How many Arbtalkers are AA members

[midwales richard]

Yes:thumbup1: find the publications very good

[treequip]

No................

[Pete Mctree]

No

[Andy Collins]

No. I cannot see any way that AA membership would enhance my business. I am a member of an industry related group, the FCA, their help and advice and common sense approach to industry issues encourages me to keep my money with them. Each to their own I suppose.

[Alistair Hearn]

Yes

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

You could have just come out with a joke about the Automobile association....oh wait, that one was done to death about 10 years ago

 

No Jamie....but mainly because as a freelancer it is of no benefit to me.

 

Now...if they were to come out with something aimed at someone like me....such as the ISA certification then i'd be interested

 

Steve, thank you for an interesting post here (and Jaime, apologies for 'jumping in'.)

 

The idea of an 'AA Approved Arborist', i.e. an accredited individual as opposed to a business as we currently have with 'ARB Approved Contractor', has been mooted before but I'm unsure of the benefits it could bring and indeed the need for it. We currently have the ISA Cert Arborist / the Euro Tree Worker / the NPTC etc. system so what could we add? (That said I do acknowledge these are prinicpally qualifications and not necessarily demonstrating competence and proficiency.)

 

Thoughts???...'et al'!

 

Thanks again..

Paul

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

No. I cannot see any way that AA membership would enhance my business. I am a member of an industry related group, the FCA, their help and advice and common sense approach to industry issues encourages me to keep my money with them. Each to their own I suppose.

 

Hi ANdy, thank you, an interetsing post.

 

If I may, does the FCA meet your needs as an arborist or as a business, or both?

 

What would / could / should we do to attract you? Is it a cost issue?

 

Thanks in anticpation..

Paul

[Dean Lofthouse]

Whilst I agree in principle with such organisations, as a mainly domestic based business, it wouldn't matter if I had royal appointment, customers are mainly price oriented when choosing a contractor.

 

Whilst I would like to be a member of an organisation, I feel that the more responsible tree workers have enough hoops to jump through to run their business,s and find it difficult to find the time to enhance their business further.

 

You can only do so much before you lose your competitive edge, again....this boils down to the level playing field scenario

 

Very sad but true

Edited December 14, 2012 by Dean Lofthouse

[treefrog]

No for me. Have thought about it but like like what Andy said can t see it benefiting my business. I am county council approved on the buy with confidence scheme I find that works well. Maybe the aa should look into a similar smaller scale scheme maybe in conjunction with trading standards.

I find the Internet a usefull tool to keep up to date with recent developments.

[HCR]

Steve, thank you for an interesting post here (and Jaime, apologies for 'jumping in'.)

 

The idea of an 'AA Approved Arborist', i.e. an accredited individual as opposed to a business as we currently have with 'ARB Approved Contractor', has been mooted before but I'm unsure of the benefits it could bring and indeed the need for it. We currently have the ISA Cert Arborist / the Euro Tree Worker / the NPTC etc. system so what could we add? (That said I do acknowledge these are prinicpally qualifications and not necessarily demonstrating competence and proficiency.)

 

Thoughts???...'et al'!

 

Thanks again..

Paul

 

Yes.

 

My opinion (for what it's worth) is that from a punter's point of view, accreditation of the business is of greater significance. Whilst knowing everything to a good academic standard is important, and a good basis for building a business, it doesn't mean all that much by itself. A PhD in the efficacy of differing pruning cuts would be very interesting, but it doesn't mean you won't get your lawn destroyed by a tracked chipper. It doesn't mean that the holder addresses his liability isssues.

 

The current theory/hybrid courses are pretty comprehensive and there is something for most people in there; even if some of the new post-nominals are a little laughable.