Hiring in a competitor?

[Mike Hill]

I can't see the problem with it.

 

I hire in kit that i dont have the constant demand for,some of which is owned by people I compete against.

 

The splitter would be at a yard,converting waste into product in a way more efficient than normal.I think people would see the value in hiring it.

[Gray git]

I'd have no problem with getting you in at all and do it locally quite a bit, almost have a local cooperative of us who share gear and even staff from time to time, we work for them, they work for us and so far seems to have benefited everyone.

For firewood I'd say especially easy as you're not going to site or interacting with clients just turning up at a yard doing your thing and going.

How far would you be willing to travel as have a company we work with who have a lot of oversized timber they are looking at getting done.

If I remember correctly your looking at a slitter for big rings rather than billets which is what they are after.

[aspenarb]

For me it's all about making money, if someone has something that can make me a few quid while they make some as well then it's a win win

 

Thats pretty much it, I look at the subcontractors I use as work colleagues rather than competition.

 

Bob

[Tom D]

It's going to be towed by the tractor so that will limit distance, north Yorks might be a bit too far.... With the 50k tractor I can get a fair distance though.

[oldwoodcutter]

I think it's going to be alright Tom, I help my tree worker friends out and they help me out , we lend staff each way,and give each other second opinions on tricky jobs. I'm talking about established outfits, not the here today gone tomorrow saw slingers. Go for it.

[Gray git]

It's going to be towed by the tractor so that will limit distance, north Yorks might be a bit too far.... With the 50k tractor I can get a fair distance though.

 

Keep in contact if you get it as a wagon might be an option to fetch it down for 3 or 4 days work if it's going to make turning what is basically wast at the moment into a salable product in a economical way.

[DeltaBravo]

I'm thinking about getting a massive splitter with a 28 way knife, it would be more capacity than we need for our own stuff but I was thinking about hiring it out with an operator and doing other people's oversize stuff. There's a few estates and farms round here who would use it the odd day, but I have found that other tree surgeons can be a bit weird about hiring in a competitor.. I offer the same kind of service with the heizohack but so far only one tree surgeon has taken up the offer..

 

So my question is would you bring in a competitor to split your timber if he had a good machine for the job?

 

In this instance, it makes sense to work with a competitor and I do it often for far lesser reasons. The only thing that can essentially 'go wrong', so to speak is if they pinch your regular client, but how likely is that to happen anyway? IMO, not very as I find my clients tend to be quite loyal.

[rovers90]

I did this about 18 months ago Tom. I had amassed about 25 ton of timber all 14 inch diameter and above (my Palax takes max 14) and hired in my closest competitor to split it for me. Only down side was he has a Binderberger with a large grid so most of the logs ended up too wide for my customers so I ended up resplitting them on my machine. But it did turn a pile of timber in to usable logs and that = cash!!

[Ben1]

I wouldn't have a problem hiring people in to process stuff we can't handle. There's a day or two work if the figures added up, south Northumberland.