Right or wrong?

[redmoosefaction]

Oh right, I've had a few people phone me saying they've used me before when they haven't which is weird.

 

I have people say that to me and it was usually someone who worked for me doing a private job on the side!

 

 

Moosie

[Mesterh]

i want to win every job i price. i like to work on min of £600 in my pocket after wages every day.. some jobs i look at i think theres fair bit work there and if i have to be on site for any length of time i want a certain amount and wont budge... if i can send my 2 lads there and perhaps a climber and i dont see them till they come back in yard at 5 with cash or cheque then i'm willin to improve my quote... at the end of the day a job for a £1000 could still be done for say £500 or less and still earn a reasonable amount, think its more about knowing how your competitors price work, around here we prob have the most population of travellin community doing tree work and believe it or not they price there work very high.. so do other "proper" tree firms.. i've recently gained lot work from guy i no who's been doing tree's for 25 yrs but cant climb anymore cos his elbows had it.. lot of work he's already priced and won but he hasnt put his own wage into the equation.. where as i pay my climber from £150 to £180 a day plus 2 other workers he pays 2 workers and if he comes out with £300 after hes happy. some jobs dont need a climber which is lucky and ones that do we can normally do in a morning and fit summin else in that afternoon otherwise they wouldnt be worth doing.. job we did yesterday for him for instance for £540 took us 2 hours [3 men] he'd put full day on it.. 5 out of 10 jobs i price i get at full money then couple more i reckon come in bit cheaper... there arent many jobs i price that i dont win one way or the other.. and i'll try every trick in the book to get em and if that means droppin my quote a bit then so be it..

 

You need to write a book on it!

 

No seriously though you do.

 

I would hazard at a guess and be safe with a little wager that no one else on here can walk away with 3K profit each week from just a 3 man gang.

 

You need to publish that little book of tricks!

[nick channer]

i think the only way to guarantee a certain amount of money comin in every day is to have plenty jobs comin in.. i price every single job that calls.. they could be up to 100 miles away or more at times.. i walked in door half hour ago.. just had my dinner and spent 5 mins with the boy before he goes to bed now i'm off on prob 40 mile round trip to look at 4 jobs that called today.. i looked at 3 last nite of which 2 agreed straight away and one other has called today to accept after gettin another quote... i no tree firms who wont look at a job unless its on their doorstep or between 8 to 5 or on a sat mornin.. unlike other tree firms we start around 7.30 and leave the yard at 5... none of this finishin at 2.30 or 3 in afternoon... and when we're busy my guys will work till 8 or 9 at nite especially if a neighbour comes out and wants summin done.. what i'm sayin is you only get out what you put in..

[likeitorlumpit]

You need to write a book on it!

 

No seriously though you do.

 

I would hazard at a guess and be safe with a little wager that no one else on here can walk away with 3K profit each week from just a 3 man gang.

 

You need to publish that little book of tricks!

 

Not sure he means nett profit but Maybe Nick could elaborate

Just wages taken out

so need to take out another say £100 for costs or maybe more with large overheads (machinery/tractors etc)but still pretty good. Also note long hours which not everyone on hear could stomach:thumbdown:

Each to his own

[Tree Man Tom]

i think the only way to guarantee a certain amount of money comin in every day is to have plenty jobs comin in.. i price every single job that calls.. they could be up to 100 miles away or more at times.. i walked in door half hour ago.. just had my dinner and spent 5 mins with the boy before he goes to bed now i'm off on prob 40 mile round trip to look at 4 jobs that called today.. i looked at 3 last nite of which 2 agreed straight away and one other has called today to accept after gettin another quote... i no tree firms who wont look at a job unless its on their doorstep or between 8 to 5 or on a sat mornin.. unlike other tree firms we start around 7.30 and leave the yard at 5... none of this finishin at 2.30 or 3 in afternoon... and when we're busy my guys will work till 8 or 9 at nite especially if a neighbour comes out and wants summin done.. what i'm sayin is you only get out what you put in..

