Quickthorn

If you register for VAT for the first time and choose the flat rate, they give you a 1% discount for your first year on the scheme. However, there are a couple of areas where you can come unstuck on flat rate VAT: If you buy a lot of materials for jobs which you then charge directly to the customer -eg. planting stock etc., you'll effectively pay VAT twice on these, which will eat into your markup; If you do a lot of zero-rated work - eg. NPTC assessments - you'll pay VAT on that, whereas you wouldn't under flat rate; If your income varies so that you sometimes get refunds under standard VAT, you won't normally get refunds on flat rate, which can be a problem for cash-flow - if you've spent more than you've earned one month, you still have to find VAT on flat rate, whereas you would get a refund under standard VAT. Having said that, what Skyhuck says is very true: it's a lot simpler, and there's less chance of making mistakes. I was saving several hundred a year on the scheme (less now I do NPTC assessments), although that saving is still profit, and gets taxed as such.

It looked like you used an excavator or something to push the tree over. If that's the case, you want to be very careful doing that. One man was killed near us, just before Christmas, trying to push a tree over with a teleporter.

I remember 1981, and they're comparing this to that one. I didn't work outdoors in those days, but getting around didn't seem to be that great a problem (I suppose it depends where you were). Also, I don't remember as much moaning; if the media can be believed, it seems that there are a lot of people expecting every square inch of road and pavement to be fully gritted so that they can drive around as if it were summer.

And it's off your turnover as well, not profits.

Just bumping this up. Has anyone noticed the new flat rates from 1st January 2010? They're here at HMRC website. I put myself in the forestry sector, and before 1 December 2008, I was paying 9% on VAT inclusive turnover. It went down to 8% after 1/12/08, and from 1/1/2010 it went back up..but not to 9%..they now want 9.5%, it seems. Am I wrong, or have they snuck in a crafty little tax hike?

If it's standing at £35 / ton, before you've started a saw..how much to fell and extract..£20 /ton or so? That puts it at £55 /ton at roadside, which is what you'd expect to pay for fencing grade, not firewood. seems pricey to me.

I know someone getting it in for £45 / ton delivered. As far as standing goes, anyone know a typical rate for mixed hardwood coppice, a lot of ash (about 6" dia), say about 20 year old since last cut, most of the bigger stuff to be left as standards. ? It would be North East Midlands / South Yorkshire. I've got various opinions so far..it used to be about £10 / ton, FC round here seem to be expecting £15-20 / ton, and another bloke thinks £10 / ton is too much. I'm buying some from the last bloke, but he hasn't got much.

We jacked it in at around 10 am, after an 8 am start, with around 2" having fallen in about half hour and no sign of stopping. The worry wasn't the work, it was getting home - 15 mph max most of the way. In fact, the ungritted back roads weren't the problem, it was the main roads, with other traffic slithering around. Lorries were the big problem, they were failing to get up the slightest of inclines. One bloke was stuck half way up one ramp, and looked like he was going round the truck squirting windscreen de-icer on his tyres, before having another crack at it.

Is anyone else having problems with the chatroom?

Sounds more like an electrical problem, like the gauge circuit is shorting out. As a first step, find the sender and unplug that, then check the gauge. If it reads hot, there's a short in the circuit feeding the gauge, or a fault with the gauge; if no movement, then perhaps the sender is shorting internally.

I'm a bit out of touch now, as I don't live there any more, but the contractor who gets the work seems to be in there quite a lot. I don't know him very well, but I've got a phone number. Let me know if you want it, and I'll pm it to you.

Yes, that happened a while ago. I've been doing some of the spraying round newly planted trees, but everything else goes to a contractor.

we'd have been neighbours, almost. I lived on the edge of Revesby.

Lived around there for 4 years or so, until very recently.

can't quite remember, as I was out when it came. I think it was 1st class.

Is that anywhere near Spilsby or Horncastle by any chance? If you want funding, and you're in the catchment area, I believe you need to go through the Rural Developments outfit (2nd link I gave you)..that's what they told me, as I'm trying for the same thing. The bloke's name is Carrick Armer (Whether you'll get hold of him this side of the new year is another matter, as most office-wallahs seem to have broken up for Christmas already!) Edit: What arbwork said is spot on: they won't fund you for stuff you've started or have done, you need to get in with the funding organisers first. From the paperwork I got, all of Lincolnshire would count as East Midlands,

If you wade through this pdf, it has the Forestry commission policy on chainsaw and machine certification. Off the top of my head, there's a foundation unit to get through, followed by a unit for whatever type of machine/operation you want to use. Whereabouts in Lincolnshire are you? You might be able to get some RDPE funding. That link covers what they did in Yorkshire, but they will be doing similar in the East Midlands.

I used them a week ago for several chains and a bar. I had a query about the bar, which they answered promptly, and the order took about a week to get to me..probably because the bar was for an older saw, and was not in stock. i thought the service was good, and i'll probably use them again.

We did have one bloke do it near us, and got quite a way with it, with contracts to supply a few B&Q type places. He put a hell of a lot of work into it, benefited from free use of tractors, yard space etc and still only just got by. 'Scuse the pun, but it burnt him out in the end; he jacked it in, saying that if he had put as much work into anything else, he'd have been a millionaire. Personally, I don't consider charcoal making to be all that "green". You're driving off all the hydrocarbons in the wood - the bulk of the energy content - and putting them into the atmosphere as pollutants. There'd be more benefit in that wood if it was firewood.

Is this better?

It was good of him to reply. I always thought anything around the buttresses was unsaleable to their mills, because the grain in the stump isn't as straight as the rest of the log..hence the humboldt gob cut.

Oak's another obvious one for the posts. I think you could use less durable species for the rails: some "non-durable" timbers last a surprisingly long time if they're not touching the ground.

Another question: I'm guessing that 262s would have come with 3/8" chain, but someone's suggested .325". Does anyone know the pros and cons? I'd have thought this saw pulling .325 would fly, as long as it could clear the chips ok.

Anyone know how much something like this might fetch - if anything? It seems solid, although the last picture shows that some of it might not be useable. It's 2'4" high, with a girth (including the tree stem) of 9' 10" at it's widest. Reminds me of a certain character out of Viz for some reason; can't think why

I've also come across people from government agencies, LAs etc: starting businesses at weekends; going part-time on their "day" job to do tree type work for the rest of the week; retiring at around 50 on very generous pensions (particularly police, it seems) and starting up hobby businesses. All public sector, I notice! Personally, it does affect me quite badly, as one of my mainstays was hedgelaying. I get fewer enquiries now, and haven't booked in a fresh job this year at all - only repeat business - and I put this down to competition from part-timers and early retirers who think it's romantic to work in the countryside, or something, and set up to have a go. They're well off already, and can afford to buy the work; I can't.