Oh Bonny, I am so sorry. How thoughtless of that crew. Especially when you asked them to be careful around your plants. I am so glad your DH understood how important that garden is and talked with that crew.

I hope all your plants recover some how and that very soon, this will all be just a bad memory.

-Sharon

Bonny, I was hoping it would be a picture of very few blooms and then lots bloomed out..........I would have been furious!

My sis is moving lots of things before her contractors start a job near one of her beds.

It sure looks to me like it wouldn't have been a problem to just position the ladder away from the bed.....

Good for your husband for standing up to them. Sometimes I feel we are held hostage by our repair guys... so afraid they won't come when we need them.....but roofers, those guys are a once in 20 - 30 years, maybe that's why they don't give a darn.

Those plants will come back so all is not lost.

It sure looked pretty before!

Bonny,
What a nightmare! Most people have no clue how precious our gardens are to us. I'm so sorry you have to deal with this heartbreak.

We had a new roof put on about 2 years ago. Like you I emphasized to the foreman how important it was to take care around the plants and shrubs. When the work crew arrived the foreman was no where to be found. I began telling the workers to please be careful around the plants only to realize that none of them spoke english! I was lucky that we had the job done in January and only had to worry about the shrubs. Make sure you wear shoes from now on whenever you go into your flower beds, or yard for that matter. I still find roofing nails all over the place.
Vikki

No doubt about it, those guys were just careless clods. Were they ripping off the old roof? The old shingles raining down can flatten down most plants.

It's probably unrealistic, though, to expect zero damage in that situation. I have done a fair amount of house painting, and many customers have had plantings that my partners and I would try to be very careful around. We would tie back shrubs, cover plants with drop cloths, and step as carefully as possible. Still, there was usually a little damage because there is just no way not to walk beside the house when you're working on it. In every case, we warned the customers what to expect, and never had a complaint afterward.

In your case, Bonny, those guys are clearly idiots who cared not a fig what they were doing. Did you have a contract, or just an oral agreement? For anyone who might be in this situation in the future, you might think strongly about a contract with penalties for damages done in the process of the work. Also, consider not hiring the cheapest crew you can find. (Not saying you did that, Bonny) A good crew knows how to work carefully and will take steps to protect your stuff, as long as they aren't losing money by doing that. In your case, Bonny, I think they could have built a quick structure to protect your plants and worked around most of them, though it's a little hard to tell from the picture.

What a shame.

ThinMan

Bonnie, I feel your pain. Thank heavens perennials will come back again next year. But it is a shame. I am so glad that your DH understood how you felt and supported you.

We will be having our roof done within the next few weeks and I shudder to think what our yard will look like? They were supposed to have it done earlier in the summer/spring, but all the rain we had pushed all of their jobs back. So now the garden is in full bloom. He has said they will be careful and will remove all shingles to one side of the house so as to not come down into the garden room. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Marylu

Good grief, that is shocking. I agree that most of the plants will be rebound, if not all of them. Thanks for alerting everybody and generating the discussion as to what can happen!

Lorna

(((Bonny))) ~ That is horrible! I am sorry you came home to such disaster. Like gldno said they will come back, and maybe they will be even more wonderful and stronger than they were.

I'm glad you moved your fairy and more glad that your DH stood up to those careless jerks.

Take heart.

FlowerLady

I'm so sorry. I'd be heartbroken, too. I do hope all of your flowers recover. I know that it will be difficult this season to look at the bare spots.

Cameron

it reeks of lack of respect..we had a similar experience with contractors also..seems once you hire them, they seem to think YOUR at their mercy, rather than YOUR the employer...

It has been suggested to me it is wrote right in a contract..any damage to landscaping will be replaced or insured. Some damage has to occur from ladders and ect..but if it was going to hurt the pocketbook, rather than just the convience factor I think they would be a bit more careful.

That's what i'm afraid of.We need to have our house tented for termites and they told me i'd have to move all the plantings away from the house--------------What?? Next to impossible without digging them up and that ain't gonna happen.Also said i had to take all my african violets,orchids and other house plants outside and place them down on the lower level of the yard,full sun there.Also Dh would have to dismantle his aquariums,and we'd have to go to a hotel for 2 nights and 3 days.

