A Tree Just Fell on Your House: What Actually Happens Next
With wind advisories picking up across the valley this month, we're fielding more of this exact call: a tree - often a mature oak, silver maple, or cottonwood - has come down across a roof, garage, or driveway, and the homeowner has no idea what happens next. Here's the honest, step-by-step version.
First, before anyone calls anyone
- Keep people and pets out from under the tree and away from any part of the house it's resting against - a settled tree can still shift
- Do not touch anything if a branch or the trunk is anywhere near a power line - treat any contact with a line as energized and call Idaho Power, not us, first
- If it's safe to do so, take photos from several angles before anything is moved or cut - this matters more than it seems once an insurance claim is involved
Making the call
When you call us, tell us plainly what you can see: is the tree resting on the roof, is it blocking a door or driveway, is anyone able to get in or out of the house safely, and whether any part of it is near power lines. We prioritize calls by severity - a tree actively resting on a structure or blocking emergency access goes to the front of the line over a tree down in an open yard with no damage.
What we do on arrival
The first thing on-site isn't cutting - it's assessing load. A tree resting on a roof is often holding tension in ways that aren't obvious, and cutting the wrong piece first can cause the rest to shift suddenly. Our crew identifies how the tree is loading the structure, then removes it in controlled sections from the top down - limbing and sectioning the canopy before touching the heavier trunk wood resting on the house.
Insurance and documentation
If the tree damaged a covered structure - your roof, garage, or fence - homeowner's insurance will often cover removal and the structural repair, though coverage for a tree down in the yard with no property damage varies by policy. We provide photo documentation and an itemized invoice either way, which your adjuster will want. Full detail on this, along with who handles what when a tree blocks a public street versus your own property, is on our storm damage tree removal page.
After the tree is off the house
Once the structure is clear, we haul debris, grind the stump if you'd like it gone in the same visit, and can talk through whether nearby trees show the same warning signs that led to this one coming down - a quick preventive check while we're already on-site. If the tree needs to come down in its entirety rather than just storm cleanup, our tree removal page covers that process in more depth.