not, the estimate is free and the price is the price.

Wes signaling the crane operator from high on the oak trunk — Pointing the operator to the next pick.

We work Painesville Township, Painesville, Leroy and the rest of Lake County every week. See the Painesville Township page for more jobs nearby, or call (440) 901-0995.

Master Climber

Written by

Wes Ware

Owner and master climber at All Trees Considered. Fourteen years as a professional electrical lineman, climbing every day on the side of poles and trees across Northeast Ohio. Founded ATC in 2022 after neighbors kept asking for tree work.

About Wes

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