Too many tree surgeons?!

[Buzz]

I find one stop courses and cheap finance allowed alot of small firms to pop up over the last 5 years.

 

Truck on tick, chipper on tick, no experience and off they go underpricing left right and centre. Some survived, many damaged established business.

 

TCD - I heard that recently when talking with a contractor, they can't get machine operators or saw men for oversized material.

[Dean Lofthouse]

Been stomping on your patch again Dean:001_tongue:

 

Cheeky sods even using your business name too

[yorkshire pudding]

I think it's more like quantity over quality myself.

When people used to ask what you did for a living i'd usually get a supprised response, or "whats a tree surgeon do??".

Now it's more like "oh, my mate does that, he's got a van and a bit o rope"

There are still a lot of folks who are ignorant of the difference between a time served arborist and a man who'll "have a go" for £60 less or whatever.

Don't get me wrong, there are a few really good, profesional firms out there, but from what i've seen out and about they seem outnumbered by the tracky bottom wearing cheaper than him brigade.

[Lee Winger]

Far too many in my area, and decent set-ups too

[Stephen Blair]

there wasnt a choice that i wanted to pick tbc, sorry. every town has dozens of sparks, joiners, plumbers etc. so why not tree surgeons. everyone has to find their own niche in the market. i have changed my techniques and work goals dramatically in last 4 months, now rather than having big kit sitting about hardly working i have smaller kit, and empty yard and work coming out of my ears. but then look at huck, he has toys from a transformers movie and spends every day sectioning big trees. he covers a large area and had months of work ahead of him and is doing above average. i think the 3ton tipper brigade with 6 inch tow behind and 3 guys in the cab are really struggling from what i can gather. i have always averaged 2k a week for the last 7 years. when i was working 2 days a week with casual guys and big kit it was fine, because i would have the day planned very carefully and do a lot in a day. but now i work 5 days with little gloria, take nothing off site and still turn the same money. the way i see it just now for me is that i am treading water, picking away at my little domestic jobs while all the companies that appeared in the last few years all squabble over the bigger jobs for peanuts are dropping like flies.

[nottstrees]

dont forget the weekenders that do it aswell the ones that have a full time job and do tree work aswell !

[Dean Lofthouse]

Why do you think firefighters are striking ?

 

Because with the new working hours it will be hard for them to continue their second jobs as tree cutters

[Johny Walker]

when the yellow pages first came out in yorkshire my dad was the only 1,in it now its plagade with them , too many wanna bees ,& too many got the gear but no idea, just check leeds & bradford yellow pages

[waz77]

If someone was working a second job stacking shelves in a supermarket at weekends would that offend or would you think good on them for working hard and providing for their families??

[David oakman]

Not to far off topic. Today i was working at my yard and i counted through the day 12 trucks with firewood on. No wonder i am getting no orders As long as there not pinching it from my woods:cursing: