New(ish) business relying on sub-contract work

[Stephen Blair]

I think around 2 years.
I did 3 months hiring a mate with trailer, hired a mates tractor and chipper then got a jeep and old trailer, then transit with high sides and cut it all down and burnt it, then got a chipper.

[tim361]

Just to throw my 2p in. I started out with an L200 and a trailer. Worked but getting a pickup and trailer into a house wasn’t always easy. So I bought a transit tipper, made things a lot easier and could carry more than my trailer (volume not weight).

The next step for me was buying a greenmech cs100. It’s transforms your working going from no chipper to suddenly being able to chip all your waste. Went from two trips a day down to one load. This worked for a little while but became a pain to attach the trailer to the truck, get the chipper out of the shed and onto the trailer. Wasn’t the smoothest operation. Towards the end of 2017 I opted to sell the cs100 and buy a road tow chipper. This was to speed up the loading process and speed up clearing the waste. Looked for a quite a while at second hand machines. I know not everyone is dishonest but I couldn’t help thinking I was going to end up with someone else’s problems so I elected to buy new. Used the money I had saved as a deposit and pay the rest monthly. I like you wanted to keep costs down but at the moment it’s more than covering its costs. Just so you’ve got a rough idea of figures,

 

cs100, put down £1800 and then was £65 per month over 4 years ( I think)

arb150p, put down £5k and the £240 a month for 4 years

[wjotner]

49 minutes ago, tim361 said:

Just to throw my 2p in. I started out with an L200 and a trailer. Worked but getting a pickup and trailer into a house wasn’t always easy. So I bought a transit tipper, made things a lot easier and could carry more than my trailer (volume not weight).

The next step for me was buying a greenmech cs100. It’s transforms your working going from no chipper to suddenly being able to chip all your waste. Went from two trips a day down to one load. This worked for a little while but became a pain to attach the trailer to the truck, get the chipper out of the shed and onto the trailer. Wasn’t the smoothest operation. Towards the end of 2017 I opted to sell the cs100 and buy a road tow chipper. This was to speed up the loading process and speed up clearing the waste. Looked for a quite a while at second hand machines. I know not everyone is dishonest but I couldn’t help thinking I was going to end up with someone else’s problems so I elected to buy new. Used the money I had saved as a deposit and pay the rest monthly. I like you wanted to keep costs down but at the moment it’s more than covering its costs. Just so you’ve got a rough idea of figures,

 

cs100, put down £1800 and then was £65 per month over 4 years ( I think)

arb150p, put down £5k and the £240 a month for 4 years

Those payments aren't bad actually, £240 a month is pretty doable. I'm not crazy about greenmechs, a TW230 would be the dream, but beggars can't be choosers. I'll pretty much take anything that runs.

[tim361]

I’ve had greenmechs because they are my nearest dealer by quite a way and when I use to work for a company all we had were greenmechs and they use to take a beating. I suppose it’s like the stihl husky argument. 

A friend has just got a new Timberwolf 230 and I think with the same sort of deposit it’s just over £300 a month. Best thing to do, speak to your local dealer and see what they can offer. 

[wjotner]

22 hours ago, tim361 said:

I’ve had greenmechs because they are my nearest dealer by quite a way and when I use to work for a company all we had were greenmechs and they use to take a beating. I suppose it’s like the stihl husky argument. 

A friend has just got a new Timberwolf 230 and I think with the same sort of deposit it’s just over £300 a month. Best thing to do, speak to your local dealer and see what they can offer. 

Yeah I spoke to dealer leasing options. they're offering over £400 a month payments. Quite high for me right now.

 

I'll be looking to hire chippers in when needed for now. I need to establish some relationships with people to hire though. I can get hold of decent chipper for decent price in Sheffield right now. But I'll be looking to hire around Matlock, Chesterfield areas in Derbyshire soon.

[WesD]

1 hour ago, wjotner said:

Yeah I spoke to dealer leasing options. they're offering over £400 a month payments. Quite high for me right now.

 

I'll be looking to hire chippers in when needed for now. I need to establish some relationships with people to hire though. I can get hold of decent chipper for decent price in Sheffield right now. But I'll be looking to hire around Matlock, Chesterfield areas in Derbyshire soon.

Find somebody who is prepared to subby to you man and chipper. 

[wjotner]

On 04/01/2018 at 20:03, WesD said:

Find somebody who is prepared to subby to you man and chipper. 

I already get a guy in for that on jobs that are big enough to pay for it. But it makes me less competitive on medium sized jobs. 

[WesD]

5 minutes ago, wjotner said:

I already get a guy in for that on jobs that are big enough to pay for it. But it makes me less competitive on medium sized jobs. 

Not if you can do 2 jobs in a day size dependant or even 3 small to medium jobs in a day, everyone knows what they need to make in a week it matters not if you work 5 days or 3 so long as your hitting your number. It’s nice to own new but there’s a hell of a lot of good 2nd hand stuff out there that with a good going through can both do the job and look good with the bonus you own rather than pay. 

Edited January 7, 2018 by WesD

[WesD]

Pictures are in a random order but here’s mine, great buy spent some time on it when I’ve had down time completely gone through and I’m still quids in with a good piece of kit with no worry of monthly payments. 

[WesD]

Our Jensen went through the same process, 2nd hand reall good going through lick of paint and we’ve never looked back this has been in our use for about 3 years and only cost blade sharpening and service kits after initial going through.