Dunedin is a waterfront city in north Pinellas County, home to about 36,000 people at the 2020 census, with a causeway out to Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island State Park. Its tree code protects most trees from 4 inches across and up, which is why tree service in Dunedin begins with knowing what the city protects.
Tree Service Tampa FL is not a tree company. It is a free phone line. Call (689) 407-5379, tell the automated assistant you are in Dunedin and what the tree is doing, and the call is transferred to an independent, locally owned tree service company that works in north Pinellas. That company sees the tree, sets its own price and is paid by you.
A small city that writes its own tree rules
The settlement was first called Jonesboro. In 1882 two Scottish merchants, John O. Douglas and James Somerville, asked for a post office under the name Dunedin, and the Town of Dunedin was incorporated in 1899.
What matters for a tree is that Dunedin is its own city. A house inside the city limits answers to the Dunedin tree code and the City Arborist, not to Pinellas County, even though the county runs the tree rules for the unincorporated pockets nearby. If your mail says Dunedin but you are not sure the lot is in the city, check before anyone books a crew.
Dunedin's tree rules at a glance
From the city's tree protection brochure and its tree permit page. Confirm anything that touches your tree with the City Arborist.
- 4 inchesTrunk diameter at 4.5 feet above grade at which a tree becomes protected
- 25 percentMost leaf canopy that can come off without a permit; topping is not allowed
- Grand treesAny pruning needs a permit and an Approved Arborist
| The job | What the city says |
|---|---|
| Removing a tree 4 inches DBH or larger | Protected unless the species is on the exempt list; file a Tree Permit Application first |
| Removing a sabal palm or a mangrove | Protected; cabbage and sabal palms are left off the list of palms that can be removed without a permit |
| Removing Brazilian pepper, Australian pine, Chinese tallow and similar species | On the list of trees that do not need a permit |
| Routine trimming | Exempt if it does not mutilate, kill or remove the tree |
| Pruning a grand tree, crown or roots | Permit needed; done by or under the direct supervision of an Approved Arborist |
| A tree documented as an unacceptable risk on a single-family lot | Florida Statute 163.045 bars a local permit, fee or replanting requirement when an ISA certified arborist or Florida licensed landscape architect documents the risk |
Removing a protected tree without a permit is costly: the brochure lists a fine of $120 per inch of trunk diameter for an existing single-family home and $240 per inch on other property, and that money goes into the city's tree bank for new planting. The permit guide compares Dunedin with the county and other Tampa Bay cities.
Trees that grow near the Dunedin shore
Dunedin yards mix big oaks, cabbage palms, ornamental palms and, along the shore, mangroves. Not all of them deserve the same worry. In UF/IFAS surveys of trees after Florida hurricanes, live oak, sand live oak and the sabal palm stood up far better than laurel oak, and sabal palms held on better than queen palms and Washingtonia palms. Some species the city lets you remove without a permit are invasive in Florida; UF/IFAS notes that Chinese tallow has been on the state's noxious weed list since 1998.
Palms are where many Dunedin owners spend money they do not need to. UF/IFAS advises cutting off only fronds that are fully brown and never removing green fronds above the horizontal line of the crown. A palm stripped to a few fronds before a storm is weaker, not safer. A company that offers a hard "hurricane cut" on a healthy sabal palm is selling you the wrong job, and on a protected palm it could also run against the city's limits on heavy pruning.
What Helene and Milton did here
Hurricane Helene came through in late September 2024 and pushed record water into the Tampa Bay region; the gauge at nearby Clearwater Beach peaked at 6.67 feet above mean higher high water, a record. In Dunedin, Causeway Plaza flooded and most businesses along Alt. 19 south to Weaver had some flooding. Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski said as many as 90 people called for rescue that night, most of them reached by boat, and she called the Marina Pier damaged beyond repair.
Hurricane Milton came two weeks later, made landfall south of Tampa Bay on October 9, and brought hurricane conditions north as far as Clearwater Beach. It added wind damage and more harm to the marina. Between the two storms, the city's debris contractors hauled 115,765 cubic yards out of Dunedin in more than 2,500 loads, and a tub grinder at Highlander Park turned the tree debris into mulch.
Saltwater and trees
Trees that stood in surge water may look fine for weeks. If a tree near the house sat in saltwater, ask the company to look at the crown and the root zone, and ask whether waiting a season before deciding makes sense.
Wind and trees
Hanging limbs, cracked forks and trees leaning more than before are the urgent ones. Keep people out from under them and get them looked at before the next storm season.
Power lines: Duke Energy Florida
Dunedin's electric service comes from Duke Energy Florida. In February 2024 the City Commission took up Ordinance 24-02, a franchise agreement letting Duke use city rights of way to provide electric service in the city. If a tree or limb is on a line, nobody but the utility should touch it.
- Treat a downed wire as live, and keep children and pets far away from it.
- Call 911 if a line is down or anyone is hurt.
- Report the outage to Duke Energy at 800.228.8485, or text OUT to 57801.
- Take photos from a safe distance for your insurance claim.
Duke says it prunes and removes trees along its lines and wants to hear right away about a tree touching a line. It also says that after a storm, the wood from a fallen tree is the property owner's to deal with. So when a storm brings a tree down across your service drop, the utility makes the line safe and the cleanup lands on your quote.
Yard waste day in Dunedin
The city picks up yard waste each week for free if it is set out the city's way: branches no thicker than 4 inches, cut to 48 inches or shorter, tied in bundles under 50 pounds, with leaves and clippings in bags or cans under 50 pounds. City estimating rules treat logs over 4 inches across and piles over 4 cubic yards as extra, priced by the cubic yard. The city also asks residents not to leave branch piles out when high winds are coming, since loose wood can fly.
A day of tree work produces more than that. When you compare quotes, ask whether chipping and hauling are in the price, and whether the stump is ground or left. The tree removal cost guide and stump grinding page explain what those parts usually add.
Hiring for a Dunedin job
- Name the treeSpecies decides whether a permit is needed at all, so get it identified first.
- Ask who filesFind out whether the company submits the Tree Permit Application or expects you to.
- Ask about grand treesIf the tree may be a grand tree, ask who the Approved Arborist on the job will be.
- Get cleanup in writingHauling, chipping and the stump should each be on the quote.
Removing a tree in town has its own steps, from the $25 application to what happens when a tree is already on the roof. Read tree removal in Dunedin for that, and the main tree removal page for how removals are done.
Check the company yourself. Florida has no statewide license for tree trimming or tree removal, so a truck and a business card prove very little. Ask the company for a certificate of general liability insurance sent by its insurance agent, proof of workers' compensation coverage, and the ISA certification number of its arborist. A company that sprays or treats trees for hire needs a pesticide license from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. You can confirm an ISA certification with the ISA's credential lookup (opens in a new tab).
Not sure what the tree needs? Call and describe it. The company you are put through to looks at the tree and tells you the price before any work starts.
How a Dunedin call works
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (689) 407-5379 and asks what kind of tree work you need.
- Describe the jobGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the tree is doing, including anything on a roof, a car or a line.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company looks at the tree, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Tree Service Tampa FL is a free phone line, not a tree service company. It does not trim, remove, quote or schedule tree work and holds no license or arborist certification. Calls are transferred to independent, locally owned tree service companies in the Tampa Bay area. Those companies may pay Tree Service Tampa FL a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.