Im lost

[felixthelogchopper]

Andrew, I work in exactly the same area and market as you and things at the moment are both tough and frustrating. Everything is being cut to the bone with some very silly quoting going on, and work is difficult to come by. Even some of the big boys in the region have changed their business profile, getting out of domestic/ council work and into forestry. I rang one of them last weekend to see if there was any work going and he told me that the councils aren't spending a penny on trees at the moment. All you can do is hope to ride out the bad spell like the rest of us. If you are really getting fed up doing what you are doing, there are plenty of people that will do it instead of you so I don't imagine you would be leaving any one in the lurch if you went it alone. As has been said already, you could always offer to come back to do any tree work that your current boss gets. Keep your chin up, mate

[andrew t]

Cheers for messages some very good advice feel much better now dark couple of days nearly passed out at the yard on friday got my self really stressed and after reading the post on here thought to my self i should think about it after christmas as my family come first .

[Andy Collins]

Nothing is worth getting stressed out over certainly not work (cant believe I just said that!) but if you are unhappy even a little bit you do need to plan to change things. Try speaking to your boss about it, hopefully he's approachable, and sort things so you get some tree work. It may not be in his comfort zone to take on much tree work, or he may not have really even considered how important it is to you. Try and put a positive spin on your situation, that you can learn different skills which make you a better employee in future, you get a rest from climbing, so more time for your body to recuperate, and you have a steady wage coming in leading up to Xmas, which is more than many. Good luck.

[Dean O]

if youve had experience running your own company and know the ins and outs then why not offer to help him build that side of the business from a managerial position.

 

He may benefit from the diversification and your job satisfaction may improve.

 

would obviously need talks about the finer detail but he's obviously open to tree work else he wouldnt have taken you on in your role

[andrew t]

Just a bit of an update really had enough with the landscaping don't get me wrong im not saying its rubbish work some days i even enjoy it but just need to be climbing full time .So options are find another employer or start up on my own. Cheers for all the help from everyone on arbtalk and I will update soon.

[Andy Collins]

looking back to my last post on this topic, early November last year, so Id say youve given it a good try by now. Good luck with the next stage of your life. Things changed radically for me too since my last post on this thread, goes to show you dont know whats around the corner. All the best

[tree monkey]

might be the company has been moving away from treework and more into landscaping

hence why no tree work coming in

[Stubby]

go work elsewhere (for yourself) and tell your boss you will do his tree work if ever he gets any

 

Right answer .

[Pedroski]

I'm also landscaping when it's not really what I want to do. We don't do much in the way of weeding (just bash the bastids down and mulch over them!), and I enjoy working with timber, I loath turfing, I hate digging for fences, but I enjoy morticing posts for arris rails and nailgunning up featheredge, I even enjoy hedgebashing. But while it's not what I want to be stuck doing, it is kind of paying the bills and the work is full time with more and more coming in even with new firms popping up now and then. I'm working on my plans, but without the landscaping at the moment then I'd be up the creek without a paddle!

[Jimbob McGinty]

There's always utility arb, powerline work - that never stops. Find out who your local network operator is and find out which firms they contract the work to. You'll need Ua1 and Ua2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, though most firms will put you through these, and they are not difficult for anyone which half a brain and a bit of experience