Tree removal service damaged our house!

[JerseyMamaBear]

So here is the situation we are in and could use some help.
Last week our neighbor asked our permission if the tree service she was hiring could access our property to remove branches from her trees that were hitting the side of our house. We were more then happy to allow it so this morning the service began work. As they were cutting the trees, one of the larger branches was not secured properly crashed into our house causing a decent size hole in the siding (more then a foot wide) and who knows what else under that. It also damaged our gutter too. (mind you, less then 5 feet from my bedroom window where I was laying down!) Hubby and I go out side and the man was very sorry and offered to fix it himself. He said it happens all of the time and he would just remove a section from under our deck and replace the broken one! Being that he said he is "fully insured" we told him no thank you, that we would prefer a roofing and siding person to perform the work who is qualified so we dont have any issues down the road. Now heres the kicker. Being that hubby and I are both Police officers we know how this stuff works so he got our camara to take pictures while I called the police to file a report. The tree guy, after we told him the police were on the way and not to touch anything FLIPPED OUT! Saying we were being absurd.
After the officer took the report, he even told the officer he would take care of the damage, we told him of our intentions to have a 3rd party to fix it so it would be impartial, he sent his guy up the latter to remove the siding (got it half way off before we saw what he was doing) and do it themselves.
Hubby told them to get off our property and to leave, which they did.
So heres the problem, we are going to let our homeowners handle the communications between him and the repair work but after he flipped out the way he did I dont think he will cooperate and the cost will fall on us.
Any help or suggestions will be great.
We already took pics, filed a report, contacted homeowners and spoke directly with the tree service owner. Im just afraid we will end up in small claims Thanks for the vent.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

If in your state insurance works the same as it does here, you will not have to sue them, your insurance should handle all of this for you.

You may still have problems with them harassing you, just refer them to your insurance adjuster.

 

[surfergirl602]

Oh my gosh! I have no experience with this, but that guy sounds completely crazy!!! good luck and keep us updated!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

. . .So heres the problem, we are going to let our homeowners handle the communications between him and the repair work but after he flipped out the way he did I dont think he will cooperate and the cost will fall on us.
Any help or suggestions will be great.
We already took pics, filed a report, contacted homeowners and spoke directly with the tree service owner. Im just afraid we will end up in small claims Thanks for the vent.

We can relate somewhat. In 2007, the day before we were scheduled to fly to WDW, our neighbor was having tree work done and a line broke and a branch came crashing through our roof. Unlike you, we were lucky not to be home at the time, but we did have to clean up our sofa and rug and remove stray leaves, dirt and other debris and put a tarp over the roof before we left for vacation for 2 weeks!

We were also luckier than you in that we had also used the same tree service, so they did cooperate with us. We still got our homeowners insurance involved (I spoke with the claims adjuster as we rode the shuttle to pick up our rental car from Hertz at MCO). With the threat of the insurance company coming after the tree service if they didn't cooperate with us, we were able to choose our own contractor, schedule the work and get the tree service to pay the contrctor directly. Our neighbor was also very cooperative, and let adjusters and contractors in to our house while we were away.

It sounds like you did everything right and eventually it will all be resolved as it was for us. Unfortunately, however, these things often do take some time.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

I dont mind if it takes a little while, I just want it done properly to avoid any further damage. The way he freaked out makes us think he is not insuried. Oh well, his fault not ours

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Don't forget, he was working for your neighbor. That means that any amount not taken care of by the contractor will fall to the neighbor's insurance.

 

[camlace]

In my opinion he flipped because you called the police...what law did he break???? I have had lots of tree work done at my house and my neighbor has also had lots of tree work. When a branch from my neighbors tree damaged our deck we just notified our insurance company, gave them the contractor's info and they took care of everything. No nastiness, no calling the police, just a simple insurance claim against the contractor and a qualified contractor repaired our deck to match existing.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I dont mind if it takes a little while, I just want it done properly to avoid any further damage. The way he freaked out makes us think he is not insuried. Oh well, his fault not ours

Actually, it may be that he is concerned that if a claim is paid by his insurance company, it will cause his rates to go higher. The tree service in our case actually paid for the repairs out of pocket. -- Suzanne

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

In my opinion he flipped because you called the police...what law did he break???? I have had lots of tree work done at my house and my neighbor has also had lots of tree work. When a branch from my neighbors tree damaged our deck we just notified our insurance company, gave them the contractor's info and they took care of everything. No nastiness, no calling the police, just a simple insurance claim against the contractor and a qualified contractor repaired our deck to match existing.

Oh im very sure thats why hes mad. He broke no laws, but to protect ourselves we wanted a report on file so he could not come back and say in court or to insurance companies that he dident do it. both my husband and I are police officers and we have handled these calls for reports before and these are the documants judges look for in small claims cases. Not saying we will go that route, but should it not be handled properly we will have an official documant on file. While I am no longer a "road cop" my position as a sheriffs officer is assigned to courts, both criminal, family and special civil which handles small claims.

 

[PinkRhombus]

In my opinion he flipped because you called the police...what law did he break???? .

You do the same thing for car accidents. Destruction of property. Insurance companies like official proof.

If he is truly fully insured, it should cover for a contractor.

He probably wants to do it himself to avoid filing a claim.

