Jonny69

My last post was a joke before any arguments start on the issue!

Just work for the £80 a day when you have nothing better to do, but only go at half speed. Use the silky loads to save saw costs, and you wont be knackered when you get home. Genius.

Well spotted, Cambridge! Cheers

Hi guys, Need some help in St Neots. Got a job and I live quite a way away. I am looking for a two man team with a chipper and truck to join me and another guy on site. Must be able to remove chips, raking and hopefully logs. The job is all straight fells, though we just need a hand chipping and raking. Chipper can be backed up to all of the trees. I think it will be two days work + whatever is decided to do with the timber. There will be 20-30 tons of Poplar timber to come off the job if you sell wood for biomass and want to make up a load. Please PM because I don't want to post my mobile on an open forum. Does not matter if you are VAT registered, big company, small etc. Many Thanks Jonathan Arbtalk will obviously receive a donation if I find someone through here.

Either that or it runs on air and has magic teeth that never wear out.

Most of it by photos and the judgement of the guy I am quoting through (he knows roughly what we can get done). Normally I am guessing within an hour of total job time and rarely go and look at the job. Make an extra £100 on some, lose it on others. But without the ball ache of looking round the work. The local council work I do I always go and look at, the guy I do that for has tended to be a bit over ambitious with time in the past. He is not into using modern technology so I cant look at photos of the job on my phone. As mentioned above I would have a chat with the company first. Explain to them you want to keep working for them but you cant keep going as you are. If they are worth dealing with they will tell you how much they have on the jobs and you can decide when you find out what the best way forward is.

There are several owners of established businesses on this thread that are saying the same thing. I agree with them. It would be foolish to change what is going on now. I don't think you realise how easy you currently have it subcontracting. I subcontract to several different large businesses and councils. This is the best way. I get none of the aggravation of dealing with the client. Just turn up, cut stuff down, go home and get the bill in. There is no point worrying what this business is putting on the jobs. In fact it sounds like they are very sensible by ensuring they employ a professional to carry out the work. Cheers

Me too, life is much easier when you stop caring what everyone else is quoting and just get on with it. TY, who is the company you referred to in your post with the Poplars @900euros?

Nice video, shame the cameras weren't as good in the olden days. I bet the groundies were well chuffed with the hour of carnage you left on the floor :-)

Hi cutting edge, How much better do you think the 75 is than the 65? I have used a 65 extensively, but never a 75. Cheers Jonathan

I read this thinking, that is some serious profit every day. If you can do it good on you. Till I read on and realised you meant turnover, your profit in probably 80-150 per day depending on fuel usage, buggered chain etc. If you consider the average wage in the uk is 26000 per annum, minus tax which is £2150 - tax per month. Which means you need to work at least 18 of the 19 working days in the month to earn the same as the average wage in the UK. These figures do not include the time you spend quoting, mending etc which are essentially unpaid. Just so you know. Jonathan

I think I know what you mean. They are like a self tapping screw. Do you find the aluminium plate bows out or gets dented if you load it with logs? Cheers Jonathan

Nice job on that. How did you attach the aluminium plate to the original steel surround? Cheers Jonathan

Just got the fungi app. Its great. looks great, works well. Couldn't ask for more really. Cheers

I was about ready to end it all after the nails in the the bottom three feet of this bugger. That is a 660 with a 36inch bar btw

knocking a top out. The cut was the full bar, 25inches. I never got one of the stump because it lashed it down all afternoon. http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8352/img0819j.jpg' alt='img0819j.jpg'> Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/img]

Could you please PM me his/her name so I can make a decision and possibly avoid them in the future? Also if you haven't paid for your training yet you may want to walk and call your two free days of training compensation for the damaged bollard. Thanks Jonathan

Hi, Is the car at a main dealer?

Rock climbing ropes have nothing like the sustained abrasion resistance of tree ropes. They are designed to hardly rub anything until a fall occurs, and then sustain their integrity whilst potentially running over sharp rock edges. If you were really intent on using one I would only do it with a pulley set in the top and keep a very close eye for damage to the outer, especially when you get sharp bits of bark or descend through tight forks. This is all pointless really because you will hate it as they bounce loads, sapping energy. Also you will want to use a grigri or similar on it. They have a lower heat resistance and I would guess that running a normal hitch for any length of time would lead to glazing and possibly melting the hitch to the climbing line very quickly. You would be better off with this Beal Antipodes 9mm to 11mm in diameter I use that as my access line when footlocking but it doesn't knot very easily and is very stiff in the hand.

Hi, With Councils unless it is emergency work you will generally get an order number, this gives you the go ahead with any quote. (though it depends on how well you get on with the councillors/schools whether there is a lot of mutual trust etc) Sounds to me like they either decided they didn't like you or, more likely, found a mate of a mate and you got squeezed out. Happened to me before, though not in the same situation as you. You can usually tell because the client goes all weird, I think your best bet is to go round the guys house who is paying the bill and have a chat with him about what went on. The best you can hope is that you can guilt him in to changing his mind or maybe consider you for some future work. Unfortunately, as I see it you have no grounds for financial remuneration. You quoted, someone else got the job. For the future. Dont bother talking to anyone, unless they are in charge of the chequebook. Stopped doing that a long time ago. I now always talk to the person with the money first, then discuss the details afterwards when dealing with councils. Hope that helps. Jonathan

I cant believe the fuss being made about burning brash on a farm. If you are in a no burn zone or any other restrictions are in place (i.e next to a road, near other properties that will be affected, going to set fire to crops in the summer etc and issues that are nusiances) then there may be issues with burning. You can burn whatever brash you like on your own land, just not material that came from another site. Environment Agency - Paragraph 30 exemption "The law does not require an individual acting in a personal capacity to register an exemption." Taken from the above EA link. Just make sure the farmer is about with you for a bit during the day and your away.

I'll do it for the wood!

Give John Wilson a ring and try to persuade him to make his again. I had one for nearly three years and it was faultless apart from me wrecking the pump trying to use it in -8c when the oil had frozen. A guy in Manchester bought it for delivering firewood and to my knowledge it does exactly what he wants. Not exactly sure on the lift but I imagine 400+kg. There was pretty much a subchassis built around the front of the existing chassis so stress and flexing of the trailer itself was non existant. Also really handy for getting the back wheels of the truck off the floor and backfilling the holes when you got it stuck. Also, never broke a bolster and I regularly knocked them with as heavier lumps as the crane would lift. The only thing that used to dent was the ifor williams dropside panels.

I always get paid within two weeks from council and highways. They are among the best payers I have found. A couple of phone calls to get it all sorted. Then they bank transfer it or less often post a cheque.

Hi Scott, The side to side can be slowed on a thumb wheel on the machine. I have it on the fastest setting and do it with my fingers. I have a feeling it has 25ish teeth though they are staggered, they are 700 Green teeth and seem to last a while. I will count them tomorrow There is no issue with it driving over the pile, just that the pile slows the cutter head down loads when you are deep in a cut. Which obviously affects the larger machines much less. Though I feel this is the best compromise between access and productivity. After putting a few hours on this machine I would also reccomend you get the biggest horse power you can on it. It would be awsome with 50-60 hp but apparently it would tip over too easily (Which I do believe as you have to be cautious on banks) I never bothered trying any other similar machines out. Though the Carlton is basically the same as the bandit anyway. Hope this helps Jonathan