McKinney Brothers Tree Service has built its reputation on one number: 79 Google reviews averaging 4.9 stars, and reading through them the same story repeats — a crew that shows up, cuts carefully, and leaves the yard cleaner than it found it. Kirk and Kimberly McKinney have run the company as a family operation out of Westwood/Dedham since 1994, and the company says it now covers Needham, Newton, Brookline and towns across the western Boston suburbs for tree pruning, removal, stump grinding, hedge and shrub trimming, and storm cleanup.
The written record backs the star average with specifics, not just praise. Reviewers describe a wind-toppled Blue Spruce taken down within two days of a February storm, at a fair quote for a tough job. In a 2022 review, a homeowner recounted a large white oak that fell short of the house grazing the garage — McKinney removed it without a crane to spare the driveway, after other bidders wanted to bring one in. More recently, a customer who called three companies for quotes on trimming several trees says Kirk responded fastest and priced it lowest, while a competitor asked for double.
That pattern of competitive pricing and thorough cleanup shows up again and again across 48 reviews on file dating back to 2021, with six posted in the last six months and none of them negative.
One review is worth flagging before booking: in late 2025, a customer reported that the crew wouldn't trim the branches of their Maple tree overhanging the street and sidewalk, leaving it looking lopsided from the intersection — they were told that was the utility company's job once branches reach the wires. It's a scope-of-work boundary rather than a complaint about the quality of work done, but it's the one crack in an otherwise clean run of five-star jobs, and it's worth asking directly whether a planned job touches a public right-of-way or overhead lines.
The company is BBB accredited with an A+ rating, and describes itself as family-owned and operated with 32 years in business. For homeowners in Needham, Westwood, Dedham and the surrounding towns needing a tree pruned, removed, or cleared after a storm, that combination — a long local run, a deep and mostly spotless review history, and a crew people call back for a second or third job — is what to expect. Just confirm upfront whether utility-line or street-side work is part of the estimate.
