Advice please: at a crossroads,,,

[Andrew L]

Be gentle with me, it's my first time,,,,  

 

OK, deep breath, cards on table.  33 years almost full time NHS (mostly CN A&E), dual qualified, MSc blah blah blah but last 8+ years struggling in a job I detested being a bed manager at a well-known children's hospital.  Probably partly because of the grief from the job, the missus kicked me out about 5 years ago.  But when I had my own hair n teeth, I used to be a tree surgeon and I had been keeping my hand in around the NHS job.  And so, Feb 19 I resigned from the NHS, borrowed £30k over 5 years, bought a 03 plate tipper Transit, an ex-demo TP155 chipper and a 2nd hand stump grinder.  Me and the now ex were competing for GB at age-group triathlon, so my fitness/age wasn't an issue.

 

18 months down the line.

Good: The job is mostly great.  Don't mind getting wet.  Like being outdoors.  Enjoy the climbing challenges and like the feedback from doing a good job (absent from NHS job).  Debt paid off (with govt bounce-back help), I have a healthy order book and growing customer base.  I have been steadily increasing my skill set so now have CS 32 & 40 on top of the basic tickets and put one of my groundie's through his 30.  The TP has been mostly reliable but its warranty runs out in Feb 21.  This summer I have also bought a 22 ton capacity towed splitter which I bring to bigger jobs to reduce humping about useless softwood lumber and just fire it through the chipper.  I use the Arbtalk chip website and have yet to pay to offload chip.

Work landlord: Very lucky to have a great worksite.  Own secure space for tools and truck/chipper, handy skip burn site and even has an engineer also on site for the inevitable breakdowns etc. 

 

Bad: The paperwork, just hate it.  Due to C19, I went back to the old NHS job and have been sending my crew out to do non-climbing hedging jobs etc.  I have been letting invoices slip sometimes over 3 weeks, which is crap but now up to date. Bank balance is healthy but I am now waaaay behind on it and the 31st Jan deadline is looming.  I have decided to splash out on a bookkeeper to help.

Groundie's: Hard to find good one's.  Just had to let one go: Kit constantly being mysteriously broken but no-one 'fessing up to it.  Used a lowering rope and then discovered a 50% "nick" in it halfway along its length, ffs.  He'd told me about a forthcoming court case but not any detail: he neglected to tell me he'd been told not to have contact with kids.  When challenged he said he hadn't had any contact.  Well, he had met mine and a customer's last week: off you f*ck (with a full day's pay for half a day's work, cos I'm soft).

The Transit.  It has been mostly reliable but it is so slow: we have big hills round here and with any load at all it drops to 1st gear.  Its had new clutch, battery, 2 outer rear tyres, windscreen, and the water pump gasket has just let go.  But it has just passed its MoT and I only hoped it would last 18 months, so not complaining. 

LOLER:  Due to C19, finding it hard to get my climbing kit checked. Now way out of date but planning to sort this/next week.

Legality:  Very aware I am constantly climbing w/o a 2nd climber.  Truck is always over-loaded as soon as any chip goes in there.  All my tickets are up to date (30/31/32/38/39/40/41 plus stump grinder n 1st Aid) but groundie's are mostly worked "under supervision" or whatever.

Near misses: There have been a lot.  Bust head of fibula May 19 taking on a nasty hung-up tree which I didn't want to do but needed the work.  Lucky to get away with only a day off work (confess I quite enjoyed telling the ENP in ED what was wrong at triage: she didn't believe me cos I was still walking ;).  Pretty sore climbing with spikes the following week but doable. 

Working flat out, knackered: managed to top myself out of a tree ie hinge and back cut applied and I am tied into the top. Groundie's not paying attention either,,, Only still here because tree hit the floor before the rope got tight on my harness (felling from about 12 ft up).  Scared the crap out of myself once or twice but I like adrenaline and its why I left the NHS job.

 

So, background over: crossroads.

Debt paid off.  £12K in my business account (less this year's tax bill tbc).

