Crane job gone sideways in a cul-de-sac last month

I was removing a big silver maple in a tight cul-de-sac over by Oak Park. My crane operator dropped the first pick too close to a parked minivan (not mine, thankfully). The branch swung and cracked the rear window clean in half. Homeowner came running out yelling about insurance. I stopped everything, had my guy secure the load, and walked over to talk it down. Ended up paying $400 out of pocket to cover their deductible and got the rest of the tree done without more drama. Has anyone else had a crane pick go bad and how did you smooth it over with the client?

2 comments

2 Comments

piper_thompson311d ago

Wait, was the minivan the client's neighbor's or someone just parked on the street? $400 to cover a deductible is cheap if they were threatening to sue you over it.

wendyc5320h ago

No, it was just some random person parked on the street. The client backed into it and then tried to blame me for not warning them it was there. I get that $400 sounds like a deal to avoid a lawsuit, but the whole thing felt like I was getting shoved into covering something that wasn't really my fault. If someone is threatening to sue over a small dent, you gotta be careful because they might just be trying to scare you into paying. A proper insurance claim would have handled it better and kept my name clear. Have you ever had someone try to pull that on you after a job?