R & R Tree Service is your trusted partner for professional, affordable tree care in Buford, GA. Our experienced team is dedicated to keeping your property safe, healthy, and looking its best. From removing dangerous trees to enhancing your yard with precise trimming, stump grinding, and storm damage cleanup, we’re here to handle all your tree care needs quickly and efficiently.
We understand the unique tree challenges and landscaping goals of Buford property owners, and we take pride in delivering solutions that protect your investment and enhance curb appeal.
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Usually not — but which rulebook applies depends on which side of the city line you are on. Inside the city limits, Buford's Tree Protection Ordinance is a development ordinance. It applies to activity that requires a Land Disturbance Permit, and it specifically excludes the construction of individual single-family detached and duplex dwellings. Taking down one dying oak in an established front yard is not the thing that ordinance was written to govern.
A great many addresses that say 'Buford, GA' in the post are not inside the city at all — they sit in unincorporated Gwinnett County, and the county's own homeowner rules apply instead. There, no permit is needed to remove a live tree from your own occupied residential lot, provided the tree is not in a required zoning buffer, stream buffer, conservation or open space, the Chattahoochee River Corridor, a designated tree save area, and is not a street tree. One condition catches people out: if you remove live trees you must keep at least two live trees on the lot. Commercial, office-institutional, industrial and multi-family properties are different again — those need a Land Disturbance Permit before any tree comes down.
Rules change. Confirm anything load-bearing with the local office before you cut — we do that check as part of every quote.
The city straddles the Gwinnett–Hall county line, so two sets of county rules bracket one town, and the City of Buford's own ordinance sits on top of both inside the city limits. Before we quote, we check which jurisdiction an address actually falls in — city, unincorporated Gwinnett, or Hall. It is the single most common reason two neighbours a mile apart get different answers about the same tree.
Buford Dam created Lake Lanier, and the strip between a lakefront lot line and the water is federal land managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers — not part of the property, whatever the fence suggests. Clearing trees or understory there is not the homeowner's to authorise. Genuinely hazardous trees are handled through the Corps, with a ranger assessing the tree first. We have walked enough Lanier shoreline jobs to know where that line usually falls, and we will tell you before a saw comes out rather than after.
Buford sits on the Georgia Piedmont's heavy red clay at around 1,050 feet. Clay drains slowly, so roots stay shallow and spread wide instead of anchoring deep. After a long wet spell the soil loses its grip while the canopy is still catching full wind load — which is why the trees that come down here often look completely healthy on the way over. Pines dominate Georgia's forests and oaks fill the Piedmont hardwood mix; both are well represented in Buford yards, and both fail in this pattern.
Buford yards are heavy on water oak and willow oak — fast, generous shade, and the two we condemn most often, because both rot from the inside while the crown still looks full. Loblolly pine snaps rather than uproots and drops limbs under ice load. Sweetgum and tulip poplar shed big deadwood in summer storms. Bradford pear splits at its own crotch unions, usually about fifteen years in, and almost always across a driveway. A trunk that sounds hollow to a mallet is telling you more than the leaf canopy is.
The corridor either side of the Mall of Georgia and I-985 has been cleared and rebuilt hard over the last two decades. Trees that grew up inside a closed stand were never loaded by wind individually — then the stand around them came out for a subdivision or a pad site, and the survivors are suddenly edge trees carrying loads they never developed wood for. Those interior-grown leftovers on a new lot line are the ones we get called to after the first real storm.
Georgia averages roughly 50 to 60 thunderstorm days a year, and remnants of tropical systems reach this far inland most seasons. That means emergency tree work around Buford is a routine, recurring category rather than a once-a-decade event — and it is why we run 24/7 rather than an answering machine. The trees that fail are usually the ones that were already leaning, hollow, or storm-loosened the season before.
R & R Tree Service offers licensed, bonded, and insured tree removal, trimming, stump grinding, mulching, and more throughout Buford, GA.
Regular trimming keeps your trees healthy, improves their appearance, and reduces the risk of falling limbs, especially during storm season. Our certified team members use proper techniques to promote long-term tree health.
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Most RequestedWe safely remove hazardous, dead, or unwanted trees of all sizes, using the right equipment and techniques to prevent damage to your property. From single trees to full lot clearing.
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24/7 AvailableStorm damage? Fallen trees? We're available for fast, reliable emergency response to protect your property and restore safety. Our crew responds 24/7 across Buford and surrounding areas.
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After a tree is removed, we can grind down the stump to restore your yard and prevent regrowth or pest infestations. We remove all debris for a clean, finished result.
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SpecialtyFor large or hard-to-reach trees, our specialized crane equipment provides the safest solution, protecting your property, fencing, and landscaping during removal.
