Smitty Smithsonite, yes, someone actually did walk away, knowing the tree was likely to crash on our house. I do think he got in over his head, but I will never know why he left us at such risk without at least warning us or telling us we needed to hire someone else. But you are right about common sense. We thought we had plenty of it, but here we are. We trusted a person who we had watched (with helpers) cut three big trees down across the street, had done other work for various neighbors, is good friends with and has worked with our neighbor, and we felt comfortable. What we should have done was to #1 do our own research first so we had even a basic understanding of what it takes to have a giant tree removed that is close to our house, #2 act on every red flag along the way instead of giving this person the benefit of the doubt and buying the bull he was feeding us, and #3, never try to save some money by getting a big job done cheaper by an individual instead of a licensed, bonded company. Luckily, our lesson learned did not include losing our home, or our lives, but it is indeed a valuable lesson learned (many, actually). Our initial stupidity not only put our house at risk but also the good workers who were brave and kind enough to finish the job.
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