Storm Damage
& Insurance Claims

Windstorm season in the South Cariboo does the same thing every year, and it does it to the same trees, the ones that were already dead, already leaning, already rotten at the collar.

What we handle

• Trees on houses, shops and outbuildings: cut off, lifted off, or rigged off in pieces
• Hung-up trees: the most dangerous situation on a rural property, and the one most people try to fix with a truck and a chain
• Blocked driveways and access roads: cleared and opened first, cleaned up second
• Trees across fences and into neighbouring property
• Barber-chaired and split trees under load
• Post-storm sweeps: walking the property for what's been loosened but hasn't come down yet

Working an insurance claim

We do claim work regularly and we know what an adjuster needs to see. That generally means:

1. Photographs before anything moves. As soon as it's safe, photograph everything, the tree, the damage, the position. Don't tidy up first.
2. Call your broker before you authorise work: unless it's an emergency measure to prevent further damage. Most policies cover reasonable emergency mitigation.
3. A written, itemised scope from us that separates emergency make-safe from the full removal and cleanup. Adjusters treat those differently.
4. Proof we're insured. $5M liability and WorkSafeBC registration. We'll send a certificate, and you can pull a clearance letter addressed to you yourself, free, at worksafebc.com.

What your policy probably does and doesn't do

This is general, your policy is your policy, and your broker is the one to ask.

• Weather is usually covered. Wind, lightning, ice and snow load generally trigger coverage on the structure, regardless of whose side of the fence the tree grew on.
• Negligence usually isn't. If the tree was visibly dead or rotting and nothing was done about it, that's a different conversation with the insurer.
• Debris removal is often capped at a small fixed amount, frequently a few hundred dollars, separate from the structural repair.
• Landscaping-only losses (a tree down in the yard, no structure hit) are usually capped at a small percentage of the dwelling coverage.

We're fallers, not licensed insurance advisors. Every one of these varies by policy. Call your broker.

The part worth doing before the wind

The cheapest storm damage is the tree you took down in August. A documented danger tree assessment does two things: it identifies what's actually going to fail, and it puts a date on the record showing you acted. Both are worth more than they cost.

Danger tree assessment →