is it really worth it

[Hodge]

£500 a day is a fair price for that mate, people who charge less rehab that for 3 men and a chipper and waste away are fools!

 

 

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[Hodge]

£500 a day is a fair price for that mate, people who charge less rehab that for 3 men and a chipper and waste away are fools!

 

 

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Than not rehab, bloody predictive text!!

 

 

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[Chris Sheppard]

Sorry if it's already been raised, but on the undercutting thing, just because you feel it's going to cot you X amount to do and take X number of men X number of days, doesn't mean everyone else that quotes for it is thinking of doing it exactly the same way - just because it's cheaper doesn't mean it has to be less of a job.

 

Also, just because someone does a job for the wood, why do some people automatically assume they have no insurance/tickets etc?

[Ty Korrigan]

Well, we are charging top dollar now.

In fact...

I don't think we can really charge more and keep a straight face:biggrin:

There are always people cheaper that is for sure but there again, not everybody wants cheap. They want people they feel are professional and can be trusted to do a good job and are willing to pay for it.

We are confident enough of our abilities and quality to put in a price that we know will make people wince a little BUT we have the web site and facebook pages plus a growing reputation locally to back it all up.

The advantage of charging more is that WE CAN afford to invest in equipment, land and the future.

If then one day, work dries up a little then we have the room to drop our prices and still turn a decent coin.

Ty

[skyhuck]

These threads do my head in, you can't compare your "job" with mine or anyone else's because every tree is different.

I have done jobs just for the wood, in fact the last time I paid the customer for the privilege, but there was £15k of wood, it took us 3 weeks to fell and extract. But who is going to go and prune leylandii just for the wood??

 

You all talk about day rates... is £1000 too high? not if you have the right kit, I have made well over 1k a day with just 2 men, but if you have the right kit on site...... its about how much work you get done, not how long the job takes.

 

If you had all your saws stolen tomorrow and you can't afford to replace them the same day then you are not charging enough. You should be making enough profit to replace significant items of equipment on a regular basis, i.e. year one new saws / climbing kit, year 2 new chipper, year 3 new van, year 4 new stump grinder, year five new saws again.... you get the idea, this is over simplified, and for many items will not be brand new but newer, but.... if you are not doing this then you are not charging enough.

 

The way I see it you and your family should have a comfortable life, be able to afford a decent holiday, live in a nice house, have a pension, and not feel like you are scrimping and saving.... Are you? have you? will you?

 

If not why not.

 

As the employee its easy to look at prices for jobs and think the boss must be loaded, the reality is somewhat different. The problem for many is that they leave employment thinking they can do it much cheaper than their old boss, in reality they can't. Unless of course they live hand to mouth and job to job, always scrimping and saving, spending all their time repairing old knackered kit because they don't charge enough to replace it regularly.....

 

If you remember nothing of this thread remember this; there will ALWAYS be someone cheaper then you...... BUT they can't do ALL the jobs... So when you loose a job to the cheap guy rejoice! because thats another day of his hand to mouth existence taken up. and thats one less day he is competing with you.

 

Word!!!!

[oldwoodcutter]

There are several 2 man teams hereabouts,fresh out of the local college quoting and of course winning domestic work by charging £150 a day.

Try competing with that.

[Wood wasp]

Well said Tom D, couldn't have put it in better myself.

 

We had a saying in brewery trade relating to pricing... "Cheap beer, busy fools". It wasn't referring to the consumer either.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I was so close to throwing it all in, I wa sin a dead end 9-5 working for a firm, no incentives no reward just grief and boredom.

 

Then I went freelance again and ive been investing in new kit like saw mills etc my days are not the same, one day im planking timber i felled last week, then im quiet for a week and catch up at home with the veggies, then it goes mental for a fortnight with big tricky climbs for other firms, mixed in a few privates and I have to say Im 42 in a month and loving it, found my third wind.

 

chin up, paddle through the treacle and youll find your mojo again.

[Sandworks]

thats a fair point and first sorry to have caused folks upset.

 

as firewood is one of my main jobs i bought wood from a land owner and felled the trees as everyone else dose. when i was finished the land owner asked if i would look at the 3 elm in her garden, i did and felled them professionally so she was delighted and asked how much i would like? having paid for her other trees i said i would do it for the wood.

 

the elm were dead for a few years so virtually all seasoned and ready to sell. the branches were cut in to nets and the smaller stuff was cut as kindling into nets (people love hardwood kindling) so i left the site with two and a half loads of firewood (2.2m3 per load so 5.5m3 and about 15 large nets i sold for £6 each) you do the math 5.5 x £70m3 + £6 x 15 = £475

HI Graham,as i indicated i was not firing a shot over your bow just at the guys who swoop in" for the firewood.

Called in to a customer last week to see how her hedges were doing and what other jobs were planned for work soon ,she mentioned she had the man who delivers timber had cut up a tree that had fallen ,for her…… (you can guess where this is going!) so we wandered down chatting, came around the corner as she explained how he was so good and left her half the timber, and low and behold all the branches left scattered across the lawn sawdust everywhere and her half of the timber about 2 cubes of the smaller branches……funny that half a 60 foot beech is about 2 cubes…..and she gave him €200! so i informed her that she had been done… and it would take about 2 hours to chip up the mess and clear the sawdust….. that he by right should have sorted!

BUT when Hubby came home he rang me and asked if i would supply all timber in future at a rate i saw fit, and no one else would be setting foot on the property to do work,he also apologized for asking me to clear someone else's mess:thumb up:

They have been good customers and unusually for Ireland get me in 3 times a year for their hedges and always give a few quid to the lads when leaving!

So as you can understand i get het up by the "for the timber" shysters! Apologies if you thought i was aiming my comments at you!

Obviously you are not in this bracket!

[Graham w]

i see where you are coming from, i was after a great days work