Hidden costs???

[The Tree Hunter]

Good attitude and good luck.

 

Cheers!!!

[Yorkshireman]

>You're prob right,

 

 

'But & if are strong words'

 

But If he's right, then your wrong you could get a bruising,

 

there are newly set up operations in my area & they have only days of work in single figures, per month to do !!

 

I may be wrong & you May be right

however if I am right, those you suffer will have spent a good lump of money on kit !! & have no work to do with it !!

 

other potential downsides other than not earning

is you still have to pay your mortgages,incure living expenses, pay fixed business costs such as insurance, advertising,

 

then if these business's do fold they wont get back what was paid for equipment.

& the sting in the tail is Equipment always depriecates however it does so very much greater when supply (& 2nd hand at that ) outstrips the need for it,

 

 

 

take from this what you will,

 

imo There have not been many times worse than the current, to set up a none essential service led business

 

Debt collector - or balliff wouldnt be a bad choice !!

 

this is all my own opinion as I see the climate at present & is not intended to guide or diswade.

 

I appluade anyone who has the drive to try business

 

but remember

If being sucessfull in Business was easy, then everyone would be doing it !!!!

 

 

rgds Iain

[Mr Ed]

Could'nt agree more Ian. Very good points.

[Mick Stockbridge]

Phew! Give a chance. My advice would be to start small and cheap.I.E Qoute low and dont spend much.

[Big 'Ammer]

Phew! Give a chance. My advice would be to start small and cheap.I.E Qoute low and dont spend much.

 

If you're determined to have a go, then the best of luck to you, however as rightly pointed out, it is a bad time to be starting out in a service business.

 

I would disagree in part, to stockers advice however.

 

You will have no choice but to start small anyway.

 

Don't spend much.

 

But, do not quote low, quote sensibly.

 

If you quote too low you will discourage some customers as they won't see you as a serious business.

 

Or you will be running all over the place working for nothing and wearing your kit out in the process.

 

You will never make any additional money over wages to add to or replace equipment.

 

And if you only get a few jobs a month you'll soon go bust.

 

If you quote a sensible amount for a days work and only get a few jobs a month at least you'll eat.

 

By not quoting low you will not start a price cutting war in your area, with you as the first casualty, against more established businesses.

 

My twopenneth anyway!

[The Tree Hunter]

Thanks for the advice!!!

[nailer]

Possible business plan for start-up, from scratch:

 

one climbing kit

PPE for one

car

mobile phone.

 

Find a two-man tree crew that you can hire as a sub-contractor; they need to be able to haul chip. Get and pay for the best you can. Find another as back-up. Do the same for timber haulage and stump grinding.

 

Set-up a website, pay-per-click, flyers and referral system.

 

Quote all work at top-end prices. Work with your sub-contractors on the jobs to ensure excellent service, but concentrate your efforts on looking for the next job.

[The Tree Hunter]

Well i'll tell you what i have in place so far and then it might give a better idea of where to move on to......

 

I've got climbing kit and ppe, set for climbing and set for ground, horse box (which is just for now to remove logs etc) a couple of chainsaws, top handle and ms260, which i know will prob be a bit small, but will add to these over the coming months, business account opened with 18 months free banking, VAT number in place, business phoneline, commercial insurance, website name reserved and website being built now, letterheaded paper done, business cards being done, printed t shirts getting picked up on tuesday, am currently looking at finding the best quote for liability insurance (any advice of good companies much appreciated) storage space for logs to be seasoned is sorted, got contacts for a few people that can do work with or for me who have all the necessary kit for larger scale work. I guess i have the advantage that i dont need to start turning over huge sums of money to live and have some desposable income each month to keep adding to the kit i already have.

[Dean Lofthouse]

Don't expect money to come rolling in.

 

I've been working my ass off this last three month and my bank balance is no different (still hovers above and below zero) the more you work the more your overheads and the more toys you want to buy.

[The Tree Hunter]

I'm looking more towards a 3 to 5 year plan, to then look at it and see if its 1: worked out and 2: if its a profitable business. Like i say though i have a bit of an advantage in that its not the sole income i'll be relying on straight away.