TPO'd Sycamore.

[plippy]

hey dave

the tree consultant i use is only £250 and he'l do a climbibg inspection and takes pics while he's up there and then you get a 10 page essay with the finished inspection.

if ya want his number give me a ring

 

as to the issue of £500 a day, most charge per tree and if you bulid up ya clients you'll get it even cheaper, the prices are negotiable and at the end of the day they rely on us for work so use that to your advantage, just use one guy and he'll keep the prices down for ya

[Amelanchier]

I wonder how can anyone be sure of the appropriateness of the Order from a couple of photos?

 

I would want to see the context personally, perhaps do strange things like evaluate the public amenity, run a bit of VTA, look at the targets, see what the potential for a replacement is...

 

 

And Huck - £500 might be a too much in this instance but its unfair to simplify the consulting arbs role to using a pencil. After all, it would be unfair to suggest that all you do is take bits of trees from one place to another...

[Giles Hill]

Very valid points Scudmaster!

 

The £500 was a general estimate for a days work for a consultant. Am sure that a bit of negotiation would get the price down...

 

I agree with you in that case, I just thought it would be more like half a days work for someone local - an hour for travel, an hour on site and a couple of hours for the report.

 

As for whether £500 a day is too much, well it's far from exceptional if you're paying for professional consultant services. Obviously it's £62.50 an hour, for an 8 hour day, which is all very nice if you're clever enough to be charging for every hour you work and pocket the whole lot.

 

Typically though there is a lot of admin and other stuff which you can't charge for, so you either do it yourself, which means you're not earning £60.00, or you pay someone else to do it, which also means you're not earning £60.00. You can still earn a reasonable living though.

 

Give or take, these are the kind of fees that developers would expect to pay for professional services. Arb consultancy has become an essential part of the development process - arb input is as necessary as engineers, architects and landscape architects and therefore it can be charged accordingly.

 

As an outsider looking in, 'proper' tree work seems to be often very poorly paid, compared to any other job where a similar level of skill, is required or danger involved. I know some are able to a earn a decent living at it, but a lot of people seem to accept low pay because they love the work / lifestyle.

[skyhuck]

Typically though there is a lot of admin and other stuff which you can't charge for, so you either do it yourself, which means you're not earning £60.00, or you pay someone else to do it, which also means you're not earning £60.00. You can still earn a reasonable living though.

 

.

 

You go to tree, carry out inspection and make notes, go home right report, post report.

 

Wheres the "admin"????????????????

[skyhuck]

 

Give or take, these are the kind of fees that developers would expect to pay for professional services. Arb consultancy has become an essential part of the development process - arb input is as necessary as engineers, architects and landscape architects and therefore it can be charged accordingly.

 

.

 

Developers are generating revenue so they will pay for things than help generate said revenue.

 

Poor old Mrs Muggings get me to look at her tree, I tell its knackered, BUT you need to pay some guy £500 to right a report to say its knackered.

 

I don't think so.

[skyhuck]

Hi Skyhuck

 

Do you really think £500 a day is expensive for an expert service??? Try buying a picus (14K) and a risistogrpah (6k)

 

A pencil??? What the hell does that mean??? You seem to have a very low opinion of arboriculture. Why is that? Do you not think that it is a highly skilled industry???

 

Surely if a consultant could earn such a sum (which most don't), then surely that is a good thing!!?

 

I really don't understand where you are coming from...

 

Perhaps you should join the real world!!

 

:sleep::sleep:

[Amelanchier]

You go to tree, carry out inspection and make notes, go home right report, post report.

 

Wheres the "admin"????????????????

 

You cut bits off trees. Why should you be paid whatever you charge? Its easy and my mate can do it for cheaper!

 

 

You might tell Mrs Miggins that her trees knackered, but can you tell her why, on paper, its knackered in such a way that would satisfy insurers / planning inspectors / the courts???

[Giles Hill]

You go to tree, carry out inspection and make notes, go home right report, post report.

 

Wheres the "admin"????????????????

 

As a self employed landscape architect I work (ok sit on my backside in front of a computer / mince about on site) for 10 or more hours a day, but my chargeable work averages out at about 5 hours. I might be doing something wrong, but comparing my turnover to larger companies, it is similar in pro-rata terms - i.e. a company with five landscape architects seems to generate around five times my turnover. I'm sure there are exceptions in both directions, but that's how it seems to be with the companies I've looked at that do similar stuff to me.

 

The 'admin' for me is stuff like amendments, haggling with local authorities, some meetings and various unpaid things you do for regular clients as favours, then there's the proper admin, such as printing, folding lots of paper, writing covering letters, quotes, invoices, paying bills, accounts.

 

I do some work for Mrs Miggins and I charge a fraction of what I would doing the same thing for Lady Miggins or Miggins PLC - I guess that goes under admin too.

 

As for qualifications, the arb ones need as much dedication to pass as the equivalents in other professions, so there should be some parity on fees...

 

Obviously architects get paid more than everyone else. Apart from solicitors.

[skyhuck]

You cut bits off trees. Why should you be paid whatever you charge? Its easy and my mate can do it for cheaper!

 

 

 

I never said I didn't

 

Let your mate get on with it

[Mesterh]

I would be very surprised if consultants could get £500 a day on a regular basis.

 

If so giz a job, I can do that.