A client of mine lives in a fairly affluent neighborhood that is wooded, predominantly with Post Oak, and also with Blackjack, Red Cedar, and other native trees. The lots are a few acres apiece, so each house has the feeling of being "tucked away" in the woods. The nextdoor neighbors did not like the trees, so they bulldozed their lot and made it a lawn.
Two days ago, the wife (neighbor) was burning a pile of leaves. She had acquired a permit to do so, but it was a very windy day. The leaf pile was about thirty yards upwind from the property line, where the lawn stops and the trees (belonging to my client) begin.
An ember ignited dry leaves at the edge of my client's property. The wife and my client both battled the situation with garden hoses (but did not really have enough hose to reach) for 30 minutes until the fire department arrived. The firemen extinguished the blaze and left.
The fire re-ignited a few hours later and burned more of my client's property. He again fought his fiery foe with a garden hose (sprinkler system was turned off for winter) until the fire department arrived again and put the fire out for good that time.
It was not a very hot fire. It burned mostly leaves and fallen limbs.. It burned patches in about a half an acre area. Some trees are badly charred at the bottom 18 inches of their trunks, some only slightly, and some not at all. Some of the saplings and brush were badly scorched.
Most of the trees that were damaged are Post Oaks 4 inch through 24 inch dbh. Just guessing, I expect that perhaps 15 trees in this category will not survive due to fire damage.
My client's insurance company wants a "bid" on repairing the damage. The insurance adjuster had no experience with this kind of a claim, so we don't know if they are paying for cost of removal of damaged trees, appraised value or replacement value of trees, both, or neither.
And guess who gets to come up with the bid . . . . me. I have never appraised a single tree.
Any suggestions on how to appraise the damage, how the insurance company may work, and liability of the pyromaniac, tree-hating neighbors would be appreciated. I don't want to come up with some outlandish number and have the insurance company go after the neighbors (bad PR). So I was thinking of kind of low-balling the individual tree value (after all, it is the woods) and adding the cost of removal of dead trees. The problem is we won't know the extent of the damage for some time as the trees are still dormant.
As far as the value of the trees, removing the damaged ones will dramatically reduce the privacy screen between the two homes.
Two days ago, the wife (neighbor) was burning a pile of leaves. She had acquired a permit to do so, but it was a very windy day. The leaf pile was about thirty yards upwind from the property line, where the lawn stops and the trees (belonging to my client) begin.
An ember ignited dry leaves at the edge of my client's property. The wife and my client both battled the situation with garden hoses (but did not really have enough hose to reach) for 30 minutes until the fire department arrived. The firemen extinguished the blaze and left.
The fire re-ignited a few hours later and burned more of my client's property. He again fought his fiery foe with a garden hose (sprinkler system was turned off for winter) until the fire department arrived again and put the fire out for good that time.
It was not a very hot fire. It burned mostly leaves and fallen limbs.. It burned patches in about a half an acre area. Some trees are badly charred at the bottom 18 inches of their trunks, some only slightly, and some not at all. Some of the saplings and brush were badly scorched.
Most of the trees that were damaged are Post Oaks 4 inch through 24 inch dbh. Just guessing, I expect that perhaps 15 trees in this category will not survive due to fire damage.
My client's insurance company wants a "bid" on repairing the damage. The insurance adjuster had no experience with this kind of a claim, so we don't know if they are paying for cost of removal of damaged trees, appraised value or replacement value of trees, both, or neither.
And guess who gets to come up with the bid . . . . me. I have never appraised a single tree.
Any suggestions on how to appraise the damage, how the insurance company may work, and liability of the pyromaniac, tree-hating neighbors would be appreciated. I don't want to come up with some outlandish number and have the insurance company go after the neighbors (bad PR). So I was thinking of kind of low-balling the individual tree value (after all, it is the woods) and adding the cost of removal of dead trees. The problem is we won't know the extent of the damage for some time as the trees are still dormant.
As far as the value of the trees, removing the damaged ones will dramatically reduce the privacy screen between the two homes.
trees compares to the growth of the non burned trees in the yard.
