A Jacksonville homeowner was left with a huge hole in his roof following a tree-trimming nightmare that was captured on video.
The video shared with News4JAX shows a massive tree falling on a two-story house in Mandarin as it was cut down.
“Nooo!” the contractor can be heard yelling in the video.
“Oh my God, right on his house,” the homeowner’s mom, who was recording the cell phone video, says after impact.
Darren Gardner said he hired someone to take down his tree, but now he’s left picking up the pieces. Luckily, no one was hurt.
“As you see my house is tarp. I got multiple damages on my roof from the fall, and then also from when the crane had to come and actually get everything repaired,” Gardner said. “I hired a gentleman to do some tree service for me. He’s done a couple of jobs for me probably like, anywhere between five and 10 jobs he’s done for me. In the past, I haven’t had any incident with him.”
But this time was different.
“Well, he was cutting it. And I was actually in the front yard at the time. And I look up and everything just comes down. I just see it come down,” Gardner said.
The start of the video shows the approximately 40-foot tree at the edge of the tree trunk. As it starts to tip over, the contractor is seen running toward it, but at that point, it is too late.
“I have water damage, plumbing, HVAC damage, electrical damage, framing damage, windows damage,” he said. “And so now I’m left with, you know, the bill to get it done.”
News4JAX spoke to Better Business Bureau President Tom Stephens who said cutting trees does not require a license.
“You must protect yourself by getting insurance information in advance, especially for something that has the potential of harming your property. And that will remain a certificate of insurance from his insurance for both liability insurance and workers compensation insurance,” Stephens said.
Stephens also recommends doing your research before hiring a contractor and calling the agent who issued the certificate to verify if the policy is still enforced.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.