Tree Company Drops Tree on House, what Should I Do?

[Jdavidson015]

Hi, so long story short, we hired a tree company to remove a bunch of trees from around my home, 15 or so and trim one on the other side of the house. They showed up today, after we all left for the day and began working without having a signed work order or their deposit. So not only did they begin working without their proper documents, which we hadn't given them yet because we hadn't received a certificate of insurance yet. Anyway, they cut down 2 trees they weren't supposed to, one of which fell onto the corner roof of my home. Ripping and pulling off some architectural roofing shingles, breaking the bottom edge of the wood under the shingles, rounded the edge of the white Farris board under the gutter and cracking it in a spot, and bending and ripping the gutter off. The company has been in business for like 20+ years or something and is insured, but nobody from the company has contacted us about it yet, only an employee as he was in his truck about to leave as we arrived home from the day. On top of that, they completely butchered the tree that they were only supposed to trim. They are supposed to be back tomorrow or sometime in the next week or so to finish the job, but the employee seemed to think they could bend the gutter back and it would be all good..... It won't. How should we proceed? I'm 99.9% certain they have insurance. Can web get money for the trees they cut that they weren't supposed to? What should we do about the butchered trim job? But most importantly, what should we do with our house regarding insurance and repair?
Thanks in advance,
Jesse
(Look at my post in the auto insurance forum and you'll see just how bad m day is today

 

[Josh]

Generally a tree falls on your house it's your liability. That said, if I grab a chain saw and make the tree fall on your house, it's my liability. They may want to pay for it out of pocket to avoid their rates being increased or they may demand you go after their insurance for it. If they can fix it to the point you're satisfied with the repair, that's probably the ideal.

If you're upset about the quality of the service or believe you've been financially damaged by them cutting down the trees, that's an issue for you to take to (most likely small claims) court.

Often the best case scenario is that you talk directly to the company and see if you can make nice. Them cutting a tree down (or even two) that they weren't supposed to is more of a customer service issue vs the roof actually taking damage from the tree falling on it.

 

[Jdavidson015]

Generally a tree falls on your house it's your liability. That said, if I grab a chain saw and make the tree fall on your house, it's my liability. They may want to pay for it out of pocket to avoid their rates being increased or they may demand you go after their insurance for it. If they can fix it to the point you're satisfied with the repair, that's probably the ideal.

If you're upset about the quality of the service or believe you've been financially damaged by them cutting down the trees, that's an issue for you to take to (most likely small claims) court.

Often the best case scenario is that you talk directly to the company and see if you can make nice. Them cutting a tree down (or even two) that they weren't supposed to is more of a customer service issue vs the roof actually taking damage from the tree falling on it.

Right, I know that typical it would be a "act of god" and be my responsibility, but because we were in the process of hiring them, a professional tree company, it should obviously be their fault. But should I report it to my insurance?

 

[Josh]

Right, I know that typical it would be a "act of god" and be my responsibility, but because we were in the process of hiring them, a professional tree company, it should obviously be their fault. But should I report it to my insurance?

This happened today? I'd wait for the company to respond and talk to them about it.

If they're directly responsible for the damage then it should be them and/or their insurance, not your carrier. I would wait to make a claim on your insurance because even when a claim isn't paid, it can impact your rates in some states.

If you're feeling antsy, just call them tomorrow. Your duty to report a claim to the carrier is usually at least a 30 day window, so you're nowhere near having an issue with that. You can (and maybe should) check your policy for what your duty to report time is, but I've never heard of a situation where a property claim like this had to be reported any sooner than that.

However unlikely, it's also possible the tree fell in an unrelated interaction. Outside of proof they caused the tree to fall on the house, they do have plausible deniability. If that's the case, it would be your insurance and when the adjuster looked at it they might try to subrogate the claim with the other carrier, but if they're a remotely legitimate business I don't see it going that way.

 

[Jdavidson015]

This happened today? I'd wait for the company to respond and talk to them about it.

If they're directly responsible for the damage then it should be them and/or their insurance, not your carrier. I would wait to make a claim on your insurance because even when a claim isn't paid, it can impact your rates in some states.

