I live in the Boston area, which has a high cost of living. On top of that, my town is affluent and some companies inflate their prices as soon as they hear the address. Fortunately I have a friend who is an arborist, and he is reasonable with his charges. Last November he removed 2 large Norway maples, along with some serious limbing of other trees. The Maples were 50 years old and at least 60 feet high. He had 4 guys working with him and both trees had to be climbed and cut piecemeal due to their locations, one being next to the house, the other near gardens. They worked all day. The wood was left behind in pieces (cut and taken away by another friend). Some but not all of the brush was chipped and left in a pile. One of the stumps was ground. Total cost - $1500. I would have expected a quote of maybe double that from one of the local tree companies. $4500 seems ridiculously high for one tree, even if tree is huge, next to a house, power lines, etc. and the arborist is not a friend. Perhaps you could ask around for referrals from people you know. A couple of people have mentioned companies they know of that they said did good work for a reasonable fee. I would have looked into if I didn't know someone already.

If I took a picture of the hole, would you guys be able to tell me if it was a hydraulic hole or one used to drain oil and gas? We have thought about going the air compressor/jackhammer route with a dumpster. They want $400 for just the dumpster and then charge the dumping of it based on weight. I was hoping to have a guy around here take it and use it for "fill". Okay, the real reason I want this done is this: Because it was an attached garage there are/were no windows on the lower entire side of the east side of our house. I hate how it looks. It runs along our living room, kitchen etc and I want to plant trees to hide that fact. Our entire first floor is cinderblock (hidden under vinyl siding) so getting windows put in would be a major pain. The neighbors said try the window route and pave the slab and make it a nice patio. But I want a yard there, and to plant trees there and possibly get a window in somewhere. DH is a little intimidated about doing it himself. He's a suit and tie kind of guy, (I don't mean that pejoratively obviously) and learning to drywall was a big step for he and I, which we did this year. But the jack hammering of such a large slab is something he isn't sure he wants to take on. He's not sure how long it would take, and the safety of doing it ourselves, and since it was an attached garage, the concrete slab abuts our house. We can't tell how complicated THAT would be, getting that close to the foundation. ETA: Ken, the gravel pit is right down the road; their soil is our native soil. After what you said about the Feds, and this being NY, there is no way I'm going to have a soil test now. lol This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Sun, Oct 6, 13 at 12:19

kcmnc, shrubs grow faster than you assume. Here is a bed I planted in the fall of 2009, but photographed in June 2010, with nothing taller than 3' except a very few of the evergreens that were 4'-5'. Most of the rhododendrons, dogwoods, spicebushes, hydrangeas, etc were under 2', and some were about 6". The cherry trunk visible in the photo below is just out of sight to the right in this photo. And here it is in 2014, with just less than 5 years in the ground. The large pink Hydrangea paniculata 'Pinky Winky' is 8' tall x 12' wide, well over my head (it is the little lopsided green blob on the left in photo 1.) Note how much space between the hydrangea and the dark green arborvitae in photo 1; they are touching in photo 2. Even after gardening for 35+ years, I was floored by how quickly it filled in! It has almost totally hidden the large logs, buildings, and solar panels it was designed to keep out of sight. Many of the perennials I put in initially have disappeared since they were overgrown by the shrubs. Seriously consider looking up your shrub's predicted width and plant accordingly as suggested above by all of us. In two years you will have covered at least half of the foundation as long as they are plants suited for the spot (soil, sun, etc), and the plants will create a distraction that makes it less apparent since your eyes will have something else to focus on of more interest. Are you planning on staying less than 3 years? You also always have the option of parging or painting the foundation to make it fade into the background better. If you leave the shrubs where they are, either you or a future owner will regret it since you/they will be putting in time fighting to keep them away from the building.

Best way to deal with something like this, if to allow the water to bypass the block and drain out under the slab. The water will percolate into the ground below the slab or find its way into the sump pump. We do this all the time and this method is approved by most engineers. The way this is done, on the problematic wall, you cut a narrow strip of the slab near the block wall 4' on center (strip to cut 3" x 8" big enough to install the pipe), drill a hole in the block and install a 3/4 PVC pipe with a 90-degree elbow and fill the cut portion of concrete with cement. If you handy enough it can be done DIY with a few tools you can rent for 1/2 day rental, if not you can hire a local masonry contractor and they can do that in one day. Here is a cross section so you get an idea. Filling with cement is not a good idea, you will not fill cinder block cells solid enough to prevent water seepage it will be a waste of time, money and too much work. If you have a cracked concrete wall the repair can be done by installing injector ports and the crack can be filled solid using epoxy.