How to Choose a Tree Service in Virginia Beach
Read the reviews. Get every quote. Here’s the honest reason why.
By Mike Campbell, Owner & Lead ClimberPublished
- The reality
- 97% of people read reviews before hiring a local business
- The big shift
- 49% trust an online review as much as a personal referral
- The smart move
- Get a written quote from every company you contact
- What to verify
- Licensed & insured, BBB A+, recent and specific reviews
- What it costs us
- A single real lead runs a tree company $20–$230+
- Our promise
- Read our reviews, go get other quotes — we’ll earn it
Quick answer
Almost everyone reads reviews before hiring a tree service now, and they’re right to. Before you let anyone put a chainsaw near your house, read the recent reviews, confirm the company is licensed and insured, and get a written quote from every company you contact. It costs you nothing but time — and it costs the tree company real money every time you reach out, which is exactly why you should make them earn it.
Do people really read reviews before hiring a tree service?
If you’ve ever pulled up Google, read a company’s reviews, and made your decision before you ever picked up the phone — you’re completely normal. You’re the overwhelming majority.
of consumers read online reviews for local businesses before choosing one
won’t even consider a business under a 4-star average — 31% hold out for 4.5+
trust an online review as much as a recommendation from a friend or family
That last one is the big shift: a stranger’s honest review now carries nearly the same weight as your neighbor telling you who cleared their yard. People are cross-checking harder than ever — even the folks asking AI assistants like ChatGPT for a recommendation. 97% of them go verify the AI’s suggestion against real reviews before trusting it.1 So if you’re doing your homework, you’re doing exactly what smart homeowners are supposed to do. You can read our reviews here.
What do good tree service reviews actually tell you?
Recency. This is the one most people miss. 74% of consumers only trust reviews written in the last three months, and a growing group only pays attention to reviews from the last two weeks.1 A great rating from two years ago with nothing since isn’t necessarily good today — crews change, ownership changes. Look for a steady stream of fresh reviews.
Specifics. “Great job!” is fine, but “they took down a huge oak leaning over our roof near the power lines and cleaned up so well you’d never know they were here” tells you what the crew can actually do. Look for reviews describing work like yours.
How they respond. Read the owner’s replies — especially to the occasional critical review. A company that answers calmly, takes responsibility, and makes it right is showing you how they’ll treat you if something goes sideways. Nobody’s perfect; how they handle imperfection is the tell.
There’s real money behind this, too. Harvard Business School research on local businesses found that a one-star increase in rating corresponds to a 5–9% increase in revenue.2 Reviews aren’t a popularity contest — they’re the closest thing you have to a company’s report card.
Should you get more than one tree removal quote?
Yes — get a written quote from every company you contact. Here’s the advice I give people even when it means they might not pick me: contact several companies and get a written estimate from each. Tree work isn’t like buying a gallon of milk. Two honest companies can look at the same tree and price it differently based on their equipment, crew size, insurance, and how they’d approach the job safely. The only way to know what fair looks like for your specific tree is to compare.
Getting multiple quotes protects you from overpaying — and just as important, from the lowball “guy with a truck” whose price looks amazing until something goes wrong and you find out he wasn’t insured. When you compare, weigh more than price:
Licensed & insured — with proof
On a tree-on-your-house job this is everything. An uninsured crew hurt on your property can become your problem.
A written, itemized estimate
Removal, stump, cleanup, and hauling all spelled out — not a number scribbled on a truck door.
Reviews that match the promise
Recent, specific, and describing work like yours.
An independent trust signal
A BBB A+ rating, a long track record, an owner who answers the phone.
A company confident in its work wants you to compare. We do. We’d rather you choose us with your eyes open than wonder later if you overpaid — you can get a free written estimate from us here. It’s the same honesty we bring to pricing in our affordable tree work guide.
How much does tree removal cost in Virginia Beach — and why?
The honest answer is that it depends on the tree — its size, how close it is to your house or power lines, its condition, and whether you add stump grinding — which is exactly why you should get a written quote. But there’s a hidden cost most homeowners never see, and it’s the reason I want you to be a serious, informed buyer.
Every time you search “tree service near me” and click an ad or fill out a form, that click costs the business real money. In home services, a single Google-ad click averages $7.85 and is climbing toward $8.33 in 2026;34 for competitive tree-service searches, estimates run $10–$20 or more apiece.
But the click is just the start. Only about 7% of home-services ad clicks ever turn into a real inquiry — meaning more than 9 out of 10 clicks we pay for lead nowhere.3 So the real cost of a single genuine phone call or quote request runs $90 on average, and $150–$230+ in the priciest trades. On Google’s Local Services Ads, tree-service leads run roughly $20–$60 each,5 and to actually win one new customer a home-services business typically spends $75 to $250+ after all the clicks and no-show estimates that didn’t pan out.6 Home improvement is now one of the most expensive categories to advertise in — right behind lawyers and dentists.4
average home-services ad click in 2026
of those clicks become a real inquiry
typical cost to win one new customer
Why I’m telling you this
1. It’s exactly why you should get a quote from everyone. These companies are already spending a fortune for the chance to talk to you. Make them earn it — the market is set up in your favor, so use it.
2. It’s a small ask for a big courtesy. If you request a quote, a real person drives out, climbs around your trees, and spends an hour building an honest estimate — and it already cost the business money just to reach you. You don’t owe anyone the job. But showing up for the appointment and giving an honest yes or no goes a long way — and it’s how you get a company’s best price and best attention.
What’s the checklist for choosing the right tree service?
Put every company you’re considering through the same five questions:
- 1
Recent, specific reviews?
A steady stream in the last few months, describing work like yours.
- 2
Licensed and insured — with proof on request?
Non-negotiable for anything near your home or power lines. More on why in our OSHA & safety case study, and what an uninsured crew can cost you in our Virginia tree law write-up.
- 3
A written, itemized estimate?
Removal, stump grinding, cleanup, and hauling all spelled out.
- 4
An independent trust signal?
A BBB A+ rating, a long track record, an owner who answers the phone.
- 5
Do they treat the quote like it matters?
The company that shows up on time to estimate is the one that shows up on time to do the job.
Where Art-is-Tree stands — and our promise
I’m Mike Campbell, and I own Art-is-Tree. We’re an owner-operated, licensed and insured tree service with a BBB A+ rating and a 5.0 rating across 140+ Google reviews, serving Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and Suffolk. We handle tree removal, tree trimming, stump grinding, and 24/7 storm response. We do free written estimates, we spell out exactly what you’re paying for, and we leave your property cleaner than we found it.
And we mean what this whole article says: read our reviews, and go get other quotes. We’d rather win your trust than assume it. When you’ve compared honestly and you’re ready, we’ll be here — and we’ll earn it.
Sources
1. BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — review reading, star thresholds, recency, and AI cross-checking.
2. Michael Luca, “Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com,” Harvard Business School (2011, rev. 2016) — a one-star rating increase corresponds to a 5–9% revenue increase.
3. LocaliQ, 2025 Search Advertising Benchmarks for Home Services — cost per click, conversion rate, and cost per lead.
4. WordStream, 2026 Google Ads Benchmarks — home-services CPC trend and category rankings.
5. Home Service Direct, How Much Are Tree Service Leads Worth? (2026) — Local Services Ads tree-lead pricing.
6. WebFX, 2026 Home Services Marketing Benchmarks — customer acquisition cost ($75–$250).
Get one of your quotes from us.
Free, written, and itemized — for any tree in Virginia Beach or anywhere in Hampton Roads. Read our reviews first; we want you to.
Get a Free Estimate