Seguin, Texas · Guadalupe County
Tree removal in Seguin
The Pecan Capital of Texas, with a 1,000-pound concrete pecan at the courthouse and a sixteen-foot fiberglass one across town.
Worth checking the homeowner exemption first.
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 Seguin actually regulates
Guadalupe County is one of the biggest pecan-producing counties in the state, and it's the river bottom soil that does it — deep and well-drained, exactly what a deep-rooted pecan wants. Old Seguin yard pecans are often enormous and carrying dangerous end-weight on limbs the owner stopped noticing years ago. Structural pruning to take that load off and clear the deadwood is the single most useful thing you can do for a big pecan.
6 inches in diameter and up
Check the exemption first
Worth checking the homeowner exemption first.
Seguin protects a canopy or large-maturing tree at 6 inches diameter and up (4 inches for a small-maturing species), measured 4.5 feet above grade — but the code carves out an exemption for a tree or trees located on platted or subdivided single-family residential properties. If that's your lot, the permit requirement doesn't apply, whatever the tree's size.
Under the threshold
Not regulated
Under Seguin's size floor, or your lot is exempt outright.
Below 4 to 6 inches diameter depending on the species, or on a platted single-family lot, there's nothing to file.
The ordinance, in its own words
A tree or trees located on platted or subdivided single-family residential properties [are exempt]. Any tree not classified as 'not protected,' listed in the preferred plant list and meeting the following criteria: 6 inch diameter or larger for canopy or large maturing trees measured 4.5 feet above natural grade; 4 inch diameter or larger for small maturing trees measured 4.5 feet above natural grade.
Source: City of Seguin — Unified Development Code, Appendix A Ch. 5 § 5.2 Landscaping (Tree Preservation/Removal). This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Seguin code attaches
- If it's part of building or development
- Non-exempt removals — commercial, multi-family, or development work — go through the Director of Planning.
- How it's measured
- Diameter measured 4.5 feet above natural grade. Canopy/large-maturing trees: 6 inches and up. Small-maturing species: 4 inches and up.
- Replanting / mitigation owed
- Standard replacement is 1-to-1 by diameter inch; a historically-recognized tree is 3-to-1. Where on-site replacement isn't practical, the Director can approve a $100-per-inch payment into the city's Tree Trust Fund instead.
- What's exempt
- Platted or subdivided single-family residential properties are exempt outright. Also exempt: dead, damaged or diseased trees confirmed by the city, storm or fire damage, agricultural clearing on ag-exempt land, an imminent public-safety hazard, and utility line work.
- Who to call
- City of Seguin Director of Planning
Check your own tree against Seguin’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Seguin, 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 Seguin
Town lots with very large trees on them, plus rural acreage. Generally good access; the challenge is the sheer size of the trees. Forty minutes from Kyle. Forty minutes out on deep Guadalupe River bottom soil. Old town pecans get enormous, so the constraint is usually the size of the wood rather than the approach to the property.
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
Pecan, in a county that is one of the biggest pecan producers in Texas, on deep well-drained river-bottom soil that is exactly what a deep-rooted pecan wants. Old Seguin yard pecans get enormous and carry dangerous end-weight on limbs the owner stopped noticing years ago. In a town this full of pecans, the thing you'll see every few summers is fall webworm — big greyish silk tents wrapped over the ends of branches, full of caterpillars. It looks like a disaster and it is almost entirely cosmetic. It arrives late enough in the season that the tree has already done most of its work for the year. Tearing open the webs so birds and wasps can get in does more than anything you'd spray, and burning them out of a tree is a genuinely bad idea that damages far more than the caterpillars would.
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 Seguin.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Seguin?
It depends on the trunk size. A tree or trees located on platted or subdivided single-family residential properties [are exempt]. Any tree not classified as 'not protected,' listed in the preferred plant list and meeting the following criteria: 6 inch diameter or larger… That is City of Seguin — Unified Development Code, Appendix A Ch. 5 § 5.2 Landscaping (Tree Preservation/Removal), and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Seguin'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. Seguin writes its rule in inches in diameter. 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 Seguin?
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 Seguin 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.