Home owners ALWAYS need to be careful hiring “all-Purpose- Handy-Men ” (or Handy-Women) driving around neighborhoods looking for side jobs, including tree care jobs. Especially right now with all the lay offs in the City, County, and State. There are all kinds of “ Tree Services” popping up all over the place right now. We as home owners need to protect our investments by making sure the people we hire are experienced, and properly insured.
Tree Care is the 5th most dangerous occupation in the United States, and if you’re in the Tree Service business, you’re 3 to 5 times more likely to be injured than a Police Officer, or a Fireman. Can you imagine the cost of caring for a 25-30 yr old person who is paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of their life, not to mention loss of earnings, punitive damages etc? Talk about a huge burden! Then you call your Home Owners Insurance Agent to make a claim, and they inform you that, “you do not have coverage.” They go on to explain… “Because you entered into a Business deal, when you hired Jon Doe to work on your property, you as the property owner are responsible for making sure Jon Doe has Insurance coverage for himself, and, if he doesn’t, you as the property owner are responsible for covering him, her, or them.” Most (if not all) Home Owners Policies, Do Not cover these kinds of accidents.
Some of the more common accidents that happen when cutting down trees are:
1. Damage to utility lines, power and communications, personal injuries from electrical conductors. Unscheduled outages and repairs are costly and in the end these costs for such repairs are billed to the property owner from the utility company(s).
2. Physical Injuries. These injuries occur in nano seconds, even if you are on site and supervising they can occur. An educated arborist can identify all overhead utility's. Unless certified for work near electrical lines or conductors no one is allowed to work within 10 feet of them. (there’s a reason)
3. Trees falling on top of houses, or crashing through windows. understand that parts or sections of these trees can weigh thousands of pounds. (gravity is rarely our friend and is most certainly not in these cases !)
All it takes is ONE accident, or ONE person you hire, to falsely claim an accident. Its very difficult for doctors to tell and or prove when someone's faking back and neck injuries. Or what about a tree falling in the wrong direction (maybe on top of your home or your neighbors home). In both incidents your chances of being covered, even by your home owners insurance is pretty slim, and you can be sure your going to have to wait for an answer from your insurance, until their investigation is over, which can sometimes take weeks.
We live in a time when frivolous lawsuits are at a all time high. Not only frivolous lawsuits, but out right false lawsuits are not far behind. I know of at least three cases over the last ten years where home owners lost everything because someone they hired to do a job for them, “claimed” to be injured on the home owners property. In all three cases, the home owners were trying to save money by hiring non professional, uninsured handymen. Its understandable.. Everyone wants to save money. But did they?... In one of those lawsuits, the defense proved the claimant has a history of suing people, claiming he was injured while working odd jobs, home owners hired him to do. In all three lawsuits, the home owners were not covered by their home owners insurance, and the handyman they hired of course also didn’t have insurance. In all three cases the property owners lost, so all three had to liquidate property to pay off the claim. Not to mention they are responsible for any other medical bills incurred because of the injury case they lost.
Your Trees are a Big Investment! You have to wait 20 to 30 years for a tree to mature, so why risk everything to hire someone uneducated in the industry, to care for your tree’s and potentially destroy them, and your financial future.
Tree Care is the 5th most dangerous occupation in the United States, and if you’re in the Tree Service business, you’re 3 to 5 times more likely to be injured than a Police Officer, or a Fireman. Can you imagine the cost of caring for a 25-
Some of the more common accidents that happen when cutting down trees are:
1. Damage to utility lines, power and communications, personal injuries from electrical conductors. Unscheduled outages and repairs are costly and in the end these costs for such repairs are billed to the property owner from the utility company(s).
2. Physical Injuries. These injuries occur in nano seconds, even if you are on site and supervising they can occur. An educated arborist can identify all overhead utility's. Unless certified for work near electrical lines or conductors no one is allowed to work within 10 feet of them. (there’s a reason)
3. Trees falling on top of houses, or crashing through windows. understand that parts or sections of these trees can weigh thousands of pounds. (gravity is rarely our friend and is most certainly not in these cases !)
All it takes is ONE accident, or ONE person you hire, to falsely claim an accident. Its very difficult for doctors to tell and or prove when someone's faking back and neck injuries. Or what about a tree falling in the wrong direction (maybe on top of your home or your neighbors home). In both incidents your chances of being covered, even by your home owners insurance is pretty slim, and you can be sure your going to have to wait for an answer from your insurance, until their investigation is over, which can sometimes take weeks.
We live in a time when frivolous lawsuits are at a all time high. Not only frivolous lawsuits, but out right false lawsuits are not far behind. I know of at least three cases over the last ten years where home owners lost everything because someone they hired to do a job for them, “claimed” to be injured on the home owners property. In all three cases, the home owners were trying to save money by hiring non professional, uninsured handymen. Its understandable.. Everyone wants to save money. But did they?... In one of those lawsuits, the defense proved the claimant has a history of suing people, claiming he was injured while working odd jobs, home owners hired him to do. In all three lawsuits, the home owners were not covered by their home owners insurance, and the handyman they hired of course also didn’t have insurance. In all three cases the property owners lost, so all three had to liquidate property to pay off the claim. Not to mention they are responsible for any other medical bills incurred because of the injury case they lost.
Your Trees are a Big Investment! You have to wait 20 to 30 years for a tree to mature, so why risk everything to hire someone uneducated in the industry, to care for your tree’s and potentially destroy them, and your financial future.
Just a thought..
We handle Tree Emergency’s
Chris Ranum,
ISA Certified Arborist
WI- 0540-A
ISA Certified Arborist
WI-
