Wildebeests

[Dave Martin]

With optimism in the air I suddenly related `we` Firewood Merchants to wildebeests..... they kick around getting skinny waiting for the rains to come when food will be plentiful .... just like our lean times in the summer really and then the chill comes

[eggsarascal]

Your not wrong there Dave, i took some good orders in the last few weeks:thumbup:, but alot of my summer work is in drianage and i took a big "knock" off a, effing builder who went bankrupt owing me a small fortune:thumbdown: in the spring (which the missus keeps telling me as turned me bitter and twisted) role on the cold weather:thumbup:

[Dave Martin]

Your not wrong there Dave, i took some good orders in the last few weeks:thumbup:, but alot of my summer work is in drianage and i took a big "knock" off a, effing builder who went bankrupt owing me a small fortune:thumbdown: in the spring (which the missus keeps telling me as turned me bitter and twisted) role on the cold weather:thumbup:

 

Hi Simon I remember you mentioning that in another post and thought you were a little to laid back about it. I hear that there are mediators in these matters

[eggsarascal]

Yes Dave, we could of gone down that road but the missus wouldn'nt have it, so it's in the hands of the solicitors, but getting blood out of stones dont happen, so we'll start again, what pisses me off is i try and help people out, passing on contacts and the like, because i'm a great believer in what goes round comes round.

 

I said something on here, off the cuff to farmer ben the other night about "learning to walk before you run, when i read it back i didn't like how it came across but what i ment was watch you dont get caught with your pants down,so to speak.

[Dave Martin]

I had a builder go bust on me.. I had given him alot of work on my properties and introduced him to alot of specialised work. He had a fuel account at my garages and because I knew him I did not take a bond. I knew he was struggling but didnt want to put pressure on assuming he would always sort it if the worst came to the worse. He didnt but that lesson was worth what I lost I still speak to him.

[Dave Martin]

I`ve derailed my own thread

[robbo 110]

I`ve derailed my own thread

 

lol!! is firewood your main income or are you busy with other stuff??

[Dave Martin]

lol!! is firewood your main income or are you busy with other stuff??

 

I sold my business about three years ago and intended to speculate with property and have firewood as a sideline but firewood seems to have taken over my life

[windfall]

LOL same here, i sold up my business nearly two years ago now and kinda gravitated towards the 'fuel industry' and it seems to have really got a grip of me. I figured getting into oil and petrol was going to be too hard but burning fuels was wide open.

 

I am loving every minute of it (mind you the physiotherapy session i had on my back yesterday wasnt that pleasant!), i am actually enjoying the lean time in the summer as i have time to get my yard in order, logs bagged, website created, flyers printed, van built, van sign written, shelter in the yard built so i can work out of the weather etc.

 

I suppose its only my first proper year so maybe i will feel different about the lean times next summer!

[County4x4]

Just to reply to windfall's mention of getting into oil and petrol.

 

I looked at this a few years back, to supply fuel to narrowboats on our local canal. It was only ever going to be a part time sideline thing for me, as our canal is effectively cut off from the rest of the system from October to easter, but we do get quite a lot of visiting boats off the main system through the summer. Anyway, the actual process of setting up legally to be a dealer in diesel and so on isn't that difficult - just a few forms to fill in really and send off, then wait for your registration to arrive.

 

I was encouraged by a bloke I came across on the Transit forum - who had been in business for many years supplying building and civils firms - he basically went round the construction sites and refuelled their machines. This saved them a load of hassle trying to store a few thousand litres on site and keep it from getting nicked. He was doing rather nicely out of it and had been for a good few years - his dad had done the same sort of thing for 40 years or so before him.

 

Various things got in the way of it ever happening for me - so can't give any first hand experience of actually "doing it" - but it's not too difficult to actually set yourself up as a "dealer in controlled oils"

 

Andy