$200 Job + HOMEOWNER = $8,500 JOB!!!

[Slvrmple72]

Earlier last year I did a Sycamore for a coworker/friend. He had the nerve to attempt it himself but quickly realized it was out of his abilities. I blew the top out of it for him for $400 and after he cleaned up the limbs I layed her down. It was an easy gig and he was pleased. Well, he had a puny tree near the house but with a Y stem weighted toward the house and the power with a bit of a lean towards the neighbors. He wanted me to lay that one down after Ike blew through and I never got to it. Told him not to worry about it no problems with it and it will be on my to do list. Anyhow this is where it gets good. Enter family member, him trying to save $200, whatever the case it wound up in a botched cut dropping half of this thing into the power, getting AEP, Asplu( Orange Co.) and a crane involved on a sunday! His homeowners insurance is making him eat the whole thing! Ouch! At least nobody got hurt but what an expensive lesson. I think it also led to a falling out between him and the culprit... er .. family member. He still needs the other half down too! I could barely keep a straight face when I asked him if he would like a revised quote

 

[treemandan]

The ins won't cover it? Why?

 

[ropensaddle]

Earlier last year I did a Sycamore for a coworker/friend. He had the nerve to attempt it himself but quickly realized it was out of his abilities. I blew the top out of it for him for $400 and after he cleaned up the limbs I layed her down. It was an easy gig and he was pleased. Well, he had a puny tree near the house but with a Y stem weighted toward the house and the power with a bit of a lean towards the neighbors. He wanted me to lay that one down after Ike blew through and I never got to it. Told him not to worry about it no problems with it and it will be on my to do list. Anyhow this is where it gets good. Enter family member, him trying to save $200, whatever the case it wound up in a botched cut dropping half of this thing into the power, getting AEP, Asplu( Orange Co.) and a crane involved on a sunday! His homeowners insurance is making him eat the whole thing! Ouch! At least nobody got hurt but what an expensive lesson. I think it also led to a falling out between him and the culprit... er .. family member. He still needs the other half down too! I could barely keep a straight face when I asked him if he would like a revised quote

Yeah I is hard to be empathetic in those cases but I try.








Yeah right

 

[Slvrmple72]

His insurance won't cover it. I did not ask him why I just assumed he used up his get out of jail free card on a previous stint!

Homeowner: Hello, I need to talk to my agent. Well, I was tryin to cut down a tree and sorta messed it up. No. No serious damage, power company is getting a tree crew out here with a crane so it doesn,t break the lines to the house and fall against the neighbors roof. It is really close to their house now but the lines seem to be holding the weight.. so far.
Insurance Agent: uuummm. Please hold....

 

[IndyIan]

The ins won't cover it? Why?

I'm pretty sure most insurers won't cover homeowners dropping trees on their house. If it's rotten and blows over then they'll cover it but won't cover any pre-emptive removals... I guess this is why insurance is expensive.

 

[thejdman04]

Saved a lot of money doing that.

 

[geofore]

homowners ins/trees

The homeowners ins usually says, "no" two or three times before they say, "yes". I'd send in a written request and ask for a written responce as to why they turned it down. Then ask again if they'll cover it. It doesn't hurt to ask, though it would have been better to ask before he cut it.
He now knows the cost of letting Bubba loose on it.opcorn: :greenchainsaw: :greenchainsaw:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It doesn't hurt to ask,

My Mom has to do that every few months with her medical insurance, with both of them in their early 80's it is a part time job keeping up with the insurance.

 

[pdqdl]

The home is not damaged, right? Then it becomes an issue of liability. I have done insurance work that only paid to have the trees removed from the top of a house. Once it hit the ground, their obligation to pay for more work stopped.

Chances are good that some liability problems are not included in the HO policy due to acts of vandalism, criminal behavior, etc. If I were an insurance company, I would have a clause in there that covered acts that involved breaking government regulations, like cutting down trees over power lines, etc.

Those insurance companies are not there to provide protection against loss. Their only purpose is to make profits, and they do that by selling as much coverage as they can, and providing as little actual protection as they can get away with.

 

[geofore]

ins/problems?

I don't know. I thought they sold stupid ins. After the wife lost three cars last year to people on thier cell phones. They say they didn't even see her car or the other cars stopped at the red lights. They were on the phone and over the speed limit when they hit her. We'll be out shopping for a new car this week, the last one lost was the day before Xmas and the rental is due to go back. GM's got to love us, three Buicks totaled last year and those folks still get to buy ins and they still talk on the phone when they drive. I want an option that shuts off any cell phone that gets within 100 yards of the wife's car on the highway. :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: Not one of the new cars has that option so we're going with ins to protect us from the phone junkies. It ought to pay double so we don't have to go rent one while we shop for another new one.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

I want an option that shuts off any cell phone that gets within 100 yards of the wife's car on the highway.

Are you sure a 100 yards is enough?

 

[brncreeper]

Wow, too bad for him.

 

[Wortown Mick]

You can make a cell phone jammer, im just not sure of the legality .

 

[TreeTopKid]

I don't know. I thought they sold stupid ins. After the wife lost three cars last year to people on thier cell phones. They say they didn't even see her car or the other cars stopped at the red lights. They were on the phone and over the speed limit when they hit her. We'll be out shopping for a new car this week, the last one lost was the day before Xmas and the rental is due to go back. GM's got to love us, three Buicks totaled last year and those folks still get to buy ins and they still talk on the phone when they drive. I want an option that shuts off any cell phone that gets within 100 yards of the wife's car on the highway. :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: Not one of the new cars has that option so we're going with ins to protect us from the phone junkies. It ought to pay double so we don't have to go rent one while we shop for another new one.

You can get banned from driving for up to 18mths in the UK for talking on your cell phone. In Texas even the Police talk on their cell phone. One of the contrasts of my life. In the UK I will get prosecuted for assault if I attack an intruder in my home, here in Texas I can shoot them all.

 

[Slvrmple72]

More details: this will shock you.....:jawdrop:






















beer was involved!:greenchainsaw:


When I was out there I must've made it look too easy!

Heck, I can do that! Gimme the saw! 200 bucks I could do this easy! Buy a lot of beer for 200! Darn tree guys rippin me off I'll show him!

 

[pdqdl]

This has gotten off topic, but what the heck...

Cell phone jammers would be illegal. In order to jam cellular signals, they would need to emit some sort of radio-wave. That would make it an unlicensed transmitter, according to the FCC.

I have heard of phone jammers, but I suspect that they are illegal or their "power" is below the threshold required by the FCC. If low power, then their effective range would be rather limited.

 

[geofore]

100 yards

Are you sure a 100 yards is enough?

Probably not enough. Just about the time you get used to the car WHAM! airbags go off and we go car shopping. I talked her into keeping the rental two more weeks while we look some more. I can't believe we lost all those cars, our ins covered them but I'll bet those other guys are in for some hefty increase.:greenchainsaw:

 

[skid row]

Cell phone jammers would be illegal. In order to jam cellular signals, they would need to emit some sort of radio-wave. That would make it an unlicensed transmitter, according to the FCC.

I have heard of phone jammers, but I suspect that they are illegal or their "power" is below the threshold required by the FCC. If low power, then their effective range would be rather limited.

Yep they are illegal, but so is modding a EPA approved chainsaw muffler. Alot of theaters and fine restaurants use larger cell jammers to stop all cell phone use in the building.

The cheap jammers (25' radius) run around $300 and the prices go up from there.