German arboriculture/sawmilling?

[Big J]

Couple of googled photos of the area. It's almost completely forested in places:

 

 

[Big J]

Sorry for the monster picture size!

[Dan Earp]

Ive not worked out there as an arb, but i have spent half my life all over germany and its fantastic bud both as a child and serving over there.

 

Another thing is the 100 year mortgages, urll grt proper summer weather and decent winters, cleaner and better way of life and the lasses arent half bad either lol

[face cord]

Theese look to be the germen versions of arbtalk maybe you could start a thread there ask if someone might know what buisness is like in the area etc.

 

 

 

Foren-Übersicht • Motorsägen-Portal

 

Forum für Landwirtschaft, Landtechnik, Forstwirtschaft und Verbraucher • Landtreff.de

 

Thread about lack of decent money in forestry i think from what I can understand from google translate.

 

Google Translate

[Woodkraut]

Very perceptive of you. There are a lot of downsides to living here in Germany. It ain't what it used to be. Sure houses and food are cheap but we have quite a few social problems (as you mentioned).

As to getting a job as an arborist:that shouldn't be a big problem but the pay isn't that hot due to the fact that the companies are bringing in more and more Polish workers as they are cheaper. Oh yeah: we have a lot of forest (Hesse, Thuringia) - just not in the Trier region. I That area is known for its wine.

Cheers

[Big J]

Thanks for the input and also the links to the forums - I am needing to work on my written German and trawling those forums is certainly a good start!

 

WoodKraut - I'm certainly aware of some of the issues in Germany, particularly in inner city areas, but my impression of the countryside is a bit better. The Hochwald on the Hunsruck east of Trier is heavily forested, so there should be plenty of work there. I suspect that I would find it harder to get into forestry there than sawmilling due to qualification requirements, but either way I would be self employed. The main reason for choosing that area is that I have family in Trier. My uncle retired from Arboriculture having run his own company for about 10 years. It should give me a pretty good start for getting a business off the ground.

 

Looking at the community website for that particular village (Schauren) it seems they are very well organised for new building, both commercial and residential. They have about 40 odd serviced plots available for 22.50 euros a square metre (average plot just over 1000 square metres so about 25000 euros) and then an industrial area where land is available for 12.50 a square metre. Here is a link to the website:

 

www.schauren.de - Herzlich Willkommen in Schauren an der „Deutschen Edelsteinstraße“ und der „Hunsrück-Schiefer und Burgenstraße“ im Naturpark „Saar-Hunsrück“ mit der historischen Stumm-Orgel lädt zum Urlaub mit wandern, radfahren, schleifen, Golf sp

 

Jonathan

[Woodkraut]

The Hunsrück region is beautiful and has some larger wooded areas. That's true. You would certainly be given a good start as Germans are quite found of Brits... Except when it comes to football of course. :-)

I wish you all the best.

[Big J]

The Hunsrück region is beautiful and has some larger wooded areas. That's true. You would certainly be given a good start as Germans are quite found of Brits... Except when it comes to football of course. :-)

I wish you all the best.

 

Thanks!

 

No issue with the football either as I don't really follow it.

 

The biggest plus that I can find so far is that there seem to be very few people doing mobile sawmilling. I really think that there is a market niche as most people have a fair bit of land and barns. With the abundance of high quality spruce and other timbers, getting 10 tonnes of roundwood in and then getting someone like me in to cut it has to be the most economical way to buy dimensioned timber.

 

My only concern is that I remember the roads being quite tight, and the thought of driving an 8m trailer around doesn't fill me with joy!

[danroker1987]

I have no experience whatsoever of Germany - but if you have family of there and speak German then I have no doubt you could carve a better standard of living over there than here....

 

 

Is it worth going over there for a summer for a couple of months to test the water?

 

 

If it had a coastline I'd be interested!

 

 

 

It does have a coastline:confused1:

[colemanjessenz]

I am working in arb over here now mate , came over from nz with no job lined up and got it sorted pretty fast feel free to ask any questions and i will do my best to answer.

great attitude towards tree care here