Get reliable tree-care services from a team of arborists with more than 30 years of combined experience.
Maintaining a healthy landscape in one of the Triangle’s fastest-growing cities requires more than just a chainsaw and a truck. It demands a deep understanding of Durham’s unique character, from its dense urban canopy and historic neighborhoods to the rapid pace of redevelopment reshaping the area.
Here are a few of the things a locally owned tree-care partner can help you with:
Durham has established tree coverage and protection standards, particularly for development, site work, and certain property types. We help you understand when permits are required and how to stay compliant, ensuring your project avoids delays or penalties.
Many Durham neighborhoods feature mature trees growing close to homes, streets, and utilities. Our team provides careful pruning and risk assessments tailored to tight urban spaces, helping you balance preservation with safety.
Ongoing growth and development can place significant stress on existing trees through soil compaction, root disturbance, and grade changes. We provide proactive evaluations and protection strategies to help preserve valuable trees during and after construction.
We’ve been providing unmatched tree-care services in the Durham area since 2020, and we’d love to provide the care your trees need.
Lubbers & Sons Tree Care takes a different approach than many of the other tree-service companies operating in Central North Carolina. We measure success by the number of clients we help and trees we save rather than the number we remove.
In fact, when you trust the Lubbers & Sons Tree Care team, you’ll immediately notice our commitment to:
“Whether you’re in Durham or anywhere else in Central North Carolina, it’s important to work with a locally owned and operated tree-care provider who understands the community’s canopy and relevant permitting regulations.”
- Sosha Sullivan, ISA Certified Arborist
Owner of Lubbers & Sons Tree Care
Lubbers & Sons Tree Care provides all of the tree-care services homeowners and property managers in Durham need.
From shaping young fruit trees to removing dangerous limbs from a mature oak, Lubbers & Sons offers specialized pruning and trimming services throughout Chapel Hill.
Taking a tree down isn't simple. You need a skilled crew that handles the job safely and cleanly — not one that leaves a mess behind.
Our stump grinding services take care of unsightly stumps, prevent regrowth, and clean up your landscape, clearing the way for new projects or replacement plantings.
Whether a tree is leaning dangerously over your home or has already fallen on something, our rapid-response specialists are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to handle emergency removals.
While other crews avoid complicated, high-risk jobs, we use cranes to safely handle removals for trees that are too large, unstable, or brittle to climb.
Talking with an ISA-certified arborist is the most effective way to understand what your landscape needs and get professional, custom-tailored advice for long-term tree health.
The right upkeep goes a long way toward preventing common pest and disease problems. Our plant health care programs make it easy to give your trees the consistent support they need to stay healthy and thrive.
Our expert species-selection and installation services can raise your property's value, cut your energy costs, and create a beautiful, wildlife-friendly environment that lasts for years.
Trees with structural flaws or weak branch unions can often be preserved by strategically placing cables or braces within the canopy to provide the reinforcement they need.
Lubbers & Sons has the tools and expertise to keep your commercial property looking its best — all without interrupting how your business runs.
From initial planting to routine maintenance and removals, our team provides the comprehensive care needed to keep public trees in your town safe, healthy, and vibrant.
Protect your home and property from wildfire with our defensible space services — strategic pruning, clearing, and removal of flammable debris that puts a buffer between your home and potential fire.
Whether you are preparing for new construction or repurposing your land, our lot-clearing services transform your site into a clean slate tailored to your project goals.
You contact our team to schedule an arborist assessment or request a free estimate.
One of our arborists will visit your property, evaluate your trees, and discuss your goals.
We’ll outline your options, develop a customized plan, and provide you with an itemized estimate.
We’ll show up at the scheduled time, conduct a safety briefing, and get to work.
Once finished, we’ll review the work with you and ensure your property looks spotless.
Working with a team of professional arborists makes a real difference. With the right support, your trees will likely:
To enjoy all of these benefits and more, simply contact the Lubbers & Sons Tree Care team and tell us about your needs.
Catching tree problems early makes all the difference. Give your trees the best shot at staying healthy, safe, and looking great — don’t wait to reach out for professional help when something seems off. Here are some warning signs to watch for:
Fungal growth on a tree's trunk, limbs, or root flare typically points to internal decay — and a decaying tree can become a serious safety hazard fast, even if it looks sturdy from the outside.
These rapid-growing, poorly attached clusters of branches, which arborists call epicormic growth, often show up when a tree is under significant stress and needs expert attention.
Trees dropping leaves before fall arrives — whether from pests, fungal disease, or environmental stress — is a red flag that calls for a prompt professional evaluation.
While hollow cavities might be aesthetically pleasing in some cases or house local wildlife, they often signal internal rot that could cause the tree to fail unexpectedly.
A split in the wood is a serious concern. The tree's structural fibers are pulling apart, and for everyone's safety, any cracked tree should be inspected by an ISA-certified arborist right away.
Slow or stunted growth isn't always a shade or spacing issue — our plant health experts can often fix it with targeted treatments like nutrient supplementation.