However unlikely, it's also possible the tree fell in an unrelated interaction. Outside of proof they caused the tree to fall on the house

Yes, it did happen today, as did me getting hit in my car, but the way it happened insurance would likely say its my fault even though the way the collision occurred it is entirely they other parties fault, but thats a different story.

I live in mass, but I don't believe they can raise my rates as it wasn't my fault, I didn't cut it, it wasn't an act of god etc.

the company is very legitimate they've been around for like 20 years and are very reputable. The owner is a good friend of my neighbor and has done work for him as we'll as all of my other neighbors (this was one of the trees he wasn't even supposed to cut) but basically the employee cut it and it fell on the house... It was calm today, no win, rain etc. not sure if I need to atleast report it to my insurance, but I will check into that. I would like to think I would hear from the company owner tomorrow, but I'm still surprised he didn't call me today about it to apologize or something. I had to find out from the employee!!!! I mean seriously wtf.

 

[USF3983]

Yeah, I was going to say, not a good day for you.

You should have a copy of your policy somewhere that will tell you what perils you're covered for. My guess is that you have an HO-3 form. I don't believe trees are covered in your situation.

Company should be liable I think.

 

[Jdavidson015]

Yeah, I was going to say, not a good day for you.

You should have a copy of your policy somewhere that will tell you what perils you're covered for. My guess is that you have an HO-3 form. I don't believe trees are covered in your situation.

Company should be liable I think.

No clue what an ho-3 form is, but I'll check that out, and yes I'm having a very very bad day. And I'm with you, I would think the tree company would be liable

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Ok, yes. I believe that's what our policy is, I bough you actually meant I would have that form in the packet. I've never had a home ins. Claim before, so this terminology is new to me. Hopefully I won't have to do anything with this

 

[Josh]

It's easy for me to say this because it's not my house and I wasn't also in a car accident today, but it really doesn't seem like it's a big deal yet.

I do however have a guy that was supposed to cut two trees down and so far he hasn't finished even thought it was supposed to be done by today. In fact, I'll cut you a bargain on two trees to replace the two trees they weren't supposed to cut down

 

[Jdavidson015]

It's easy for me to say this because it's not my house and I wasn't also in a car accident today, but it really doesn't seem like it's a big deal yet.

I do however have a guy that was supposed to cut two trees down and so far he hasn't finished even thought it was supposed to be done by today. In fact, I'll cut you a bargain on two trees to replace the two trees they weren't supposed to cut down

Hahahahaha this is the first time I've laughed all day, so thank you, how big are the trees? But I think I'll just make them put in 2 well grown new trees, thanks for the offer though, if I had to pay for it myself I might have taken you up on that.... Or maybe I'd just go further into the woods behind my house with a bobcat and dig 2 out and move em

 

[Accelerated]

I have handled a lot of claims like this, and can tell you that the trees themselves would fall under a different category of insurance than the damages to your home.

Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance would address the damages to your home, but not to the trees themselves. To nutshell it, the way this is handled at the claims level is CGL handles the damages resulting from an action. A good example would be if a roofer improperly installed a roof and subsequent interior damages were caused by the leaks, CGL would cover the interior damages resulting from the improper installation, but not the roof installation itself. So, in your case, CGL would cover the damages to your home, but not the poor or improper work product (that being the wrong trees cut the wrong way).

Professional Liability (which a lot of arborists do not carry) would likely cover this damage to your trees under Wrongful Acts or Failure to Perform, but as I said, most arborists and smaller general contractors do not carry PL insurance, and even if they were it could be pretty subjective since they never had a work order or signed contract with you, and it really would boil down to a "he said, she said" situation with you saying "they cut down the wrong trees" and them saying "we cut what we were told to cut". The aesthetics of the tree are subjective too, as while you say "they butchered the tree", they might say" we trimmed it to prevent it from causing damages, which is what we were hired for".

Another avenue (and the best one) to look at is whether or not the arborist is bonded. If they are, you should be good to go, and I would recommend seeking out whoever bonded them and filing a claim with that company for the tree issue.