What do you do with these people who say they will be careful? Don't they understand that careful means not ruining the plants?

It wasn't me, but we are about to tear down our old falling apart shed, and have accepted a bid to build one. It's a lot more expensive than I was hoping it would be. Since I knew this was going to happen, I didn't plant anything next to the two goldenrods that were already next to the shed. Some of the Black Eyed Susans I had in there hadn't made it through the winter, and we had been putting potted plants around there. I pointed the plants out, and asked if he wanted me to move them. He said it wouldn't be a problem. I better clarify that to mean they will not harm the plants. We had a dog kennel on the end of it, which we took down today. That meant I got to put more plants along the fence, and I did put one plant near the shed, but left room for a foot. Sue

I'm sorry, Scarlet. I've had some crappy experiences with contractors. It seems the good guys are few and far between.

One good thing about living in the desert, snake country, is that I don't have any plantings directly around the house. There is a gravelled snake "proof" area a couple of feet wide all round. The area is pretty much kept clear of plants. That way snakes don't have anywhere to hide near the house, aren't likely to gain entry or catch a person unawares.
Lorna

How frustrating. I think sometimes the contractor just doesn't bother to pass that kind of info along to the men who do the actual work.

Lorna, that's interesting about the snake-free area. I didn't realize that people did that. Sure makes good sense. Speaking of snakes, I saw a huge one in the front ditch while mowing. It was dead. I am getting ready to Google snakes of Missouri to see what it was. It wasn't our regular Black Snakes that we see so much.

Oh msscarlet...I am so sorry to hear about the destruction your roofers are causing. I just posted less than two weeks ago about the destruction the roofers did to my garden. My new roof is metal which is laid over the existing shingles so I didn't have the debris problem you are going to have. The guys who do shingle roofs around here have large dumpsters set up near the house and all the old shingles go directly into that. I really think it is true the foreman doesn't convey the message of being careful of the plants to the crew because after my husband had his little "chat" with the whole crew there wasn't anymore damage. Our roof is done and I have already spent close to $100 trying to fill in what was destroyed.

Bonny

I feel your pain. Four years ago I had an 80' Ash tree removed. I pointed out my Harry Lauder tree and explained that it was 18 years old and can only be replaced with 18 years. I stressed how important the tree was to us. Over and over. Well, the guy didn't touch a leaf on it! But nothing in the rear of my garden except it was left unharmed. Witch hazel - gone, Quaking Aspen - gone, Apple Tree - severely damaged. The main trunk dropped across my back pond - cracked the liner and I couldn't get to it for 4 days. It was quite a mess. I love sharing this story about his business to anyone who wants to know who did my tree work. I don't go for the lowest bid anymore...

Gldnol, I don't know much about snakes of Missouri. However, gopher snakes can get quite large.

I agree that the foreman often doesn't pass along necessary information to those doing the work. Mary, you had best have a talk with the whole crew yourself!

Lorna

We are about to have our roof replaced due to hail damage, so I'm paying close attention to what's being said!

My plan is to take a vacation day or two and observe the work, with my camera close by. I started doing this after we successfully sued a builder in Oklahoma for faulty workmanship. It was during the lawsuit that I learned the value of good before and after pictures, using scale in your photographs, and of course, the value of witnesses.

I don't interfere with their work, but they know I am there. During the hot summer months, I have fresh ice and cold water available. During the cool months, it's a pot of hot coffee. I realize this is very hard work and try to make every effort to make it easier for them.

So far ( fingers crossed) each crew has reciprocated by being respectful of my property and, in a couple of cases, have gone above and beyond what was required.

Maybe I've been very lucky, I don't know. Hopefully, I'll have no problems with the upcoming roofing project!

Marilyn

Oh gosh, that is terrible! I hope you can take a little $$ off the final costs to compensate for your losses.

Marilyn, those are great tips! We may be having our second story eves and trim painted this fall and I was thinking of taking pics, too. Let us know how things work out.

Diana

Oh, MsScarlet, I feel your pain. It is so frustrating when these guys don't just don't care or pay attention. And all too common these days, unfortunately. I don't know what they're thinking or how they can get away with it. And they do hate to be 'watched.' It is very hard to take in when something like that happens. Hopefully you can quickly replace or fix up some things enough so it doesn't hurt quite so much to look at it all.

I shudder to think what's down the road over here. My shrubs and plants are finally maturing, but the roof and siding will be replaced by our hoa soon. I'm wondering if the shrubs near the house can just be moved, as they'd stand a better chance. When my mother had her windows done, they just stomped her young azalea to the ground.

