Starting up.

[Little Butch]

Cheers for the advice guys! I did think about a tipper but as I won't be able to afford a chipper anytime soon I was planning on going old school and carting brash on a trailer...

What are the laws regarding this?

[Ian C]

Cheers for the advice guys! I did think about a tipper but as I won't be able to afford a chipper anytime soon I was planning on going old school and carting brash on a trailer...

What are the laws regarding this?

 

Where are you going to take said brash?

 

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[neilb]

Cheers for the advice guys! I did think about a tipper but as I won't be able to afford a chipper anytime soon I was planning on going old school and carting brash on a trailer...

What are the laws regarding this?

 

 

You will soon get sick of that. I've done it loads of times. Even if you have a decent sized trailer you will be surprised at how little you can fit on them even when you have farted about with. Plus it doesn't look very professional.

 

Hire a chipper in and add it on to the job. Thread on here a while back about using a tipper trailer and gravity fed chipper. Thought that was a good idea for a small outfit.

 

Laws? you can put whatever you want on a trailer as long as it is safe and secure, last I heard!

[Nick Harrison]

Gotta say that I tried using a gravity fed chipper when called in on a mates job. ...total ball ache! Would not waste my time or money on one of those, before I owned a chipper I would hire in for about £100 a day, easily absorbed into quotes for single or various jobs for the day and tons quicker than gravity fed, just from my own experience of course. Agree with the trailer comment, tried it for a while but soon out grew it, you obviously can't buy big at the start but be canny about what you do spend money on. Try to get a tipping truck, if not then a pick up truck that you could maybe fashion your own chip.box on the back, shoveling out is a pain but I think is preferable to a trailer, you'll need a 2nd vehicle if you opt for a trailer as how else are you gonna get the chipper to the site?

 

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[Will Heal]

You will soon get sick of that. I've done it loads of times. Even if you have a decent sized trailer you will be surprised at how little you can fit on them even when you have farted about with. Plus it doesn't look very professional.

 

 

 

Hire a chipper in and add it on to the job. Thread on here a while back about using a tipper trailer and gravity fed chipper. Thought that was a good idea for a small outfit.

 

 

 

Laws? you can put whatever you want on a trailer as long as it is safe and secure, last I heard!

 

 

Yes hire a chipper and add it on the price of the jobs else you will be carting brash around and getting rid of it and in that time you could have don another job

 

I can hire a tw 150 for £70 a day

 

 

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[markieg31]

Needs must when you start. I started of with a diahatsu fourtrak and a trailer and went on like that for a while untill I could afford a pickup, which has made life easier. I was still trailering brash untill I recently got a chipper. I am sure even a gravity fed chipper would beat trying to mash the brash up in the trailer

 

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[Little Butch]

Got quite a few jobs recently without advertising, seems to be a random burnt of work lol!

 

Been trying to think of a company name, what's the deal with this?

I've got one in mind, googled it and there's a few companies with this name from what I've seen but not in my part of the country?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I remember going it alone for the first time, exciting time for you.

 

my advice,

 

in order of priority.

 

1) be honest and true

 

2) help your fellow arbs when they need you.

 

be kind to trees and understanding the ignorant folks you meet (I need that one much!)

 

3) Bolt down your gear like your life depends on it, dont EVER think youll be fine, you wont, they will rob you till your finished.

 

4) put 25% OF EVERYTHING YUO TAKE IN A 30 DAY NOTICE ACCOUNT FOR TAX ETC, DONT BE TEMPTED EVER!

 

5) make the effort to learn something new for just a few hours a week.

 

6) remain strong when things are tough, when jobs are hard to come by

 

7) price yourself right, dont work for nothing, pay attention to profit ratios and dont compromise.

 

8) be lucky.

[jaime bray]

One of the first things I would be looking at is what is known as your personal survival budget. Calculate all your own personal monthly outgoings. Multiply this by 12 months, and divide by the amount of weeks you reasonably feel you will be able to work, considering holidays, wet weather and other commitments, divide this further by the number of days a week you wish to work, and then the reasonable amount of hours you would be on site in any one day, time of year and length of days considered, this may give you an hourly rate to pay your personal monthly bills.

N.B. Remember though that this will not take into consideration the other aspects of running the business that need to be costed into that rate.