Needless to say it was all too much for me to take in,so i havn't done it yet.There's a lot more work that we'd have to do to get it ready for tenting,and since i just had a total knee replacement,it's on the back burner.
I don't even want to think about it.
Kathi

I knew you guys would understand and I really appreciate being able to vent and all of your encouraging words. DH's mom grew flowers and vegetables all of his life and helped me move her gardens to our home after she passed away. He was just as upset as I am. He had a lot more words for them than the few I told you and I was so glad that he did that.
Thinman....nope we had a metal roof put on. No shigles to be removed but of course they had to pass up the large sheets of metal roofing. If they had used longer ladders and stepped out two steps they wouldn't have damaged much. My husband handled the hiring and there is no contract...also nothing set as to how the balance will be paid....I'm thinking $5 a week at this point and shorting them a couple hundred but hopefully I will come to my senses at check writing time. I know the perennials will come back...the annuals (not showing much in the pic but there were lots) are history and it is just the end of June. I think what they did is disgraceful and disrespectful and it will be very difficult for me to pass a good word about their work even though the roof is turning out great.

Again, thank you for all of your kind words and understanding. I feel like I have been group hugged and that helps so much.

Bonny

Oh man, bin there dun that!!! Words cannot express the anger, yea, rage. And you are right, you might vent hot words, or just dissolve to tears. When I did the renovation on the old house, there was almost nothing left of my front garden - and it was the whole front lawn!!! It was in the fall,so I was glad when the snow came, but then in Spring had to face it all again as the septic installers levelled 6" of bottom sludge over the whole garden, so the paths, perrenials, everything was gone. My neighbours were very kind in giving me new plants in the Spring, but the best best best was when these little pyramids of clay erupted, and my rhubarb came popping up!! Then my grape vine - anyway you get the picture - nature will prevail over phillistines!!

Hope you didn't lose anything precious.

Nancy.

((Bonnie)), so very sorry about the damage to your garden. It's bad enough you came home to what you did after you did ask them to be careful of your plants, yes, plants can be replaced but that's not the point many of these plants have a very personal attachment for you and it's heartbreaking to come home and find such damage.
Our neighbors had a new roof put on, they asked if they could have the dumpster backed up our driveway so the workmen could throw the old shingles in as they had no other access to get one close to their house. I agreed as long as they assured me there would be no damage to my plants. I don't know what the neighbor said to the roofers, when all was said and done and the dumpster was removed you'd never would have known they'd been there, well almost. I found one piece of roofing paper about 2 inches square and one Hydrangea flower was dangling if they had snipped it off I wouldn't have noticed, nothing else was damaged and believe you me I looked. They even went over the driveway with magnets to make sure no nails were left behind.
It pays to make it clear up front that if it's said the job can be done without causing noticeable damage they will be forfeiting a percentage of what they were going to be paid and get that in writing.
Annette

Bonny, I'm really sorry about the roof, but the roofers seem pretty incompetent all the way around. They didn't even negotiate when or how they would be paid?
Yipes!
I hope everything works out for the best but I'm so sorry you lost all that beauty this year.

GGG

My poor dear Bonny,

I feel your rage and your pain. A similar thing happened to me last year when we had new leach lines put in from out septic tank. I am sure some of your remember. I walked the guy all over and pointed out my prized landscape and he made promises. When they dug the lines they dug up, damaged and destroyed specimen trees, shrubs, budding irises, heirloom roses, fruit trees and my one flower bed with Hollyhocks, Poppies, Snapdragons, English Daisies and much more, then cut the fence that kept my dogs in the front yard...while I was standing next to the guy undoing the fence so it could be just pulled back. He went out of his way to destroy my yard and afterward made cracks about the landscaping job he did for me. The other guy dug up our entry pillar lights electric conduit pvc. Had I not been standing there yelling at him to stop I don't know how much worse it could have been. They never apologized and did not come back as promised to replace and repair the wiring. It caused the breaker box to kick off and blew out my greenhouse lights and heater, which I did not discover until a few days later, so I lost some of my tropicals from cold nighttime temps.

