How much does it cost to remove an arborvitae?
Removing an arborvitae around Indianapolis typically runs $100 to $700, with most jobs near $250. It is the default privacy hedge in every central Indiana subdivision, and the two things that end them are deer and ice. Because they go in as tight rows on a property line, one failed plant is a permanent visible hole that never fills — so arborvitae work is usually a replacement-and-reset job rather than a single removal.
Mature size, and the bracket it puts you in
The straight species reaches 40-60 ft by 10-15 ft, but almost nothing in an Indiana yard is the species — 'Emerald Green' tops out around 12-15 ft by 3-4 ft while 'Green Giant' runs 40-60 ft, and knowing which one you have determines every other answer. Expect 25-40 years in a maintained landscape; removal is the cheapest bracket there is, and the cost scales with how many plants are in the row rather than the size of any one of them.
Condition changes the price
Ice is the defining structural event — multi-stemmed and globe forms have no single dominant trunk, so an ice load splays the stems outward from the center, the bark tears at the union, and they stay splayed permanently. Tying multi-stem plants before winter or cabling the leaders on larger specimens is the standard preventative, and because the plants are small this is a cosmetic and replacement-cost problem rather than a property-damage one.
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