Raking it in!

[Ty Korrigan]

And again!

A call last night for 2 cherry stumps.

I can do this but I'm booked for the next 6 weeks+ except for Sundays I tell the client.

THIS Sunday would be good says the client, I want them out double quick!

So, now I am taking the missus out for a Sunday lunch after an hours worth of grinding...300euros.

Should pay for the new bearings! Keep 'em greased boys!

Get a grinder for Xmas!

Ty

[likeitorlumpit]

great tip about ramps

 

Better really to buy the proper ramps in the long run- they last and you won't slip when its wet. They wont move on the truck. Plus if someone hurts themselves your insurance won't have a get out.

[dustydave]

Perhaps the reality is that your success is down to good British ‘get on with it’ work ethic in a country that is more used to a slightly bureaucratic approach (don’t think I am being too insulting to our French neighbours by making that generalisation). Obviously there isn’t a lot of competition -otherwise you wouldn’t be doing so well.

 

Been thinking about this a lot recently and my gut feeling is that we have hit saturation point for some things in the UK which has made certain types of work very competitively priced while in much of Europe they are lacking or overpriced…it is probably time for us as a nation to realise that whatever happens to the euro, Europe will still be there.

 

Trouble is these opportunities are not easily found just through searching google - and need some commitment to achieve.

 

Good on you.

[skyhuck]

One risk of charging top money for any service is that you could encourage some to compete.

 

It would only take the customer to mention to the builder how much the grinding cost and how long it took, the builder may well think that he could buy a grinder, charge less and take most of your work.

 

If you charge a "fair" price, most tradesmen would not be tempted, as they would not see it as easy money.

[Pat Ferrett]

Better really to buy the proper ramps in the long run- they last and you won't slip when its wet. They wont move on the truck. Plus if someone hurts themselves your insurance won't have a get out.

 

I have had my homemade ramps for 12 years and they are still going stronge as for slipping and insurance companies having a get out, I have never had the grinder slip off the ramps and insurance companies always have a way out of a claim if they so choose.

 

Either way ramps are tons better than lifting grinders in and out

[Pat Ferrett]

One risk of charging top money for any service is that you could encourage some to compete.

 

It would only take the customer to mention to the builder how much the grinding cost and how long it took, the builder may well think that he could buy a grinder, charge less and take most of your work.

 

If you charge a "fair" price, most tradesmen would not be tempted, as they would not see it as easy money.

 

Thats daft Dave!

Some customers pay more than they earn in a week to have a days tree work or stump grinding done, if I worried about them thinking tree work or grinding was easy money and starting their own firms then id go mad working out what was "fair" to charge based on what they earnt or what the people they chatted to earnt to avoid them becoming a future competitor.

[Kev Stephenson]

I too have a small grinder which can earn a nice top up to the days pay while the other lads are finishing the raking, chipping, sweeping etc. Most stumps take around 10 mins to 1/2 an hour and the grinder is small enough to take on the back of the chip truck if there is limited chip to go away or on the log trailer behind the landy if there is likely to be a lot to remove. I bought it second hand and it has paid for itself a number of times now. If I was hiring one I would have to save up all my stumps otherwise that extra £50 for the stump isn't worth doing when you have £42 in hire costs plus a bit for the fuel.

 

Kev

[Ty Korrigan]

For someone who really flunked maths at school I'm developing a real obsession for figures and statistics these days:blushing:

Yes, there are not many grinders out here, almost no purely "Mr Grind it" type firms either. Most landscapers and tree firms who do grinding use much larger machines too. At the moment we are certainly attracting clients because we can remove the stumps and it really is a welcome break resting my 'prussick-tendon-strain-elbow pox' and boogieing with the pedestrian grinder is good for the hips too:001_rolleyes:

Honestly, I'm not greedy nor totally stupid and if I think a local with a mini-digger can rag the stumps out I drop my price...a little:sneaky2:

But for now, there is no saturation point here, probally because of the absence of anything like 10 week tree courses or even NPTC short courses.

This means guys have to either go for it without any certificates and thats just not the French way at all! OR do a 2 year+ course...

Anyway, this thread is not about me boasting but really to say '"Get a grinder guys!" In these grim post recession days every-one ought to be thinking about other ways of making a coin and a wee grinder is the way forward in my humble opinion. Its going to earn you far more than sticking the cash in the Nationwide...

Ty

[skyhuck]

Thats daft Dave!

Some customers pay more than they earn in a week to have a days tree work or stump grinding done, if I worried about them thinking tree work or grinding was easy money and starting their own firms then id go mad working out what was "fair" to charge based on what they earnt or what the people they chatted to earnt to avoid them becoming a future competitor.

 

I was not taking about the customer (although some may be tempted)

 

If you were doing a job for a client and they told you they had had an unskilled task completed by some one using a specialist tool, the task had taken them 1 hour and they had charged £300, would you not be interested in what the task was and what the tool was?

 

I would certainly be interested.

[Gray git]

Like skyhuck said some1 seas you doing well with something and think "ill have a bit of that",

happened to me yesterday, a local plan hire firm I get a lot of grinding referels from just got themselvs a new rg13 on monday so insted of passing on my number they will now hire jo public the grinder for about 2/3 of what I would have charged so they can struggle on and feel like they have made a saving.

 

Like ty is saying having a little grinder can just add a nice bonus to the end of a job and make the client feel like you care about leaving everything as tidy as possible insted of saying you will be back some time to sort it for them when its worth you while hiring in a machine.