Doing it Part-time.

[Rentachimp]

Hi all,

 

I'm an arb of 5 years eperience, and former regular to arbtalk.com but have been out of the game for a few years due to a shift to a different industry. I'm missing the work, and was wondering if there is any scope to get back into it part-time.

 

A few ideas I'm toying with are:

Becoming a gun for hire (although I'm a bit rusty);

Getting work with an arb firm on weekends and when I can get leave from my day job;

Setting up as a sole trader (Have Saws, PPE, Tickets, Climbing kit, but no van or chipper) and doing smaller domestic work, including some gardening if neccessary.

 

Can anyone offer some advice, and whether setting up a business just to do 0-20 hours work a week is viable.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Gareth

[Steve Bullman]

Setting up as a sole trader (Have Saws, PPE, Tickets, Climbing kit, but no van or chipper) and doing smaller domestic work, including some gardening if neccessary.

 

Can anyone offer some advice, and whether setting up a business just to do 0-20 hours work a week is viable.

 

 

This would probably be your best bet. Theres no scope to set up as a sole trader with anything more than the most basic of equipment if 20 hours a week is all you have to play with.

 

Chippers can be hired in as needed, or even skips, just price it into the job

[Tim Stobart Tree Surgery]

My advice, having been in a similar boat at one point, is again the sole trader route. Find someone in a similar situation, or maybe someone who's just got their tickets and is looking for any experience, who's also willing to work as a self employed person. The key thing is to get someone you trust and enjoy working with, and you may try a few guys till you find the right one.

 

Start advertising locally, target villages where you can get a good reputation by word of mouth and price each job for how long it will take you. Your insurance will be your biggest overhead (you'll need employers, even if you don't 'employ' the other guy, if he's on the site you control, then that's what you need), but you should make that back in 4 or 5 jobs, and Trust will arrange for it to be paid monthly. Other than that you'll need a car and trailer, 2 wee saws and a big bugger, PPE and climbing kit, which you already have (trailer aside) and you're good to go.

 

Vista print do some very cheap deals for magnetic car/van signs and business cards. Add logs to your services. If someone phones up straight away and asks for them, just say you're out at the mo, otherwise in years time, you'll have a stack of logs and no advert for it without spending more on new signs/cards.

 

When you advertise, make sure you put Tree Surgery or Arboriculture as your key thing, part of the company name or the like, and add gardening as something you also do. People are more likely to let a tree surgeon cut their grass than they are to let a gardener dismantle or prune a tree.

 

I started out like that a couple of years ago having just moved up here for a new job for her indoor's, now I'm in the situation where I'm contemplating making my groundsman full time!

 

ps, check out the wee chipper club thread. I had a CS100 demo'd t'other day, and they're immense bit's of kit that you can probably make back on weekend work if you get busy.

[Rentachimp]

Thanks guys, and nice to see the forum is going so well after all these years, Steve!

[Steve Bullman]

Thanks guys, and nice to see the forum is going so well after all these years, Steve!

 

Cheers, glad you didn't forget about us