Tree Fell on Roof What to Do
Get everyone safely clear, then call your insurer. Falling tree damage is usually covered under dwelling coverage, minus your deductible.
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Whose tree it was doesn't change the claim
Homeowners policies pay for a fallen tree under your dwelling coverage no matter whose tree it was, your own, a neighbor's, or one nobody was taking care of. The insurer isn't suing the tree's owner. It's your coverage responding to damage on your property. The one thing that can hurt you is if you knew the tree was dead or rotting and ignored it. An insurer could use that to deny the claim. Take photos before anything gets moved or tarped. If the tree landed on a car, that's an auto claim, not a home one. If it blocked the driveway but hit nothing, some policies still pay toward removal. Check your declarations page for a separate wind or hurricane deductible.
A storm deductible can run far higher than your standard one
Some policies swap in a separate wind, hail or hurricane deductible, often a percentage of your dwelling coverage rather than a flat dollar amount. Comparing policies now shows what you'd actually owe before the next storm, not after.
What happens with the removal and the tarp before the adjuster shows up
Most policies pay something toward tree removal even when the tree only grazed the house, but there's usually a cap, often a few hundred dollars per fallen tree, listed as debris removal on your declarations page. If the tree took out a fence or a shed along with the roof, those are typically covered too, under other structures, which is a separate limit from the dwelling coverage paying for the roof itself.
Your policy expects you to stop the damage from getting worse, which means a tarp over the hole, not a full repair. Keep the receipt for the tarp, the plywood, anything you paid someone to do that night. That cost gets reimbursed as part of the claim. Don't hire a crew to patch the roof permanently before the adjuster has seen it, because the insurer needs to confirm what the storm did before it's covered over.
Get more than one quote for the repair itself. Adjusters write an estimate based on standard local pricing, and if a roofer quotes well above that, it's worth asking why before you agree to it. Some roofers who go door to door after storms inflate the scope of work or push you to sign over your claim check directly to them. Read anything before you sign it, especially a document called an assignment of benefits, which hands your insurer dealings to the contractor.
If the tree did enough damage that the house isn't livable, check whether your policy includes loss of use coverage. It pays for a hotel or a rental while repairs happen, usually up to a limit tied to your dwelling coverage. Save every receipt, hotel, meals above what you'd normally spend, laundry, and submit them to the adjuster as part of the same claim rather than waiting.
How long the claim takes and what the adjuster is actually checking for
Once you've filed, the insurer assigns an adjuster who either visits the house or reviews photos you send in, depending on how widespread the storm damage is in your area. After a big regional storm, expect it to take longer, since the same adjuster is working through a backlog of claims from the whole neighborhood, not just yours. A single tree on one house in an otherwise calm week usually moves faster, sometimes within a few days of the inspection.
The adjuster is looking for what the tree did versus what was already there. A roof that was near the end of its life before the storm complicates things, because insurers pay to fix storm damage, not to upgrade an old roof that was already failing. This is where your photos matter. Pictures taken right after the tree came down, showing the branch through the shingles or the hole in the decking, back up your account of what happened that day versus what an adjuster finds weeks later once rain has gotten in and made everything worse.
You'll get a written estimate from the adjuster that breaks out what the insurer will pay for, minus your deductible. If your roofer's estimate and the adjuster's estimate don't match, you can push back. Most insurers have a process for a second review, sometimes called appraisal, where each side gets an estimator and the two work out the difference. It's slower than just accepting the first number, but worth it if the gap is in the thousands rather than a few hundred dollars.
Payment usually comes in stages rather than all at once. You might get an initial check for the undisputed part of the damage, with a second payment released once repairs are done and documented, especially if the insurer is withholding depreciation until the work is finished. That second payment is sometimes called recoverable depreciation, and it's only released if you complete the repair and send proof, so don't skip that last step once the roof is fixed.
Before you do anything else
Check your declarations page for a separate wind or hurricane deductible and your debris removal cap. Those two numbers decide what you'll actually owe, and they're worth knowing before the adjuster calls.
