Varsity Lakes
Tree removal in Varsity Lakes
Tree lopping, removal and stump grinding in Varsity Lakes, where the blocks are small and some back onto the wetlands reserve.
Tree work in Varsity Lakes
Small blocks on an old swamp
Leaving out units, townhouses and the largest parcels, the City Plan's property boundary data gives Varsity Lakes a median lot of 487 square metres, smaller than in Robina, Burleigh Waters, Burleigh Heads, Reedy Creek or Mudgeeraba. On a block that size a back yard tree is usually reached down a narrow side path, and the branches are carried out by hand or lifted over the roof.
Before the suburbs came, this was Stephens Swamp, a large wetland running from Burleigh Heads to Reedy Creek, drained northwards to the Little Tallebudgera Creek. Ground that was swamp can stay wet, so trees grow shallow, wide root plates, and soft ground after rain limits where a heavy machine can stand.
Services in Varsity Lakes
Side paths and back fences
Tree removal
Taken down in sections and carried out down the side path.
Hedge trimming
Hedges cut back along the fence line, with the clippings bagged and taken away.
Tree pruning
Limbs cut back from the roofline and gutters on your side of the fence.
What it costs: tree removal cost, stump grinding cost, palm removal cost
Compared: removal, lopping or pruning, stump grinding or stump removal, council tree rules compared
How it works
Four steps, and the permit comes before the price
Nothing happens without a written quote you have agreed to.
- 1
Call or send the form
Include the suburb, your details and what needs to be done.
- 2
A contractor comes to see it
On site, not off a photo, because access and what sits underneath change the job.
- 3
The permit position is checked
Against the city's vegetation mapping and the koala controls, before a price is given.
- 4
Quoted in writing
The quote sets out the scope, the timber, the stump and the date. Then a date is booked.
Varsity Lakes questions
The wetlands reserve and the tuckeroos
What changes for a home backing onto the wetlands reserve?
Two things. The City describes the Varsity Lakes Wetlands Reserve as a restored natural wetland, with a path through melaleuca and blue gum open forest, so the work on your side is mostly gum limbs, paperbark and leaf litter over the fence and into the gutters. And the council's bushfire hazard overlay maps parts of the reserve as High Potential Bushfire Intensity, so keeping your own trees and shrubs pruned back from the roofline is worth doing before the fire season.
Whose are the tuckeroos out the front?
Usually the council's. The City of Gold Coast's Urban Forest tree records hold 1,014 tuckeroos inside Varsity Lakes, nearly twice the next most recorded tree there, the weeping lily pilly. Cutting one back from a roof or driveway is a request to council rather than a private job.
Backing onto the reserve?