£38K is the current UK average wage, are business owners working for less??

[Ian C]

this threads about average working wages, what it should really be focussng on is the business model of firms in the uk. This is where the problem clearly is. More education is needed regarding running a business. This is more important IMO than any CS course in running a chainsaw, any diploma in aboriculture. This industry is formed from the ground up by passionate arborists who love their job and the lifestyle that goes with it, but thats not sustainable. The sooner people realise that the better.

 

This is so true, the amount of small firms willing to work for so little is astounding, on top of that the collages kicking out pre Madonnas thinking there. going to be on 150 a day because they wear a harness!

[dan494]

If I got that day in day out id be a happy man, on my own work I'm content with £350 for me and groundie, some days we can make a lot more but rarely less, I don't think the glory days are totally gone yet, still good money to be made, that said I wouldn't want to be starting from scratch these days

 

 

Depends what you're doing? I'll charge that for hedgecutting/ small trees where theres more competition as you don't need the skill and equipment of big stuff. But more complicated/ large amounts to remove I'll be up to 450-500 for two guys.

[aspenarb]

There are many industry related spin offs that can be tapped into ( pardon the pun ). A good example of this is our old 4x4 bowser which was out for five years non stop watering plants and playing fields within a sixty mile radius of the yard. This went on all year and was sometimes doing seven days a week . There were only two guys on it and even after fuel and maintenance was making a bigger profit than we are all talking about here. That all finished last year so we are looking at getting it onto some sites with a spray bar on the back doing site dust suppression. This is just one example of other potential earning streams, there are hundreds. I know some of the lads on here have invested in cherry pickers , some get involved in all sorts of other money spinners like christmas decorations.....

 

Bob

 

Edited June 12, 2016 by aspenarb
fat fingers

[Maxnaggle]

Interesting read, coming from someone whose been doing this for 4 years, amazing to hear the difference in peoples experiences in business.

[beechwood]

The owner of a decent tree firm should be making well over £50k. Most likely a skilled climber who's set the whole thing up and invested a lot of time and money into the business. If you're struggling to find enough customers willing to pay good prices the answer lies in great marketing. Unfortunately you won't learn how to do that from any trade association, government body or college. Trying to compete for work on price is never gonna work out well in tree work. The only way is to win work whilst being more expensive than others. I haven't cracked how to do that for commercial contracts and I wouldn't want them anyway, but for private work it is certainly possible. You need some expense and work doing first to attract the right customers but the ongoing benefits are awesome. Obviously a better income, but more than that you get to work for people who appreciate good tree work, you get to hire and work with all the best staff, and you can work at a brisk but not stupid pace. And hardly ever leave site after 4pm.

 

The right marketing is the only way to get that.

 

 

'this threads about average working wages, what it should really be focussng on is the business model of firms in the uk. This is where the problem clearly is. More education is needed regarding running a business. This is more important IMO than any CS course in running a chainsaw, any diploma in aboriculture. This industry is formed from the ground up by passionate arborists who love their job and the lifestyle that goes with it, but thats not sustainable. The sooner people realise that the better.' Steve Bullman

 

These 2 comments are spot on.

Been in business for 16 years and spent the first 10 bitching and moaning, spent the last 6 working on offering a better service and selling that to my customers.

I now have a great group of guys working for me and a fantastic loyal customer base.

We never run out of work and we are never the cheapest (quite often double the price but still win the job).

You can blame everything and everyone under the sun for why your not getting what you want from your business but the only person who is going to change the situation is you.

Arboricultral Association run a good 2 day course Arb business course, I would suggest it's a good place to start.

Good luck

Regards Neil