benedmonds

Legally you should be have continuous barriers and cones to keep the traffic away from the barriers, and ramps etc... In reality that would involve a huge amount of TM and is rarely done... but if something when pear-shaped that would be what was expected... Snippet from Traffic Signs Manual Chapter 8. O3.13 PEDESTRIANS O3.13.1 Road works will often interfere with the free movement of pedestrians causing them to be diverted from their usual path and even on to the carriageway. Pedestrians shall never be forced into dangerous situations. They should be protected from the works and vehicular traffic by means of continuous barriers that clearly delineate and warn pedestrians of the works’ presence; see also paragraph O4.11.6.O3.13.2 Traffic cones must not be used as a barrier system. Pedestrian barrier systems, when placed in the carriageway, must be separated from the adjacent traffic lane by either traffic cones or temporary vehicle safety barriers. It is not acceptable to separate pedestrians and vehicular traffic only with pedestrian barrier.

Looks a fair bit smaller then the 222 we had.

The Arb Association ran a day course ‘Becoming Tender Ready’ a few years back. It did give some useful insights into how tenders work. But I have never been very good.. You can spend days putting together all the documents they need making up prices on vague specifications "how much would you charge to remove a 50cm branch at 10.30 on Saturday evening?.." and then they use a scoring system so that it is "fair" but ignores all common sense.. I admit to being somewhat bitter.. We lost out on being a contractor on a 4 year LBC contract where our yard is sited, we had been doing the works for the previous 8 years but due to my naivety in filling in the forms were deemed "too expensive.." Even though 3 of the firms who were selected were at least an hour and a half drive from the borough and could not in reality compete on price (or quality). I dislike filling in tenders intensely. Especially when they are for developers who might only be at the tendering stage themselves..

They are a lot more then £70 each though...

That sounds like a potential pension plan... and if it all goes wrong you'll end up in sheltered accommodation with free clothes..... as long as you don't mind stripes..

You can't complain about that..

About time it did some work.. everytime I see it it's parked up in the M1..?

I think that would be a better investment for 1 man. But still doubt you'll get rich..

I think you would be much better off investing your money in a short course (10 or 12 weeks) getting a job with a big firm (at a low pay) for a couple of years, (you will have to get used to that in this industry), then setting up on your own. This job is not rocket science, with a couple of years experience you can do 90% of the work if you have the right kit, the other 10% you can get a freelancer in... Don't tell your employer your plans.. and I would certainly NOT buy a new truck. and unless you are a better business man then most don't expect to get rich. Arboriculture is a lifestyle choice for most of us. I am not saying you can't make a modest living but it is not easy...

My approach is to buy after the initial depreciation and keep it forever. My preferred would always be an ex demo machine... Used kit seems to be hardly ever worth anything when I try and sell it... we have had our TW190 about 12 years it is not used every day and has been a back up for probably the last 6 years, but is still a perfectly usable machine.. Keep your kit maintained and it can last a long time... New things break, old things break.. I admit we might have to spend more time fixing stuff but it is rare for a breakage to stop work as we can normally find a workable solution with the other kit..

It's why I don't have time to do any real work these days..

I quite like them.. Looks like you can pick them up for under £2000. but 980cm wide.. I am in a dilemma now I was thinking a tracked skip loader as they get down to 680cm wide but that looks pretty useful. I went through the 800 jobs we have completed in 2017 and reckon we would have used a really small loader on 52 those, a bigger loader like a multi one on 20 and a digger on 15.. It's not that straight forward as obviously the jobs that the bigger loader could have been useful were generally multi day jobs worth a lot more then the ones we would have used the small loader.. and the more important point is that I might have lost jobs to people with better kit.. Although I have never seen anyone in this area so think it unlikely to be a big issue.

I worried I am turning into an old timer stuck in my ways.. When I started there were guys out their who thought chippers were a waste of money.. They didn't need these new fangled chipping machines.. They took stuff to the quarry and had a big fire..

