Starting a buisness- some advice!

[Buzz]

I agree with both of you. One of my major pet hates is listening to people moaning about there bossess while sitting on their arses. It's not like we have 100% profit margins like sales companies. Generally we give more to the community than we get out of it financially.

[Will]

Thanks for the response guys, I guess this is can be emotional subject if you are the guy about to loose his workforce. I fully agree with you on this, but the reasons why we are looking to work for ourselves, are many.

 

I guess I may have seemed harsh on the boss, but how many of you, as oweners / bosses, come into work for 10 minutes, 4 times a week. Pay £59 per day to good lead climbers with 10 years experience. Have no equipment LOLER inspected. Have vehicles that aren't road worthy or safe. (last month the tow bar detached and the chipper over took the van). Knowingly allow untrained staff to work on 11000Volt powerlines, just because you know they are safe...... The list goes on.

 

I fully respect all of your comments, and I'm feeling the same way about a 3 way patenership, hence my original post. I know that being self employed will be the hardest job I've taken on. I spent 22years in the navy, and I'm guessing that that was a breeze compared to what I'm about to do.

 

I'm lucky, in that I have enougth money to set up on my own, years of management skills, all they equipment I'd need etc, but moving into the hard world of a self employed tree surgeon still holds its fear.

 

So going back to my original post, The big thing I don't have yet, is a yard or land to store the wood / chippings. Do any of you rent from farmers / landoweners? It's an option I'm looking at but unsure on the legality or the costs. Or do you have any other suggestions?

[Mr Ed]

Will, sorry if we seemed harsh.

from what I've gathered, £59 a day in cornwall is'nt bad

as for a yard, find a farmer to rent you an old barn if you can, try and keep it informal, offer him as much firewood as you can. Try and buy equipment outright, as finance payments are fine when your busy, but crap when your not. dont buy a heap of junk chipper or van though, as repairing stuff after a hard days climbing is also crap.

Are you working on utilitys? if so, there are always employers looking to sub out line clearance - I ended up with 3 teams of subbies with their own equipment on rail and line clearance work.

 

and did I say stay away from partnerships?

[Steve Bullman]

not thought about just finding a better company to work for?

 

if i a climber with 10 years experience is working for £59 then more fool him IMO....of course an employer is going to take advantage of that!

[Will]

Hi Ed,

 

Yes we work on utilities and private at the moment, but if and when I leave I'm hoping to sub from my old boss. Got a meeting tommorrow to thrash out some sort of deal and then I'm off to chat up some farmers. Might take my misses with me and doll her up a bit, it could help.:boobies:

[Will]

Steve,

 

Unfortunatly there arn't any decent companies down here. I intend to be the first, but thats a long way off yet. The other problem is people are still in the dark ages over wages. As Ed said, £59 is deemed a good wage down here, but the cost of living is the same or greater than the rest of the country, the average house price is over £200,000. So skilled men doing a potentially dangerous job deserve recognition.

 

Look now you've got me going off on one.....

[silvafox]

Its whats right and appropriate for you Will. What, who and where do you want to be in 3 or 4 years time? Can you afford to suffer cash flow problems initially and possibly in the future. The rewards of being your own boss are personal but the money can go either way.

 

Agree with Mr Ed and Quickthorn. As an employer I see this bad attitude towards the gaffer and his perceived exploitation all the time. These guys are a problem and poison the crew. Lazy, workshy, arrogant losers we can do without.

 

I'm not saying this is you Will. Ambition is positive and dodgey gaffers abound.

 

Good luck to you.

 

I believe that humility and a positive attitude will get you more work than cocking about like the big I am. Action speaks louder than words.

[Buzz]

Your boss sounds like a right cock, and asking you to carry out tasks you aren't trained for is bang out of order ! Good luck with whatever option you choose.

[Quickthorn]

 

I'm lucky, in that I have enougth money to set up on my own, years of management skills, all they equipment I'd need etc, but moving into the hard world of a self employed tree surgeon still holds its fear.

 

 

If you have money, i'd think very, very hard before sinking it into a tree surgery business at the moment..maybe any business. If you've seen the news recently, you'll know there's a lot of uncertainty in the economy, and if there is a downturn, tree work will be one of the first things to go.

[Marc]

I've seen a few of the new and even established outfits round here fold in the last year or 2.

Its a tough market.

 

A few companies are going out at ridiculous rates, £250 or less a day for a 2 man team. I've worked with guys who have put appropiate qoutes of £500-650 on a job only to loose it to someone who will do it for less than half that.

 

This just screws it up for everyone else, and is why I struggle to get more than I feel I deserve for the work I do as a climber.

 

Still I work hard, do my best and keep my standards as high as I can, and hope things will improve.