Rich Rule

I asked that question about 5 weeks ago. Expecting an answer is like expecting them to take note of any of this discussion... it isn’t going to happen!

I don't get how you can price the job to remove the tree, access to the base of the tree, no drag etc... the same as if there was a 100metre drag involved? Unless, you price it based on the worst scenario of the long drag and then you as a company, benefit from the time taken if you can get right under it. However, your posts read that you price for the tree to come down. Regardless of the area, how close you can get the chipper etc. I personally price the job. i.e. a tree needs to be removed. It might take me 2 hours to get it all down and then the rest of the day to remove said tree, clean up the site and get on the road. By your explanation, you would charge for the 2 hours, where as I would charge for 8 and include extra costs like bodies to help drag, rig or whatever needs doing. As for the OP, Leylandii WILL have more in there that you expected. That is a guarantee. Get in there and have a look see at the pricing stage. It might help but I have seen them underestimated countless times. Good luck.

I have been stuck for 6plus hours after a truck shot a Caliper and it took that long to replace the parts and repair. Two guys onsite with the company owner. January, wet miserable and a Friday to boot. We got paid the 20 quid OT for each hour after 8. It was insisted we took the money as he said it wasn’t our fault we had to be back late due to mechanical problems. I guess it is a case of moral fibre. He offered the money, it wasn’t our fault. We appreciated the offer and IIRC rounded it down as a gesture from us. After all, it was a quite an expensive day. He was a good bloke to work for.

Yup, nice guy and had had the unfortunate pleasure of working for money grabbing twats before. He had his faults, was a bit bonkers (aren’t we all? ?) but he was certainly not a hypocrite... hence, not wanting to treat his guys the way he had been treated in his career.

Yes mate, had that plenty as well. One of the best guys I worked for paid on time, was loyal, gave everyone the opportunity to do more work (obviously for more money) or go home for day rate... He paid 20gbp per hour, on top of your day rate for anything longer than 8 hours. We did start at 4.30 at his yard to get away round the m25 before rush hour. If we were done And on our way by 10 ish... we would go back and sort stuff at the yard. Everyone was generally happy, and did as asked. Pay was good and some of his staff had been with him for 6plus years. If Carlsberg did employers...

I hear you but it isn’t necessarily always the case. Consider the scenario, the freelance climber is brought in because of his skill set. The company owner cannot complete the task or doesn’t have the staff to complete the task. You travel to site and due to superior tree knowledge and skill, the job gets done in half the time. The company owner gets his full pay and presumably all the costs are covered as he priced it for a day. Why should the Freelancer take any less than his day rate? He may have travelled a distance to site to do the work, may not be able to arrange something to drop onto in the afternoon. I freelanced climber for 15 years, I have worked for both types. Guys who would pat you on the back, pay in full and take the guys back to the yard for a maintenance day. Those guys tend to be the ones who have priced the job correctly. The again I have worked for plenty who would send you 5 miles across London to prune 3 apple trees at 1530... with the excuse that you work till 17. I can see the point but when 5 miles in London can take 40 mins plus at that time of day, plus travel time back to the yard doesn’t leave a lot to do the apple trees. If you stayed to do the job you wouldn’t get any overtime either. The latter sort are generally the guys who price way, way too cheap and are always playing catch up... the same sort who would agree on an end of year bonus and then not pay it because there knackered, run down, on its last legs chipper died in November. I know which sort I preferred working for, now I generally price high and pay by the hour, then the option is there and if another job drops in to get it done. Everyone makes money and goes home smiling.

I have had a pair of those for a good few years now Paul. Great boots. I must admit I don’t climb in them for pruning in the summer. I have lighter AKU’s for those jobs. But the Andrews must be 3 years old at least now.

De Nial isn’t just a river in Egypt!

But traditional climbing comps (not red bull or similar) were supposed to display and support good working practices. Kit has to pass LOLER in the UK. So I wouldnt be surprised if it was brought in.

I agree. I went out in style last night with some Elk cooked in the slow cooker with veggies and shrooms in a red wine sauce. 2020 is a new year and no meat... apart from the ham sandwich I had for lunch today. ???

I love them so do the kids. How about this for a solution..? Shanghai did it with drones. You just wouldnt want to be the kid who flew out of sink. I guess you would disappear, never to be seen again.

