Is your roofer bonded & insured? If so, then his insurance company can be made to pay for a suitable replacement - but it may take threat of legal action, and you may have to enlist a certified arborist, licensed urban forester, or some similar 'expert' to attest to the actual value of the tree he damaged.
Your landscaper may be just the professional you need to enlist, but around here, most 'landscapers' are just guys with a truck, trailer, lawnmowers & weedeaters, who mow lawns, plant a few trees/shrubs, top others, and build those horrid mulch volcanos - not trained landscape architects and ornamental horticulturists.

Apparently he's no longer your friend. A friend wouldn't carelessly destroy your valuable tree and then expect to satisfy you with an inadequate replacement. It's often necessary to remember when having work done that non-gardeners usually don't appreciate garden plants or even recognize them as different from "brush", if you had had a grand piano sitting out there he probably would've done differently. Next time you have non-gardeners working there try to keep on top of the situation in some way or expect similar possible outcomes.

I once had a worker installing a skylight here lay it down (while still in the box) on top of a rare shrub and crush it while I was at work. I've also seen painters working on an apartment or condo empty their cans onto shrubs in the landscaping, so that it looked like there was a rookery there - only this "poop" didn't wash off in rains. Heck, even landscape workers may do stuff like this, the company working the now long-held account across the street sent out someone to install a water feature in the back yard who drove and walked over the dwarf shrubs in the driveway beds in front.

We are trying to work this out in a nice way. We are waitiing till the job is done then will push for either a new tree (not tiny one but smaller is fine)or repairing the old one after we call out our arborist to see if it can be saved. We have a great arborist that knows so much about the care of his trees. He is like the horse whisper or dog whisper only the tree whisper!!!! He saves many trees from being taking down in the area by landscapers. He loves all trees!!! Wrote a book on his life and how trees relate to his life..I will have to look at both directions on this. Only hope this roofer is kind enough to consider a happy medium.. We don't need the same size but not a twig either!!! If it can be saved yah!!!I will post photos once he is done today..

Here is the picutres of it I hope we can save it but will it grown uneven?? What is the best thing to do? We have a arborist coming to look at it this week. I might want to transplant it to our back yard and get a smaller one for the front bed since this will look ugly for some time I suppose. Here is the photos
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He offerd $500 and we excepted that as don't think he would give anymore towards it. This one we had 16 years so it was worth more then $500 but we will just have to work with it. I am sure we can fine one for that price but it won't be the same size.. I am not sure how happy he was when he left and we weren't thilled but everyone was ok I suppose and it all will work out ok I just hate to look at the poor thing...

That tree is destroyed.

Do you think we can try transplanting it to the back yard and see what happens to it? I will have to get a new one for the front yard or put some other tree/bush there. I really loved the tree.. Kinda sickening to me..

You may be able to find a nice sized JM for 500 dollars but I don't think I ever saw any JMs being sold for that price though.

Our local wholesale yard is selling 5' ones for $500 but that doesn't include delivery and planting. You should specify dissectum or cutleaf maples as opposed to standard JM's.
Interresting the Cherry laurels remain untouched. I'm picturing the foreman in the truck talking to his girlfriend while the crew is on the roof. Here's a clue, don't let the same guy that ruined your JM bring you a new one. Don't plant new JM closer than 20' to the house. Shrubbery should be out of the way of scaffolding, ladders and how about snow and ice sliding off of the roof? How about the next time roof, chimney, gutters, windows need work?

The problem as described here is that the shingles were dumped right where the laceleaf maple is. All they had to do was care enough to pick a different spot, perhaps even mere feet away.

Since laceleaf maples are so abnormal in appearance, with their dwarf, weeping growth and finely dissected leaves try to find a spot for the replacement specimen where it will be featured by itself, without a bunch of other kinds of shrubs and trees right in around it. Perhaps the ideal frequently available contemporary situation would be one of those little fenced-in spaces outside of a ground level condo or apartment, where the maple can dominate the scene.

"Don't plant new JM closer than 20' to the house. Shrubbery should be out of the way of scaffolding, ladders and how about snow and ice sliding off of the roof? How about the next time roof, chimney, gutters, windows need work?"

I think this is impractical and improbable.
Many, many homes have bushes or trees growing quite close to the foundation, decks, walls, et cetera. I've cleaned gutters, replaced gutters, pruned above chimneys, replaced shingles, and have replaced an entire roof. There's no excuse for dropping material carelessly - especially heavy material. Standard procedure is to determine a 'drop spot' for trash. It's safer for pets, as well as trees. The 'next time' that work need be done to Jess' house, I'd recommend a crystaline written contract detailing the plants and liabilities. I'd take pictures of the plants, too, which could be used for price-comparison in the chance that something like this happens again.

I think it the roofer's responsibility to mind the property of the home-owner, rather than the home-owner's responsibility to create a clear-zone for the roofer.