Most bugs are harmless, but certain infestations can threaten a tree's survival. Catching and treating the problem early is key to preventing lasting damage to your landscape.
If you spot mounding, heaving, or cracked soil around the base of a tree, have an ISA-certified arborist check the site to confirm the root system remains stable and secure.
If you notice any of these signs, contact the professional arborists at Lubbers & Sons Tree Care to discuss your concerns and get the help you need.
The cost of tree care in Durham varies significantly based on a variety of factors. Things like risk assessments and certified arborist consultations start at around $200, while emergency tree-removal jobs requiring cranes may cost $7,000 or more.
A few of the factors that’ll influence the total costs you’ll face include:
With all of that said, the best way to determine the exact costs you’ll pay is to simply reach out to the Lubbers & Sons Tree Care team. We’ll be happy to schedule a site visit and provide you with an itemized estimate, completely free of charge.
Lubbers & Sons Tree Care is proud to offer expert tree-care services across Central North Carolina, including the following cities:
Choosing the right tree care partner really does matter. More often than not, that decision is what separates thriving trees from ones that slowly lose ground to pests, disease, and environmental stress.
That’s why it pays to work with an experienced, locally based crew that has the right equipment, technical knowledge, and familiarity with the tree species common to Durham. It’s also worth making sure your tree company has an ISA-certified arborist on staff — so you’re getting expert advice you can actually trust.
That is the level of excellence you can expect from the Lubbers & Sons Tree Care team. Contact us today to discuss your specific needs and discover why we are the top choice for tree care in Durham.
Have more questions about our tree-care services? We’ve rounded up a few of the most common questions our clients have and answered them below.
Yes — Durham and the surrounding Durham County area are a regular part of our service territory. We provide professional tree care services for residential and commercial properties across the city, including structural and maintenance pruning, tree removal, stump grinding, cabling and bracing, deep root fertilization, and plant health care programs. Visit lubbersandsons.com to learn more or get in touch to schedule a service visit.
A city's urban tree canopy is the cumulative result of decisions made on individual properties — and poor tree care at the residential level quietly erodes the canopy from within, even when the city is investing in expanding it elsewhere. Trees that are improperly pruned develop structural weaknesses that cut their productive lives short. Trees whose soil health is ignored decline gradually and become hazards rather than assets. Trees treated reactively rather than proactively are lost to preventable problems. Professional tree care at the property level — structural pruning that builds sound form, soil management that supports root health, and timely disease and pest intervention — extends the productive life of each tree and keeps Durham's canopy functioning at the level the city is working to maintain. Every well-cared-for tree on a Durham property is a contribution to that collective resource.
The immediate priority after a large limb failure is assessing whether any ongoing hazard exists — checking whether remaining attached limbs are visibly cracked, hanging, or destabilized, and keeping people and vehicles out of the potential drop zone until a professional can evaluate the tree. Once the immediate area is safe, contact us to schedule a prompt assessment. We will evaluate the tree's structural condition — both what caused the failure and whether the remaining structure is sound — and recommend the appropriate response. That may mean removing the failed material, making corrective pruning cuts to reduce the risk of further failure, or in cases where the failure revealed significant underlying structural compromise, a broader conversation about the tree's future. Acting quickly reduces both the safety risk and the window during which insects and pathogens can colonize the fresh wound surfaces.
Tree care pricing is genuinely variable because every job involves a different combination of tree size, species, location, access, and scope — and a number generated without accounting for those specifics is more likely to mislead than inform. For pruning, the primary variables are the scale of the tree and the volume and nature of material being removed. Removal pricing reflects the complexity of the takedown, site access, and whether stump grinding is included. Ongoing plant health care programs are structured around the number and condition of trees enrolled and the treatment frequency required. We provide written estimates for every Durham job before work is scheduled — not a range, and not a figure that shifts once we arrive on-site. Reach out through lubbersandsons.com to describe your situation and receive accurate pricing before committing.
The canopy is the most visible part of a tree, but it is also the last place to show the effects of root zone problems — by the time foliage is sparse, discolored, or dropping prematurely, the root system has usually been struggling for at least a full growing season or more. Roots are responsible for water and nutrient uptake, structural anchorage, and the storage of energy reserves that fuel spring growth — when any of these functions is compromised by compaction, grade changes, root damage, or pathogen activity, the canopy eventually reflects it. This lag between cause and visible effect is one of the most important reasons why professional tree care addresses root zone health proactively rather than waiting for canopy symptoms to appear. For Durham trees on managed urban lots where root zone stressors are common, soil health is where durable tree vitality starts.
Partnering with a professional tree-care team will provide a number of benefits to your family, your trees, and your property. But to ensure you get the best service possible, you have to choose an arboricultural team you can count on.
That’s easy when you rely on the experts at Lubbers & Sons Tree Care. We’ve been providing unmatched tree-care services in Durham and the rest of Central North Carolina since 2020, and our reviews speak for themselves.
Contact our team now to discuss your needs, have your questions answered, or request your free estimate.
Feel free to leave your contact information on our online form. A consultation is always free, and it’s the first step towards finding a tree care solution!