Emergency and Storm-Damaged Tree Removal on the Gold Coast

What should I do first when a tree falls on my house?

In order:

1. Get everyone out of the affected part of the house and account for people and pets. Do not go back in for belongings while a tree is still bearing on the structure.
2. Assume every wire is live. Stay well clear of any fallen or sagging conductor, and of fences, puddles and vehicles touching one. Do not try to move a branch off a line.
3. Call 000 if anyone is injured or in immediate danger.
4. Call Energex on 13 19 62 for a fallen power line, a tree in wires, or shocks and tingles. Energex lists that number, alongside 000, for life-threatening emergencies. For a loss of supply with no danger, their outages line is 13 62 62 (Energex incidents and emergencies).
5. Call Queensland SES on 132 500 for non-life-threatening storm damage, such as a tree on the roof letting water in. You can also lodge a request at 132500.qld.gov.au or through the SES Assistance QLD app, which is often faster when the phone line is swamped.
6. Photograph everything before anything is moved, for your insurer.

Who do I call: SES, Energex, insurance or an arborist?

Each one does a different job, and calling the wrong one first costs time.

Who	What they handle	Number
000	Life-threatening danger, injury, fire	000
Energex	Fallen or damaged power lines, trees in wires, shocks and tingles	000 or 13 19 62
Queensland SES	Non-life-threatening storm damage, temporary make-safe	132 500
Your insurer	Claim, and often a make-safe contractor of their own	Your policy
Arborist	Removing the tree, clearing the debris, assessing what is left standing	Send photos for a quote

One thing worth knowing in advance: SES crews do temporary repairs only. Queensland SES says so plainly: permanent repairs and debris removal are for your insurer or a private contractor. A tarp over a hole is where their job ends and the tree business’s begins.

Will insurance pay for storm tree removal?

Sometimes, and it turns almost entirely on your policy wording and what the tree hit.

The common pattern across home policies: removing a fallen tree is covered where it has damaged an insured structure such as the house, the roof, a fence or a shed, and excluded where the tree simply came down in the yard without hitting anything. Limits on removal costs are usual, and some policies exclude trees that were already dead or diseased.

Read your product disclosure statement and ring your insurer before authorising non-urgent work. If something has to be made safe immediately to stop further damage, do that, and keep the photos and the invoice. This is general information, not advice on your policy.

How do I photograph damage for an insurance claim?

Before anything is moved, and while it is safe to do so:

• Wide shots of the whole scene, showing the tree and the building together.
• Close-ups of every point of damage: roof, gutters, fascia, walls, fencing, vehicles.
• The tree’s base and root plate, which shows whether it uprooted or snapped.
• Interior shots of any water coming in, including ceilings and floors.
• Anything that establishes when it happened: a timestamped phone photo is enough.

Keep every receipt, including make-safe work and a tarpaulin. Then send the same photos with your enquiry. They tell the arborist what equipment to bring.

Is a leaning tree an emergency?

Treat it as urgent if any of these are true: the lean is new, the soil around the base has lifted or cracked, roots are visible on the high side, there is a split or crack in the trunk, or the tree leans over a house, driveway, power line or play area.

Keep people well clear of the tree in every direction, further out than looks necessary, and get an arborist to look at it. A tree that has shifted once in saturated ground can shift again in the next blow.

What does emergency tree work cost?

A published Gold Coast price guide puts emergency and storm-damage work at roughly $490 to $4,900 per job, and a crane-assisted removal of a tree on a house or structure at $2,950 to $11,750, including GST (What’s The Damage, as of 26 October 2026). Urgency, access and whether a crane is needed drive it. The table below carries the figures and their sources, including an after-hours surcharge from a south-east Queensland guide.

Do you do after-hours and emergency call-outs?

This site does not promise an after-hours or round-the-clock response, because that depends on the tree business your enquiry reaches and no such commitment has been confirmed.

If the situation is dangerous now, the emergency numbers above are the right call, not a web form.

Estimated Gold Coast emergency and storm tree work costs

Job	Estimated range	Source
Emergency or storm-damage workper job	$490–$4,900Typical $1,475	What's The Damageas of 26 October 2026
Tree on a house or structure, crane-assistedper job	$2,950–$11,750Typical $6,850	What's The Damageas of 26 October 2026
After-hours or weekend surcharge (south-east Queensland)per job	$200–$800Added to the work done out of hours. The same guide puts an after-hours make-safe call-out at $450 to $1,500.	The Quote Yard (Queensland emergency tree guide)as of 27 October 2026