Marc

Competition is healthy David and it would be good for UK industry to see other products to choose from and I am excited to see it. For what it's worth the class of machine we have now the Bandit would be the only choice for us, looking to the future though I'd never rule out a Morbark and as a customer want the choice. The boxxer machines look good also and we are looking for one of those soon. Problem is I need everything and I need it now Want our 20" on tracks, an excavator with ALL the attachments to feed it, and truck and trailer to tow it all. In the meantime here is a link of August Hunicke feeding his Morbark

Sorry David, but that's still not ready for UK roads, how much does that preperation cost? It's interesting that Vermeer are not really interestedly in supplying their 15" plus machines to the UK anymore. We have one of the last 20" machines which weighs about 7.5ton it is type approved, the requirements for type approval changed I believe after 2014. Competition is a good thing and the Morbark product is a good one, so is the Carlton, Vermeer as is the Bandit all nice robust machines. The Global team had a major headache with our machine getting it through type approval - parts of me just wanted it without all the compliance because we run under Ag and well with Ag you can get away with Murder literally. Global did the right thing by doing it right, this takes a lot of work so it's only fair the competition does the same.

Easy to judge though.... Problem is this has subject has been done to death - as much as I love this job and the lifestyle I want fair remuneration for what I do and have done and to be fair there are plenty out there better than me. As a climber I earned more than most of those I worked for which just seems insane as i had none of the stress or worry because well plenty of others to work for. I hope things will change and one thing I found is most company owners I worked for had hardly any mortgage, most of the young lads I work with now to get into home ownership need to be earning a lot more than past industry trends so hopefully we will see some shift in industry attitudes. I work to live not live to work, having said that I would not want to do anything else and if I had to I would work for less..... So yeah easy to judge.

Maybe the same but we bought it with the Avant from their list of attachments if I recall it was around £1400 Hywel is your man otherwise.

Get one of these should be an easy fit as plate is the same I believe, just quick connect to change.

My wife started out on £17k a year at B&M bargains.... If you have the right attitude and find that the work suits you ie you pick it up fast then there is no reason (Local area and types of company operating) that you can't earn £23k very early on. Although it takes a bit of luck to find that position.

Poop happens it's when it becomes unreasonable and disruptive that it becomes a problem that needs addressing. Like staff pulling a sickie, if a pattern emerges and it becomes seriously disruptive you have to deal with it. If birds are halting work on a regular basis causing serious disruption that effects the business then, you have to look for the pattern and find a solution to deal with it. I have found this more frequent so now preempt it. We had a crap week this week over staffed for jobs not hitting targets etc and last week had weather disruption throwing diary out of whack for a few days, it happens it was "a" bad week as long as a pattern doesn't arise the rest of your work load should cover a bad week or 3 throughout the year.

Vermeer currently do not supply large chippers on any scale within the European market, currently Bandit is our only option with the exception of some niche machines out there. Which I think is a massive oversight on Vermeers behalf as we ran 3 large Vermeers at one point before they stopped. Most Vermeers are now European built it seems. Besides having run Vermeers for a while I can honestly say the switch to Bandit is the best decision we made they are on a other level, which is probably why Vermeer stopped.

I would expect DPF's to last more than a couple of years, it's more about being able to monitor soot build up and adjust the running of the machine to suit - we currently have one in our Bandit which has on board diagnostics to allow us to monitor soot levels and if required force a regen. Also as this type of installation becomes more common the technology will improve becoming more robust and reliable. And if £1000 every 24 months which equals roughly £10 a week becomes hard to stomach then I'm not sure what to say about that. My old Diesel 4x4 had an early DPF I covered 180k without issue. Commercial vehicles are covering half a million miles with this technology fitted without issue. Most of the reason domestic diesel cars are encountering problems is owners being ill informed of their purchasing decisions.

THe X7 maybe a great machine! Just on paper it sounds like it will struggle to compete with the best of the 6-8" European machines. I'd always look to the American market for 12" plus machines they are just big, brash and brutal very well suited to excavator fed applications. Some of the European offerings like the large Jensons and Schiesling 12-15" machine whilst very good being both efficient smooth well thought out machines I have always preferred the American approach of big ponies and heavy steel when it comes to hand/crane fed brush chippers.

😆 I was reading page one a moment ago and your post mentioning your 35 and thinking of your Facebook post and thought damn time has t been kind to Stevie he looks like a man in his 40's. I think time can be unkind and the work we expose ourselves to may not help you have to learn and adapt by listening to your body and trying to either alter your techniques, look after yourself more and improve your way of working I certainly could hand ball out timber onto the back of a truck all day anymore neither would I want to. For me I found the longer I did the job and older I got the easier it became because I became stronger, learned to pace myself and improve my technique.

Did they advise you to replace all the hoses? We upgraded ours to prevent this from happening, so far a year on we haven't split anymore pipe s.

Matt at TVE is first rate as is their service. Good Avants second hand are very hard to find, discounts on new are high with strong resale value I'd strongly consider new with this type of plant.

I would have to agree, the most recent failure I'd seen was similar to both the video you posted and and the thread video, the rigging started well but as the angles increased so did the lever effect until failure. Nothing serious happened the climber was experienced and had good work position still it was avoidable another large contributing factor to that incident was the ropeman not allowing any run. One of the best riggers I have worked with is also one of the most basic this has shaped the way I approach rigging as adding complexity can introduce in expected forces unless you have a very good understanding of all that is going on. Mike (loleruk) is a very smart guy and I respect his approach and understanding of the dynamics involved, sometimes though we just need a simple language to understand how to achieve safe rigging, i have been lucky to work with some talented individuals who cannot articulate the force involved yet instinctively know how to rig safely.

