Images area needed before suggestions can be offered.

Otherwise, anything said is a total guess.

They can tell your husband that they aren't responsible but that is likely pure nonsense. They need to pay for all the damage that they cause. Unless you signed a contract with that stipulation, they need to pay. That could easily be the entire cost of the roof and you will owe them nothing. Mature plants will be very expensive to replace.

We had our new roof put on just a few weeks after we installed a brand new landscape around the house, including annual and perennial plantings.

The roofing crew didn't harm one twig of one single plant....not with the ladders or their feet or anything else.

filly....a la embothrium...this contractor is clearly liable for any damage to your property! They can't just willy-nilly destroy stuff and not be liable. That's not how our system works. That said, they sound like stinkers, so in any effort to be made whole, expect maximum delay and frustration. Still, I don't think I'd let go were I in your spot. Sooner or later, they'd be paying. All this unless some crazy stipulation was in fact in place. I'd doubt that.

Filly, a little late for you, but with my last roofing project I had the roofer include in the contract - Protect all plants and landscaping from damage. And they did. It wasn't an easy house to roof either, or repair siding, windows, anything else. I had wide perennial and shrub beds on three full sides up to the foundation. Better planning on this one, I have only a small border of evergreens near the home itself, more extensive plantings are at the outer perimeter of the lawn. Makes any maintenance on the house easier - and less traumatic for me.

What does your contract read....

a la embothrium

?

Agreement.......with words you wrote.

I won't get into liability b/c I don't know but I grow michelias and they're quite hardy. I think they will sprout from the base and recover, but it will be a while b4 they look like ones that didn't get damaged.

i was lucky to be present when roofers worked so I was constantly nagging about shrubbery. They got sick of me and became careful, just to get me out of their hair. On last day I bought a big box of donuts and specifically told them it was for being kind to my plants. I shudder at the thought of what would have happened had I not being there policing.

They will certainly come back, they are a die-back perennial.

Agreement.......with words you wrote

The thing is - where?

they told my husband that they aren't responsible if plants get tore up

Non gardeners often place no value on plants and plantings, do not necessarily even see a difference between landscape plantings and spontaneous vegetation. So in this instance this company* thinks it is okay to go on job sites and tell people they aren't going to avoid damaging part of their property. After all, it's just bushes and stuff, right?

I left a note about a skylight kit put on top of one of my shrubs ("Let's be professional" etc.) and when I got home later I found the note pulled off the kit and thrown on the ground. Nothing was ever said afterward to me about the flattened plant. Observing how they often conduct themselves has led to me suspect many tradespersons do such work at least partly in the first place because they are not able or willing to engage in occupations requiring more fully developed interpersonal relations skills.

I've even had a finesse gardening service doing landscape renovations here show up with a multiple year employee who stepped on plants.

So I guess we all do have to have a plan for protecting our plantings before contractors commence their activites.

Your magnolias and roses will come back more strongly if you mulch them, mulching improves plant response generally. The only thing about the roses is if they were grafted - as is often the case - and any of the scions got snapped off above the graft line then all you have left now is the root-stocks.

*Has anyone complained to the owner or salesman?

I had mine done for free after taking extensive photos of the damage, including the hard hat I had to wear whenever I ventured outside because no safety netting was installed and there were massive gaps in the platform timbers (partner was pro-builder so we knew the score). Whilst damaging plants doesn't freeze the blood of workers, the idea of litigation against personal injury certainly does. A young neighbour of mine was scarred for life after a roofing slate came off in a storm and literally sliced his young nose from his face...so the hardhat, complete with long slate-y scratch and the offending 30cm.x 45cm razor sharp shard of slate put the wind up the company.

Logan, seriously? Die-back perennial?

Much like a canna lily. Are "banana shrubs" not the plants that make bananas?

It took me 15 seconds to Google "banana shrub michelia" (which I got from what the original poster wrote), and lo and behold, there was the plant in question.

That's what I do when I see people talking about a plant I'm not familiar with.

What do you do, Logan?

I assumed it may have been a cultivar of banana. Not familiar with them. Thanks for clearing it up.

So a roofer rep from the company came back and agreed to come out and repair the gutters they messed up and they took $250 off because of the plant damage. I'm good with that.

i pruned out 2/3 of the worst plant that was squished so I have one trunk that's a little less than 1/2" thick with some branching and leaves. Hopefully it will recover. The other 4 that are messed up will hopefully grow back in a rounded shape and fill in.

if you are in an area that can grow banana shrubs or tea olives I highly suggest it! When everything is in bloom it smells like a smoothie in my yard lol

sounds like you are happy with the resolution ...

all i was going to add ... is that you should have chosen a contractor with insurance ... and you should have filed a claim with said insurance ...

but in this case.. it doesnt sound necessary ...

did it help to vent with us ... so that by the time the rep got there.. you could have a decent conversation .. i hope so ...

ken