Tree Service in Brea, CA

Tree trimming, removal, stump grinding and arborist reports for Brea homes, HOAs and commercial properties, from a family-owned Orange County tree company founded in 1980.

Brea takes its name from the Spanish word for tar. The town grew up around the Brea-Olinda oil field in the early 1900s, incorporated in 1917, and later planted lemon and orange groves; the Chamber of Commerce once promoted it with the slogan "Oil, Oranges, and Opportunity." Starting in the 1980s, large planned neighborhoods spread across the hills east of the 57 Freeway. Today about 47,300 people (2020 census) live in Brea, from the older blocks near downtown to hillside HOAs toward Carbon Canyon.

Peterson's Tree Works is a family-owned tree company based in Orange. Our ISA Certified Arborists provide tree trimming and pruning, tree removal, palm tree service and stump grinding for Brea homeowners, HOAs and businesses, following ANSI A300 pruning standards and ANSI Z133 safety standards.

Brea lots run from older blocks near downtown to hillside HOA homes toward Carbon Canyon, where slope, sun and the wildland edge decide what belongs in the yard. We plant trees and we plant succulents and other plants in private yards, choosing species that fit the space at mature size and, on hillside lots, keeping new trees away from roofs, chimneys and back fences so they stay easy to keep fire-safe. On commercial sites and larger parcels covered by Brea's Tree Preservation ordinance, replacement trees for a permitted removal are 24-inch box natives, and we can help plan those. Want a parkway tree where there isn't one? The City plants street trees under Chapter 12.20, so join its Parkway Tree Interest list at TreeInterest@cityofbrea.gov instead of planting one yourself.

Hillside HOAs and the Wildland Edge

Brea's newer neighborhoods climb toward Carbon Canyon and the Chino Hills, with HOA greenbelts, slopes and wildland right behind many back fences. Fire-safe pruning matters here: removing deadwood, lifting low branches, keeping limbs away from roofs and chimneys, and clearing dead palm fronds. Check your address on CAL FIRE's fire hazard severity zone map and ask your HOA about its defensible-space and landscaping rules before major tree work. Brea's tree ordinance also exempts trees covered by an official fuel modification plan or other defensible-space requirements.

We work with homeowners, HOAs and property managers. We're licensed, insured and bonded, and we can provide general liability and workers' compensation certificates on request. If a tree or big limb comes down in Santa Ana winds, call our emergency tree service line.

In Brea, street and parkway trees belong to the city. Under Brea Municipal Code Chapter 12.20, the city has exclusive authority to prune, root prune, plant and remove street trees, and no one may cut, trim, prune, remove or spray one without written permission from the city first. The city contracts out parkway tree trimming on a set schedule: every three years for most trees and every year for palms. If you think the tree in front of your home needs attention sooner, call Public Works at (714) 990-7691 or email PWServiceRequest@cityofbrea.gov.

The code also lists when a parkway tree can be removed, such as when it's dead or dying, growing into sewer or water lines or power lines that can't reasonably be cleared, leaning badly, badly damaging sidewalks and curbs, or blocking a traffic sign that simple trimming won't fix. Want a street tree where there isn't one? Brea keeps a Parkway Tree Interest list (TreeInterest@cityofbrea.gov); your parkway's width and the utilities nearby decide which species, if any, will fit.

Owners still have one duty: don't let branches from your own trees hang over the sidewalk. We raise canopies over sidewalks and driveways and thin heavy limbs on private trees, and we never top trees.

Brea's Tree Preservation ordinance (Chapter 20.74) protects certain native trees: oaks, willows, sycamores, Southern California black walnuts, cottonwoods and white alders with a trunk at least 6 inches across at 4.5 feet high (12 inches combined for multi-trunk trees), plus Tecate cypress of any size. It applies to commercial properties and to parcels or project sites of 20,000 square feet or more, which includes many larger hillside lots. On those properties, removing a protected tree needs a tree permit from Community Development, with a report from a Certified Arborist, and each removed tree has to be replaced with 24-inch box native trees at 2 to 7 replacements per tree depending on its size.

Routine pruning of a protected tree doesn't need a permit, as long as the work follows ANSI A300 and doesn't harm the tree; the ordinance's definition of pruning covers deadwood and live limbs up to 6 inches around at the cut. Our ISA Certified Arborists can tell you whether a tree on your lot is protected, prune it correctly, and write the arborist report if a permit is needed.

Homeowners across Orange County rate Peterson's Tree Works highly on Google. Read our Google reviews.

Family Owned Since 1980

ISA Certified Arborists

Licensed, Insured & Bonded

Orange, LA & Riverside Counties

We also work in Olinda Ranch, Carbon Canyon and La Habra, plus these nearby areas: Yorba Linda · Placentia · Fullerton · Anaheim Hills. See every city on our Orange County service areas page.

Our tree work follows ISA best practices and the ANSI A300 tree care standards, and our crews work to the ANSI Z133 safety standard. Work is overseen by Tanner Peterson, ISA Certified Arborist WE-15767A. California Contractor License #567834 (CSLB).