Home insurers are scanning properties from the air and sending letters: trim the trees near your roof, or risk losing coverage. They're arriving in Upper Arlington now. Here's what the letter actually means, your options, and how to respond — without panic-cutting a healthy tree.
How to respond ↓No adjuster walked your property. Insurance carriers now contract aerial-imagery companies to photograph neighborhoods from aircraft and satellites, then run the images through software that scores each parcel — roof condition, yard debris, and how close tree canopy sits to the structure. When the score crosses a line, a letter goes out: mitigate within 30–60 days, or the policy may not be renewed.
This is national practice, not a rumor — NPR reported on carriers using aerial imagery to decide renewals across several states in 2025 — and the letters are now landing here in Upper Arlington.
The deadline in the letter is real. Ignoring it is the one wrong move. But so is the other extreme: hiring the first crew with a chainsaw to hack back everything green near the house.
NPR's reporting on aerial-imagery renewals →The software measures one thing well: the distance between branches and your roofline. What it cannot see is the tree itself. A vigorous, well-maintained oak and a dying silver maple read the same from 400 feet up. Deadwood over the kitchen doesn't register; a healthy limb six feet from a gutter does.
That cuts both ways. Some flags identify real, overdue clearance work. Others flag trees in fine condition — and some miss the genuinely hazardous tree entirely because its problem is biological, not geometric. The letter tells you the carrier's concern. It doesn't tell you what your tree actually needs. That's the assessment.
Deadline pressure is exactly when bad tree work gets sold.
A 60-day clock plus a scary letter is the storm-chaser's favorite setup. Topping, lion-tailing, and panic removals damage the tree, invite decay, and often create the very hazard the carrier was worried about — with your name on the maintenance history. Clearance can almost always be achieved with proper pruning cuts.
Most homeowners respond with a few phone photos and hope. Sometimes that works. But you're answering a data system — and the stronger and more structured your documentation, the faster the file closes, and the better your position at the next renewal or the next storm claim. A complete response includes:
Dated before-and-after photos of every flagged tree, from angles that show the clearance the carrier asked about.
A written condition report — what was observed on the ground: crown, trunk, branch structure, root zone. Fact, documented, tree by tree.
The work performed — what was pruned or removed, when, and by whom, tied to the property address.
A paper trail — submitted through the channel the letter names, with copies kept. If a dispute ever comes, the record is your position.
That last point outlives the letter. A tree with a documented care history is protected the way a car with service records holds value — the record is the asset.
What was flagged, what the carrier is actually asking for, and the real deadline. No charge for this — bring the letter and we'll walk the trees it's about.
Every flagged tree gets looked at from the ground: crown, trunk, branch structure, root zone, photographed and written up. This is where an aerial guess becomes ground truth — and where we find out which flags are fair.
Clearance pruning done to proper standards, spot work where it's warranted. If a big removal is genuinely justified, I spec it, bid it honestly, and supervise the climbing crew. If the flag is wrong, the work is the documentation itself.
Before-and-after photos, dates, the condition report, the work performed — assembled and ready to send back to your carrier before the deadline. You submit it; you keep copies; the record stays with your property.
Yes. Carriers can decline to renew with proper notice, and many now act on aerial scans. The letter was generated by an algorithm, not a person who visited — but the deadline is real. Respond; don't ignore it.
The scan measures distance, not health. You have two honest paths: clearance pruning that addresses the proximity, or professional documentation of the tree's actual condition if the flag is a bad read. What you should never do is top or panic-cut a healthy tree — that creates the future hazard the carrier was worried about.
It varies. At minimum, dated before-and-after photos. Stronger: a written condition report with photos, dates, address, and the work performed, from the professional who did it. Submit through the channel the letter names and keep copies of everything.
Most letters give 30–60 days. Confirm yours with the carrier in writing. If professional work is scheduled but not finished, tell them and ask whether the file can be held open while remediation is in progress — get that answer in writing too.
Reading the letter and walking the flagged trees costs nothing. Pruning is priced per job after I see the tree. If a removal is genuinely warranted, I coordinate and supervise the crew. Every job includes the documentation you send back.
Everything documented in this process — the assessment, the photos, the work, the dates — is recorded in ArbKeep, the health-record-for-trees platform we built. It stays anchored to your property, so this letter's answer becomes the first chapter of a care history: the next renewal, the next storm, the next owner all inherit the record.
ArbKeep — the health record for trees →Text a photo of the letter and I'll tell you what it's asking for and what I'd do — same day, no charge for the read and the walk-through.
Text David — I got a letter →Upper Arlington & surrounding Columbus neighborhoods.