Tree Service in Akron, OH

Tree Service in Akron usually starts with a question about who owns the tree. A maple growing on the devil strip, the grass between sidewalk and curb, is a city street tree, and the Akron Tree Commission is the body that handles requests to trim or remove one, along with requests for a new street tree. A maple ten feet back from that strip is yours. Our first job on any Akron visit is to sort that out with you, because it decides who pays, who signs off and who does the work.

Old housing, old trees

Much of Akron was built out during the rubber years. Goodyear Heights and Firestone Park were laid out as worker neighborhoods, and many of their houses were built from mail-order plans. West Hill's Oakdale Historic District is full of large older homes. Streets like these tend to have trees that are as old as the houses, planted close to foundations, garages and driveways, with service drops strung through the canopy. On lots this size there is rarely room to drop a tree in one piece. Most removals here are done in sections, with limbs lowered on ropes so nothing lands on the roof next door.

What we are usually called for in Akron

• Taking down dead or declining backyard trees on narrow lots where a bucket truck can't reach
• Pruning limbs that hang over roofs, gutters and the neighbor's garage
• Clearing branches away from the service line between the pole and your house
• Removing ash trees killed by emerald ash borer
• Grinding stumps so a yard can be regraded or replanted
• Cleanup after wind storms knock limbs onto houses, cars and fences

Storms that hit the city

The late-August storm of 2023 is a good example of what wind does to an older canopy. Local reporting after that storm described a large branch from a rotting tree crashing through the roof of a home on Goodview Avenue and a tree falling on a car in Goodyear Heights, while roughly 30,000 FirstEnergy customers in Summit and Portage counties were still without power the next afternoon. Trees with decay in the trunk or at old pruning wounds are the ones that fail first. If you have a tree with a hollow, a fungus shelf on the bark or a big dead limb, have it looked at before the next summer storm season, not after.

Wires, rights-of-way and who to call

Ohio Edison, a FirstEnergy company, lists Akron neighborhoods such as Kenmore, North Hill, Ellet, Goodyear Heights and East Akron on its tree-trimming schedule, which runs on a four-year cycle. The utility clears around its own primary lines. The smaller line running from the pole to your house is usually left to the homeowner unless branches are on or through it. We will not cut near energized primary lines; when a tree is tangled in them, the utility has to make it safe first.

Leaves, branches and the devil strip

Akron changed its leaf program for 2026. Residents are asked to rake leaves onto the devil strip, not into the street, and the city now posts signs about 48 hours before crews reach each ward instead of publishing ward dates in advance. Branches and sticks are not supposed to be mixed into leaf piles. That matters if you plan fall pruning: when we prune, the brush leaves with us rather than going into the leaf pile.

Getting an estimate

Call (330) 325-4776 or send the form with a few photos. We will come out, walk the yard with you, point out which trees are city trees and which are yours, and leave a written estimate that spells out cutting, hauling and stump work separately. Get a free estimate