Get a Quote →We serve residential and commercial clients throughout Buford, including these neighborhoods and surrounding areas.
We understand the unique tree care needs in Buford's neighborhoods and take pride in protecting your home or business while enhancing the natural beauty of your landscape.
From first call to final cleanup, we make professional tree care easy for Buford homeowners.
Call or message us. We visit your Buford property, assess the situation, and answer all your questions, with no obligation.
You receive a clear, itemized quote with transparent pricing. We explain exactly what work will be done and why, with no surprises.
Our own certified crew arrives on time with the right equipment. We protect your property and complete the work safely and efficiently.
We remove all debris, branches, and wood. Your Buford yard is left immaculate. We follow up to confirm your satisfaction.
"For the past eight years, R and R Tree Service has meticulously tended to our landscape needs. From pine tree removal to diagnosing damaged or diseased trees, I fully and completely trust this honest and hard working crew. They estimate fairly and give competitive prices. It's reassuring to know they will 'take care of business'."
"We have used R and R Tree Service since we moved to the Buford area over 16 years ago. They are professional, dependable, and do an excellent job. Their crane service is a definite advantage. There is never any damage to surrounding trees."
"Within 24-hours of being contacted, Randy and his team gave me a quote and removed two mature trees uprooted during Hurricane Helene. Arrived at the crack of dawn and finished before lunch. True professionals."
Full details on the licensed, insured tree care R & R provides in Buford. Tap any service to learn more.
In unincorporated Gwinnett County, no — not for a live tree on your own occupied residential lot, as long as it is not in a required zoning buffer, stream buffer, conservation or open space, the Chattahoochee River Corridor, a tree save area, or a street tree, and you keep at least two live trees on the lot. Inside the City of Buford, the tree ordinance is tied to Land Disturbance Permits and development rather than to routine removals at an existing home.
Gwinnett County points homeowners to the final plat of their subdivision — buffers, conservation and open space, tree save areas and street trees are marked on it. Plats can be viewed at the Deed Records Office of the Clerk of Superior Court at the Gwinnett Justice & Administration Center in Lawrenceville, or online. If your lot is within 2,000 lineal feet of the Chattahoochee River it also falls in the River Corridor, which brings the Metropolitan River Protection Act into play.
Yes. Inside the City of Buford, the ordinance lets the Director of Development authorise removal of diseased or infested trees on the advice of the County Extension Service or the Georgia Forestry Commission — but the owner has to notify the Director before the removal and provide that written finding. Outside the city, a dead or dying tree in a stream buffer on your own property can be removed. If a dead tree sits in the Chattahoochee River Corridor, it may be taken out manually, with no motorised equipment, and the stump has to stay in place.
No — not on your own authority. The shoreline between private lot lines and the water is federal land managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, and clearing trees or understory there is prohibited without authorisation. Hazardous trees are the exception and are handled through the Corps, with a ranger determining whether the tree qualifies. Cutting first and asking later on Corps land is the expensive way to find this out.
Call us on (678) 482-9994 — we run emergency work 24/7 and our yard is on Buford Highway, so a Buford call is a short run for our crew rather than a dispatch from another county. If the tree originated in the street right-of-way, that is a roads matter: Gwinnett County Department of Transportation for a county road, Georgia DOT for a state highway.
For most hardwoods, the dormant window from late autumn through late winter. The canopy is off, so structure and defects are visible, cuts close cleanly before the spring flush, and there is far less insect and disease pressure moving between fresh wounds. Summer pruning is fine for light deadwood and clearance, and storm damage obviously does not wait. The one job we push people not to postpone is a limb already cracked or hanging — that is a removal, not a pruning decision.
Access and what sits underneath, far more than the height of the tree. A big oak in an open back field is straightforward. The same tree wedged between a house, a fence and a power drop has to come out in controlled sections, which is slower and needs more rigging — or the crane. Slope matters on the lots running down toward the lake, because getting equipment to the stem is half the work. Stump grinding, haul-away versus leaving the wood, and whether we can get a chipper close all move the number too. We quote on site and for free, because guessing from a photograph is how people get surprised.
No. R & R has worked North Georgia since 1987, we own our equipment including our crane, and we do not subcontract. The crew that quotes your Buford job is the crew that does it. We are licensed, insured and a member of the Tree Care Industry Association.
Sources: City of Buford Tree Protection Ordinance (25 Oct 2022) · Gwinnett County — Tree Removal Information for Homeowners (rev. 20 Jun 2025)
When you need trusted tree service in Buford, GA, turn to the professionals at R & R Tree Service. We deliver quality work, excellent customer service, and affordable rates every time.
Licensed · Insured · Serving Buford Since 1987
