Palms are not priced like trees, and here is why
A palm is a monocot. There is one growing point at the top of the trunk, no cambium, no branch collar and no way to seal a wound, which rules out spikes, rules out crown reduction, and means the crown has to come off before anything else happens. Under the ground there is no tap root with spreading laterals — instead a dense fibrous mat of thousands of thin roots, bound through with sand and limestone grit, which is what blunts an ordinary stump grinder.
So a palm quote is built from species, height, access and disposal, roughly in that order. A tree quote is built from height, access, target and disposal. They are different jobs and they should never be priced off the same sheet. The background on how each species is actually handled is on the palm removal page.
Everything below is a 2026 planning range for the Perth metropolitan area. It is not a quote. A real figure needs someone on site, because access is what moves these numbers once the species is settled.
The ranges by species
| Job | Range |
|---|---|
| Cocos palm clean — dead fronds, flower spikes, seed heads | $150 – $400 per palm |
| Washingtonia skirt removal and clean | $250 – $600 per palm |
| Canary Island date palm clean | $350 – $900 per palm |
| Palm | Range |
|---|---|
| Cocos palm, up to 8m, good access | $250 – $700 |
| Cocos palm, over 8m | $600 – $1,400 |
| Washingtonia, up to 10m | $600 – $1,500 |
| Washingtonia, 10 – 25m, taken in sections by a climber | $1,200 – $3,500 |
| Canary Island date palm, mature | $2,500 – $8,000+ |
| Palm root plate grinding | $300 – $900 |
The plant, access and disposal loadings are the same ones that apply to any tree job, and they are published identically on the tree removal cost guide so the two pages agree.
| Item | Range |
|---|---|
| Elevated work platform, per day | $600 – $1,500 |
| Crane and operator, per day | $1,800 – $4,000 |
| Traffic management or street occupancy for a crane set-up | $500 – $1,500 |
| No truck access, everything hand-carried out | adds 30 – 60% |
| Extra green waste carted off rather than chipped on site | $150 – $500 |
The cheap palm and the expensive palm
Cocos (Syagrus romanzoffiana) is the cheap one. Soft trunk, light crown, no spines, and a climber can usually strip and drop one in a morning with no special plant. It is the palm planted in tens of thousands of Perth courtyards in the eighties and regretted since, mainly for the heavy orange seed heads that stain paving, fill gutters, feed rats and germinate in every garden bed nearby. If it is dropping fruit over a pool, cleaning twice a year manages it and removal ends it.
A mature Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) is one of the most expensive single-stem removals there is. Not because it is tall — it usually is not, next to a Norfolk Island pine — but because of what the crown weighs and what it is armed with. Fifty or more fronds four to six metres long, on a trunk close to a metre across, saturated after rain, add up to several tonnes sitting at the top of a column that cannot be climbed on spikes. That pushes the job onto an elevated platform or a crane, which is where most of the money goes.
Then the spines. The leaflets at the base of every frond are modified into hard spikes centimetres long, and they puncture rather than scratch, with tips that snap off under the skin and infect. Clearing those frond bases is a job before the job. And the trunk does not chip: palm trunk is wet, heavy and fibrous, so sections get lowered or craned and most of the material goes on the truck rather than through a chipper. That is disposal volume you are paying to cart.
Date palms are also the ones most often planted forty years ago as a feature beside a driveway or pool, in the least accessible corner of a block, by someone who was not imagining a crane. Height is rarely the problem. Getting the machine into position is.
Washingtonias sit in between. Tall, narrow and topped with a fan crown, they run past twenty-five metres, which is beyond most truck-mounted platforms, so a climber takes them in sections from the top down. The dead frond skirt is a genuine fire load hanging above a roofline and the best rat and wasp habitat in the garden, and taking just the skirt off is a worthwhile job at a fraction of a full removal.
What to have ready before you ring
Which palm it is — a photo settles it faster than any description. Roughly how tall against the house. Whether a truck and chipper can get within dragging distance, or whether it is a hand-carry through a side path. Whether the stump is staying or going. Whether there are several palms, because doing them in one visit is cheaper per palm.
If a frond has already come through a roof or a palm is leaning after a winter front, that is storm and emergency work rather than a booked job. If it turns out you have a tree rather than a palm, the tree removal cost guide has the ranges and pruning and crown reduction may still be an option. Root plate questions are covered on the stump grinding page, and most palms need no council approval — but verge palms belong to the council, so read the permits page if yours is on the street side of the fence.
Crews work out of Fremantle across the southern and western suburbs and the wider metro; the coverage list is on the service areas page. Ring 08 7741 1934.
Frequently asked questions
How much does palm tree removal cost in Perth in 2026?
It splits by species. A Cocos palm under eight metres with good access runs $250 to $700, and over eight metres $600 to $1,400. A Washingtonia is $600 to $1,500 up to ten metres and $1,200 to $3,500 above that. A mature Canary Island date palm starts around $2,500 and can pass $8,000. Access and disposal move all of them.
Why is a Canary Island date palm so much dearer than a Cocos?
Crown weight, spines and machinery. A mature date palm holds fifty or more fronds on a trunk close to a metre across, and a saturated crown weighs several tonnes, which pushes the job onto a crane or elevated platform rather than a climber. Every frond base carries hard spines that must be cut away first. A Cocos has none of that and is light and quick.
How much does it cost to clean a palm rather than remove it?
Cleaning takes off dead fronds, flower spikes, seed heads and frond boots and leaves the living crown alone. Budget $150 to $400 for a Cocos, $250 to $600 for a Washingtonia skirt, and $350 to $900 for a date palm because of the spines and the weight. Doing several palms in one visit costs less per palm than booking them separately.
Is the palm stump included in the removal price?
No. A palm removal normally ends at a cut near ground level and the root plate stays. Grinding it out runs $300 to $900 depending on diameter and what is under it. The plate is a dense fibrous mat full of sand and limestone grit, so it blunts grinder teeth and takes longer than a tree stump of the same width.
Do I have to remove the palm stump at all?
Only if something is going in that spot. A palm has one growing point, so once the crown is off it cannot reshoot the way a gum or a Chinese elm will. If you are replanting, paving, laying a footing or putting in a pool, the plate has to come out and be backfilled. If you are just leaving the ground alone, it can stay.
Can I cut a palm down myself and save the money?
A short Cocos in open ground with nothing underneath is occasionally a sensible weekend job. A date palm never is. The spines cause puncture wounds that go septic, the frond skirt holds rats and wasps, and a wet frond boot dropped from ten metres will go through a Colorbond roof. Height plus weight plus spines is a bad ladder combination.