 

Once you have this I would be looking at what equipment I need to operate in a capacity that enables you to provide for your lifestyle, regardless of how much a chipper, tipper etc make the job easier or appear more professional, I would say you need to operate, and provide to the customer the service they wish for. This is usually to provide a quote, carry out the work entailed within that quote, remove the rubbish, tidy up the garden, and when all that is done, whilst you're here, cut off the extra branch from the other tree...lol, its that simple.

 

Then there are the legalities of running the business, what insurances do you need to cover yourself from being personally sued and potentially financially crippled for a long time... insurances? What tax considerations do you need to be planning for? Plus a multitude of other legalities to operate a business and be compliant with the laws of the United Kingdom.

 

I started out when I was 19, by borrowing a family members tipper when ever they weren't using it. I had a little escort van that I used to fill up to remove rubbish on smaller jobs.

 

Operating with vans has numerous benefits, in the sense that you can do other types of work if times are hard, as you could if you had a tipper too. But you need to purchase a vehicle that will be suitable to how you feel you would like to operate.

 

A transit tipper with plyboard sides will provide the basis for you to operate at some capacity in tree work, it will be laborious and annoying as you throw branches on one side and they fall off the other, but if that gets you the money then so be it. Additionally though, if all you have to is tip the rubbish up at the other end then its so much easier than removing it all by hand again!!!

 

If you get a huge job to price, and you know its going to be a true nightmare throwing it on the back of your wagon then price in a chipper. For many small jobs, the type you are likely to get in the first few months, even to a year, you will get by with a transit or a van plus a trailer if you wish.

 

Find a green recycling plant nearby and cost up what they charge per load etc for tipping green waste, you may find that 2-3 days work of tiffling jobs will eventually fill up your wagon to warrant a ton of rubbish dumping at 10-20 per ton. You may have earned 300-400 quid by then though, so whats 20quid in the grand scheme of things?

 

Advertising is Russian roulette these days, so many opportunities and outlets. You will possibly find that you work harder at your marketing than you do at work for the first few months/years, and still will after 20 years of business.

 

Tap into what your customers want. What are the benefits of your company rather than the services you provide? Why should they use you rather than the current supplier of tree management they use? What is your USP? Unique Selling Point.

 

I am not sure if they still do this, but Barclays bank used to offer a little free Business school course for new business banking.

 

Get in touch with your local chamber for commerce. if they still functional, or check the Federation of small businesses.

 

There are so many places to find info on how to run a business.

 

Remember though, that you are running a business, you are not a tree surgeon solely, you are a businessman. Running a business, regardless of what industry, has the same duties, pitfalls, requirements, so find out what they are, and ask yourself, do you wish to be burdened with them!!!!

 

All industries have particular niche aspects to consider, tree work is no different. It would be lovely to be handed a cheque with the sentiment, go and get what you need lad, but when you are not born with the silver spoon in your mouth, it tastes sweeter when you succeed, regardless of what degree success is perceived.

 

One of the most important parts of the practical duty of running a service provision business is the clean up of site. You may make a cock up, but clean up properly, be courteous and fair, and your good name will travel.

[EnglishSheep]

There have been many wise words on here and a good chance for medium to mature business owners to reflect upon. I certainly have.

 

In the mean time think long and hard regarding your company brand. Branding is for the life of the business and it is best to get it right first time even if it takes a little longer.

 

Play with names, experiment with colours.

 

Three key lessons we learnt.

 

1. Keep your name and brand unique, simple and self explanorty.

2. Keep colours and logos simple. This really does effect web site design, uniform printing costs and equally as important how the final design will work with the vehicle.

3. If you are not 100% committed or if the branding does not feel right do not waste time, valuable energy and money to pursue it.

 

We have literally just launched the tree care part of the business, something we have been experimenting with for over two years now.

 

Everything just felt that now is the correct time. Website updated, already we have version two of the tree care flyer, 2000 flyers waiting to get back from the printers ready for letter box lottery next week!

 

I hope to free lance as a groundie or climber for other larger companies and to also promote our own uniqueness to all potential clients.

We start with small manageable jobs and ask the bigger companies in regard to larger jobs.

 

All of our marketing, branding, logo, website design have been done in house solely by us and many lessons learnt along the way!

 

Any questions regarding logo etc etc please ask.

 

Kind regards, good luck and climb safe.

 

Gregory