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Jonny69

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Everything posted by Jonny69

  1. Jonny69
    I have the Milwaukee and it is always in the truck along with two manual guns. One with a straight and one flexy end. Its really good, loads of power so will blow blockages and makes greasing really easy. The Manuals are only there because there are 3 nipples across all the kit that you can't get the milwaukee on.
  2. Jonny69
    I have seen 4 trailer related crashes on the road. Witnessed two of them happen in front of me and the aftermath of two. They were all non commercial, 2 caravans one horsebox and one little trailer that looked like it should have been scrapped several years ago. All four accidents were bad, one stopped the M5 and another the A14 which I managed to squeeze round just after it happened (after checking everyone was okay) The rules are tremendously irritating for businesses trying to make a living!
  3. Jonny69
    I should have led with the bit about not having a website. About 10 years ago i bought something on 123reg, meant to do a site, got out working and never bothered since. I don't really want to expand at the moment and have no interest in generating more calls about work as the backlog of work I need to look at is already long. Thanks for the offer, maybe in the future when i'm less physically able there will need to be a rethink in how I operate.
  4. Jonny69
    The conversation or voicemail normally starts with "Hi, xxxxxxx person has given us your number" If not then I ask who gave then my number. Not one person has googled it. I haven't got a website so it would be tricky to search for anyway.
  5. Jonny69
    Out interest what is the magic number for when you are making "Real money"?
  6. Jonny69
    You don't go out and find commercial work. I'm not sure what this commercial work really is though tbh. Eventually you will work for someone who passes your number to a house builder, who's mates with the director of a Property maintenance company, who knows a contractors manager for some else etc and that's it. Those type of customers wont google someone. They will pick up a phone and ask people they trust for a recommendation. I've never once googled a tradesman to do something, I know no one has ever got my number from a google search. To increase income, put your prices up.
  7. Jonny69
    The master of intellectual pretence, thought Stewart's errors are intentional. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id2SNd6HnC8
  8. Jonny69
    As far as I can make out a Shogun sport is a "lifestyle" 4x4, whatever that means. The proper Shogun is the tool for heavy towing and going off road. The 3.2 will drink more fuel. However it is buttleproof and will pull a house down. Automatic in the older boxes will be less economical, however they are a lot kinder to the rest of the transmission and engine. Should be good for lots and lots of miles. You normally lose a couple of mpg. If fuel economy is a major concern then any large 4x4 is not really what you want.
  9. Jonny69
    Get a proper lwb shogun instead. They are really good. If its an 04 the tax will be cheap anyway as the emissions tax changes came in later. Economical they are not, but loads of power and the auto box is really smooth. I had a 10 plate but I don't think much changed for years except a facelift.
  10. Jonny69
    I just did one of these. Was a strand pulled on the cable next to the carb, which meant the cable would only intermittently retract through the sheath to allow idle. We had been using it like that for months as it wasn't a pressing issue. Took longer than I thought to fit, I just ordered the whole part from stihl instead of buggering about threading new cable through old sheath and having to crimp ends on.
  11. Jonny69
    I just did some rough maths based on 8L per hour usage, whether a petrol or diesel machine uses more or less I have no idea. Assuming the machine owner is VAT registered and using the machine 200 hours per year the cost difference is about £550. If you are not Vat registered the difference between red diesel and petrol is about £1000 per year
  12. Jonny69
    Any chance you could elaborate? I thought they looked an interesting alternative to the Bandit HB20. Thanks
  13. Jonny69
    unscrew the top, if its painted on then get a set of grips round it. Only plastic though so don't go mad with the grips. EDIT: There is loads of paint on that. Might be worth taking a knife to just under the lip and try to break the paint before attempting to unscrew.
  14. Jonny69
    Sounds like you are up the creek then. Although there is no way that vehicle requires an O licence. You may well need a tacho for towing if you travel any distance. I can't really understand how the O licence has any relevance to the cost of the vehicle or it's monthly payments. Just go through a different lease company.
  15. Jonny69
    So you have ordered a new vehicle, then want to retrospectively lease it through a 3rd party? Or is the vehicle being brought directly through a lease company. Just pay for it another way. Sounds like they have either made a mistake or are trying to have your pants down.