The tree guy who came through here simply ripped off half of a 30yo azalea, knocked another out of the ground, plowed down one of my hydrangeas, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of them could have been tied back and I'd have moved others, like my perennials, if I had known the how, when, and where of things in advance, but they just don't seem to care and can't be bothered with such details. He seemed to think it was just all in a day's work (and was the owner). Of course, the hoa loved him because he was cheap.

I don't see why the foreman needs to pass anything along. It should be routine in their discussions and is simply common sense. I doubt they would just let someone do that to their own property.

So sorry to hear about your damage. I had the roof done a couple of years ago, but the workmen were pretty good. Theres not a whole lot of plants in my front yard, just a couple of roses, which would have cut them up badly had they been less than cautious. At the time, my shade garden wasnt much, but I was worried about the few plants I did have there. So I went and covered them with buckets, trash cans, pots, and even tupperware. Looked really strange, like a tupperware party gone wild.
CMK

I'm sorry this is happening. My contractor not only removed my old roof, but also replaced some of the decking without hardly ANY damage to my gardens surrounding the house, including the pond. We covered the pond with a tarp, and not one nail got into the pond. I found very few "missed" nails in our yard after they were done with cleanup either. I'll be using that contractor again.

It's good to know that it's actually possible : )

Oh I talked to the crew myself about the plant damage and STILL it has happened! I can't even imagine how they broke the top branches of the burning bush as it is covered by an overhang.

They are out there today and I noticed they put some wood planks over the new deck bed I planted this year. There is no way this bed would make it otherwise considering the damage they did to much larger plants out front.

I have not gone out to check out the porch bed which is almost all new plants this year. I am afraid I will pull a nutty if I see anymore damage.

What really irks me is I think some of this damage was intentional. Why I say that is because we have an older house. The owner of the company had asked me how many layers were on the roof when he came to give me an estimate. I told him flat out I had no idea. Well come to find out there were 3 layers (including the original roof from the 1920's) Apparently it has been very difficult for these guys to take off. It has the old nails from the original roof and when they attempted to scrape the nails were breaking off so have to be removed one by one. I have been hearing the crew peeing and moaning about how this roof WOULD have been a one day job except for the nails.

Now I HOPE this contractor does not come back and attempt to charge me for this. The price was to reflect stripping the roof and putting a new one off. The ONLY variance in the price was if they had to replace any boards which they have not had to surprisingly as the wood was in perfect condition.

When it comes time to anti up believe me, I am going to mention the plants...he is giving us a $150 gas card that was a sales promotion...I think that $150 has been eaten up already considering the bushes his crew destroyed!

I can sympathize with all of you who have lost plants to careless workers.

When we had our siding replaced recently, I removed a couple of shrubs that were in the way, cut lots of things way back, and made sure everything 2-feet out from the house was cleared. Even so, after the first day's work I could see that my plants were being trampled.

So, I roped off all my garden beds with bright orange plastic tape tied to wooden stakes. I also set 5-gal buckets upside down on top of some smaller isolated plants, and made sure there were clear paths for the guys to get to the areas where they had to work. Every night for the couple of weeks they were there, I went out and restrung any areas where the orange tape had come down.

It worked out pretty well, and since I was paying these guys by the hour, they had no reason to complain about any extra time it took them to stay out of my garden beds.

I have been on both sides of this fence. My DH used to work as a roofer, and I know how hard it is to do the work, AND not damage flower beds around the house.

My suggestions, remember perennials will come back from the roots next year. If they get trampled, they will be fine. If you have shrubs, tie them up, cover them etc to protect them as much as possible. As for annuals, cover them with upside down buckets, rope them off stuff like that. One of the things I did when my house was roofed, I put 2 - 5 gallon buckets upside down, at opposite sides of a bed, then put boards and a tarp across the top over the flowers. This helped protect them when stuff fell off the roof. It also said to anyone who looked "I don't want these damaged!"

In other words, do as much as YOU can to protect your plants. Then talk to the workmen yourself, make them aware of how important they are to you.

As much as we don't want to acknowledge it, there ARE people out there who don't think about flowers or gardens at all. Believe or not, until things are pointed out to them, they don't even SEE them! A lot of the guys that worked with my DH were that way. They just didn't understand, and it had to be pointed out to them over and over again. At EVERY job, and on a constant consistant basis, and even then there were some who just didn't "get it".

Good luck
Jenny P