How long's a piece of string? Or, how long to trim hedge?

[sloth]

Some interesting replies.

Now that I look at the pics, I find myself again thinking it's really not that bad! There's a foot of thin untrimmed top growth on it since the Google pics, not a lot. A flail or digger etc a bit ott, I reckon. Only a transit load once chopped up a bit. Cut back with chainsaw, thrown on truck with fork- shite, but simple enough...

 

That's a 6 foot fence to the right of the front door, the taller section (marked in red) to be brought down to a little taller than that. And the side just cut back to widen the footpath back up.

The blue section, also cut back from the footpath, top left as is.

A third day? Really?

[Dan Maynard]

6 hours ago, Macpherson said:

Well I like it for the right job, it's a unique thing that lets you use a saw on small stuff that's too big for a normal hedge cutter... it's basically a chainsaw hedge cutter..

 I guess for me next step after hedge cutter is the MS150, 1/4 pitch means it can cut small stuff.

 

One to think about, I'm remembering a privet hedge I cut side back where the clipncut could have been great.

[MattyF]

5 hours ago, sloth said:

Some interesting replies.

Now that I look at the pics, I find myself again thinking it's really not that bad! There's a foot of thin untrimmed top growth on it since the Google pics, not a lot. A flail or digger etc a bit ott, I reckon. Only a transit load once chopped up a bit. Cut back with chainsaw, thrown on truck with fork- shite, but simple enough...

 

That's a 6 foot fence to the right of the front door, the taller section (marked in red) to be brought down to a little taller than that. And the side just cut back to widen the footpath back up.

The blue section, also cut back from the footpath, top left as is.

A third day? Really?

Yeah they are taking the absolute piss, they are either sitting in the truck sucking each other off or slagging you off for getting pricked and looking for another job on there phones or they have done another 5 cash jobs at the neighbours.
can you ask the customer what they are doing ? 

Shit jobs like that from my experience need to be led from the front and pace and example set … in fact all jobs really as employing people seems a f..,,ing waste of time.

[josharb87]

A day for one by the looks of the picture! 
do the side then stand on the van/trailer with a 660 for the top 😆 

half hour at the end with loppers to tidy up the worse of the horrendous cuts 

[Treetom15]

When you said blackthorn I think most imagined it as some wildly overgrown nightmare in a steep boggy field, that looks like a breeze! Day for 2 guys and that’s probably generous, small set of step ladders for the high bit, mash it on the back of the van and you’d fit that in 1 load. 
 

Drop by the job around 11am, see how much they’ve managed to “do” 

[Mick Dempsey]

Does look a lot easier than I had imagined. 

 

 

[doobin]

3 minutes ago, Treetom15 said:

When you said blackthorn I think most imagined it as some wildly overgrown nightmare in a steep boggy field, that looks like a breeze! Day for 2 guys and that’s probably generous, small set of step ladders for the high bit, mash it on the back of the van and you’d fit that in 1 load. 
 

Drop by the job around 11am, see how much they’ve managed to “do” 

And then sack them. I thought exactly like you but that’s an easy job. 
 

I take it OP is already making a loss on this job?

 

the problem with jobs like these is that they are really a gardeners job. Any subbie worth their salt would be capable of doing it in a day- for themselves. Can’t be much of a margin in it unless you are leading a team from the front  

 

Got to be honest, I know a few people who run companies doing work like this, and my advice to them is always- buy a machine. They have a steady turnover of uninterested losers, and they themselves always seem stressed. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by doobin

[Stere]

Id be pretty confident to finish that on my own in less than a day

 

Are you sure that its even blackthorn its an odd location for a blackthorn hedge?

 

Looks like privet?

Edited March 19, 2023 by Stere

[woody paul]

19 minutes ago, Stere said:

 

 

Are you sure that its even blackthorn its an odd location for a blackthorn hedge?

 

Looks like privet?

More like pyracantha which is no better than black thorn to deal with. 

[sloth]

This pic is from Nov last year, so is what it looks like now. The customer has always trimmed it themselves in a day, but didn't fancy cutting it back hard. Definitely blackthorn.

When I quoted the job I thought "I'd do that myself in a day", so half day for 2 guys.

 

This is a new arrangement for me, quoting for someone else's company and jobs while the boss/owner isn't able to do it and be on site themselves. I've had three quotes I gave overrun now, one was probably fair enough, but this and the other had me questioning my expectations of the guys on the tools (and my own expectations and sanity!).

 

Cheers all...