Mokena Tree Service
Pro Tree Service is a family-owned Mokena tree service working in the Chicago southland since 1989. We trim and remove trees, grind stumps and clear lots. We also respond to storm damage for homeowners, property managers, commercial sites and municipalities across Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Our yard is at 19253 South Blackhawk Parkway in Mokena. It has always been the place we work out of. We are not a franchise, and not a call center routing your job to whoever is available. When you call, you reach the company that will do the work.
- 1989Year we started, in Mokena
- EmployeesOur own crews, not subcontractors
- 30+Municipalities we hold bonds and registrations in
- 24/7Storm response
What a Mokena Tree Service Can Tell You That a Broker Cannot
A lot of what gets sold as tree service in this market is a sales operation with a phone number. The company that quotes your job is not the company that shows up. Furthermore, the crew that arrives has no relationship with whoever priced it. That is where most of the complaints in this trade come from.
We are built the other way, and three things follow from it.
- The crews are our employeesThey are on our payroll and our workers’ compensation policy. That matters for a practical reason beyond quality. After an injury on your property, the coverage question has a clean answer. When a company subcontracts, that answer gets complicated on your homeowner’s policy.
- We own the equipmentCrane, bucket trucks, chippers and stump grinders, all in-house. So we are not renting a crane and passing the day rate to you. Moreover, we are not scheduling around somebody else’s availability. When a removal needs a crane, we bring ours.
- We carry the paperworkBonds, contractor registrations and certificates of insurance across 30-plus Chicagoland municipalities, kept current. For a commercial or municipal buyer this usually decides whether a bid is even accepted.
Licensing and Registration in Mokena
Village Code section 3-1-1 requires a license for any business operating in Mokena. It applies to anyone performing any part of a business activity inside the village. That includes a contractor based somewhere else who drives in for the day. So the Village expects a tree company to hold a license and registration before the work starts, not after.
This is worth asking about before you hire anyone. An unregistered contractor is a signal about the rest of the operation. If they skipped the licensing, verify the insurance and the workers’ compensation coverage too. Ask any Mokena tree service for proof of village registration and a current certificate of insurance. We send both without being chased for them.
When a Tree Removal Permit Is Required in Mokena
This is the question we get asked most, and the answer surprises people. Mokena’s tree ordinance is Title 7, Chapter 2 of the Village Code. The Village amended section 7-2-5 in April 2024. The permit requirement attaches to the location of the tree, not its size or species.
| Where the tree is | Village tree permit needed? |
|---|---|
| Parkway, street right of way, or any village-owned property | Yes. The Village Arborist/Forester determines whether an EZ permit is required. Applications are made at the office of the Village Clerk at least 48 hours before work begins. |
| Your own private property, front or back yard | No. Mokena does not require a village tree permit to remove a tree on private property, regardless of trunk diameter. |
| Site clearing ahead of construction | Usually. Section 8-1-4 requires a building permit before clearing or excavating the site of a proposed building or structure. |
Where an EZ permit does apply, it carries a fixed expiration date. Any breach of its terms voids it. Furthermore, notice of completion has to reach the Village Arborist/Forester within five days for inspection. Removing a parkway tree also obliges the property owner to replace it at their own cost. That replacement meets the Village’s standards for size, species and placement.
Before you pay anyone to remove a parkway tree, call the Village at (708) 479-3900. Mokena removes and replaces public parkway trees at no cost to residents inside the corporate limits. That covers trees that died from natural causes or that storms destroyed. So we would rather tell you about a free village service than sell you a removal you did not need.
Pruning Standards for Public Trees
Section 7-2-6 sets real standards for work on village-owned trees. Indeed, they are stricter than most homeowners expect. Pruning has to conform to ANSI A300 and ANSI Z133.1. Moreover, the ordinance specifically prohibits header cuts, topping, lion tailing, and removing more than twenty percent of a crown in a calendar year. The Village and its approved arborist contractors are the sole providers of pruning and removal on public trees. That holds unless the Village gives prior written approval.
Those same standards are how we work on private trees too, whether or not an ordinance is watching. Topping a tree is the fastest way to destroy it. So any Mokena tree service that offers to top your oak is telling you something about their training.
Bonding, Insurance and Paperwork
For homeowners, the paperwork that matters is a current certificate of insurance and confirmation of workers’ compensation coverage. For commercial and municipal customers it goes further. They need certificates naming the correct entity as additional insured, bond confirmation and a W-9. Furthermore, contractor registration has to sit on file with the village before that village can issue a purchase order.
We keep bonds and registrations current across more than thirty Chicagoland municipalities. We can also turn a certificate of insurance around the same day, made out to a property owner, a management company or a village. If a bid package needs something specific, tell us what the form says and we will produce it.
Who We Work For
Roughly half our work is residential. That is the dead ash in the back yard, limbs over a roof, a tree that came down in a storm. The rest is commercial and institutional: property management companies, homeowner associations, industrial sites, developers clearing lots, and municipalities.
Those two sides of the business need different things. Homeowners want a straight price and a crew that cleans up. By contrast, commercial and municipal customers want the documentation in order before we schedule the work. We handle both, and the paperwork side is not an afterthought here.
Equipment and Capability
Most tree companies in this market can handle a straightforward removal in an open yard. The jobs that separate outfits are the ones with no room. Consider a large tree between two houses, something over a garage or a pool, or a trunk leaning toward a neighbor’s roof.
That work needs a crane, and it needs operators who use one regularly rather than occasionally. So we run our own crane and bucket trucks, chippers and stump grinders. Every removal includes haul-away of the wood and brush. Furthermore, we grind stumps four to eight inches below grade, deeper if you intend to replant in the same spot.
Storm Response
When a significant wind or ice event moves through, demand across the whole region spikes in the same hour. So we stage crews in the affected area rather than spreading them across the map. Trees on occupied structures come first, then blocked driveways and access, then everything else.
During a large regional event that can mean a wait. However, we will tell you honestly where you sit in the queue rather than promise a window we cannot hold. If a tree is into a service line, call the utility first. Then stay clear of any limb touching a wire.
Where We Work
We work throughout the Chicago southland and southwest suburbs. We also cover north and northwest Cook County in scheduled blocks, and across the state line into northwest Indiana. Our coverage is organized by county: Cook, Will and DuPage in Illinois, plus northwest Indiana. The full list is on our service area page.
If your town is not listed, call. We will tell you right away whether we reach you, rather than send someone out to find out.
What to Expect From an Estimate
Tell us the address and what you are looking at. That might be a leaning trunk, limbs over the roof, a dead ash or storm damage. We come out, look at the tree, and give you a written price. There is no charge and no obligation. Furthermore, we schedule estimates any day of the week.
If a permit applies at the address, we will tell you before you spend money on it. The same goes if the tree turns out to sit under village jurisdiction rather than yours. Ash trees in particular are worth asking about early. Once a dead ash dries out, nobody can climb it safely. Then it has to come down from a bucket or crane, which costs considerably more than removing the same tree the year it died. The Morton Arboretum has a good plain-language explanation of what emerald ash borer does.
Ordinance details on this page are current as of the 2026 S-17 codification of the Mokena Village Code. We provide them as general information. Confirm current requirements with the Village before relying on them.
Pro Tree Service · 19253 South Blackhawk Parkway #80, Mokena, Illinois 60448 · Serving Illinois and northwest Indiana since 1989 · Storm response 24 hours a day, 7 days a week