Your tree fell on the shed. Now you have two problems: a damaged structure, and a policy document written by someone who appears to genuinely enjoy exceptions.
The honest answer: home insurance usually does pay for tree removal — but the details determine whether your situation qualifies. Most homeowners assume they're covered, find out they're not, then call an arborist to complain about the insurer. Nine times out of ten, the coverage was always there. The paperwork just wasn't handled right.
Quick answer: Home insurance covers tree removal when a covered peril (windstorm, lightning, ice, hail) caused a tree to fall on an insured structure. If no structure was hit, most standard policies won't pay for removal — even if the tree is now in your yard making your life inconvenient.
When home insurance pays for tree removal
Three things generally need to be true for your insurer to cover the removal:
A covered peril caused the fall.Standard BC home insurance policies cover what's called “named perils” — windstorm, lightning, hail, ice, or the weight of snow. If the tree came down in a storm, you're in the right category. If it fell because it was old, diseased, or just tired of standing, that's a different conversation.
The tree fell on an insured structure.Your house, an attached garage, a detached structure that's on your policy (check this — standalone sheds sometimes aren't covered). The key word is “on.” A tree that fell two metres from your deck and blocked your yard is not the same thing as a tree that's resting on your deck.
The removal is necessary for repairs.The tree needs to come off the structure before the structural repair can happen. Most policies treat tree removal as incidental to the repair cost — meaning if your structure isn't damaged enough to trigger a claim, the tree removal may not be either.
Lightning is worth calling out separately. Some BC policies cover tree removal after a direct lightning strike, even if the tree didn't hit a structure — on the logic that a lightning-struck tree is an immediate hazard. This isn't universal. Read the “named perils” section of your policy, or call your broker and ask directly.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada has a reasonable summary of what storm damage home insurance typically covers. It's not policy advice, but it's a good starting point before you call your broker.
When it won't cover anything
This is where most homeowners get surprised.
The tree fell but nothing got hit.Down in the yard, in the garden bed, across the fence line — if no insured structure is damaged, most standard policies won't pay for removal. The tree is now your maintenance problem, same as mowing the lawn.
The tree was already dead or diseased.This one matters more than most homeowners realise. If an adjuster determines the tree was in decline before the storm — dead wood, disease, visible rot — they can treat the failure as a maintenance issue rather than a covered event. That distinction can void the entire claim, including any structural repairs. A dead tree is not a “storm event.” It's a maintenance failure that happened to coincide with a storm.
I've seen this play out badly. A homeowner had a claim denied entirely because the tree showed visible fungal growth at the base — something they'd noticed but hadn't dealt with. The adjuster flagged it as pre-existing deterioration. There was real structural damage to the garage, and the homeowner ended up out of pocket for both the repair and the removal. Regular tree risk assessments document the health of your trees over time — which matters considerably if an insurer ever questions a tree's condition before a storm.
You want it removed proactively.Insurance covers damage, not prevention. A perfectly healthy tree that's leaning toward your house and making you nervous isn't something your insurer will pay to remove. That's a property improvement, and it comes out of pocket.
Neighbour's tree fell on your property
This question comes up constantly: whose insurance covers it when the tree belongs to the house next door?
Your home insurance covers the structural damage to your property, regardless of whose tree it was. You'd claim against your own policy first. The fact that the tree originated from a neighbouring property doesn't automatically make it their insurer's problem.
Neighbour liability gets complicated when you can show they knew the tree was hazardous — documented complaints, previous inspections, letters — and chose not to act. That's a harder case than most people expect, and it typically ends up as a civil dispute rather than a quick insurance settlement.
If a tree falls on your car, that's your auto insurance — specifically comprehensive coverage (also called “other than collision”). Home insurance doesn't extend to vehicles parked on your property. If you don't carry comprehensive auto coverage, that comes out of pocket.
How to file a tree removal claim without losing it
Most claims that get denied weren't denied because the event wasn't covered. They were denied because the homeowner didn't document properly before the work started. By the time the adjuster sees the property, the evidence is gone — the tree's been removed, the damage is half-repaired, and the original scene exists only in someone's memory.
Back in 2014, after a major windstorm hit the Lower Mainland, I was called in by a homeowner whose claim had already been denied. Another company had come out fast, removed the tree, done the cleanup, and left the homeowner with a $1,200 bill and no documentation that supported their case. I went back, did a proper inspection, pulled the storm data for that night, photographed the remaining damage, and submitted a report that addressed the adjuster's specific objections. The claim was reopened and approved. It should have been straightforward from the start — the documentation just wasn't there.
Before any work starts:
- Call your insurer and report the event
- Ask what documentation they need before removal begins
- Take time-stamped photos from multiple angles — the fallen tree, the structure it hit, the root zone, anything that establishes it was a healthy tree before the storm
- Note the date, time, and weather conditions
When you book the removal, ask for an itemised invoice. Structural removal (getting the tree off the house) and general debris cleanup are often treated differently by insurers — the first may be covered, the second may not. An invoice that separates those two is easier to submit.
An ISA Certified Arborist report is helpful when a claim is disputed — when the insurer is questioning cause of failure, tree health, or whether the damage was storm-related. For a straightforward fall during an obvious windstorm with visible structural damage, your photos and the insurer's own adjuster are usually sufficient.
Preventing the claim altogether
The most cost-effective claim is the one that never happens. (Which is the kind of thing a financial advisor would say, but it's also true.)
Trees within fall distance of your house, garage, or any structure worth insuring deserve an assessment every two to three years. Not because they're definitely going to fail — most won't. Because an assessment establishes a documented baseline of health. If that tree ever comes down in a storm, you have records showing it was in good condition, properly maintained, no pre-existing disease or structural defect. That documentation is worth considerably more than the $150 consultation it costs.
October is a reasonable time to think about this in Surrey and the Fraser Valley. Storm season runs October through March. A tree that gets assessed in September is documented before the first windstorm hits. A tree that comes down in January with no history is a claim waiting to be disputed.
We had a same-night emergency callout two winters ago — a birch had come down on a fence line. The homeowner had an assessment on file from eight months prior, confirming the tree was healthy and structurally sound. Claim approved without dispute. The adjuster had nothing to question.
When you don't need to call an arborist
Honestly, I'll tell you when it's not worth it.
If you have a clear-cut claim — a healthy tree came down in an obvious windstorm, it hit a structure, there's visible damage, you have photos, and the insurer's own adjuster is handling it — you don't necessarily need an arborist report. The adjuster's assessment may be sufficient, and a $150 ISA inspection won't change the outcome.
Call an arborist when:
- The claim is disputed or the adjuster is questioning the cause of failure
- The insurer is suggesting the tree was unhealthy before the event
- The damage is significant and you want independent documentation
- The tree fell without an obvious storm cause and you need a cause-of-failure analysis
If your situation is straightforward and well-documented, save the money. There's no arborist alive who doesn't occasionally tell people they don't need to call one.