Dean Lofthouse

Hey, tha's gettin gud at that lad!!

Having one now :wave:

I've just had a customer phone me after getting home from work. I lowered some conifers by 6ft which were 14ft wide (pillark of a job) and removed a xmas tree from the front. "Erm, I thought the conifers would be much lower thean they are" You asked for six foot taking off, I showed you a marker where it would be and you agreed. "Oh, ok then, I would have thought you would have gotten the stump of the tree round the front a bit lower, I was intending to park my caravan there and I can't cos it's too high" I have taken the stump to 1" from the soil level, I can't go any lower than that without grinding my chain in the soil, the fact that your xmas tree was mound planted is the reason it is too high. If you require it lower, I don't have a probblem coming back to stump grind but it will be £60 extra. "Couldn't you do the stump grinding when you have another grinding job and make it cheaper" Why don't you just phone stumpbusters and ask him for a price? "Lastly, my wife asked you about taking the Blue Cedar down in the corner at the same time" Erm no she didn't, I think I would have remembered her telling me she wanted a 40ft tree taking down at the same time This is the very first awkward bastard I have had, so I am not too disheartened. There are far more good people out there than bad G7REE

Mines insured as a trailer

These any good for pole climbing? :wave:

fix !! I want a recount! ermm....no... I mean.....I want a redraw!!

No you don't :wave: I don't work in the rain. I book three days a week, mon, tues and wed. I leave thursday friday free. If it's a crap forcast on any of the first three days I move that job along to thurs or frid and use the rainy day for log processing or maintenance. If it stays dry all week I move a job closer and get an extra day in. If it rains all week I sit in a corner and cry

Am I tying my VT different to everyone else? What I do, as you can see in the picture is do 4 wraps and then bring to top tail end back down infront of the bottom tail then behind the climbing line. Doing it this way keeps the wraps nice and tight and stops them spreading out. Is this the normal way cos everyone elses looks different

Customers are just tight, they want top quality bone dry wood for the same price as fresh cut. I've had a few complain their suppliers wood is wet thru, I tell them the price of mine for a standard load and they go well I was only paying 80 a load from him. Doohhh I've seen bone dry bulk bags full advertised on the net from a well known supplier at £105 per bag. Wonder how many of them he sells a year.

Probably are a bit Conkers Any potentail theft of such big equipment will have been sussed out. I used to do markets selling Dewalt, Makita bosch power tools etc with a huge tri axle exhibition unit. I was followed home on numerous occasions. If they see you out doing a job they know what tackle you have anyway. All they need to do is follow you home or look you up in the ads. The only thing you can do is make it hard for them mate

I know what your saying

I think it's quite an important point Steve! There may be people out there quite unaware of their insurance status

MOD, it might just be worth ringing your insurance and pretend you are a new customer. Then ask them what they require in terms of qualifications and how the deal with a claim. Just to be sure I'm sure you know what you are doing Work wise, but I had a very scarey call when the bloke who was in the basket with me in the MEWP when it tipped over started to sue me for his injuries. Although the accident was not my fault, he sues me then I sue the cherry picker sales firm who then sue the manufacturers. My insurance turned round and told me I wasn't insured because when I was using the cherry picker we were pointing a gable end and that wasn't Tree surgery. You really do have to read the small print, they are B'stards to say the least, I could have ended up homeless and jobless

Logs should always be sold by volume and nothing else. Everyone knows what a cubic metre looks like, imo there is no such thing as a ton of logs.

looks like a take on that stonechip guard thats been out a while, can be painted over etc. Could think of quite a few good applications for it though.

Sitting on the bog when you get home in the evening and squeezing out that turd you've been holding in all afternoon.

What I do is split the wood asap after cutting and store under cover in a huge pile. I did notice that some of the bottom logs didn't dry as well (although they were ok) but then thought of putting pallets on the floor before piling the logs up. The way you have stacked yours is very good for drying. But with oak it needs splitting, if you store or season it in log lengths it takes forever to dry. If I split oak fairly small it dries to around 20% within a few summer months. The best way is, split, store under cover, with plenty of ventilation, preferably open fronted so the sun can get at them.

Good idea Andy, you might set a trend

We'll agree on that MOD, quality rather than quantity:icon14: That's the basis of good business in the domestic market

I made the big mistake of posting the details on here before the getogether, should have waited till after That would have been fun :wave:

Went down the wood Sunday morning to find someone has had another go at my containers. One of the locks had been hit with a stone and was badly scratched, then one of the hand levers had been half opened. I presume it had been only halfway opened because they got a 10,000 volt pulse through their arm. :wave: Ah, got the b'stards No other damage to report, just hope they learn their lesson and don't bother coming back. Heres to hope

Matt, best way at first is approach golf courses, pony centres, farmers etc etc and ask if they want some wood chip or logs free, you will end up with a data base of regular tip sites for both your chip and logs. But eventually, when you get busier you will need to look into getting a yard.

You may be insured MOD but can you claim in the event of an accident. You will be asked to show your qualifications. The first thing that will happen is the HSE will get involved and at the very least you will be prosecuted if it is someone else other than yourself that is injured. The first thing I was asked by the HSE when my MEWP went over is to show my MEWP ticket, I also had to send a copy to the insurance company, who definately would not have paid out if I hadn't had one. It's no good stating to a customer that you have insurance if that insurance isn't worth the paper it's written on because of lack of tickets. We all start off with no qualifications, but if you plan to go into tree work full time you would be best advised to gain the neccessary ticket o become Legal, which you say you intend to do. As for undercutting, wait till you are doing it full time and have all the expenses, Public liability, employers, insurance, maintenance costs, chipper, vehicle and tool insurance etc etc. It will be you scratching your head then wondering how come someone else can do it so cheap :wave:

The two firemen I know down the road have none of the above and they continue in their jobs with no intention whatsoever of packing their jobs in. They are the moonlighters we speak of, if one intends to pack their job in once established then fair play, but how long should it take. I know they have been doing tree work for four years now, oh and one of them runs a pub as well!!

All depends on how long the transition between jobs takes doesn't it really, mine was a few month. I established a yard, put in adverts 12 month before and pre planned it. In fact I was in debt up to my eyeballs getting fully equipped and fully trained. If someone continues to work full time salaried up and continues doing tree work in their spare time, then thats not having the balls to commit. If someone then says well I haven't yet got the work to pack my job in, then welcome to self employed tree surgery, that's what self employed is, sometimes you dont draw a wage. It's nice to play on a level playing field, if you don't like risk then get a job.