Paul Barton

That's a very good price for all that...provided you are good at the job! Best of luck with it PHAS.

A GPS data capture program such as Digiterra or Pocket GIS would make it simple. They come in at £750 and £500 respectively. I have recently been looking at PT Mapper Pro from Pear Technology as well - looks pretty good and costs £775 I think. It will produce nice looking plans as image files, PDFs, AutoCAD files (DXF only) and you can also export the lot in to Google Earth.

It's often sold as a combined policy along with employers liability - well mine was anyway. You'll only need employer's liability if you have other staff or if you ever need to use a sub-contracted surveyor etc.

Hi Beezy, Can you tell me a bit more about the PT Mapper program? I see on their website it says it can handle CAD DXF files - does it export as DXF files too? Also, what is the Treeminder bit for? If you collect the data in PocketGIS and then produce the maps in PT Mapper, what function does Treeminder have? I currently use a CAD program where I work but am leaving that job soon so looking for a more affordable option! Cheers, Paul

It's not great at detecting decay caused by Kretzchmaria deusta - i.e. tree could be more decayed that the scan shows. PICUS is often requested unnecessarily too. It's only useful for evaluating butt/stem decays, so there's no point in using it when you have a root rot present. We were asked to do a load of PICUS scans on street trees last year. I went and looked at the list of about 20 odd trees but it was only worth scanning a couple of them. How many street trees do you know that fail at the stem? Most go over because of root problems - a PICUS won't help predict that. Have you got a particular tree/situation in mind that prompted the question?

It's a useful tool sometimes, as long as you know what you are hoping to achieve and what the limitations are. You only know whether it's accurate when you fell the tree and compare the stump cross-section with the scan image!

The photos do look like Flammulina velutipes. As David has already said (which Lonsdale agrees with) it tends to be a secondary pathogen so a more detailed look at the trees is probably worthwhile. I can't say I have a lot of experience of seeing failed limbs/trees with this fungus present, and Lonsdale also says "little is known" of the type of decay. What's the 'target area' around the trees? Are they valuable in terms of visual amenity? Perhaps a heavy reduction to remove the affected parts would be a way forward?

This did make me chuckle, but it's not much help to the OP is it?!

Talisker and Oban for me. Find Laphroaig and the other smoky ones a bit too much. Neat or with a splash of water. I don't think it's sacrilege to add a bit of water - it can help bring out the flavours.

Consultancy manager. Only for another coupla weeks though.

I can appreciate that working on street trees in London is a difficult one, but to say that the cyclist is at fault is UNBELIEVABLE!! Do you honestly think that if he had been caught on the head by that branch, any judge would rule that the road use was at fault? He was outside the work zone. He hadn't been asked to stop by the groundsman. It doesn't matter where you're working - public safety has to be the top priority. Of course there are numpties that walk through cones, dip under barrier tape etc...but this video just shows poor practice. I'd imagine the contractor must be pretty red-faced about this appearing on the internet. Just goes to show that you can't cut corners and hope you'll get away with it - not with big brother patrolling the streets with headcams!!

Suggest installing a large owl-scarecrow in the tree.

You should read guidance from the Env Agency before lighting any big bonfires. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/D7_exemption.pdf

Absolutely - you are informing him that your price is going up! (easy to say, I know!)

Why would they?! It's a radio entertainment program that specialises in the extremes of any situation to provide laughter and outrage in equal measures. I used to find it annoying but now I think it's quite amusing - kind of like a middle-class Jeremy Kyle show on the radio.

You've prompted a lively debate on UKTC about this. (again!!)

There's definitely a need for this kind of course. My experience is that many tree surgery companies fall down on presenting themselves and good communication with clients.

If you are really self-employed you would do well to spread yourself around to some more local companies. Approach some with a better day rate and see how it goes. Once someone else is paying more you have a better position to ask your current "employer" for a rise. But overall I echo Steve's initial comment - £60 before tax and expenses is not a living wage.

In the bargain basement at Amazon at the moment:confused1: [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/roots-built-environment-Research-amenity/dp/0117536202/ref=sr_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358803917&sr=1-18]Tree roots in the built environment Research for amenity trees: Amazon.co.uk: John Roberts, Great BritainDepartment for Communities and Local Government, Nick Jackson: Books[/ame]

Sounds like topping to me. Repeated topping.

That's nice. Was it very easy?

Lets see it then!

Nice! Got a warm bag and a decent mat to go in it?

Assuming your RPA is plotted as a circle centred around the tree, your RPA has a radius of 12m from the stem, right? Therefore, if the proposed extension encroaches 3m inside the RPA, there is still a 9m distance between the tree and the extension. Whether or not breaking ground to investigate the presence of roots is needed will depend on the site conditions - if the ground conditions are broadly similar all around the tree then it would be sensible to assume, using the BS RPA calculations that roots will be present. That far from the tree they are most likely to be small diameter/fibrous roots rather than anything of a size that would affect the anchorage of the tree (although fibrous roots do assist with anchorage). An air-spade excavation along the line of the proposed footprint would quickly tell you what quantity and size of roots are present - with the least possible damage to roots assuming the tool is used correctly. However, given the expense of such equipment with operators, a careful hand-dig should suffice. I would have thought a depth of 30cm will tell you enough, but bear in mind that soil conditions play a major factor in rooting depth. In a compacted soil roots tend to head towards the surface where water and air are most readily available but in a loose texture free draining soil they will often be deeper. Other options to think about - could a mini pile and voided raft system be used for the foundations so that root damage is minimised? Is it justifiable to alter the shape of the RPA of the tree? Is the soil a shrinkable clay - how may this affect foundation depth? If it is a shrinkable clay this is another reason to use a pile and raft system....

Thanks for your valuable contribution Kieran!