DIY Tree Work: Which Jobs You Can Do Yourself, and Which You Can't
There is no chainsaw licence in the United Kingdom. You can legally buy a chainsaw and fell a tree in your own garden with no training, no certificate and no permission.
Whether you should is a different question, and it has a job-by-job answer rather than a general one. The Health and Safety Executive publishes guidance under the heading that chainsaws and tree felling continue to kill.
Which jobs are safe to do yourself?
| Job | DIY? | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Hedge trimming, both feet on the ground | Yes | Check for nesting birds first |
| Pruning small branches with loppers or a pruning saw | Yes | Under wrist-thickness, reachable standing |
| Clearing fallen brash after a storm | Yes | Only once the tree is stable and on the ground |
| Watering, mulching, staking young trees | Yes | — |
| Formative pruning of a young tree | Usually | Cuts under 25mm, standing on the ground |
| Cutting anything above head height | No | Falling material and a saw are in the same space |
| Any chainsaw use off the ground | Never | Chainsaw from a ladder is the single worst thing on this list |
| Felling a tree taller than 5m | No | Hinge control failure is not recoverable |
| A tree near a building, wall, fence or cable | No | No margin for a misjudged fall line |
| A storm-damaged or leaning tree | Never | Stored tension releases unpredictably |
| Anything on a protected tree | No | Offence before it is a safety question |
The dividing line is not size. It is whether a mistake is recoverable, everything above the "no" line can go wrong and be corrected, everything below it goes wrong once.
What the law actually requires of you
Three separate rules apply, and only one of them is about competence.
No licence or certificate is required for domestic use. The Health and Safety Executive requirement for adequate training applies to chainsaw use at work. A homeowner cutting their own tree on their own property falls outside it.
A felling licence is not normally needed for a garden tree. The exemption under the Forestry Act 1967 covers trees in gardens, orchards and open spaces adjacent to a dwelling. The scope of the exemption stops at hedgerow and woodland trees, which usually do need one.
Protection overrides both. A Tree Preservation Order or conservation area designation applies regardless of who is holding the saw and regardless of any licence exemption.
That last one is where DIY becomes expensive rather than dangerous. A Surrey homeowner began felling two mature oaks in his own garden in March 2025 to clear space for an extension. A neighbour reported it, the council halted the work, and he was fined £2,500 with a mandatory replanting order, the trees carried a Tree Preservation Order he had never checked for.
The check takes one phone call. Winchester City Council's tree team answers on 01962 848 301.
The three jobs that cause most serious injuries
Chainsaw from a ladder. A chainsaw needs two hands. A ladder needs one. There is no version of this that is safe, and it accounts for a disproportionate share of severe domestic injuries. If the cut cannot be made with both feet on the ground, it is not a DIY cut.
Felling anything with a target. A tree falls where the hinge tells it to, and cutting an accurate hinge is a learned skill. Trees do not reliably fall where they lean, crown weight, decay in the stem and wind at the wrong moment all override it. A misjudged fall line in an open field is embarrassing. Beside a conservatory it is a claim.
Storm-damaged trees. A partially fallen or hung-up tree holds stored tension in fibres that are already failing. Cutting into it releases that tension in a direction nobody can predict, and the piece that moves is under load. This is the job most likely to be attempted by an untrained person, because it looks urgent and the tree is already half down.
What your insurance does and does not do
Household policies vary, and the detail matters more here than the headline.
Injury to yourself is not covered by buildings or contents insurance. The liability section may respond where you damage a neighbour's property, but insurers can and do question claims arising from work obviously beyond the policyholder's competence.
A tree you fell onto a neighbour's roof is your liability whether or not your insurer pays. Read the policy before starting, not afterwards.
When to hand it over
Where a cut needs to be made above head height or a tree needs taking down in sections, safe removal using sectional dismantling is a rigging job rather than a felling job, and the technique is what keeps the pieces off the greenhouse. For established trees needing shape or size work, crown reduction and pruning to a written specification gets a percentage and a cut point agreed in advance rather than judged from the ground. Storm damage and hung-up trees should go straight to emergency tree work rather than being approached with a saw. Apples, pears, plums and cherries are the one category where careful DIY pruning genuinely works, and fruit tree pruning timed to species sets out the windows.
Before any of it, confirm whether the tree carries a Tree Preservation Order, and if you are inside a conservation area, the six-week notice requirement applies to you personally, not just to a contractor.
Questions people actually ask
Do I need a licence to use a chainsaw at home?
No. There is no chainsaw licence in the UK, and the training requirement applies to work use. Training is still the difference between a controlled cut and an ambulance.
It's my tree in my garden, surely I can do what I like?
Ownership is not the constraint. A Tree Preservation Order or conservation area designation applies to you exactly as it would to a contractor, and the fine reaches £20,000.
The tree's already half down after the storm. Can I just cut the rest?
This is the most dangerous job on the list. The fibres holding it are under load and release unpredictably when cut.
How big is too big to fell myself?
Anything above about 5m, anything within its own height of a structure, and anything you cannot cut standing on the ground. Height alone is not the test, what is underneath it matters more.
Can I cut my neighbour's overhanging branches myself?
Back to the boundary line only, without entering their land, and the cuttings remain theirs. If the tree is protected, you need consent or notice first, several people a year get prosecuted for exercising a right they genuinely had.
What about hiring a chainsaw for the weekend?
Hire shops will rent to anyone. That is a commercial decision, not a safety assessment, and it is not evidence the job is within your competence.
Not Sure Which Side of the Line Your Job Falls On?
Send us a photo and a rough description, we'll tell you honestly whether it's a safe DIY job or one to book in.