Hedge Trimming Burnaby — Cedar, Laurel & Privacy Hedges

Within the sight triangle at a street corner — the area bounded by the intersecting lot lines, measured 9.0 m from the point of intersection — no hedge, shrub, tree or other growth may exceed 1.07 m (3.51 ft) or be allowed to obstruct vision. This applies in every zoning district in Burnaby, and hedges are named explicitly in the bylaw. 1.07 m is roughly waist height, so most established corner hedges are over it. Outside the sight triangle, Burnaby does not impose that height limit on hedges. We measure the triangle during the free estimate and tell you whether compliant height is reachable without cutting into dead wood.

Not in one pass, and this is the single most important thing to understand about cedar. Emerald cedar and western red cedar do not regenerate from old wood — cut into the bare brown interior and that section stays bare permanently. There is no recovery cut. If your cedar hedge has outgrown its space, the fix is a staged reduction: trim to the innermost live growth, let the plant thicken over a season, then take the next increment. Laurel and boxwood are different and will push new growth from old wood. We check where the live growth actually ends before quoting any reduction.

We trim cedar after the main flush of new spring growth has hardened rather than during active extension, which lets the cut heal into firm wood and holds the shape longer. We avoid heavy work during hard frost and during peak heat events, since both stress the plant at the cut surface. Light shaping can be done across a wider window. If you need a specific height by a specific date, tell us — the timing of a staged reduction has to be planned backwards from that.

Hedge trimming is quoted on length, height and access rather than a flat rate, because those variables change the job entirely — a waist-height boxwood border and a 12-foot cedar run on a sloped lot are different work. The two Burnaby-specific cost drivers are height and disposal volume: anything above roughly 10 feet requires platform or ladder work with a second crew member under WorkSafeBC rules, and a mature 30-metre cedar run can fill a truck with clippings. Our quotes include haul-away. We provide free, no-obligation on-site estimates, and for stratas or multi-hedge properties we price a seasonal schedule rather than one-off visits.

It depends entirely on the cause, which is why we assess before recommending. Browning from drought stress or from shading by a neighbouring tree can often recover once the underlying condition is addressed. Browning from a previous over-cut into old wood will not recover, because cedar does not regenerate from bare wood — that section needs replacement planting rather than more trimming. Root competition from a nearby mature tree is a common and under-diagnosed cause in Burnaby's older neighbourhoods, and the fix there is tree work or a root barrier, not hedge work. Our ISA-certified arborists identify which one you have.

Yes, haul-away is included in every quote we give. This matters more than people expect — a mature 30-metre cedar hedge generates enough green waste to fill a truck, and disposal is a real cost. If you are comparing quotes, confirm whether debris removal is priced in or left to you, because that single line item is where quotes most often diverge. We leave the site clean.