Arbtalk.co.uk | Discussion Forum for Arborists

hiya guys and girls , I have recently found my self wondering where our industry is heading , i hear more and more of local goverment cut backs , small firms folding , lack of work , lack of contracts (and so the list goes on) so what are your thoughts and experiences ? It would be great to hear points of view from everyone and anyyone within the industry. Also do you feel that there is an influx of one man bands that are driving down the value of a skilled trade such as ours ?

Many thanks guys and i look forward to reading your thoughts and points of view

why should it be a one man band who drives down 'the value'?

more often than not in business, it is the big fish that is in a position to be able to drive down said price

Trees and hedges aren't going to stop growing Dave.

I bemoan the rise of the one man band until I realise I was one once! 2 of us now (+ dogs!).

Depends what sector you are in, but keeping standards (and prices) high is the way forward. I'm not going to go into depth, because Stevie Blair will explain it all much better than I could any minute now.

This is true , the statment of "one man bands driving down prices " is mearly something that i have noticed down here in cornwall , but i totally agree with your point , im not sure whether to say sadly or thankfully we dont really have and big nationals down here .

Sorry , i may well have sounded like i was looking down at one man bands - this realy is not the case , im a one man band with two staff , maybe i should not have generalised in the way that i have but its also just as difficult to specify if you know what i mean .

can you be a one man band with 2 staff
How many instruments can you play at the same time

bob, ther multi limbed & webbed in cornwall

I think or hope that cut backs mean the hard working and fair priced will do well out of it like the old days

When you say industry? What part of the industry are you referring to? Theres alot to it.

Do you mean bidding for and winning contracts / work? Or the industry as a whole, including equipment suppliers, pioneering techniques, advances in equipment etc etc.

i do hope so Lorry , the sad thing is that like many of you i see so many private customers, commercial customers and LA's trying to cut costs which eventually ends up costing them more , i recently quotd a job to take down a rather large and awkward tree which was by no means going to be strait forward , when the client recieved the quotation he was shocked and actually thought that we would do the job for a bit of cash and the timber , i looked at a job for another tree firm yesterday that consited of a mojor ammount of TM on a busy main road , and again when i gave them my quote for carrying out the TM and taking the tree down i was told that it could not possibly cost that much as he had already given the customer a quote which did not come close to the quote - " why cant you use stop and go or traffic lights on a three lane road ??" .