Bulverde, Texas · Comal County
Tree removal in Bulverde
Classic Hill Country acreage on the southern Edwards Plateau.
Worth checking the homeowner exemption first.
About 45 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 Bulverde actually regulates
Big, rocky, cedar-choked lots. The highest-value work out here is usually cedar removal around heritage live oaks that have been losing the competition for water for twenty years. Those oaks come back surprisingly fast once they aren't fighting for it.
Under the threshold
Check the exemption first
Worth checking the homeowner exemption first.
Bulverde's ordinance is written broadly — it's unlawful to remove any tree without a permit, regardless of species or size — but the code carves out a real exemption: platted lots with an owner-occupied single-family residence are exempted from the requirement outright. If that's your lot, there's nothing to file. Where a permit is needed, there's no fee for it if it's submitted alongside a residential or commercial building permit, and the city reviews it as routine paperwork rather than a roadblock.
The ordinance, in its own words
Platted lots with an owner-occupied single-family residence are exempted from these requirements. ... The total tree removal from the site cannot exceed 60% of the total caliper width of protected, specimen, majestic, or historic trees on the site.
Source: City of Bulverde — Code of Ordinances, Article 17.06 Tree Preservation; City of Bulverde Building Permit FAQ. This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Bulverde code attaches
- Replanting / mitigation owed
- Total removal from a site can't exceed 60% of the combined caliper of Protected, Specimen, Majestic and Historic trees on it. Standard replacement is 1-to-1 by caliper inch; Majestic trees are 3-to-1. Up to 25% of the required replacement caliper (50% if there isn't room on site) can be paid into a city fund instead of planted.
- Fees
- No fee for the Tree Preservation and Replacement Permit if it's filed alongside a residential or commercial building permit.
- If you skip the permit
- A civil penalty of up to $1,000 per tree per day applies to removal without a permit; the city can also require replacement at 5x (Protected), 10x (Specimen) or 15x (Majestic/Historic) caliper.
- What's exempt
- Platted lots with an owner-occupied single-family residence are exempted from the tree removal permit requirement. Unplatted parcels larger than 4 acres with an owner-occupied single-family residence are also exempt, provided the owner gives prior written notice before removing more than three Protected, Specimen, Majestic or Historic trees. Chinaberry, Hackberry, Ashe Juniper (mountain cedar), Chinese Tallow and Mesquite don't count toward mitigation. A certified professional can also clear removal of a tree that's injured, dying, diseased, in danger of falling, interfering with utility service, or otherwise a hazard.
- Who to call
- City of Bulverde Building Review & Inspection
Check your own tree against Bulverde’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Bulverde, 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 Bulverde
Big rocky acreage on the southern Edwards Plateau. Room to work, but long carries. Forty-five minutes from Kyle. Big rocky acreage on the southern Edwards Plateau, forty-five minutes out. Room to work, but long drives and gates, so it batches best with other jobs in that direction. Room to work and room to drop, which keeps the price down per tree, and long private drives that decide whether the chipper gets near the job. Roughly an hour from Kyle, so it makes sense as a planned day with several trees rather than a single call-out.
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
Heritage live oak, often genuinely old, losing a twenty-year competition for water against dense ashe juniper. Removing that cedar is the highest-return work out here — those oaks recover faster than people expect once they aren't fighting for it. Heritage live oaks with twenty years of juniper packed in around them, which is the most satisfying work I do. Those oaks have been losing the competition for shallow water the whole time. Clear the juniper back and they put on growth again noticeably. Bulverde is acreage country at the head of the Cibolo, and the defining feature is big live oak mottes on ranchettes — which also makes it one of the areas where oak wilt does the most visible damage in Comal County. A motte is a connected stand rather than a group of individuals, so the fungus moves root to root and the loss reads as a widening hole in the canopy over several seasons. The other constant is juniper encroachment: land that isn't grazed or managed fills with cedar, which then competes with the oaks for water that isn't there in August.
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 Bulverde.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Bulverde?
It depends on the trunk size. Platted lots with an owner-occupied single-family residence are exempted from these requirements. ... The total tree removal from the site cannot exceed 60% of the total caliper width of protected, specimen, majestic, or historic trees on t… That is City of Bulverde — Code of Ordinances, Article 17.06 Tree Preservation; City of Bulverde Building Permit FAQ, and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Bulverde'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. Bulverde 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?
Most ordinances around here treat a dead, diseased or genuinely hazardous tree differently from a healthy one somebody would simply rather not have, and a written assessment from a Certified Arborist is usually what the city wants to see. There is one on my crew. Get the condition documented before you file anything, not after.
How much does tree removal cost in Bulverde?
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 Bulverde 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.