Overheard a landscaper in Boise tell his crew 'just cut the roots, the tree will be fine'

That's how you get a 50-foot maple falling on a house in five years. Anyone have a good way to explain root collar excavation to property owners without sounding like a jerk?

3 comments

3 Comments

jakef662mo agoMost Upvoted

That "it'll be fine" attitude is everywhere. People skip the basics, then wonder why things fall apart later.

joseph5292mo ago

Saw a bridge inspection report last year where they missed simple concrete cracks for five years. Cost over two million to fix what a weekly walk around could have caught. That attitude turns small problems into disasters.

terry_walker5d ago

That "it'll be fine" mindset is exactly right. I see it everywhere, not just in bridges. My neighbor ignored a small roof leak for months cause he figured it would dry out. Now he's got mold spreading through half his attic and a repair bill that's way bigger than just patching the leak would've been. People treat maintenance like it's optional until they're paying triple to fix the emergency. It's like we're all just waiting for things to break instead of keeping up with them. Feels like that same lazy attitude shows up in car repairs too. Everyone's always shocked when their "it'll last another year" gamble costs them thousands later.