For a little extra fee, you can ask them to grind out the stump. That will also help with resprouting (it would only be able to resprout along the buried roots if you grind out the stump.

It would be best to wait until fall to replant in the area and that will give you some time to look over the area without the tree in place and to do some research on what would meet your desires.

Rather than the yellow pages (those are so yesterday), I've found myself using google maps lately to find services that are nearby. Especially when it comes to tree services... the farther away they are, the more expensive it will probably be.
But the nice thing about google maps is it shows customer reviews and ratings if there are any that it scours from across the web.

There's also other sites that have their own ratings like servicemagic, angies list, kudzu.com etc.

You can go to treesaregood.com and get a list of certified arborists and try to find out who they work for. Either way, don't skip the BBB search too.

Other than being licensed and insured

====>>>>

IMHO.. thats about it ... if the issue is simply taking the tree down ... you just dont need all that much more training or schooling to do that ... and i dont know why you would care if they were into topping trees.. since you are basically topping it at ground level and then grinding out the rest ... lol ..

ask for a copy of the ins policy .. and call the company the day before to insure the policy is still in effect .... scum tend to get the policy.. and then cancel it ... so they have something to show you ...

not sure there is licensing ....

get at least 3 estimates .... as they might vary by hundreds if not thousands of dollars ...

whether they climb ... or use a bucket truck is irrelevant ... since if they use spikes.. it should NOT hurt the tree you are killing ....

if you have any use for the chips.. ask if they can be left ... but it sounds like you might have a small lot for a big dump of chips ...

ask to keep the sectioned straight parts for firewood if you have a fireplace ...

include removal everything you want to disappear ...

whether or not.. you get some sucker action next year.. most will be taken care of by the lawn mower ... once ground out.. it should die completely.. but some of these trees really have a survival mechanism.. and it doesnt necessarily mean the tree guy messed up ...

good luck, it should be very exciting to renovate the entire front yard of your home...

ken

None of my neighbours have had the stumps ground. Most of them have let the suckers grow up around the stump, to make a 'shrub'. Which I do NOT want.

I noticed none of the companies have advertised being bonded,either. Is that standard? Most other trades I've worked with say they are bonded. I always ask for insurance, too, and they always say 'yes' but few ever produce the document. In this case, I am for sure calling on that. I have never actually verified a policy before.

seahorse

I recently hired a tree service for a commercial property. 3 trees removed the quotes ranged from $500-$3,000 (total)
two were referrals (most expensive), 1 I saw their sign on the side of the road (cheapest), and the others I got from google maps which I told you about earlier.
Half the tree services I called, they told me their rep will call back and then they never did. So I was lucky to get 4 quotes.

Nearly hired the cheapest but they wouldn't produce insurance documents and stopped returning phone calls.

Nearly hired the most expensive but they were trying to tell me find some local "billy bob" who would do it for a fraction of the cost.

Not to sound like a commercial for google maps but It is the one I found on google maps with zillions of positive customer reviews that I ended up hiring. I visited their website which actually had a blurb that talked about how "topping" is wrong. And I can totally understand not wanting to support tree services that do topping. They have a ISA certified arborist on staff too. The quote was $750. Not much more than billy bob. The contract said they were to carry insurance anyway.

Even got a free consult from them on some other trees while they were out looking.

As for being bonded, I don't think it is relevant to a job like this. It's not like they are going to go bankrupt halfway through cutting down the tree.

Cutting down a Bradford shouldn't be rocket science. Neither should grinding its stump.

Tree service companies must make a mint removing their shattered remains.