benedmonds

It's only just coming into our area but if what I have seen in other areas comes to pass lots of landowners are going to be in BIG trouble.. One of my regular customer has 12 horrible dead trees in his garden and claims he can't afford for us to even remove 1.. We do mostly domestic work and lots of big ash in small gardens. My advice to clients with big ash trees in small gardens with no access is to think very hard if they are going to retain them because if they die with ADB they may not be safe to climb and so be seriously hard to remove.

I hadn't thought of Google images search, in this case, useful tool. I used it a few weeks back on a photo on a LinkedIn profile and turned out to have been a stock photo of "Handsom happy business man.."

Is every machine on there a con now...? Do people actually lose money through these scams, or has someone bagged a bargain... Avant Tecno 635 WWW.EBAY.CO.UK Operating hours 1,122 hours<br>Year of construction 2012<br>Operating weight: 1249<br>Warehouse number: 100307528<br>Serial No .: 65635<br>Water cooling, electric... It says it is in Derby so local to me. I messaged to go look but no answer. Also worked out the previous owner from decals, he is Swiss and thinks the machine is still in Germany on sale for 22,000 euros..

We felled it. That was a long time ago.. I think I even did the climbing..

He still can afford the £2k a month payments..

I should.. Every few years I take photos, but never actually succeed in actually selling..

No, its still sat with a pile of other dead saws.. that was probably 5 or 10 years ago.. you must have seen 100's of saws since then...

Don't feed the troll...

I don't mind being told" it's too expensive, I can get it done cheaper," but find it really annoying to be told by someone sitting in a brand new Jag they can't afford it..

Client this week. Needed a tree removing asap, as they are installing a phone line under it. They sent me a photo. Big dead ash. I told him call out rates which he said he couldn't afford. I wouldn't mind, but the client lives in a very large house with about 10 acres, owns at least one rental property, has a well paid job as an eye consultant and when I went to look today pulled up in his electric Jag.. It's also quite annoying as I visited this time last year and told him his ash were in a poor state, and recommend a survey. He now has 12 dead or dying mature ash trees, that are no longer climbable.. but he wants us just to remove the dead branches on one and leave the stem (that will become dangerous) and leave him to saw up wood to save some money..

Some of us have been part of this community for a long time... It is a great resource, 9 times out of 10 when I Google anything to do with work Arbtalk comes up in the search somewhere. Sometimes threads I participated in years ago... It may be due to cookies on my pc but useful nevertheless. It has changed over the years and some users who started out as utter plonkers turned into useful contributors..

We will have to see if it counts as "qualifying plant and machinery." Super-deduction - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK A new 130% first-year capital allowance for qualifying plant and machinery assets; and a 50% first-year allowance for qualifying special rate assets.

After speaking with several tw dealers, the detuning is not as simple as some suggest. As Pete from greenmech mentioned there is a bigger pulley, different software and anti tamperware seals that if broken will void warrantee. One suggested it would cost £1,500 in parts..

Would not recommend leaving saws in van. The robbing folk will cut the hinges/doors etc off to get them out.

What is with the trash talk and abuse that's happening on arbtalk recently.. If I want to read people being rude about each other I will go to Facebook.. Can we agree not feed the trolls or even just banish them.. I am fond of the ignore user function, so I can self edit out various individuals who I think have little to add but several threads have gone really bad of late.

Be warned running a business with a business partner can be VERY challenging. Don't get me wrong there are many advantages, I have been in business with one for 17 years and it can work. But it can be very hard if you don't have the same goals, drive or work ethic and you both have to be able to let a lot go.

Different manufacturers seem to concentrate on different areas/size chippers. It's rare to see anyone using a 6-8 inch American chipper and the Europeans look to have abandoned the 10-12inch market. We are not that brand loyal. We have a vermeer bc1000 and 230 Xl, a greenmech 1823, tw 230 plus the two big old tw 250s that we are looking to sell. We have had a tw 190 and quikchip 222 in the past and our grinders are currently both bandits.. Although we have had a Vermeer and greenmech grinders.. All have done be the job.

One petrol machine in a fleet of 5 diesel machines is going to end in tears.. I have no direct experience, but Forst's reputation for machines falling apart after a couple of years scares me, we like to keep machines for a long time.

We have pontificated long enough with our two old TW250's.. We regularly go from "lets get rid," to "but its useful to have a backup" and back again. Currently on the get rid spectrum.. The running one still runs, it has a few more hours on the clock, but not many, it has been used as a back up machine for the last year. The deadone is still dead.. Anyone interested in making an offer for the pair? Call Steve 0778 691 6103 Looking for around £8,000 plus VAT for the pair. Might swap for a tidy sub 750 machine..

I do recall there being previous discussion re tuning them back up, I had a search and there was debate as to if it was a simple or ethical fix. Has anyone actually done it to a TW 230?

I am a big believer in buying used/nearly new and that would be my first option for everything, apart from a sub 750 chipper. I might be wrong but I just feel they are too easy to abuse..

Looking for another sub 750 chipper. What are the options.. It has to be diesel as having one petrol machine in a fleet of diesels is asking for trouble.. Our 37hp TW 230 is great and I would get another but the current diesel option is only 24hp and specs say it chips 1 ton an hour less than our current machine. That would suck big time. The horror stories of the forst makes me very nervous about going with them. Anything comparable with the 37hp tw we have..

On a bad day when two climbers call in sick, leaving me with loads of groundies or you turn up on site to find the team on a crane job without any sharp saws.. I think I would have preferred to take the small efficient route.

It is HUGELY stressful when you have employees and the diary is not rammed.. And just stressful when you are rammed and can't find enough employees...

I appreciate the comment, but I am not sure I have the best business advice. I did write a post on my phone but for some reason it did not upload. Probably due to the fact I was rushing around as I don't have enough hours in the day.. I am fairly sure expanding does NOT make sense (in the short term) and I think the Skyhuck model of investing in the best kit and keeping small is the most trouble free way of working. Sometimes I regret not taking this approach. I could have some really nice kit, running really well, being loved and cared for.. The other extreme is going all in and going BIG. A firm local to me has done this and certainly outwardly looks to be doing well. To do this you have to be prepared to take on HUGE debt and get lots of big contracts. I am not sure I could cope with the debt and stress. We went the middle road and if I am honest I am not sure it is best financially or for work life balance. Don't get me wrong we do OK but there can be a lot of stress. As soon as you get off the tools the productivity drops and the breakages increase. You have to spend less time out doing what you got into tree work for and more time fixing things, quoting and doing office stuff. The buck stops with you, so you also have to deal with more customers and complaints... When jobs run over it is your problem, if a machine breaks, a group of angry locals stop works you still have a guys that expect paying. Dealing with staff and their problems can be extremely draining and frustrating, they don't have the drive or commitment the business most just want to get whatever they can out of you. I didn't want to be on the tools forever and this was always a rough sort of exit plan, if anything the getting off the tools has happened sooned that I wanted but it is easier to find a tree worker than someone who has to do what I do. The end goal is to get to a size (without getting into silly debt) where we I can employ decent people to do a lot of the running of the business and I can take a modest salary and just do the bits I want to do. I am unfortunately still not there.. The trouble is once you spend a few years going down this route it is difficult to turn back.