benedmonds

Cheers

We are removing 5 large beech trees in Hucknall Nottingham. Can anyone use the timber...? One has a small ganoderma bracket the others looked OK to me. Shame for it all to go to firewood, but will make nice firewood.... We will be able to get at least 3 down in long lengths. We will have our avant onsite so theoretically we can load logs weighing up to 800kgs.

The inspection is a thoroughly unpleasant experience.... You basically have someone examine everything you are doing and pick out everything that is not perfect. At the end of the day you feel like you have been mauled as it is not nice being told what your not doing right all day.. But it does make sure you are up to standard and doing everything to best practice. If like me you are sending out teams it is good to have that critical eye so you know if it hits the fan you have done what you should. You could hire in freelancers for the day, and work in a different manner from normal, but half the reason we bother with being ARBAC is that it forces us to ensure we are keep all the other stuff up to date. Things that might not seem important like out of date first aid kits and health monitoring. If I was a 2 man band concentrating on domestic, with lots of work I probably would not bother with ARBAC. But if you want commercial work or as an employer of teams you send out then I think it's got its uses.. It can't be perfect, but nothing is..

Fair enough.... I can't see working outside of your council would be an issue but I guess if your contract states you can't then you should discuss with employer.

No you won't... You might have to declare any conflict of interest if your working on your patch but if your working out of borough that would not be an issue... Private consultants do the TO role in lots of councils.. You just need some PI insurance and clients.. The main issue I see with being a 1 man band private consultant is getting in the work as a steady work load, IME it can be patchy and clients always need it doing yesterday.. As a tree firm we have a established business and spend £1000s a year advertising but don't get anywhere enough to keep a full time consultant. I guess you might if you got a load or regular clients and were more targeted with your advertising..

Over the last 15 years we have broken lines maybe 5 or 6 times an yet to be charged for them to be repaired. Always told the customer we would pay but yet to get a bill. The one time I went to great lengths to get a line down they turned up 4hrs later then promised and we had cleared the line by the time they turned up. The incident last week however left a VERY cross neighbour, who is charging me £35 per hour for his time to get it sorted...

Contacting Open reach is a nightmare. In my experience you can't do it unless it is your line and then you have to do it via your provider.. As I had to explain to an irate neighbour last week when one of our teams snapped a line...

Found small tradesmen often get you to order the parts. Lowers their risk and I guess might keep them under vat threshold.. I had similar with a plumber made a big mess, I ordered incorrect toilet after I had checked etc..and I was disappointed with finish. As you have done I paid them the proportion of the original quote I thought was reasonable.. They sent numerous threatening letters. I replied saying if they continued to persue the case I would make a counter claim and out lined my time and costs.. I also contacted the trade body they were part if but they never responded... I also mentioned I was active at reviewing on social media. I hope they decided the ballache of chasing me was more than the likelihood of getting their money. They still would have made a profit. So better a small profit and not having an angry ex client ranting on local face book pages..

If he's sending the invoice, he doesn't have to muck up his trousers...

That's the issue.. Chances are they won't be..

https://www.lantra.co.uk/course/nhss10b-foundation-course-training I bet it will be as interesting as the signing and lighting course we did...

Could they pass their NPTC assessments using SRT...?

We don't have one but there was discussion on the facebook group Avant Loaders Owners, Operators & Anyone Interested

I found it ambiguous when I read it, I was not sure if you meant: 2 climbers and 1 trainee, one of the climbers is experienced or as you seem to have intended: 1 experienced climber and 1 trainee climber. I only mentioned it as it makes a difference to the OP. A trainee is allowed to climb with supervision of the experienced climber, but if you send out a two man team to a job them the experienced climber is going to be restricted to ground work as the trainee does not have the ability to rescue.

is ambiguous. It could have been read 2 climbers + 1 trainee.. 2+1=3

Is that 2 climbers, 1 experienced and 1 trainee. Or 2 climbers and the trainee. If it is 1 climber and trainee and both are climbing you will need someone capable of aerial rescue to rescue the experienced climber if required.... But I guess it is OK if the experienced climber is just supervising and not actually climbing..

The remote on our stump grinder is playing up and we have not had any luck in finding anyone to repair it. We have been quoted £2-3K for a new one.

It took months for our guys to get their license's back after doing the C1 so they could do the E bit. Some of it may have been their fault with forms sent to the wrong address or something.. but it it took ages..... It ended up taking over 18 months to get it sorted.. More for the one driver who failed the trailer bit.. I think we paid: £1,775 Cat C1 7.5 Tonne Lorry package consisting of:- Drivers medical and D2 & D4 forms for the provisional licence Online theory training and theory tests 4 days driver training with the C1 test on the 4th day 3 days driving with E test of 3rd day

Your seriously underselling it calling it a neck tube... It is a seriously versatile garment... I love a buff..

If I were young and starting out I would just freelance climb. All you need is a climbing kit and a top handle saw. Many of the benifits of being self employed but far fewer of the negatives. If your foolish enough to want to start your own business you can slowly biuld kit over a few years..

DO NOT do this.. The reduction on the smaller one would tolerate it, but the bigger one like that is WAY to hard.. Personally I don't think reducing is worthwhile. Plant another 2 in front and fell in 10 years time when the new ones are established..

Its in Kegworth, just South of Nottingham

That's because they do not have any thick wood suitable for the beetles to burrow into and make their homes..