  16. Jonny69
    Surely they explain your liability to the customer and requirements on the LOLER inspectors NPTC course?
  17. Jonny69
    It's amazing what the owners can be persuaded to do, normally dodgy advice given by land agents taking backhanders from contractors. These big estates hardly need the money from felling a couple of trees.
  18. Jonny69
    One thing to bear in mind. The copies are pretty good and i've had several sets over the last few years. However some of the batches need a bit of fettling with the file to get them working. We've not had a slopply set and I would of course have sent those back, but sometimes they are very tight on the pin holes where the crank attaches in the head. Sorted with a few strokes from a chainsaw file. I do buy new sliders, bolts and spacers from stihl. When they go everything starts falling to bits. I cant tell the difference with cut quality compared to the OEM items.
  19. Jonny69
    My 1/2 Milwaukee M18 is good. Not sure if it will crack chipper knives as you can only get it on the allen key side on the bolt head. This is on a bandit 75. I know it shreds the bolt head before the knife undoes, we just crack the bolt side with a breaker bar. and wind it off with an allen key in the impact gun. I imagine these are about 400ftlb when you try to undo them, they seem to tighten with use. Milwaukee sell a 3/4 inch drive one with some big numbers which might be better suited to your big chippers. The 1/2 inch spits wheelnuts off in about 1 second and I use it a lot for F1 style pitstops taking the outer wheels off the HB20 grinder. Saves no end of time on that job. I think Makita may be lying slightly with their specs. I've seen mine against makita and snapon equivalents and the milwaukee is the best, the snapon is the nicest to use but the milwaukee I would say is a fair bit more powerful than either. Though the specs would suggest its the least powerful.
  20. Jonny69
    My definition of skilled or professional is at least a Bsc, Masters, PHD or being chartered in your field. Spending two weeks felling and climbing a few trees is definitely not the same. Which is why the barrier to entry is so low and businesses aren't worth much. Two weeks training, a transit van and one phone call to an insurance company and you can be working on any construction site/school/council in the country.
  21. Jonny69
    Lovely trucks, they fetch strong money second hand because they are good. Still quite noisy and agricultural. But not as bad as a defender. Make sure you get the automatic and all the spec if you can. The fancy stereo and seats are quite nice in them. Though the one I had was a 10 plate so may have been a different generation.
  22. Jonny69
    Be a bit careful thinking your business will be worth something, if it doesn't run without any input from you then its not worth any more than the assets. Also you'll want to be turning over a fair amount of money for someone to be interested. Selling a business which is involved in an unskilled service industry is always going to be difficult because its so easy to set up yourself. The right climber is worth whatever he/she wants to charge. If they are really good at their job then being competitive with their price is not relevant. If they can knock out a job in 1/2 the time of one of your climbers, then they are worth more than double what you currently pay climbers. They will save more money than they cost, you can knock out twice the turnover in a day/week.
  23. Jonny69
    Have you checked the battery/charge system? Mine was playing silly buggers after I replaced a burnt out coil, later discovered I had put a connection back in wrong. The battery didn't charge and when it ran low enough after a bit of grinding it would give up. Earliest symptom I got was the electro clutch not engaging. i assume the same thing would happen if the battery was damaged during the roll over.
  24. Jonny69
    I think we may be missing each others points. The price of the job has no relevance. You were suggesting that the other guy was to cheap, so I suggested maybe someone would think you were to cheap. You then did some maths and realised that was the case! Which is what my first post was alluding to. Pricing has nothing to do with being competitive. Apple, Bentley, Rolex, Farrow and Ball etc are all excellent examples of this. I'd never pay £90 for a tin of paint, but someone obviously does! What I was suggesting is that putting in a price that breaks even for the sake of getting the job is a complete waste of time and no business can sustain running like that. Loads of business owners will say its all about expansion and thinking they will take over the world. 20 years on still driving the same battered pick up and have multiple stress related illnesses.
  25. Jonny69
    I genuinely reckon you are about bang on. Cheap enough that you should always have regular work and expensive enough so that if you do a few weekends should be able to clear 35-40k. I would say that's a pretty happy medium. Neither of us have any real qualifications, I basically didn't go to school so for us manual labourers that would be considered reasonable going I think.

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