Hand cutters for hardwood thinning

[njtimber]

I am in Dorset and could do with occasional help (depending on contracts ) from the right person. I say occasional but for the right person on a self employed basis I could put a lot of work in front of them as long as they were open to varied work.

[TheHungrySquirrel]

Just shot you a message

[john k]

Belive it or not I am incredibly patient with new cutters and genrally work alongside them to help them with any uncertain situations . I have learnt this through having 7 trainees only 2 stuck it out 1 of them still works with me the other eventually went into carpentry and is bloody good at that too. (They were both not interested at school and into trouble but with guidance and reward for hard work they remained keen and have both done well ,self employed etc)

 

It's the lack of energy with the subbies I have had in recent years and going back to the truck to look at their phone every 5minutes ,they know what needs doing but I keep having to ask them to do it even when we have done the same operation repeatedly. I kept an eye on one guy recently left him alone after working alongside him for a week and in an entire day he used 2 and a half tank fills ,at the end of the day I asked him if he would be happy to pay someone for what he hadn't done all day . (Just for the record I still paid him for a full day) but what good is it if you have to babysit them all day. Good skilled labour is rare and should be rewarded accordingly.

 

Sounds fair!

[Brushcutter]

Working in a pair with eyesight distance and whistles.

 

I find phones annoying and distracting as well as easy to break in a pocket.

 

Right now I'm cutting firewood and have been promised day rate cutting which I would kill for, currently getting £160 a chain in dense hornbeam and I may as well be paying them 😒

 

Where are you based and are you looking for cutters??

 

Still if anything happens you have to go back to the truck to summon help. Phone in an Otter Box is not easy to break. Having been in a situation where someone has been injured and help needed to be summoned i would never be without a phone in my pocket.

[TheHungrySquirrel]

Still if anything happens you have to go back to the truck to summon help. Phone in an Otter Box is not easy to break. Having been in a situation where someone has been injured and help needed to be summoned i would never be without a phone in my pocket.

 

 

My trucks generally only 20metres away at most.

 

I understand what your saying but having smashed a few iPhones this way works easier for me.

[njtimber]

Stubby says he is 62 brush cutter says he isn't far behind that is my point they don't make them like they used to . They don't seem to have the same drive or work ethic these days.

[Timber Man]

Stubby says he is 62 brush cutter says he isn't far behind that is my point they don't make them like they used to . They don't seem to have the same drive or work ethic these days.

 

It was actually me that said I wasn't far behind.

I am not sure I fully agree with you , although we have bred a nation of machine drivers, but if that's where the work is who can blame them for that.

Just as you work locally a lot of other cutters try to do the same, that's different to saying there are no good cutters.

You seem reluctant to answer my point about rates, the truth is £120 a day is not a lot of money for a cutter that can go to a job , do anything and everything, run their own saws etc etc. I certainly wouldn't want to work for those rates unless I was really stuck for work, machine operators are getting more than that with none of the costs.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I agree, and from my experience piece rates were a lot fairer to both parties.

Someone telling you how much they are prepared to pay you day rate is like them telling you how much your skills are worth, and I kind of object to that.

That is someone else dictating to you how much you can earn.

 

Unwritten rule that self employed workers dictate the pay vs employed take the pay the job advertises? I've not yet heard of an employer or company that allows a paye employee to dictate their salary. Every trade / profession has a going rate. Funny one.

[steve collins]

Problem is that colleges give students a false idea of what the industry is like and as soon as they do a week you never see them again!! Yes its bloody hard work and you have to take the rough with the smooth but unlike other apprenticeships where your skilled in a manner of years, Handcutting your skilled by the time your bodys given up and your just about still productive. Rates range from £90-£200 and ive worked from portsmouth to dover and all over the south east.

 

Everyone who wants to become a handcutter just dont want to do the time/effort to become one.

[Lucan]

I agree, and from my experience piece rates were a lot fairer to both parties.

Someone telling you how much they are prepared to pay you day rate is like them telling you how much your skills are worth, and I kind of object to that.

That is someone else dictating to you how much you can earn.

 

I think the lack of good cutters could also why employers are reluctant to pay piece work. There are a lot of inexperienced cutters who will see the pound signs and rush the job at the expense of safe working to fell as many in a day.