 

Thats what it all boils down to

[nick channer]

Not sure he means nett profit but Maybe Nick could elaborate

Just wages taken out

so need to take out another say £100 for costs or maybe more with large overheads (machinery/tractors etc)but still pretty good. Also note long hours which not everyone on hear could stomach:thumbdown:

Each to his own

 

course we all have overheads.. local tree firm to me has 4 gangs of 2 or 3 men who go out every mornin and as long as they earn his boss £150 after wages he's happy.. they finish before lunch time unless there on bigger job where he'l put 2 or 3 gangs together.... to me this is just ridiculous.. get rid of 2 gangs and make the other 2 do proper days work.. he has to run a mog and chipper and to timberwolfs as well as 3 trucks... now thats what i call overheads..

[Rich Rule]

Nick, if you dont mind me asking, (I know you put in a lot of work outside of the actual cutting) quoting site visits and the like are all part and parcel of running the business. If your guys are putting in a lot of graft for you and on site till 8-9, do you weigh them in aswell?

[Mesterh]

course we all have overheads.. local tree firm to me has 4 gangs of 2 or 3 men who go out every mornin and as long as they earn his boss £150 after wages he's happy.. they finish before lunch time unless there on bigger job where he'l put 2 or 3 gangs together.... to me this is just ridiculous.. get rid of 2 gangs and make the other 2 do proper days work.. he has to run a mog and chipper and to timberwolfs as well as 3 trucks... now thats what i call overheads..

 

Ridiculous! Noo.

 

That's something I would aspire to.

 

Think about it, he's employing 8-12 men which is a good start especially as jobs are short ATM, the lads aren't being slaved out and working silly hours with hardly any break and he probably isn't running around like a blue arsed fly. He isn't trying to screw the last penny out of his customers. It's probably a better working environment for everyone. plus if he's happy with what he earns then excellent!

 

Sounds fairly good to me tbh.

 

I decided long ago that I'm not going to run myself in to the ground with work, to me it's no good spending your life working all the hours and trying to get others to do the same.

 

As someone said each to their own and if it's what they love doing then brilliant, working hard is one thing and we all know if you are doing a good job then there is alot of hard work that goes into tree work but the days of me doing 16 hours are well and truly gone. besides I still wouldn't make that kind of money anyway.

[nick channer]

i've worked on a farm with large contracting business since i left school and every school holiday, weekend, evenin since i was 12 yrs old... i used to do over 100 hours week reguarly, more if i think about it... i dont no any different.. i did have few yrs when i stopped contractin and went into tree work where i did 8 till 5 but that didnt last long... in the summer months.. [any time now if it stops rainin] i'm up and out the door by 5.15am.. get into my skip lorry..drop skips and pick full ones up till 7.30-8.00.. sort the lads out with there tree work for day.. either take them to job to show em what to do or talk em through whats to be done and send em on there way... then go price few jobs for hour or so.. back to yard for 10.00am at latest where i get tractor and what ever i'm gonna use for the day on back of it serviced up and ready to go by 10.30 or 11 dependin on time year, how heavy the dew is etc... then i'll sit in that tractor usually balein straw till the early hours of mornin [weather permittin].. its not unusual for me to walk in the door till 2.00am.or if the weather forecast is bad for followin day and we got plenty straw laid out in front of us i wont go home at all and work right through the night and keep going untill it rains which could be the followin afternoon or evenin.. i must admit when i was 20/25 it was lot easier.. now at 37 it gets bit harder each yr.. and in winter when we're flat out on the firewood i'll work till 9 every nite 7 days a week for months mostly just drivin from 7 in mornin deliverin logs.. i cant see me changin any of this anytime soon..

[Kev Stephenson]

Nick,

 

You see those 2 kids in your Avatar - they want to see you not just big piles of cash and loads of toys.

 

Working 15, 18, 20 hours a day is great for the bank balance but what do you plan on spending it on. You can't buy the time back.

 

I used to work a shift job and run the tree business on my days off. I would swap shifts so i could work the weekend at the factory and weekdays on the trees. The money was great but after having kids packed in the factory and took a massive pay cut but the kids get to spend plenty of time with me. I earn enough and the balance is great.

 

Kev