The most expensive advice in tree work is the advice to remove a tree that didn't need removing. A mature oak shading the west side of a Reading rowhome is worth real money in cooling, drainage, and property value, and it takes forty years to replace. So before anyone quotes you a removal, it's fair to ask what specifically they saw.
The findings that genuinely justify removal are structural. A crack running down the trunk, a hollow or cavity across a large share of the cross-section, a root plate that lifted in the last storm, mushroom conks at the base that indicate internal decay, or a lean that got worse since last year. Those are conditions no amount of pruning fixes.
The findings that usually don't justify removal are cosmetic or seasonal. Deadwood in the upper canopy can be pruned out. Limbs over the roof can be reduced and cleared. A tree that dropped early or looked thin one August might have been drought-stressed, not dying. Leaf spot, minor cavities, and surface roots are almost never removal reasons on their own.
There is a third category worth naming: trees that are healthy but planted wrong. A silver maple eight feet from a foundation, a Bradford pear that splits at every ice storm, or a spruce planted under a service drop. These are structurally fine and still worth removing, because the problem is location and location doesn't improve.
When we walk a property in Berks County, we tell you which of those three categories your tree is in, and if it's the second one, we say so even though pruning is the smaller invoice. A company that recommends removal for every tree it looks at is telling you something about the company, not about your trees.