Never used the App. It is just the view options on my iPhone. edit: Steve beat me to it.

I just assumed the server had had one tequila too many. Steve when you press condense posts, it sits and thinks for a bit then stays in the expanded mode.

I have been wondering about this and the more I think about it the more I get annoyed at the unnecessary revenue that will be lost /created by having to retrain. I have climbed SRT for quite a few years now, probably 95% of the time. The trainers I have seen, the refresher course I did 3 years ago and the 4 Arb Association Approved contractor assessors barely knew about SRT. Granted, a retired old school climber/come trainer can easily adapt to teach a Prussic to a Hitch Climber for example, but how can they be expected to teach a commercial level of SRT climbing and then add another system into the mix. There were two such characters dressed like Harlequins at the APF Last Year. Apparently, they are now amongst the forerunners of the twin rope SRT training. How can that be so? In the past, teachers had earned their craft and passed on the skills to the students. Twin SRT is so new, how can they suddenly be an expert, when I very much doubt they climb commercially anymore, fullstop!

I was lucky, I bought a copy about 12 years ago, used in amazon. It came to just under 15 quid, delivery from the states included. I expected a soft back and a hardback appeared. I must have been just lucky as they are quite a price these days.

I must have been mistaken when I read your comment then.

I am not going to speak for Scotspine as he is more than capable himself. The way I see it and how things were originally explained, initially we were told that there needs to be 2 systems in place suitable to descend to the floor at any point in the climb. Regardless of whether a rope is tied and static or running over a branch and moving, it is still only one rope. Now the ICOP has been drafted (I haven’t read it and don't really intend to as quite frankly it is absurd and it won’t have an effect in how I work day to day) you state that MRT says you don’t need to have a rope suitable to descend in one pitch. Whereas, climbing with a rope in a static configuration, base tie, tip tie, whatever, requires it to be able to reach the floor. I read this to say that the guidelines have been written by people not really grasping the concepts of tree climbing and the systems we use. They have looked at another industry and thought to adopt those techniques a rewrite the ICOP to incorporate these protocols. It further illustrates the inconsistencies and shows that the writers and enforcers of such rules are differentiating between two systems and seeing them as different. When in reality, whether the rope is doubled or single... you cut it, you are going down. So why should the rules for the second system be different when the outcome will be the same? The whole debacle is absurd. Training is key IMO.

@Bolt Having read through this and other threads. Why do you keep accusing people of having hidden agendas? Twice I have seen it now. Neither, Jake nor Scotpine have a foot in the training Industry. They are just working arbs trying to find a way through a set of badly defined and written guidelines to enable them to see a way forward. The way you keeping referencing MRT it is almost as if you have a hidden agenda or something? i would guess you are just a working arb trying to find a way through a set of badly defined and written guidelines to enable you to see a way forward.

Yes, it matters? or Yes, you are based in Portugal? Either way, as ridiculous as the new guidelines are I don’t think you have anything to worry about.

I read this today and it definitely has some interesting points. Food for thought. Man-Made "Climate Change" Hoax | NWOrdered WWW.NEWWORLDORDERED.CO.UK

Surely it shouldn’t matter? You are based in Portugal, correct?

I know. Certainly doesn’t help when the person on the other end of the phone is a brain dead millennial who can barely read the script, let alone understand common sense and reason.

I feared it and took precautions. I photocopied my old license. I called them and they assured me all my entitlements would remain. i even took a screen shot of the DVLA website showing which entitlements I had. It came back with the towing restrictions. I raised it with their team, supervisor and then a final escalation, a letter advised from a transport consultant to the Chief Exec. Everytime, they just replied they had no record of me every sitting a trailer test or HGV. Even though Inprovided them with full evidence, I explained the grandfather rights, their response was that after 97 it was blah blah blah. I asked them to look at the entitlements from when I actually passed my test in January 92. it was like talking a to a brick wall... same response. The only other thing left to do was to raise it with The Ombudsman IIRC. Nothing was going to change their decision, they were real arseholes. It wasn’t like I could go to their competitor now was it? Then I moved country.

Warren, where do you work mate? I see your based in Maidstone, Kent. I know a few firms in that area.