 

[mistysue]

As somebody who works for a construction company and hired an outside contractor to fix my house after a tree fell on it last year-
he flipped out because the contractor is going to charge probably 5 times what it would cost him to fix it himself. Chances are, he is not only as experienced as half the contractors who do that work, but he hires the same guys too.

Seriously- most home damage repair contractors, when getting paid by insurance companies know EVERY little thing they can charge for. His insurance is going to jump and this little tiny repair might cost that man $5,000 in the next few years.

The company that did repairs on my home billed my insurance about $8,000 for things they didn't even do out of a total $21,000 claim. That was before I called them and got it taken off their bill. I didn't have to pay it but it made me mad to see them charging for it knowing the insurance company was going to pay and remember that when recalculating my new rate.

You might want to ask him for a plan for what he wants to do to repair it - just make sure he uses new materials or replaces materials he uses from other areas (you said something about siding from under the deck?) It can't hurt anybody to find out his plan before hiring somebody who is going to charge an arm and leg to do the same work.

 

[sorul82?]

Don't forget, he was working for your neighbor. That means that any amount not taken care of by the contractor will fall to the neighbor's insurance.

But the OP gave the person permission to be on her property.

 

[mistysue]

But the OP gave the person permission to be on her property.

that doesn't matter. If the tree is on the neighbor's property it is "their" tree, and they were hiring a service, so any damage it does is the neighbor's issue. Because the tree people were doing work, it is the tree company's responsibility but if they don't cover it the neighbor's are liable for damages. That is important to consider if you ever need a tree taken down and go for a cheap contractor.

 

[sorul82?]

that doesn't matter. If the tree is on the neighbor's property it is "their" tree, and they were hiring a service, so any damage it does is the neighbor's issue. Because the tree people were doing work, it is the tree company's responsibility but if they don't cover it the neighbor's are liable for damages. That is important to consider if you ever need a tree taken down and go for a cheap contractor.

Great advice and hopefully everything should work out as it should....I hope so for the OP. I just want the OP to be armed with info in case some smarty pants tries to pull a fast one.

 

[tlh0726]

Sorry long story
We live in PA.
We had someone hit the utility pole in front of our rental house (old restored log home). The person driving the car behind the one that crashed was a fireman and after checking on the lady ran to the house and told our front tenant to kill the electrical box which he did. However the front tenant did not realize that there were 2 electrical boxes, one for them and one for the rear unit. The rear tenant was not home. When they smelled something like burning electrical stuff outside they called us and told us what happened. Since the other electrical box is inside the other tenants garage we instructed him to break the glass in the garage entry door (not the drive in one, reg. size door on the side) and turn the box off, we were on our way (40 min drive).
Anyhow in the end, we ended up bringing in an electrician to check stuff out, he had to replace a GFI outlet in the kitchen, we had to replace a dishwasher , and the broken window in the door (even though our tenant broke it, it was done to prevent further damage occuring)
We turned everything into our insurance company, they sent us a check for the amount less our deductible. They then went after the driver's insurance company for the amount they paid us and the amount of our deductible. Their insurance company paid our insurance company both amounts and then our insurance company paid us the deductible amount.

So my advice is to let your insurance company handle it.

 

[kellydizfan]

O.k. if your insurance will pay the claim, you will pay your deductible and they will pay the rest. Then they will subrogate against the contractor or possibly the neighbors homeowners insurance. If they receive payment back from the other carriers, you should also be receiving your deductible back at the same time. Good Luck!

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

You might want to ask him for a plan for what he wants to do to repair it - just make sure he uses new materials or replaces materials he uses from other areas (you said something about siding from under the deck?) It can't hurt anybody to find out his plan before hiring somebody who is going to charge an arm and leg to do the same work.

thats what he wanted to do, he wanted to pick up a piece or two and switch it out with one from under the deck. He said he couldent promise the color would match which is a concern because it is a raised deck and you would see it since we have seating under there as well. Plus the broke section is in the middle of the house so he would have to remove other sections to get to the broken one. Being that we live at the shore, we are very prone to mold with all of the moisture and have had problems on that side of the house since it does not get direct sunlight.
Im not upset with the man, infact very happy no one was hurt and that he did a great job on the neighbors trees, but we just want our house to not suffer in the end.

 

[CarlisleMom]

Most likely no one will match the siding. The existing siding has had sun fading. My parents have had thier siding fixed multiple times (due to storm damage). No fix had ever matched exactly.

 

[crisi]

Most likely no one will match the siding. The existing siding has had sun fading. My parents have had thier siding fixed multiple times (due to storm damage). No fix had ever matched exactly.

And if they pull siding from under the deck, it won't match because that is shaded. Your house needs to be resided. And yes, its going to cost him on his insurance premiums, but that is why he carries insurance.

As for filing a police report, I carry insurance on my cell phone - I lose it with enough frequency that its completely worth it to me (and its a Blackberry, they aren't cheap to replace). The insurance company needs a police report number, even if I'm just reporting it lost.

 

[lucyem]

You could also speak to him about having a third party contractor fix the issue and he pay the bill and thus avoid dealing with the insurance companies.

We ran into this on Christmas eve one year. An alarm installer put a hole through the heating pipes and we had quite the flood start. Poor guy was freaked. He had insurance but was concerned about his rates, especially for a mistake. We called a reliable plumber we knew who was actually home that day and willing to come right out. Plumber fixed problem. Alarm guy paid and cleaned the mess. Everyone was happy.