Rates for Self Employed Handcutters

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

By not having a vehicle on finance, not having a £200 helmet and £250 boots and working 7 days a week and forgetting about social media.

Insurance is a grand a year, less than £20 a week.

Pension! Waste of time at the low end.

Car, £200 from buy sell swap.

People need to stop expecting everything then cry about not having it.

I would make more profit on £700 a week with just a saw and a Nisan micra than I do with loads of kit, big house and finance up to my nuts.

 

I agree. Usually the ones with all the gear have no idea and aren't worth more than £120/day. Blame the timber market. A cutter with own truck and gets the wood down worth £160.

 

Edit: 6 days a week is enough. Flogging the 7th just reduces productivity on the other 6.

[Timber Man]

I agree. Usually the ones with all the gear have no idea and aren't worth more than £120/day. Blame the timber market. A cutter with own truck and gets the wood down worth £160.

 

Edit: 6 days a week is enough. Flogging the 7th just reduces productivity on the other 6.

 

I would suggest that in a production paid industry any cutter is worth what he cuts.

In any harvesting job that is paid on output there is or should be a price for cutting / processing, and a price for extraction.

Admittedly with oversize/edge trees its not workable on piece , but it should be down to the contractor to make an assessment of that when viewing the site and build it into his costings.

Whether he chooses a 120 or 160 a day cutter to do the work is his choice,..most contractors look at the bottom line ,...not always the cheapest option, however, whichever they choose it has to be cheaper than parking a harvester up and picking up a saw themselves.

[Stephen Blair]

I'm not suggesting the OP is worth a £100 a day, I'm saying that's what he should expect to be paid.

If he's getting more just now, great he may feel he's in the right track.

I know what work is about, he's also from Britains richest part of the country that's on its arse due to the oil crashing .

There are plenty of guys desperate for work that are used to graft , discipline and are skilled, maybe not with a saw yet but it doesn't take long to learn the basics.

£100 a day is by no means the greatest but certainly not the worst.

Look at what carers and nurses get!

[R5log]

I'm not suggesting the OP is worth a £100 a day, I'm saying that's what he should expect to be paid.

If he's getting more just now, great he may feel he's in the right track.

I know what work is about, he's also from Britains richest part of the country that's on its arse due to the oil crashing .

There are plenty of guys desperate for work that are used to graft , discipline and are skilled, maybe not with a saw yet but it doesn't take long to learn the basics.

£100 a day is by no means the greatest but certainly not the worst.

Look at what carers and nurses get!

 

 

And I should earn £500 with a tractor ??

[MattyBuist]

Didn't mean to cause any upset.Although it's good hearing all this.My hats only a £40 one.Haha!

 

Are you doing cutting for harvesters 7 days a week or a mix of lots Stephen??

 

 

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[oldwoodcutter]

Well Matty I personally wouldn't recommend standing behind a saw doing forestry 7 days a week, the job is blinking hard enough 6 days a week.

Yes I've known some fellows get their heads down and arse up week in and week out like that , until they have a close call or two through tiredness and lack of concentration and then they steady up a bit.

I also know cutters at the end of their working life, and they havnt got a lot to show for it apart from rheumatics, a bad back, and white fingers.

[eggsarascal]

Well Matty I personally wouldn't recommend standing behind a saw doing forestry 7 days a week, the job is blinking hard enough 6 days a week.

Yes I've known some fellows get their heads down and arse up week in and week out like that , until they have a close call or two through tiredness and lack of concentration and then they steady up a bit.

I also know cutters at the end of their working life, and they havnt got a lot to show for it apart from rheumatics, a bad back, and white fingers.

 

I did work 7 nights one week then five nights the next (although did overtime on the weekends I should of been off), not cutting, but using road breakers, cut off saws and the like. My shoulders and one of my knees are fecked. I walk with a permanent limp in this cold weather, my fingers go numb. If I had my time agian I would do things differently.

[MattyBuist]

Well Matty I personally wouldn't recommend standing behind a saw doing forestry 7 days a week, the job is blinking hard enough 6 days a week.

 

Yes I've known some fellows get their heads down and arse up week in and week out like that , until they have a close call or two through tiredness and lack of concentration and then they steady up a bit.

 

I also know cutters at the end of their working life, and they havnt got a lot to show for it apart from rheumatics, a bad back, and white fingers.

 

 

I agree.We all need a break and a rest now and then.

 

 

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[Stephen Blair]

And I should earn £500 with a tractor ??

 

 

You have a lot of money tied up in that!

If your body gets tired, you stop and it self heals.

If kit breaks down it costs a money to fix!

[Stephen Blair]

Didn't mean to cause any upset.Although it's good hearing all this.My hats only a £40 one.Haha!

 

Are you doing cutting for harvesters 7 days a week or a mix of lots Stephen??

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

 

 

I'm in my 40's and be doing this for 20 years now . I don't need to do 7 days of £100 any more but I have done and still would if need be. I do a bit of everything, I don't work alongside harvesters I do my own stuff.

I was felling for 2 weeks for RSPB and by the time I pay for everything and wages I'll be about £100 a day and it's my contract, saw, insurance, vehicle and kit.

Is it ideal, no!

It was 10 days work in December and rill hopefully lead to other stuff.