U'r job to tell em?

[treevet]

you get a call with a tree on the n'bor's roof.

they are worried about their tree it is attached to and the n'bor's property.

you have to act fast as it is heavy and over wires and can hit the client's too if it breaks loose.

nobody next door is around. you close the deal. you get to work and finish, n'bor never shows and you collect and leave.

do you tell your client about the law that where a live tree or tree parts fall it is their tree?

is this an ethics question? you are not a lawyer, you bid the job, did the work, got paid and moved on. let them sort it out?

 

[TreeAce]

I think this is a good question. I have been in similiar situations. I have also seen much more often where there is no real danger to property or power. I tell the customer whats up. It seems like whenever I get into this sort of thing the HO who doesnt give a crap about what hit neighbors already seem to know its not there problem. The people who assume its there problem and then find out its legally not there problem tend to pause a moment....and say..."well, I will just take care of it". And I often will say something about being a good neighbor.

 

[tree MDS]

This was a job from last year. It was the first time I became aware of the fact that your crap tree can fall on your neighbor's mansion, and it's not your problem.. considered an "act of god". I was kinda shocked to find that out. Thankfully my customer did the right thing and took care of everything.. partially because I told him if we couldn't use the nieghbor's drive to take down the rest of the tree, it was gonna be just as expensive to take down the part over his house, because of poor access (what was I talking about earlier with the rich around here?).

Gotta throw in a gratuitous shot of my riggs rocking that scene! lol...

 

[troythetreeman]

i always tell them
but you said it was still physically attached to the tree, therefore still their problem, they arent liable for the damage to the neighbors and the neighbor has the legal right to cut it if the tree owner chose not to

 

[treevet]

I usually tell em but sometimes judicially choose to keep my flapper shut. Get the check as you know if it is a deadbeat next door, things are gonna slow to a snails pace. Don't consider that ethically un kosher either.

 

[NCTREE]

Ok I might be steering this a different way but I had a situation just happen the other day. I good friend/customer recommended me to his neighbor who had a small tree fall from the storm. I went and had a look, while I was there they ask me to walk the property and have a look to see if anything needed done. I noticed a tree near the property line that was significantly hollow at the trunk. If it would happen to fall it would fall on my friend house. I pointed this out to them and said it should come down and that it poses risk to the neigbors property. I gave them a price and left. They never got back to me so my friend calls me a week later asking me what happened because the nighbor was out with a hand saw on a ladder trying to cut the storm damaged tree up that I had originally went there to look at. I also explained to him about the hollow tree I found and he said he seen it but didnt think anything of it. So now me he is worried and wants the tree gone. If I write up a hazardous tree evaluation for this tree and give a a copy to both parties then who is responsible for this tree if it falls and does property damage to my buddies house?

 

[Blakesmaster]

Ok I might be steering this a different way but I had a situation just happen the other day. I good friend/customer recommended me to his neighbor who had a small tree fall from the storm. I went and had a look, while I was there they ask me to walk the property and have a look to see if anything needed done. I noticed a tree near the property line that was significantly hollow at the trunk. If it would happen to fall it would fall on my friend house. I pointed this out to them and said it should come down and that it poses risk to the neigbors property. I gave them a price and left. They never got back to me so my friend calls me a week later asking me what happened because the nighbor was out with a hand saw on a ladder trying to cut the storm damaged tree up that I had originally went there to look at. I also explained to him about the hollow tree I found and he said he seen it but didnt think anything of it. So now me he is worried and wants the tree gone. If I write up a hazardous tree evaluation for this tree and give a a copy to both parties then who is responsible for this tree if it falls and does property damage to my buddies house?

I'd keep my nose and especially my letterhead right out of that situation. Sounds like the neighbor is a cheap SOB and wouldn't do anything anyway.

As for TV's scenario, I've always just told them. If they took the time to call about their tree on the neighbor's house I figure they're a good enough neighbor to pay anyway.

 

[treevet]

your friend's neighbor would be responsible esp if it is a dead tree. Would help if you have some kind of certification if the tree is not dead. He could get a tree guy to say it is not unsafe.

Sometimes the tree guy could have some liability as well, say if you missed identifying this tree as a hazard during the course of a tree eval (risk eval?)

 

[treeclimber101]

your friend's neighbor would be responsible esp if it is a dead tree. Would help if you have some kind of certification if the tree is not dead. He could get a tree guy to say it is not unsafe.

Sometimes the tree guy could have some liability as well, say if you missed identifying this tree as a hazard during the course of a tree eval (risk eval?)

The tree guy removes all liability by" recommending" its removal ...

 

[treevet]

The tree guy removes all liability by" recommending" its removal ...

I know that. What I meant was if you miss a hazard tree (high risk tree) and therefore fail to notify the person that asked for the eval. you can set yourself up for some liability. So look em over real good if asked to do so (cracks, weak co doms, heaving root plates, fungi, etc etc).

Even if you are not wrong court costs and time lost can be impactful.

 

[squad143]

Even if you are not wrong court costs and time lost can be impactful.

Your "errors and ommissions" clause, if you purchased it, of your insurance should cover you for this.

