Tree on Your Roof? A St. Louis Homeowner's Emergency Response Guide

Step-by-step what to do in the first hour after a tree falls on your house — safety, insurance, emergency tarping, and avoiding the contractor scams that follow.

A tree on your roof is one of the most stressful things that can happen to a St. Louis homeowner — and it's also one of the situations where the wrong first move costs you thousands. Here's the sequence we walk homeowners through when they call us with one.

First five minutes: safety

If anyone is hurt, call 911 first. If the tree damaged power lines, treat them as live and stay back at least 30 feet. Don't touch the tree, don't go on the roof, and don't enter rooms directly below the impact area.

If the tree is on the structure but no one is in danger, the next priority is getting everyone out of the affected rooms. Saggy ceilings, broken trusses, and partial roof collapse can happen hours after the initial impact as wood relaxes under the load.

First hour: document and tarp

Photograph everything before anyone touches anything. Phone photos, multiple angles, both exterior and any visible interior damage. Date-stamp them by taking them in landscape mode where the EXIF metadata gets recorded.

Call your insurance carrier and start a claim. The claim number is what unlocks emergency-services coverage — without it, you may pay out of pocket for the tarp and emergency tree removal.

Call an emergency tarping service. This is where a lot of homeowners get exploited, so be specific: you want a tarp on the damaged area to prevent rain damage tonight, not a full roof inspection or quote yet. Emergency tarps typically run $400–$800 in St. Louis and should be covered by your insurance claim. Anyone quoting $2,000+ for an emergency tarp is taking advantage of the situation.

Revolve handles emergency tarping 24/7 across the St. Louis metro — call us at (314) 400-8006.

First 24 hours: tree removal

Tree removal is usually NOT the roofing contractor's job. It's a tree service. Trying to remove the tree without proper equipment can make the roof damage worse — a tree being cut loose can shift and tear more decking on the way down.

Your insurance carrier may have a preferred tree-removal contractor, but you're not required to use them. Get an independent quote. Tree removal from a roof in St. Louis is typically $1,500–$4,000 depending on size, access, and whether power lines are involved.

First week: structural inspection

Before any roof repair begins, you need a structural inspection of the impact zone. The roof framing — rafters, trusses, sheathing — may have hidden damage that doesn't show until weight is applied. A roofing contractor can do this with a structural engineer if the impact was large; for smaller hits, an experienced roofer can usually assess whether truss work is needed.

Skipping this step is the #1 mistake we see. A roof is repaired, the homeowner moves back in, and 6 months later the ceiling sags because a cracked truss was left in place. Insurance won't cover the second repair if structural damage was visible at the first inspection.

Working with insurance

Tree damage is typically covered under the dwelling section of a standard homeowners policy, regardless of whether the tree was yours or a neighbor's. Coverage applies even if the tree fell from natural causes — wind, age, decay.

The carrier will send an adjuster within 48–72 hours. We strongly recommend having your roofing contractor present at the adjuster meeting. Adjusters work through scope lists fast, and a roofer who knows what they're looking at catches items the adjuster might miss — damaged underlayment, broken truss tails, compromised flashing, gutter damage.

Choosing the repair contractor

Tree-on-roof situations attract storm chasers — out-of-state contractors who follow weather events looking for high-margin emergency work. Red flags: door-knocking the day after the storm, pressure to sign now, requests for upfront cash, vague answers about licensing and insurance, no permanent St. Louis address.

Use a contractor with a permanent St. Louis presence and a track record. They'll still be here in 5 years if the warranty needs to be honored. Storm chasers won't be.

How long the repair takes

Small tree impacts (limbs through the roof): 1–2 days of repair work after tree removal and structural sign-off.

Major tree impacts (large trunk, framing damage): 3–7 days of repair, plus interior drywall and ceiling work if the tree penetrated the deck. We coordinate the trades — roofing, framing, drywall — so the homeowner has one point of contact, not five.

If you've got a tree on your roof right now, call (314) 400-8006. We'll have a tarp on tonight and a repair plan in your hands by tomorrow.