So, yes, I feel your pain and losses dear Bonnie.

Yours was indeed a beautiful garden. That is just horrible to look upon. I can't imagine how you feel. Those rotten bums!
Glad your darling faerie wasn't damaged.

~ Annie

Hi Bonnie,
I just joined the forum this evening. I am heartbroken for you. I had been excited early spring to see my Crocosmia had babies coming up. I thought about moving them, but decided to wait. The flower bed is by the curb. I noticed that the mother plant was missing a few weeks later. I couldn't believe someone would steal a plant out of the ground! Well, I figured out what happened when the crew came to paint the fire hydrant in our yard. The three young men parked right in front of the planted area, when they could have parked a little ways down and avoided it. They threw the hose down right on my perennial geraniums, and one guy stood right on my Crocosmia babies! He must have killed the mother plant when they put the primer on the hydrant, and took it away thinking I wouldn't notice. I walked over and asked him to please stand on the stone slab that marked the path, which was right next to the plant. He wasn't happy about it, but he stood with one foot on the slab, and the other on the curb. I sat on the porch until they left, and then called the city. I told the lady there that I realize it's city property, and was a little inconvenient for the paint crew, but the path was right next to the plant, and they could be more considerate of the plants. I was pleased she agreed and was going to have the crew be asked to watch out for plants. I guess I was fortunate it was only one plant, and I still have part of it. I hope your bed recovers well, and you post follow up photos. Sue

It's people like that that give us contractors a bad name. My hubby and I own our own heating and a/c company and any time we were to work around a home that had any types of plants we always made sure the homeowner knew where we had to work so that they could prepare a week or so beforehand.

I would have been soooo PO'd!!!! If I were you I would make them PAY to replace those plants... even though the perennials will come up again next year that's not the point. Regardless of whether you had a contract or not you can still hold them liable for damages to the property. Trust me on this one. I wouldn't be kind enough to pay them the full balance either. Hurt them in the pocketbook.. that'll make them think before they do it again.

BTW, I am sorry that you had to go through this as I know how sentimental things being damaged can hurt.

ttfn
Mystic.

Oh no Bonnie, I am so sorry. I totally understand how heartbroken you must be. I am having my roof done in July and have lots of new plants around the house. Seeing this has really scared me! I will make sure to tell each and every person working here to be careful of my plants. I hope this is not what I have to look forward to...like someone else said, yes they are perennials and will be back next year. Not much of a consolation for this year though :(

bonnie's post sparked an excellent and timely discussion. with the warm weather now here, so many of us are hiring contractors for a variety of home improvement projects. my mother has recently gotten very gung-ho about replacing the shingles on our roof. and i have been adamant about telling her to wait until the late fall, after every single one of our plants have done 'PERFORMING':)

unfortunately, what's precious and sentimental to us isn't going to be precious and sentimental to others. and i think we all have to try to be objective and keep that thought in mind when hiring contractors. i always try to anticipate the worst case scenario when hiring a contractor to do any work - and then take measures to safeguard yourself against those scenarios. again, great post bonnie!

Not to give all workman a bad name, we had an AC man out and he stopped at the door and slipped little booties over his shoes; I almost fainted! I thanked him and told him he was the first to do this...what a simple thing, yet means so much to homeowners.

Ouch. Deja vu. We had the roof done two years ago. I stupidly neglected to ask that they watch out for the plants (not that I'm sure that would have been enough). The next day I went out and walked around with my jaw in a constant state of "dropped." They threw the debris from the old roof with not a care for where it landed and nearly every single plant was FLAT. It was late summer and most things were winding down anyway, so I didn't lose the season; however, I never saw a single hydrangea bloom the next year and a couple things never came back. Most everything else bounced back, but...geez. I found out that my neighbors--who have lollipop bushes and a weed-free lawn--had asked them to protect their privet hedge, which they did with a tarp and extra care--but the person who paid them big bucks for a new roof? Zilch. Oy, I'd thought I'd gotten over it, but your post has re-sparked my fury. Calming down now...

I feel your pain and your anger! I am looking to get our roofing re done and the first roofer that came by said the only thing he was worried about was all the plants around the house. They never came back with a quote.

Rigo