Bee Cave, Texas · Travis County
Tree removal in Bee Cave
Named for a colony of wild bees in a hollow limestone bank, and it's still plateau country all the way down.
In Bee Cave, a tree of about 8 caliper inches or more is where the city gets involved. Below that you are generally clear to take it down.
About 40 minutes from me in Kyle. Whatever the answer turns out to be, it is a form and a measurement rather than a refusal — these get approved all the time. Call me and I’ll tell you where you stand.
What Bee Cave actually regulates
Live oak and ashe juniper on rock. New construction out here routinely damages root zones with grading and trenching, and the tree looks fine for a couple of years before it doesn't. If you've built recently and an oak is thinning, that's the first place I look.
24 caliper inches and up
Permit needed
Heritage Tree, 24 caliper inches or more — a permit is required.
Every category in Bee Cave, Heritage included, goes through the same route: a Tree Removal Permit from the Building Official, not a Council hearing. One thing that catches people out — if it's an oak, a permit isn't valid between February 1 and July 1, so timing the paperwork matters as much as getting it approved.
12 caliper inches and up
Permit needed
Specimen Tree, 12 to 24 caliper inches — a permit is required.
Same Building Official permit as the other categories. Valid 180 days once issued, so there's no rush once you've got it.
8 caliper inches and up
Permit needed
Significant Tree, 8 to 12 caliper inches — a permit is required.
Worth checking the residential exemption below first if this is your own home and the tree is under 10 inches.
4 caliper inches and up
Protected Tree, 4 to 8 caliper inches — likely exempt if this is your home.
Any tree under 10 caliper inches on a lot with an existing single-family or duplex home is exempt outright in Bee Cave. Most trees in this band, on an established residential lot, clear that bar. Worth one call to confirm before assuming otherwise.
Under the threshold
Not regulated
Under 4 caliper inches — Bee Cave doesn't regulate it.
Bee Cave's tree preservation code starts at 4 caliper inches.
The ordinance, in its own words
No person may remove or alter a Protected Tree, Significant Tree, Specimen Tree, or Heritage Tree unless that person obtains a Tree Removal Permit from the Building Official. A permit for removal of an oak tree is not valid between February 1st through July 1st.
Source: City of Bee Cave — Unified Development Code § 6.1, Tree Preservation. This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Bee Cave code attaches
- If it's not construction-related
- One permit type covers every tree category, from Protected up to Heritage — issued by the Building Official.
- How it's measured
- Caliper measured 4.5 feet above ground. Protected 4–8", Significant 8–12", Specimen 12–24", Heritage 24"+.
- Fees
- Permits are valid 180 calendar days from issuance, or from the date the City Manager approves an appeal.
- What's exempt
- Any tree under 10 caliper inches on a property with an existing single-family or duplex structure is exempt from the permit requirement entirely.
- Dead, diseased or hazardous trees
- Oak trees carry a seasonal restriction, not a hazard carve-out I found stated separately — a permit for removing an oak isn't valid between February 1 and July 1, which matters for oak wilt control across this region regardless of the reason for removal.
- Who to call
- City of Bee Cave Building Official
Check your own tree against Bee Cave’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Bee Cave, put the trunk measurement in, and it will show you exactly which band you are in and what the code says about it.
How a removal actually goes in Bee Cave
Mixed. Newer subdivisions are easy; the older acreage off the ranch roads can be steep and rocky. Forty minutes out, so I batch Bee Cave work when I can. Plateau country either side of 71, with lots that often fall away steeply behind the house. Forty minutes from me. Where equipment can't reach the back of a lot, the wood gets carried out, and that's the main thing separating a cheap Bee Cave job from an expensive one. The recurring Bee Cave problem is that the tree is below the house. A canyon-rim lot puts the crown at deck height and the base twenty or thirty feet down a slope with no vehicle route, so wood comes up by hand and brush gets carried to the street. It's also worth knowing before you book stump work that limestone is often inches down here — a grinder finds it, and that changes how far below grade the stump can realistically go.
Everything gets hauled away and the ground raked off behind us. Want the logs kept for firewood? Say so before we start and my crew will cut them to length and stack them rather than running them through the chipper.
The trees I get called about here
Live oak and ashe juniper on rock, with Texas red oak in the draws. Construction damage is the dominant issue — this area has been built out recently and grading and trenching routinely cut a large share of a mature oak's root system. Live oak and ashe juniper on rock, and the recurring problem is construction damage that nobody connects to the tree. Trenching for a line or grading for a drive cuts roots the tree can't spare on soil this thin, and the decline surfaces two or three summers later looking like a disease. Bee Cave sits above the Bee Creek and Barton Creek drainages, and the lots that back onto them are the ones I get called to. The trees there are live oak and Ashe juniper growing on a rock shelf with almost nothing over it, and the characteristic failure is not decay, it's leverage: a wide, shallow root plate on a canyon rim with wind coming up the draw. When one of those goes it usually goes whole, plate and all, rather than shedding limbs first. Oak wilt is established through this part of western Travis County, and because the live oaks here are commonly root-grafted into one connected stand, it moves along a street rather than jumping around.
Before you decide to remove it
A mature live oak took fifty years to reach that size and I can take it down in a morning. Neither of us can put it back. So the first thing I want to know is whether it actually needs to go — a tree that looks finished is quite often a tree that needs the deadwood out of it and nothing more. Here’s how to tell the difference, and here’s the risk check if you want to work it through yourself.
If it does need to come out, the permit side is the easy part. The rules for every town I’ve read are here, and here’s everything else I do in Bee Cave.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Bee Cave?
It depends on the trunk size. No person may remove or alter a Protected Tree, Significant Tree, Specimen Tree, or Heritage Tree unless that person obtains a Tree Removal Permit from the Building Official. A permit for removal of an oak tree is not valid between February… That is City of Bee Cave — Unified Development Code § 6.1, Tree Preservation, and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Bee Cave's rules?
Put a tape around the trunk 4.5 feet above the ground to get the circumference, then divide by 3.14 for the diameter. Bee Cave writes its rule in caliper inches. If the trunk splits into several stems below 4.5 feet, measure below the split — that usually puts you in a higher bracket than you expected.
What if the tree is dead or dangerous?
Oak trees carry a seasonal restriction, not a hazard carve-out I found stated separately — a permit for removing an oak isn't valid between February 1 and July 1, which matters for oak wilt control across this region regardless of the reason for removal.
How much does tree removal cost in Bee Cave?
Access is the biggest driver, ahead of size — whether there is a drop zone or whether every piece has to be roped out over a roof is the difference between a morning and a full day. Then trunk diameter, then lean and deadwood. Send me a photo and the circumference and I can usually price it from that.
Got a tree in Bee Cave you’re not sure about?
Text me a photo and the measurement round the trunk. I’ll tell you which side of the line it’s on and what it takes to get it done.
Same-day callback on estimates
Call or text before 5pm on a weekday and you'll hear back from me the same day. Not an answering service — me.