Roughneck Skiploading Dumper, Still a bit wide but ticks a few boxes.. There are a couple on ebay..

Its the mess that is half the issue. Back at the yard the mess is not important. Plus we split into billets and process with a bench saw and to be honest we have 100's of tons that we can't give away..

That's the thing, I haven't lifted a log (except to put it on the log burner) for over 2 years.. So I am less interested in it making life easier..:) But if it makes things quicker it can earn money... and I am obviously concerned for my employees welfare.. Although I spoke to another local contractor and he said he's getting a digger so he can get rid of a man, so I am not sure the employee in that case will agree it's a boon to his welfare... A human body is a remarkable tool and you don't need a lot of training to lump logs... There is not much investment required for a groundie and they can be used for a variety of tasks .. I also get the wages for a year the not being sick but they do break....

But how did you get it on the truck..?

So do you think it saved a considerable amount of time, or just made the job easier?

I am not knocking you, as I am seriously considering a machine and honestly interested... did the loader really help much there? Surely the chipper was just off shot so no real drag and a man could have dragged that branch in the chipper by the time the operator had climbed in the cab..? Or am I missing something?

This has been the conclusion I generally come to after considering the options....

I tried the kanga as that is the smallest loader and it was too small but also too big.. It was just compomised in every way... If that makes sense. . I guess if it had not trashed the ground the compromise might have been acceptable. .

I don't see that. The ones I have seen would not fit in most gardens, are not great for feeding chippers, and are very expensive.. If you need a yard machine then yes they will also fill that role but if you have a proper tractor you don't need that..

There is deffo no right answer.. But there are lot's of different solutions, some I may not have even thought about... What you really need is one of everything but that is not economically viable.... I am in the position that I now run 3 teams, so something that might only get used on 1 in 5 jobs would be used 3 times a week... But staff IME are generally not nearly as careful as an owner operator, so "little" issues like messing up a lawn with a skid steer or knocking over a wall with a loader are considerably more likely to happen and all the potential savings can be lost and headaches fixing problems created..

I am looking at an efficient/cost effective way to help the guys get arising's, mostly the big logs onto the trucks. Most of our work is domestic and the big stuff with big space we have a loader tractor and grain trailer. This also deals with yard duties.... We also have a hiab that attaches to the tractor, but.. the tractor diver is a director and doesn't have time to get on site much... It is normal for us to have at least 2 trucks on a takedown, so towing chipper and something else doable.. Option 1. Tail lift. and arb trolley.. This is what we have been doing, but we have removed the tail lift from one of our 3.5 tonners as the truck was easily overloaded.. We still have one on the 6.5 tonner so that can go to the big takedowns.. Option 2. Mini skid steer loader.. We tried the Kanga, it was still pretty big and made a mess... I did not see much use. a bigger machine might be better but it would be too big.. Option 3. Power barrow/micro arb truck. Drive it onto the trailer and tip the logs.. you are limited to what it will carry, but pretty cheap solution. Power barrows have some pretty poor reviews online.. Option 4. Big truck with hiab and grab. Expensive, no help to trees in back garden.. If mounted on more then a 7.5 tonner even more driver licencing issues and not legally going to carry much.. Option 5. 2.5 ton digger with grab. This could be towed on a trailer, could it load the trucks? How much can they lift? Feed the chipper.. and have numerous other uses.. no help in small gardens.. Option 6. Articulated loader. Expensive, benefits limited as to big most of the time and we have a tractor that can do much of the other stuff that it would be useful for.. Option 7. Hook loader. could drop the body on the floor and make it easy to load? Can you tip with a hook loader? different bodies could be useful. one for chip. one for logs.. Any other ideas...? Comments.. Currently thinking option 3 as cheapish... but think 5 might be a good long term solution..

I had a power line company offer to "prune" a tree for free after I had contacted them as part of a job.. I arranged it and we were onsite during the works, they were right butchers, and so we spent some time making it look nice and we did the clear up.. I invoiced the client.