I doubt they would be valuable enough for someone to want to take them out gratis. If you do decide to take them out, be sure to look into your city's policy on taking out trees. Some areas have stringent permit regulations.

A few years ago some customers north of Seattle had a Douglas fir with a trunk about that thick taken out with a construction crane. Believe they said the cost was $10,000! With nothing but an open lawn immediately west of the tree, surely it could have been climbed and brought down in sections by a competent arborist for considerably less money.

Still would have been likely to cost thousands, however. You have to help them pay for their equipment and insurance when you hired a certified, licensed professional.

We had some large trees removed this year, in confined spaces on a city lot. The arborist cut off pieces and dropped them, so there has to be an area next to the tree to drop large chunks. He wouldn't give us a break on the value of the wood, and we couldn't find anyone to buy the wood, only people who wanted to haul it away for free for firewood.LOL You could shop around for a lower-cost arborist. There is a man in Portland who will assist people in reclaiming wood from trees (he dries, planks, and sells the wood), maybe there is someone like him in Seattle, but he doesn't pay much for the wood either.

Once after a really bad wind storm we had numerous large trees fall, and ended up with a logging truck full, so we did get paid for the trees, but they were in logging truck lengths.

Who said a crane would be needed? You might be surprised what a good tree climber can do. I know some good climbers that rarely use a crane. You're right though, when a crane is needed, the price goes up.

Considering that timber companies are laying off people and losing money during this recession (no housed being built so no lumber needed), and that timber prices are way down, no your three trees do not have any monetary value as timber. Firewood would have some small value, but that's it.

Even when timber prices are decent the value of a few trees barely covers the cost of bringing them down - and that's in undeveloped land, where the trees can just be dropped, not in a built-up area where they have to be lowered. I knew someone who had 5 acres of timber cleared to expand his business a few years ago and he told me that selling the timber just paid for the cost of clearing the land.

It does sound like that I will just have to pay the sticker price. Not $10,000 though. A friend's friend had a tree taken down with crane and cost $2000. I haven't gotten any quote yet, but if it comes down to $10,000 a tree, I will just have to leave those trees alone.
Thanks for posting, everyone!

Keep shopping around. Several years ago we needed a tree cut down. My father in-law sent "a guy he knew" over to cut it down for free. YEAH! GREAT! He just wanted the wood (for firewood)as payment and he hauled it. It was a little stressful watching the progress. In the end he took everything branches and all in one day. I was a amazed that all they left was the tiny bits of greenery which we hauled in four truck loads to the composter. It was a large tree. Ended up costing around $50 at the composter and a little stress from watching.

If an uninsured, under-qualified party came out and dropped a tree on your house or the neighbor's car it could get real expensive in an instant.

I completely agree. It was a huge risk to take. The stress factor was more than a little high. We will probably not do it this way again.

We had 3 or 4 trees taken down several years ago and paid around $500. That's very rare, though. It was one guy doing it alone. He climbed to the top and took it down section by section. One tree was around 6'diameter or more at the base. This tree was about 20' from our house, so we've been glad it's gone with all the wind storms we've had the past several years.

Just had an ailanthus cluster (3 merged trees) taken down, the whole mess was about 45x35 feet. $1500. 15-foot circumference at chest height. Took a crew of 3 parts of two days.