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benedmonds

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Everything posted by benedmonds

  1. Our Bandit HB20 is giving us problems.. apparently it runs fine for an hour or so then dies... It was dropped on its side a few weeks back.. Any ideas?
  2. Using 2017's figures I am minus £26.50 .. I need to put my prices up!
  3. Using 2016's figures minus £4.50.. I do get a salary/dividends out of that, but it is not allot more then our top PAYE climber... Some will ask the why question bother, the obvious answer is that it takes time to build a business and you don't know unless you try.
  4. Including VAT Fell 2 conifer trees in rear garden to ground level (£575) Grind stumps (£250) Total: £742.50 including discount if all work completed
  5. An example of why rates are low. Priced this job yesterday but was I was too expensive. A local firm who I don't know, but have a nice web site priced fell and grind £450 including VAT. It is a straight forward job,fell and grind 2 conifers.. It would take a team of 3 with two 3.5 ton trucks a chipper and stump grinder a day. You would easy have a load of logs and a load of chip. I can't see how it could be done quicker or cheaper...
  6. That is because they never wore out, I think I climbed in mine for 8 or 9 years, only changed it as I thought I should, not because it needed changing, it was comfy and bomb proof..
  7. Some one has to pay for all the other stuff involved in running a business and it's not just trucks, chippers, fuel, insurance, there are staff doing the work that is not invoiced, they need a wage.. payroll, quoting, accounts, filling in tenders, writing method statements, organising the diary... The teams out their doing the rel work have to bring in enough money to pay for all that..
  8. Can you elucidate as to how they make lots of money...?
  9. This is another reason why your statements re day rates don't fit with the freelance climber model. You sound like a genuine sub contractor, called to do a job in your own way on your own and willing to travel to do it. Most freelance climbers (I use) are relatively local, turn up at 8 am with climbing kit and top handle saw, travel to the job site in a works vehicle (up to an hour each way) and leave at 430, with the rest of the team and they normally have a team leader telling them what to do onsite. It is very different level of responsibility from being emailed a job sheet, driving 200 miles and running the job.
  10. I looked a kanga kid, too big to be used on many domestic jobs but too small for everything else.. It also made a right mess turning..
  11. Its a good question...
  12. Eggs statement was: "Any subby/freelancer going out for much less than £200/day is on a hiding to nothing" I agree, the few might be able to get top rates for either VERY specialist work or for occasional work for a gardener or someone who has the job priced really well. But 5 days a week doing regular domestic tree work it is not realistic in my market.. I wish it was as I would like to pay myself that much as a company owner running 3-4 teams..
  13. I am speaking from my experience. I know what I pay, what I can afford to pay and what freelancers ask for. Not what I read on an internet forum.. Suggesting that "Any subby/freelancer going out for much less than £200/day is on a hiding to nothing" is raising expectations . and you get threads like: https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/109455-time-to-hang-up-my-spikes/ Maybe I am doing it wrong and other tree surgery companies are somehow managing to charge double what I am, but I doubt it.. The market is filled with new wannabees who charge low rates either by mistake or to win work, dodgy folk not sticking to the rules, without insurance/training/waste management etc, employees and farmers doing it at the weekend for beer money and old timers who have not raised their rates in line with inflation.
  14. At £200 a day you are not going to get any work round here.. No one around me asks that sort of rate unless they have a truck and chipper. Eggs as I understand it you are NOT a freelance climber and you do not employ Freelance climbers if you did you would not be in business..
  15. As a freelancer you should set your day rate, if your not happy with it go elsewhere. If your employer is not happy with it they don't have to use you.. It's a market..
  16. The trees are going to be in out of the way places so being un-slightly shouldn't be an issue, it you don't do straight lines it would be less noticeable.. Have you considered ring barking limbs rather then the whole trees, you could create a more varied potentially longer lasting DW habitat.. I like the blow torch idea but think you would be surprised how versatile trees are and it would only take a bit of intact cambium layer for the tree to survive the treatment. This will delight some.. £175 to kill a tree? https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/creation-of-dead-wood-habitat-on-trees-te13 What happened to coronet cutting, it was a hot topic on hear a few years back.. Are folk still doing it, I haven't seen any done for ages..?
  17. We have a hiab that can fit on our tractor, it does not have a grab and is never used.. we find loading logs quicker with the forks. has anyone used lifting tongs? for £100 it might not be a grab but might make the HIAB more useful? https://www.tcfengineering.co.uk/timber-tongs.html
  18. Then write a report that is completely ignored by the developers... Depressing...
  19. And you'll get fat... (er) or have to exercise..
  20. Assuming it is you wanting to go Self Employed Look at it from your bosses point of view, he has trained you and got you to the position where you are and is paying you a reasonable wage, should be providing you holiday, ppe, pension, equipment, training etc.. He doesn't want you to leave if you are freelance you can drop him with no notice and leave him without a climber. He should NOT be employing you full time, but calling you freelance as that makes you an employee and he could be liable for holiday, pensions, tax etc.. If you are doing your own bits and bobs, can he trust that when a neighbour asks for works that you are going to give him the job or will you steal it? Is it in his interest to provide you a handy way of building a business that will be in direct competition to his own? As others have said if you are £90 a day PAYE the £130 is probably not going to be a pay rise and would probably cost the employer less.. It however could cause friction between other employees who might not understand the difference between PAYE and freelance rates. People on here are constantly comparing paye day rates with freelance rates in a stupid manner. We have done it the other way lots of times and taken on freelancers who then go full time, they get what looks like a big pay cut in their daily rates.. If I did it the other way I would be looking for a replacement employee pretty quick and as soon as he/she were found chances are you would lose that regular work.. It's not that simple..
  21. I think you meant Eddie. But I agree with your advice do the level 4. Had Eddie still been working for me I would have encouraged him to do the level 4 but alas he decided to leave and is now poaching my staff... People do say the level 4 is a MAJOR commitment... Not sure it is ever going to lead to the "job of your dreams..." but could extend your lifespan in the tree industry beyond working on the tools.
  22. Use that time you have sitting on your backside in the rain to do the level 4. The PTI is not a training course.. You used to be able to do one day a fortnight at tree life in Syston. http://www.treelifeac.co.uk/training/qcf-level-4
  23. Our 2450 grinder has been having repeated issues with the remote... I have posted about it on here before.. We found someone to look and the remote and he changed some switches and sorted that for a while, but it is being temperamental again. We had a bandit engineer look at it and we now think the receiver unit is playing up. The guy who sorted the remote works out of the back of a dog grooming salon and I don't think can deal with the whole grinder. Bandit (sorry Dean) are not helpful, saying we have to send the unit to the states, cost and turnaround make this a poor proposition, especially as we are not 100% sure what the issue is.. Surely there must be a localish electrical engineer who can help..
  24. I'd consider swapping our 130 for one of these.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-F350-SUPERDUTY-7-3-POWER-STROKE-Diesel/202245039731?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D43781%26meid%3Df705db3d37ec47d3b965ae1760415424%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D282804180870%26itm%3D202245039731&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

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