Unfair Competition

[Ian C]

theres 1 near me, paramedic i think he is, got a landy tipper and a few saws. I aint bothered to be honest, he aint go the inferstructure to be able to take bigger jobs on, no chipper, grinder etc etc. Used to pee me off but i couldnt give a toss now, if there cheap they wont last long and will never get any further as they wont make any money to do so. Thats life.

[Jon Lad]

theres 1 near me, paramedic i think he is, got a landy tipper and a few saws. I aint bothered to be honest, he aint go the inferstructure to be able to take bigger jobs on, no chipper, grinder etc etc. Used to pee me off but i couldnt give a toss now, if there cheap they wont last long and will never get any further as they wont make any money to do so. Thats life.

He was working on Spofforth Hill the other day, one of the lads I was working with that day was in the truck when we drove past. It was a landy and chipper (chip flying everywhere but in the box!) and he said he'd seen them before and that it was some bloke who was was an ambulanceman and did trees on his off days.

Where's he based then?

[Ian C]

He was working on Spofforth Hill the other day, one of the lads I was working with that day was in the truck when we drove past. It was a landy and chipper (chip flying everywhere but in the box!) and he said he'd seen them before and that it was some bloke who was was an ambulanceman and did trees on his off days.

Where's he based then?

 

Aberdord, he hires the chipper, trying to think whats he called, some thing like .....premiere tree and garden care. green landy with ally back.

I have meet him, seem ok to be honest, no threat to me, i do alot of work on his doorstep!!!!!

[penfold]

In the area that I cover, there are a number of competitors. Some are local while others are from much further away.

Many are like myself and solely do general tree work, some are large firms others small. There are some who are landscapers who do tree work as well, or gardeners who also do trees and hedges to a limited extent.

 

These are the competition and I'm sure other members all over the country have similar competitors as these. All quoting against each other for the work which comes up in their area, but competing on a relatively level playing field.

 

I was wondering if any other members find themselves quoting against policemen; firemen; ambulance personnel or similar, doing tree work on their days off. And how difficult it is to compete with them on price, as effectively their wage / salary subsidises the prices they can give.

 

I know the arguments about convincing people to use qualified arborists, checking that the contractor has adequate insurance etc. But there are many customers, whose sole method of selection for who gets the job is price.

 

Does anyone else come up against this problem?

 

i know i am one of your local competitors jon but one thing i have noticed is that round our way the tree firms don't really help each other out whereas over harrogate way they help each other out or pass jobs on to each other. I just wondered if you have any thoughts as to why our area isn't like this as there is definitely plenty of work to go round with plenty left over although i think some firms would like to have all the tree work.

If you're ever stacked out and get any small hedge jobs or small tree jobs give me a pm mate and i'll gladly help you out of the proverbial.

[penfold]

Aberdord, he hires the chipper, trying to think whats he called, some thing like .....premiere tree and garden care. green landy with ally back.

I have meet him, seem ok to be honest, no threat to me, i do alot of work on his doorstep!!!!!

 

i think i know who you mean ian.

[Jon Lad]

i know i am one of your local competitors jon but one thing i have noticed is that round our way the tree firms don't really help each other out whereas over harrogate way they help each other out or pass jobs on to each other. I just wondered if you have any thoughts as to why our area isn't like this as there is definitely plenty of work to go round with plenty left over although i think some firms would like to have all the tree work.

If you're ever stacked out and get any small hedge jobs or small tree jobs give me a pm mate and i'll gladly help you out of the proverbial.

I pass on enquiries from areas I don't cover, but I've been caught out before when I've recommended someone else when I was stacked out and the customer wouldn't wait. The person I put them onto either arranged to go to look at the job and then didn't turn up or did the job and they weren't happy with it. Which left them thinking badly of me when I hadn't even done the bloody job! So I'm more careful now who I recommend.

I don't know much about Harrogate firms, I used to do some work years ago for Andrew Cook at Aspect Forestry and he's a good bloke to deal with.

[penfold]

yeah, i know what you mean jon; i've had it happen to me, was not impressed when i got an earful from customer next time i went.

I've heard lots of good things about aspect services and seen their stand at GYS (always impressive, but when you've got a mog, mewp and fully kitted landy on the stand what isn't there to be impressed by?)

Edited December 8, 2009 by penfold

[Jon Lad]

He has other businesses though not just tree work, he's a switched on bloke.

[Ian C]

yeah, i know what you mean jon; i've had it happen to me, was not impressed when i got an earful from customer next time i went.

I've heard lots of good things about aspect services and seen their stand at GYS (always impressive, but when you've got a mog, mewp and fully kitted landy on the stand what isn't there to be impressed by?)

 

Aspect is a good firm, heard they were struggling a bit this year, dont know how true that is, its alright having all the flash kit Jim but you need lots of work to run it! also aspect forestry is backed up by Aspect utilities, a bigger firm down south, so they dont have to make masses of money on the arb side.

nice blokes though.

[jojam]

This type of thing used to bother me when we started because you think you need every job you can get just to keep busy.But the more we did the more work we got by word of mouth and i soon realised put in your price ie the price YOU need for doing the job,if you don't get it well well win some lose some.Theres eniough work up here for everyone but same as yourselves there's always some idiot who does it stupid cheap.And yes JONLAD we have a fireman on our doorstep to,he used to work for us now he does his own jobs.But as said before he can't handle the bigger jobs when we can.Doesn't bother me at all now''Why lose sleep'' To true.