I am sure that all of you can imagine that in light of the recent wind event we have been extremely busy. Now that the things are starting to settle down a bit, we are getting a lot of requests to revisit properties to look at trees that we had previously looked at with no action taken. Many of these trees have either fallen or are in such a precarious state that the entire dynamic of the removal has changed.
When a tree dies, the process of decomposition begins. Some trees take longer to decompose than others but the end result is the same. There will come a time when the tree fails and anything or anyone within the “target zone” becomes vulnerable. In many cases, I will propose to remove a tree and years later I am called back to offer a proposal for the same tree. Whereas it may be the same tree, the entire scenario has changed. In most cases a tree that was “fresh dead” that could be removed by climbing is no longer stable enough to put a climber in. With this, a crane removal is often recommended which in turn increases the price. In several cases over the years, we have had prospective customers tell us “let it fall on the house, insurance will pay for it”. Don’t be so sure about this! If you knowingly leave a dead tree on your property that is obviously dead, you may find that your insurance carrier deems it an act of “willful negligence” rather than an “act of god”. The aforementioned scenario is playing out more and more in recent years.
My recommendation is quite obviously the most prudent. If the tree is dead, remove it! Once dead, they do not come back to life at some point down the road (we are asked this question more often than you would think). The longer they are standing dead, you will find that the price will invariably rise due to the inherent risk put upon the removal contractor. Or, the contractor will indemnify and hold themselves harmless against any damage as they are no longer able to control the tree with any level of certainty.
