A Tree Just Fell on My House in Tampa — What Do I Do Right Now?

If a tree just came down on your house, this is the guide I wish every Tampa Bay homeowner had before the storm hit. I'm James Holley — I own Holleywood Tree Services, based in Lutz — and my crews respond to trees-on-homes across Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas County almost every week during storm season. The steps below are the exact sequence I walk homeowners through on the phone at 2 a.m.

Step 1 — Make the scene safe (first 5 minutes)

• Get everyone out of any room the tree is touching. Even an intact ceiling can drop overnight as the trunk settles.
• Kill the main breaker if the ceiling is bowed, water is coming in near a fixture, or you smell anything electrical.
• Shut off the water main if plumbing runs through the impacted wall.
• Do not go into the attic to 'take a look.' Attic trusses under load fail without warning.
• Keep pets contained — glass and roofing nails travel further than you think.

Step 2 — Take the right photos (next 10 minutes)

This is the single biggest thing homeowners get wrong. Insurance adjusters pay claims based on what they can see, and once we tarp or remove the tree, the visual proof is gone. Before you touch anything, take these:

1. Wide shots of the tree in place from all four sides of the house.
2. Close-ups of every point of impact — roof, gutters, fascia, siding, windows, screen enclosure.
3. Interior shots of every ceiling stain, drywall crack, and displaced insulation.
4. A shot of the root ball or trunk base showing what failed (root plate, snapped trunk, split leader). This tells the adjuster whether it was wind, saturation, or prior decay.
5. One video walkaround with narration — date, address, what you heard, what you saw.

Step 3 — Make three calls, in this order

1. Your insurance carrier's 24-hour claims line. Get a claim number before you call anyone else. Ask specifically about emergency mitigation coverage — most Florida HO-3 policies cover reasonable tarping and tree removal to prevent further damage even before the adjuster arrives.
2. A licensed, insured tree company that answers the phone at that hour. You want same-crew accountability, not a call center. If you're in Tampa Bay, that's us — (813) 475-0994.
3. A roofer only after the tree is off. Roofers cannot safely assess damage while a trunk is still on the structure.

Step 4 — Emergency tarping and stabilization

A properly installed emergency tarp does three things: it stops water intrusion (which is what actually destroys interior finishes and grows mold), it preserves your claim, and it buys time for a full roof repair without hotel bills. Our crews carry heavy 20-mil tarps and use battens screwed into structurally sound roof deck — not the free blue tarp from a big-box store that lifts in the first afternoon breeze.

Step 5 — How the removal actually happens

A tree on a house is not a normal removal. The trunk is holding the structure open — cutting it wrong drops the compressed weight into the living room. Here's the sequence we use on every tree-on-house job in Tampa Bay:

• Assess load path. Where is the trunk bearing weight? What breaks free if we cut here?
• Set the crane if the tree is large enough. Cranes remove weight instead of dropping it — this alone is often the difference between a $4,000 roof repair and a $40,000 rebuild.
• Rig the canopy piece-by-piece, floating each cut to a landing zone away from the house.
• Lift the main trunk clear before the last supporting limb is cut, so nothing pancakes onto the structure.
• Grind the stump, chip the brush, and rake the yard clean the same day.

Step 6 — Working with the insurance adjuster

In Florida, tree removal is typically covered up to a per-tree cap ($500–$1,000 is common) when the tree damages a covered structure. Removal from your yard alone — no structure hit — is usually not covered. Ask for these three things in writing:

• Coverage for emergency mitigation (tarping and removal of the tree from the structure).
• Coverage for debris removal, including hauling and stump grinding.
• Coverage for any additional tree work the adjuster approves as necessary to complete the roof repair.

We provide fully itemized invoices designed for insurance submittal — separate lines for emergency response, crane services, tarping, structural removal, debris haul, and stump grinding. That format gets claims paid faster.

How to keep this from happening next time

Ninety percent of the trees we take off Tampa Bay homes had one or more of these warning signs that a proper inspection would have caught: heavy end-weight on limbs overhanging the roof, a lean that developed over the last few years, mushroom conks at the base, cracked bark down the trunk, or a co-dominant leader with included bark. A one-hour risk assessment before hurricane season costs a fraction of a single claim deductible.

If it's happening right now

Call our 24/7 line: (813) 475-0994. Tell us your address, whether the tree hit power, and roughly how big it is. We'll give you an honest ETA and start dispatching the right equipment before we're off the phone. If your home is safe to stay in, we can usually have a crew and — where needed — a crane on-site within a few hours anywhere in Tampa Bay.