Trade
Pruning and hedges
Hedges, shrubs and trees, and what does and does not need a permit in Amsterdam.
Pruning is the work in which the most damage is done with good intentions. A hedge cut back once too far will not break out of old wood again; a shrub cut at the wrong moment loses a year of flower. So we prune by species, at the moment that species asks for, rather than doing everything in one week because that happens to be when someone is available.
For a hedge we work to a norm of roughly ten linear metres an hour on a normal maintenance cut. That is a guide and not a promise: a hedge that has stood for three years costs double, and anything above two metres costs more because a platform or scaffold comes with it.
With trees, pruning stops where the permit requirement begins. We measure trunk circumference at 130 centimetres before anything is agreed, because above 31 centimetres the Amsterdam tree by-law applies and felling without a permit is prohibited. Pruning is generally allowed, but cutting a tree back so far that nothing is left counts as felling.
Closed over at most
50%
We will not build a garden that is more than half hard surface. On this ground the water has to go somewhere.
Lead time
3 to 6
Working days for a garden up to a hundred square metres, spread over two weeks.
We come back within
12mo
Anything we plant that fails to take, we replace within a year at no cost.
What you can check yourself
Measure the trunk circumference at 130 centimetres with an ordinary tape. Below 31 centimetres the tree falls outside the Amsterdam permit requirement, and the conversation gets much shorter.
What we bring
Hand tools for shaping and a battery hedge trimmer for the long runs. No petrol machine in an enclosed courtyard: the windows are open there and the sound comes back off three sides.
What handover means
The clippings go with us and are disposed of, and you hear per species when the next cut is due. That last part goes on paper, because nobody remembers a pruning date a year later.
First whether it can be done, then what it costs
Photograph the spot where the water stands. That answers half the question on its own.
The background, if you want to read further
The Amsterdam tree by-law of 2014 (Bomenverordening) defines a tree as a woody upright plant, living or dead, with a trunk circumference of at least 31 centimetres measured 130 centimetres above ground. Felling such a stand requires a permit from the city, and a replanting obligation is normally attached to it. The by-law also counts hedgerows and larger ribbon plantings of shrubs as protected stands, so an old, overgrown hedge can fall under it.
There are exemptions: felling under the plant health act, routine maintenance under an approved management plan, emergency felling in the face of immediate danger, and control of Dutch elm disease. Separately from the by-law, nests and roosts of protected animals can make felling impossible during the breeding season; that is national wildlife law, not a municipal rule.
What that means for you is simple. We measure before quoting, we tell you when a tree stays below the threshold and is therefore free, and we do not start work for which the permit is not yet in hand. A tree felled without a permit is not put back by applying afterwards.
Questions about pruning and hedges
What does cutting a hedge cost?
We charge 5 to 10 euro per linear metre including Dutch VAT (btw) for a hedge up to two metres on a normal maintenance cut, clippings taken away. A hedge that has not been touched for years falls outside that and is quoted by the hour, because the time then depends entirely on its condition.
When may a hedge be cut?
Not during the breeding season, and that is not advisory: a hedge with an occupied nest in it may not be cut. So we walk a hedge before the shears go in. Outside the season, June is a good month for the first cut and late August for the second; a hedge cut only once a year grows wider than it should be.
Can you take a tree out?
We fell only when the permit is in hand or when the trunk stays below the 31-centimetre threshold. For a larger tree we bring in a certified arborist and it appears separately on the quotation, because that is a different trade with different equipment. Grinding the stump afterwards we do ourselves.
Will you prune for several neighbours at once?
Gladly, and in the garden village courtyards it is often the only sensible approach: hedges and trees that meet each other are either cut in one round or cut crooked. Per address it works out cheaper because setting up and clearing away happens once instead of three times.
Torn between two solutions
Put both to us. We will say which of the two lasts longer on this ground, and why.
The neighbourhoods where we do this
What this trade means in practice differs per neighbourhood. The page for your own one says what applies where you live.
What else people call us for
Your request
Six fields and a photo. With the area and the type of garden we can name a band before coming out; without those two, any answer is a guess.
Start with a photo
One photo from the back door showing the whole garden almost always saves a trip. Send two if you like: one of the whole and one of the spot where it goes wrong.