Tom D

I looked at a job today for a landscaper who puts a bit of work my way, he'd got someone in to look at three take downs, a 70 foot beech over the house a 60 foot pine and a monster noble fir. When the guy saw the fir he said "its too big for me" and offered to do the others for 250 per tree. I looked at them today, i spotted another beech that needs to come out, also over the house, the fir is about 1m diameter at 60 foot, a huge column streight up to around 90 foot, it can all be dropped and chunked though. My price for the 4 trees was well over a grand but because the first guy mentioned 250 a tree I'm not sure if I'll get the job. At the end of the day its all perception, if I had seen the job first they would probably have been happy with my price, now they have the idea that it could be done for less, even though the guy wimped out at the sight of the fir. Thats life though it will always happen, people will always cherry pick the easy jobs, just like I cherry pick the easy site clearence jobs from people who have loads of big kit. I'm sure they feel the same about me with my little 50 hp tractor as you do about the one man bands doing work for £50 and a pint.

I have the same hitch (howard) on my tachyon as andrew on his Marlow, both are tied with OP. The marlow will self tend but the tachyon will not as it seems to bite a bit more on the narrower rope and of course the tachyon is lighter. I have not had any problems with it seizing up though, its stiffer than a vt but not much. And its very consistent, always bites when you want it to. The twisted section acts like a spring when the pulley pushes the bottom of the hitch causing the hitch to break.

Nothing wrong with the little stihl one, mine was bught in 2003 and has never missed a beat.

The woodfired hot-tub that we had on the scotland get together was great, I'd like to get one one day.

I keep it that way in the bag but as soon as you start using it its hanging down, ant I'm too impatient to gather it up each time. I lke my flipline ithh snaphook too much.

As an add-on to the earnings thread... So how much cash do you take? as a percentage of overall turnover:001_smile:

You'd think it was easy but there are so many hidden costs, what you describe there is not that far from my business, (turnover around 100k). I'll be lucky to see 30k more like 20 - 25. For example say the MD pays himseld minimum wage (to take ther rest in drawings) thats just under 12k, add that to the other wages makes 45k so there goes £5400 in employers NI contributions...there are so many other things too.

I have the little stihl one and the backpack one, both are excellent. However If I had to keep one it would be the big one, despite its awkward size the extra power makes a big differrence on big jobs.

I've had some non saw using groundies who have been pretty good, its all down to common sense. I've had some total muppets too...

The strop I use 90% of the time is a soft wirecore line with a micrograb, However on big trees I sometimes use a 7m piece of Hi V which has a howard and micro pulley on it,(i used it on the dead beech take down) I find having that long a tail beneath me annoying on most stuff though, almosty as bad as using both ends of the rope.

Logosol do a machine that finishes all the logs so they fit together perfectly, I have a dvd of it somewhere..

Still in love with the Howard...Dare I say, even better than the VT..

Towing my tractor on a 16ft beaver tail, Brakes on (borrowed) trailer were not good, I had already decided to have a look at them when I got to the job.

I think it used to be, thats old kennels you can see.

Nice work, dodgy tree, good climber.

Its even pushed the door back a couple of mil. The engine sits well back on these new ones so its ok i think, got the rad, intercooler and oilcooler though, and a whole lot of plastic bits including the air cleaner. I was fine although I'm now seriously depressed.

Taking out my frustration on some spruces, the owner had been up this one with a bow saw and lifted it to the point where I felled it! quite impressive, he did it with no ladders or ropes, just climbed it. Its not often you get to dismantle a tree with one cut.

Decided to shunt an artic this morning... Should have picked on something smaller, the bumper on the landy failed to make contact with anything:thumbdown: Soft stuff that aluminium...

One thing I do know is, it is only in the last two years that I have learned what I need to earn, it took me 4 years to figure that out.

I'm with you on that point mate, i just wonder wether we should be proud of working so cheap. I was really wondering where we feel we fit in in relation to nurses, traffic wardens, doctors etc. Not necessarily what we actualy have to get.

I find it surprising how many of us seem to think doing jobs for next to nothing is something to be proud of, are we seriously under-valuing ourselves?

I agree, but I wonder how many get that much?

With the recent discussions following the watchdog episode, I wonder, since individual earnings for the self employed are directly related to profits and profit margins... How much should a tree surgeon earn? I don't mean how much do you actually earn or how much you would like to earn, I am trying to establish where you feel our place is among other professions. To keep it simple we are talking about a self employed individual or director of a ltd co. of the type which most people on here are. IE one or two groundies van, chipper, etc. And finally this is the annual salary before tax of the owner / director.

I didn't think it looked that big till I saw the pile of timber at the end. Impressive, love all that old gear.

I might try that sometime:thumbup: