2008 Networking

[Lee Winger]

Happy new year guys. I have always been a firm beleiver in networking, we are very small proffesional industry and imo networking is a must for the smaller companys amongst us to survive.I have networked with a few members of the forum, it has proved to be very advantageous to me and the guys i've worked with or through.

 

I propose we all [those who want to network together] list our services, and supply a list of kit we have and state the areas in the country we are happy to work in. I don't propose we all start runing around helpig each other for free, but wouldn't it for example be better to hire a mate with a mog and crane for example rather than somone else who might try and shaft you?

 

I also suggest Steve opens up a private networking forum, closed to the eyes of the non participants, nothing wrong with that imo, what do you guys say?

 

We have a good bunch of pros on here, with all kinds of skills, machinery and experience at hand, imo it would be a shame not to tap into these resources.

 

We have at a glance we have,consultants contract climbers, equipment dealers, mogs, tractors, stump grinders of all kinds, you get the jist of what i'm saying over to you guys, what do you think?

[Peter]

Sounds like a capital notion!

[John Shutler]

sounds like a plan

[tockmal]

I also suggest Steve opens up a private networking forum, closed to the eyes of the non participants, nothing wrong with that imo, what do you guys say?

 

I agree with the networking part - sharing resources is a great idea. Private forum? who decides who enters and on what basis?

[Lee Winger]

I'm not going to spill the beans about a big job i have just won and need say a guy with mog and crane or a couple of contract climbers for a week on an open forum.Thats why I suggested a private forum,you never know who the guests are who veiw this forum

 

I would reccomend those who want to network put your name forward to enter the private forum, those don't want to network don't bother, i'm not proposing anything sneaky or underhand,ulitmatly its down to Steve

[Lee Winger]

Heres something to think about, how many times have you see groups/companys of construction workers working together on projects, i've seen it plenty of times..

 

I haven't see many tree firms pool resources

[Marc]

Heres something to think about, how many times have you see groups/companys of construction workers working together on projects, i've seen it plenty of times..

 

I haven't see many tree firms pool resources

 

 

Thats because other tree firms are scum, competition to be eliminated, I don't want them to see how I work they may copy me ra ra ra ra.

 

I personally hate that kind of sentiment.

 

I remember the first guy I worked for, we had this little game where we would guess friendly or not, and wave at other tree crews to see what kind of reply we got, sometimes we got given the bird and occasionally a friendly thumbs up.

 

There are a bunch of sub-contractors near me, a few of them are small one man biusnesses, they often pool together resources on bigger jobs and are doing very well, it gives them a flexabilty and edge over other outfits.

 

So count me in.

[telhol]

The idea sounds good. I work with a few other companys and i do there tree work and any landscaping etc i get is passed onto them. It can be the difference of surviving or going bust.

 

But this would be complex to set up properly mainly building trust with other guys trial and error.

 

Good luck

[Lee Winger]

it would only be as complex as you wanted to make it, splitting a job 50-50 between two firms using similer kit and the same amount of staff or loosing the job completely because your so idependant and not big enough to carry out the job, hiring a climber for x-amount, hiring out my tractor with grab with operator for a few days,passing on a job miles from home to a more local trusted contractor rather than let a client down, hiring in a team of planters from this site, bulk buying and saving a nice few quid on chain oil or something similer,using a consultant from here rather than any bod,and on and on

[telhol]

Yeah as i said it all sounds good. On the plus you can see how each other works what gear they use so in that way experiance would be increased throughout the industry.