Dear Neighboring Company,

I am writing you from __your company__. I would like to inform you about some issues that we have been having with our building. Starting __when their construction began__, we began to see some damage to our roof. A leak has been seen in our ceiling, there are holes in the roof, and there is other damage on the top of our roof. The reason I am telling you about our roof problems is because I believe they are in part due to your construction. The workers from your construction were seen on our roof and they were the only ones up there. Our roof is very new, only placed in the last five years, and now it has to be replaced. As you may already know, roof replacement is a great expense and since we believe that our damage is at least in part due to your construction, we are asking that you help us out with this. We aren’t asking you to pay for our whole new roof, but we are asking for you or your construction company to pay at least 50% of the cost to a new roof. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as we would like to get this taken care of before the winter months begin. Thank you and we would appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely, __your name and company__

I hope that helped! Good luck with the roof!

First of all Leora writes a beautiful letter but I wouldn’t go that way. It does not prove anything and lets them off the hook. If you say to them “we believe that our damage is at least in part due to your construction” all they have to say is we believe its not. Your letter will be used to make a case against you. You need to prove they did it. Odds are the roof can be repaired, even if it leaks bad the wet parts can be cut out and replaced far cheaper than a new roof. If they did all the damage why are you willing to pay 50% of the new roof cost and what about the interior damage are we to believe you are just going to eat that and 50% of the roof. That just doesn’t make sense. If they did all the damage why should you pay?

Do you have proof that the workers caused the damage? Did you take any pictures of the debris and damage? Did you call your insurance company? Has a professional roofer looked at the roof and determined that it cannot be repaired? If the roof is only 5 years old is it still under warranty? The warranty wont cover damage like this but it adds value to the roof? Nobody is going to pay for 50% of a new roof based on a well written letter. Do you have an estimate with itemized costs to repair the damage? I do not know how large your roof is but I assume we are talking tens of thousands here. I would not do anything until I had proof and I consulted with my attorney.