 

[tree md]

My policy is to keep my mouth shut as much as possible. If the client asks me about liability and laws governing who is responsible for what I will tell them what my experience has been and what I know but I never volunteer anything unless asked. Some want to tell me what the laws and policies of the insurance companies are and I usually let them blather on even when they are dead wrong. I might tell them that what they are saying is not what I have experienced with any insurance company but their policy might be different... Don't know why HO's seem to think they know so much more than us on these matters when we deal with these situations on a daily basis but they do. So I just play the lowly, dumb treeman, let them be the know it all and do my job.

Now if the tree is already on the neighbors house then I tell them that they are not responsible for the damages or the work and try to work with both parties to see how they want to handle it but on leaners and hangers I usually just keep my mouth shut and do what they ask me to do.

 

[treevet]

My policy is to keep my mouth shut as much as possible. If the client asks me about liability and laws governing who is responsible for what I will tell them what my experience has been and what I know but I never volunteer anything unless asked. Some want to tell me what the laws and policies of the insurance companies are and I usually let them blather on even when they are dead wrong. I might tell them that what they are saying is not what I have experienced with any insurance company but their policy might be different... Don't know why HO's seem to think they know so much more than us on these matters when we deal with these situations on a daily basis but they do. So I just play the lowly, dumb treeman, let them be the know it all and do my job.

Now if the tree is already on the neighbors house then I tell them that they are not responsible for the damages or the work and try to work with both parties to see how they want to handle it but on leaners and hangers I usually just keep my mouth shut and do what they ask me to do.

I usually do to but no one was home next door, couldn't be reached, and the huge stem was still up in the buyer's oak, laying on the nbor's roof and over the wires. Hanging by a thread with nbor's kids (20 ish) running under it coming out the front door. It wasn't even attached to the oak anymore it was just up there by pressure from the canopy pushing the base into the main oak stem bout 20 feet up.

I told the kids "if you turned out the lights in a room, could you get out before the room got dark?" "That is what is gonna happen if that limb falls while you run under it". Things gonna go all dark for ya.

I suggested the buyer make an ins. claim but she said she had a claim recently and didn't want to get dropped.

Hey, they are excluded often by some clause like had to be lightning or had to be wind or......whatever gets em outta paying off.

 

[tree md]

Don't even get me started on insurance companies... I'm having a nice evening and I'm in a good mood. I am so sick of dealing with their slow paying, weaseling and flat out lying that I could scream. To tell the truth, I am tired of dealing with all the BS. If the client does not have funds for the removal then I am moving on now.

 

[flushcut]

Gotta throw in a gratuitous shot of my riggs rocking that scene! lol...

Shameless self promotion tisk tisk LOL I think we all would have done it.

 

[ducaticorse]

This was a job from last year. It was the first time I became aware of the fact that your crap tree can fall on your neighbor's mansion, and it's not your problem.. considered an "act of god". I was kinda shocked to find that out. Thankfully my customer did the right thing and took care of everything.. partially because I told him if we couldn't use the nieghbor's drive to take down the rest of the tree, it was gonna be just as expensive to take down the part over his house, because of poor access (what was I talking about earlier with the rich around here?).

Gotta throw in a gratuitous shot of my riggs rocking that scene! lol...

I heart your rear mount 4x4 bucket. I'm trying to get a local guy sell me the same set up on an int 4x4 chassis with the dt466. He's trying to sell his entire co as a business for too much money though. He'll see the light eventually......

 

[DangerTree]

i always tell them
but you said it was still physically attached to the tree, therefore still their problem, they arent liable for the damage to the neighbors and the neighbor has the legal right to cut it if the tree owner chose not to

The issue here is liability of the contractor (you ) performing work on property without prior consent which can lead to a charge of criminal trespass. Furthermore should you the contractor, while performing work on aforementioned property cause damage to same or inflict injury to either yourself or another person you best be retaining legal counsel!

 

[treevet]

The issue here is liability of the contractor (you ) performing work on property without prior consent which can lead to a charge of criminal trespass. Furthermore should you the contractor, while performing work on aforementioned property cause damage to same or inflict injury to either yourself or another person you best be retaining legal counsel!

In my case, there was a large risk of major damage from the weight of the tree laying on the roof for an extended time, my client had notified them thru their kids who had to move 2 dead vehicles by pushing them out into the road to get the crane in, and my client agreed to take all liability for any problems incurred. We chose not to even go up and blow off the roof afterwards on the neighbor property as I had not heard all this myself for fear of the roof having been weakened by the overnight laying of the piece. We took many picts. Felt pretty comfortable in the cya dept. which is my goal in storm damage usually.

 

[treevet]

Here is a little vid of just the cut I recorded for my ho. As I said the piece was no longer attached to the tree as you can see by the flipping of the butt when I finished the cut. There would have been major damage to both properties and wires torn down when piece fell and it was just aloft by pressure inward to the main stem....no wood was holding anymore. Piece was much bigger than appearance here. We barely fit the crane in within primaries and not getting right under the piece with the crane.

Not any big shakes job, just a pro job no ho could even begin to tackle and no poss. of doing it without my crane without killing your self.

[video=youtube_share;u51WLefkI3I]http://youtu.be/u51WLefkI3I[/video]

 

[husabud]

Gotta throw in a gratuitous shot of my riggs rocking that scene! lol...

[/QUOTE]

I want your bucket. Do you know of any rear mounts around your area?

Sorry for the derail.