I have been thinking about getting a 4x4 pickup to replace the Skoda estate which would mean I could pull a tipping trailer (still to be bought) which could either be a back up tipper and/or could take plant to bigger jobs

Or

Do I replace the truck with something newer, safer (for my guys) and EU6 compliant (I have a London job to quote for, the exclusion zone is coming out to near me in Sept 21)?

 

I'd be grateful for your thoughts

Andrew

 

 

 

 

 

[Khriss]

Nice Iveco 7.5 ton n sort yr paperwork out!  ( Transits are shit)  You sound very keen and plenty of work out there. Give Moose a chance whilst yr at it 😉  ( he is good at fixing stuff)  K

[Khriss]

( yr probably too distracted is why yr having these bumps n scrapes) 

[Rough Hewn]

Slow down.
You’ll live longer.
Do two runs instead of one overloaded.
Get a rescue climber.
Just stop cutting corners basically.
You know you’re taking the pish.
Plan your jobs better.
[emoji106]

[Andrew L]

2 hours ago, Khriss said:

Nice Iveco 7.5 ton n sort yr paperwork out!  ( Transits are shit) ,,,  K

Good idea and I have grandpa rights, licence wise: but doesn't a 7.5t truck mean I need an Operator licence for the work site?

[Khriss]

10 minutes ago, Andrew L said:

Good idea and I have grandpa rights, licence wise: but doesn't a 7.5t truck mean I need an Operator licence for the work site?

And get a Waste carriers license also. Just to be safe. 

 

Being a goods vehicle operator: Fees for goods vehicle licences - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

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Information about becoming a goods vehicle operator, getting a goods vehicle licence and complying with...

 

Not mega money. But yr own business will determine yr setup. 

 

K

[Andrew L]

Ta muchly.

Have a waste carriers licence already.

Was just looking up the Regs:  from what I read it seems to be that if I attach a snow plough to the front of it, its exempt from needing an O licence,,,

Seriously, best speak to the site landlord.

A

[Moose McAlpine]

21 minutes ago, Andrew L said:

Ta muchly.

Have a waste carriers licence already.

Was just looking up the Regs:  from what I read it seems to be that if I attach a snow plough to the front of it, its exempt from needing an O licence,,,

Seriously, best speak to the site landlord.

A

 

I don't think your O licence needs to be attached to where you store the vehicle, you just need to have a dedicated place to keep it.

 

Lots of tippers and cement trucks are franchised contractors who keep their trucks on the site of the company they're working for.

[Craig.]

12 minutes ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

I don't think your O licence needs to be attached to where you store the vehicle, you just need to have a dedicated place to keep it.

 

Lots of tippers and cement trucks are franchised contractors who keep their trucks on the site of the company they're working for.

Your operators licence will be for you as the operator, and state where the truck is usually parked, this is your operating centre (exceptions think of, left a garage for repair/driver having night out), not have the licence at the yard, and take the truck home at night parked in the cul de sac.

The operators licence will need advertising in local paper, and will state the operating centre address, I think the council are statutory objectors, and will be notified when you submit your application. 

If you don't own the yard where you park, you will need a letter off the land owner agreeing to let you park there (there is a template letter with the application packs). The franchised hauliers will have permission off the quarry/concrete plant, and this is then there operating centre.

 

[jfc]

7.5t sound nice but are lots more hoops to jump through. I've toyed with the idea, also depends how good access is generally to jobs.

Another option is the cabstar (or similar) route. Still 3.5t but a lighter vehicle so bigger payload.

Imo your chip truck is the backbone of your outfit, if it is unreliable you'll quickly start losing [emoji383] and gives you loads of grief.

It is nice being out the NHS and not having to do tonnes of paperwork, however some of it is important so stay on top of it.

I'm using Quickbooks for my accounts which makes invoicing and tracking payments very easy.

As Roughy says slow down a bit, to have so many near misses in a year isn't good and yer luck will run out.

All the best with it.

Jan, ex rmn, rn adult also!