Be honest about the line
There is a genuine category of tree work that a capable property owner can do. There is a much larger category that gets attempted by capable property owners and goes wrong, and the difference is not courage or tool quality.
The honest line sits about here. If the tree can be felled in one piece from the ground, into open space at least two tree lengths clear, with nothing within reach of the fall in any direction, and it is not protected, and you have used a chainsaw before — that is a job you can consider.
Everything else is rigging work, and rigging is a skill, not an attitude.
Five reasons to stop
You would need a ladder. A ladder and a chainsaw together is the single most common mechanism of serious injury in domestic tree work. There is no safe version.
There are power lines anywhere near. Not just overhead mains — the service drop from the street to your house counts, and so does a communications cable. Contact is fatal and does not require touching the conductor directly.
The tree can reach anything you value. A roof, a car, a fence, a pool, a shed, a neighbour's property. Once the answer is "it could hit that", the job needs sections lowered under control, and that needs somebody who rigs.
The tree is dead, leaning, or has visible defects. Dead wood behaves unpredictably, decay hides in stems, and a tree already under load releases that load in ways that are hard to read.
The block is steep. Half the Illawarra is. Working uphill of a falling tree on a slope with loose footing removes every escape route you were counting on.
If you are going ahead
Gear: chainsaw chaps or trousers, steel-capped boots, gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, and a hard hat. Chaps in particular — they are cheap and they are the reason a lot of people still have a leg.
Never work alone. Somebody else should be present, out of the drop zone, with a phone.
Clear two escape routes at roughly 45 degrees away from the intended fall direction, and clear them properly rather than glancing at them.
Check the tree before cutting: dead limbs in the crown that can come down on you, lean, wind, weight distribution, and anything caught up in the canopy.
Do not cut above shoulder height. Do not cut with the tip of the bar. Keep the chain sharp, because a blunt chain requires force and force is how you lose control of a saw.
The actual felling technique — the hinge, the notch and the back cut — is covered in how to chop a tree down, including why it is rarely the method used on suburban jobs here.
Cutting up what is already down
Far more approachable, and still not trivial. A fallen tree is full of stored tension, and a limb under compression will close on the bar while one under tension will spring. Cut from the compression side first, in stages, and never stand in line with anything that could release.
Anything caught up in another tree — a "hung-up" tree — is the most dangerous object in domestic tree work and should be left entirely to somebody with the equipment to bring it down under control.
Getting the decision right
Before either the saw or the phone comes out, check whether the tree is protected — see can I cut down trees on my property and the approval guide. And check whether the tree needs removing at all, because reduction solves a great many problems that present as removals.
For anything past the line, ring (02) 4210 5885.
Frequently asked questions
What size tree can I safely cut down myself?
A rough working line is a small tree you can fell in one piece, from ground level, with two clear tree lengths of open space in the direction it will fall and nothing of value within reach in any direction. That is a very small tree in a suburban yard. Anything you would need a ladder or a rope for is past the line, regardless of diameter.
Is it legal to cut down a tree on my own land?
Only if it is not protected. Council tree preservation controls apply on private land across Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama, and doing the work yourself does not change that. The legal question and the safety question are separate and you need a yes to both. Check the approval position before you check the chainsaw.
What is the most common way people get hurt doing this?
Working from a ladder with a chainsaw. It is the leading cause of serious injury in domestic tree work by a wide margin, because a ladder gives you no stable base for a tool that can kick back, and both hands are already occupied. The second most common is being struck by material that came down differently from how it was expected to.