I couldn't care either just felt your comments required some context, unless you think it's okay for large scale operations to to be prowling streets and jumping out slamming in gob cuts - even if I made over dramatically emphasising that point, you would hope the large companies can do it right, we work for companies like Ameys and they expect more from us in terms of site safety and operational tactics. The work I could care less about just see no reason to not set your site out properly beforehand. The recent Beech tree I applied to remove with a cons area below due to insufficient grounds to remove, personally I think the TO may be valid, regardless we are service providers and the client wanted it felled so I tried to give a sound reason to fell and it was rejected and a TPO placed on the trees, next step if the client wants to is appeal. I am not a sentimental tree hugger just feel we should try and do things right.

I think it's the point that they whacked in the gob before putting out the signs and cones, what's to say if they weren't being filmed that they might not even bother with signs and cones, because let's face it would of taken them longer to put the cones out than fell and process it. I put in an app to fell a Beech in a conservation area that was lifting the Tarmac and causing damage to the wall only to had a TPO placed up it..

Thanks for sharing Matt, I think we have all been there or close to it, but the positioning and thought that goes into it hopefully mitigates any further risk of injury. I see a lot of redirecting like this it's usually only a significant problem when you rigging points are a similar level like you said creating a pulley effect, was there much difference in height of your 2 pulleys as it's hard to see in the video. Like I said the only time I have ripped my anchor point out it was the other side of the tree, you get lulled into a false sense of security steadily getting greedier, I can say it makes no odds if you create the force to make it fail it's coming at you! Every force has an equal and opposite reaction or something like that. I should add, I've also snapped rigging lines and slings and various other bits, as well as barber chairing whilst on spike which was jolly unpleasant.

Thanks for sharing, the piece didn't look that big in the video, but it rarely does it justice. Looks like the as the pulley loaded up and dropped the force changed ripping your secondary out as this became the primary, perhaps if you just rigged of the main stem you who would of unfavourably loaded the timber? I have done similar without being in a MEWP I never thought the anchor point would come at me so felt confident pushing the limits when it failed the whole rigging point came at me and actually cut through to the core of my climbing line!

I help to manage the company all aspects of it having worked for Hugo for 10years as a freelance arborist. I think it's a testament that not many people leave Heritage to go work elsewhere. The longest serving climber we have had worked for us for nearly 20years now at 47. The average age is 37 and the average day rate is the upper figure mentioned around here. I really like how we do things and am trying hard to keep it going, I am privy to and involved in all aspects include purchasing equipment, hiring staff, running commercial and domestic contracts and carrying out surveys. We do alright but I would say we are one of the cheaper companies out there.

The freelancers kit costs nothing in comparison to a companies overheads, all I have ever owned is a climbing kit and a top handle saw with some basic rigging kit, if I lost everything it's about 6-8k to replace. I guess I was lucky I could pick and choose who I worked for, those horrible jobs no one else wants to do are hardly everyday maybe once a fortnight if that most of the jobs were fairly easy, but once you've been doing them a while it's just par for the course and you take the rough with the smooth I'm not ashamed to admit it I have been shitting myself on jobs just wanting to get down and go home but I stuck it out, only walked on 2 jobs over the last 10 years that I can remember. So yeah comparatively Matt freelancers have got it easy, I am way more stressed now than I ever was as a freelancer, but I enjoy it.... for the moment.

That's what I meant. As a freelancer life is easy, none of the stress just turn up do the work go home, the least I can do is be as good as i can be at my job and make things go smoothly and without drama for whoever is employing me that day. And to a certain point improve their position make them more successful so they employ me more and pay me more.

this is always the question I ask and the reply is always what are you going to pay me, it ends up a cat and mouse game as I want to pay you the lowest rate I can get and you want the highest rate I will pay. Why don't you just say it, to be honest when I interview people or get people in to freelance for us I'd rather they just tell me want you want, we all know the market if you tell me what you want I will know your value, and I want to pay you what you want so you will be happy, people that are happy with their rate work harder for you, if they don't the don't come back simple. When I freelanced there were a number of outfits I approached, some advertised here i was always up front with what I wanted to get paid, some never used me. Some tried to barter me down (not a good tactic on first contact with potential freelancer) some thought I was expensive used me anyway and I don't think I ever disappointed and I made sure they got value for money as a freelancer your there to make them money and improve their business so pay me what I want and I will do my best for you. I really miss freelancing

What do you want to be paid? And be realistic as we all want a grand a day.

Hmmm don't want to be rude Mick but that's stupid, I could charge £50 quid a day and I would probably get asked to fill skips and never be short of work, I doubt I could afford my rent/mortgage on that for long though. As a buisiness we could charge £300 for a 2 man team but it would be financial suicide, and I am sure you appreciate that Mick. I know these threads are repetitive so don't get me wrong I do alright but I don't like to talk about how comfortable my lifestyle is or my financial situation or how well as a business we are doing, I want to see others do better for themselves and this industry's and hopefully see threads/posts like this less often. The way I look at it if my competition earns more so do I and so does everyone else.

To often I feel like many run their business as a hobby and never actually sit down and work out the what it actually costs to do the job and the profit margins required to grow. It saddens me as I love this job and this industry but at the end of the day I work to live not live to work. I do feel that things are changing, problem is we are so diverse.