getting undercut !!!!!!

[Ty Korrigan]

Well...

Pricing is just 'le business' as they say over here.

It is all an element of that great sphere known as a free market.

Personally, if I hated a competitor enough I'd do a job for free just to put one over him.

However, that situation has yet to arrive.

A free market is like a lemming migration.

Every few years there is a bandwagon of new recruits and wannabees then the prices drop to the point the wannabees those with double mortgages on big chip trucks go under or in the case of a lemming over, leaving only the lean and mean to repeat the cycle a few years later.

Its natural selection... simples x

[Tom D]

yes mate.. we farm around 1000 acres.. used to do lot of agricultural contractin... not anymore... thats a mugs game.. tree work is the main work load to be honest.. farmin only takes few months of year up and rest of year it gets fitted in around tree work.. also have skip hire company..

 

I don't blame you, I am amazed how little ag contractors charge: £9 an acre + diesel for ploughing????? The must only be making a tenner an hour. I quite fancied the idea of having a tractor, but wouldn't need it all the time so I looked into getting a sidearm flail to keep it busy... till I found out what others charge!!

[nick channer]

I guess in many parts of the country there just is not enough work.

If you wanted to set up from new in any industry you would have to work out your potential client base.

Tree companies set up regardless of competition, geography etc.. I think it must be down to the want to work in trees blinding the contractor the need for the service required.

 

Nick, would you buy all this kit if you were not already doing Agri work?

 

wasnt in farming when i started in tree work.. started with a transit.. then a 6inch entec.. got fed up with chipper so bought a 7.5 ton grab lorry.. had trouble with council for burning brush so decided only way forward was a mog.. bought mine with a 10 inch greenmech on back, used that for 2 yrs then see masons had a 2nd hand 550u for sale.. £4750 he wanted.. i gave him £2200 and my worn out greenmech... used the 550 6 days a week for 4 yrs till it decided to blow itself to bits.. good old NFU paid out 5 grand on insurance so i put that down as deposit on a brand new 550 which i've still got.. took me till 3 yrs ago to buy my 1st stump grinder [only because nice old boy who used to do my stumps passed away] which was a £1500 dosco.. sold that bought a predator on tracks and now also have a vermeer sc50 again on tracks.. its taken over 10 yrs to build my tree work machinery up and it does help that now i'm back in farming i can use tele handler and hook loader/grain trailers too..

[nick channer]

I don't blame you, I am amazed how little ag contractors charge: £9 an acre + diesel for ploughing????? The must only be making a tenner an hour. I quite fancied the idea of having a tractor, but wouldn't need it all the time so I looked into getting a sidearm flail to keep it busy... till I found out what others charge!!

 

it amazes me how round here you can get £25 hour for a tractor and driver or tractor driver and say a 14 ton trailer.. soon as you put 25 grands worth of hedge cutter on back still only £25 or 30 an hour.... strange! we also got a small grass cuttin ompany that one of farm workers runs in morning's through summer.. starts at 7 back in yard at 12 to help on farm.. a honda mower bought brand new2 yrs ago for £1000 and an old strimmer and we put him out at £30 hour.. doesnt make sense to me..

[Johny Walker]

so nick i can take you married a rich farmers daughter then

[nick channer]

so nick i can take you married a rich farmers daughter then

 

ha.. no.. i come from long line of farmers.. my grandad and his dad before him started it off.. my uncles and cousins all farm.. i left school and worked on the farm.. soon realised that £2.75 an hour wasnt for me.. went to work as a welder at boughtons who make the winches, hook loader's etc [they used to have there main site few miles down road].. only lasted a month there.. couldnt stand being inside after spendin all my spare time outside.. worked 80-100 hrs a week for local agri-contractor for few harvests.. good experience at 17 yrs old.. saved enough to buy my first tractor at 20.. started agri--contractin doing grass and maize silage work, bought a self propelled forager and all other toys that go with it.. couldnt earn enough money in our area doing that so swapped machines for big square baler and combine.. worked alot with my dad cuttin his crops and balein silage hay and straw through summer months.. always did firewood in winter and thats how i got into tree work.. odd job for log customer etc.. decided more money in tree work than agri-contractin so sold all my machines put money in bank and started full time arb work in 1999.. always helpin my dad out drivin baler/combine through harvest..business really took off from 2002 onwards after pickin up some really good commercial contacts.. started helpin out on farm more and more in last 5 yrs so now the farm and tree work business all run together in partnership and i manage both... works really well.. all tree work guys can drive tractors etc and farm workers can help tree work out.. we still do trees through harvest but if customers can wait till october time we book them in for then.. that way we got all hands on deck for farm work from end may till end sept and normaly got nice couple months tree work to take us to xmas.. along with the 400 odd ton of firewood we sell through the year i rarely get a day off.. but thats what i've done since i was 12 or 13 yrs old so dont no any difference..

[Johny Walker]

job sorted then

[Mark Bolam]

Fair play to you Nick.

 

You sound like you'd fit in ok in our local down here for Saturday evening beers.

[Stephen Blair]

Fair play to you Nick, sounds like you have done your share of graft:thumbup1:

[nick channer]

Fair play to you Nick, sounds like you have done your share of graft:thumbup1:

 

and still doing much to my partner's annoyance at times.. bit like today.. we're expectin another baby [little boy on aug 21st so we found out today].. had first scan at 2.00pm at local hospital.. told her i'd meet her there. [she wasnt happy] pulled up in car park in skip lorry..