Josh

Well our arborist came out and was sicken at the tree. He said what jokester would not see this beautiful tree and throw a tarp over bushes/trees and then let the shingles drop on the tarp like the tarp is protecting the tree or bushes in anyway!! I told him he used a tarp to cover the bushes before he started. I told him that we knew the roofer as he was a old neighbor trying to go out on his own in a few months and this was a weekend side job he did with 3 other guys..We are trying to stay nice about all this..He has been in roofing and construction since 18 years old and he is now 34. He was on the roof and so were the other two guys so not sure who threw the singles down onto the bushes but the dumpster they had is 4 foot if that from the tree.. i did not noticed the damage as the tarp was covering the tree and once they started cleaning up was when my husband noticed and pointed it out to our neighbor who already knew about it by then but did not say anything to us yet.Probably afraid..One of his workers must have told him earlier.. Our old neighbor /roofer guy never knew they cost that much till his one buddy told him he has one and they are not cheap to replace..The arborist told us he hates to see a tree die and this is still alive and might surprise us with some new growth if we keep it there till fall then decide if we want a new one or not. That is if we want to look at it till then and it does not bug us too much.. He said not to transplant it now somewhere else as it is so stressed it probably would not make it if moved. He told us to give it a chance and see how it does this summer if nothing good happens and it really bugs us then he would get rid of it and plant a new one for us but said nothing on cost of a new one from his nursery. We could probably fine a new one just a small one and do this ourselves. I found a nice size one at our other local nursey for $500. There is another guy that sells them outside his house that some people have told me about also and his prices are fair. So i might take a ride to check them out.. We took out the golden globes as they were somewhat smushed one was browned at the top already and beat up looking also. Not sure what to put there now. Here is more of the golden globes but they are nothing compared to my poor maple.

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By the way we had new windows put in 8 years ago and no problems then used the back and side of the house and drive way to work around the landscaping. I just think they did not think about the bushes even though they used tarps everywhere..

The maple will grow back, the only problem is it will take some years to start looking good again. Don't see how the lost branches would prevent it from surviving transplanting. True, growth of new roots will likely be quite a bit less than if all the original stem tissue was still present, to provide energy for root replacement, but I wouldn't expect this aspect to be enough to make failure of the transplanted tree certain or even highly likely.

If the thing is now a thorn in your side, move it to where it won't be. But do it before it breaks bud.

So wait until after fall leaf drop, or the end of next winter if your climate is too cold for fall or winter transplanting.

I think you keep it right where it is for many reasons.

Your tree will grow back at a greatly accelerated rate. The root system has stored a relatively large amount of reserves that was to be used in this years growth for the entire tree, however this will not be poured into regenerating missing parts with greatly increased growth rate over the next couple seasons. Also after these reserves are exhausted, canopy growth will continue at an increased rate. This is due to a similar situation as when you plant a new tree. When you plant a new tree the root system does not match the canopy, so the canopy grows very little while the roots regenerate. Here the reverse will happen. The roots will grow very little while the canopy regenerates as quickly as possible. Nearly all growth will go into canopy growth.

Conversely if you plant a larger "new" tree, this new tree will take at least a couple years to increase it's root system, and have relatively little canopy growth while the new tree gets "established". Then it will grow much slower than if your existing tree is left to regenerate.

It is my thought that in 3-4 years, your existing tree can be to a point where it's not so different (though smaller but still growing faster than "normal") than before. Locally a great many Japanese maples were "severally" pruned my last years freeze. Many of them losing years old wood, and 50% or more of their canopy. Surprisingly many of them you would not notice them looking improper this spring, though smaller than before, but still growing FAST. You would probable need to educate yourself on pruning, and perhaps do some training of the new growth to accelerate the desired shape (or hire someone that knows how to do this), but this would be much much faster than a "new" tree IMHO.

Lastly, my thoughts are not influenced by the fact that I am a son of "roofer's". :-)

We might wait till fall and see what it looks like then either try to transplant it to the backyard or keep it where it is and hope it gets its shape back in time. Should I feed it tree food of some kind to spped up the growth??

It had canker issues 3 years ago and the arborist gave it medicine or some kind of injection for canker. Don't know the name. It seemed to bounce back real well and looked great before all this happened to it.

Here are photos where the arborist cut the tree and showed me where the canker was 3/4 years ago. He hopes it does not come back as now the tree is under stress..

Oh and the dumpster photo.. It was not that far from the house but the roofers missed.. we trying to be nice about all this really so I know this was not intentional.

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It's going to take many years to replace those major branches.

In my message earlier this morning, I said why I though keeping the tree was the right thing to do, however this was before you said anything about having canker previously. In the new pictures you posted, the canker is clearly visible now, where I had not seen it before. With the canker (thought not active anymore) being where it is, the tree will not bud normally on all sides of the trunk as I was expecting when I wrote this morning. In addition it looks as though the canker had been pretty severe.

Based on the new canker information, at the least I would remove ALL wood that had been affected by the canker (even though it appears there would be only trunk left), or remove the tree all together. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm of the opinion that the dead wood will most likely eventually lead to heart rot, and then death of the tree after perhaps years of trying to save it. Therefore I would remove it completely.

As for what to replace it with, check even your local big box stores, they will sometimes have something surprising. I saw a rather large Crimson Queen (I think that was what it was) Laceleaf weeping JM at one of our local big box stores in an appropriate size pot for ~$180, and completely healthy/happy looking. Another in the area has a large 'Venus' dogwood (again healthy) in a 20 gallon pot for ~$150. You never know what you find if you look around. I know the 'Venus' dogwood was a real surprise to me.

JMHO,
Artrees

Thanks time to rethink now. I might start looking around to see what is out there. Would planting another Jap Maple there be ok? Canker would not affect the new tree in any way would it??

Thanks

Depends on what, specifically caused the dead areas. Since it's on top of the branches I wonder if the primary cause at least was just something like sunburn rather than a pathogenic agent (disease organism).

Well this gets morning sun and afternoon shade. The only thing i can add to this is that 4/5 years ago we had 2 golden globes taken out of that bed and replanted in different locations. After that the tree got Canker and wonder if disturbing its root system might have caused it in anyway. Anyway some say keep it till fall and if you are going to try transplanting it do it then and get a new one for that location. I might see what happens over the summer and see what happens.