Tom D

I have already organised the smock Steve, to save you the bother. Good effort BTW £7k is great!

In Edinburgh the council respond saying that they would object to the proposed work, not that they are applying a TPO. So the real interesting thing would be what would happen if you then went ahead anyway. I know for a fact that councils find it expensive to apply TPO's and if a simple "no" letter will do they will not actually bother with the TPO.

From HMRC, just fill out the Calculator posted earlier, if your 1 day a week groundie brings his own saws and vehicle to each job, and then you or your employees work under his direction, i.e. he calls the shots and tells everyone what to do then he is a subcontractor. If you tell him what to do and he uses your kit he is an employee. I use a guy for stump grinding, he brings everything he needs, and I just give him the address and the location of the stump. He is a subcontractor. I have another guy who comes in as a groundie, he invoices me for his labour, I supply everything else. He SHOULD be an employee, even though he isn't . Like the vast majority of tree firms I am not strictly towing the line.

How much time you work is irrelevant, wether you are an employee is down to what, how, with who's tools, and under who's supervision. Use the calculator that someone posted earlier. In order to be truely self employed you really need to be working with your own kit and under your own direction for several different companies, if you make a mistake you will rectify it at your own or your insurers expense. Few "subbies" in the arb world fall into this category, only the serious and expert subby climbers who bring their own rigging kit for example. It is also worth noting that what the insurance industry classes as an employee is not necessarily the same as what HMRC does. You can hire a groundy only 1 day a week, if he uses your kit under your direction then he is still an employee.

I do use a 6 wrap prussik on a spider when rigging occasionally... because it locks.

I disagree. There are lots of much better hitches that do exactly the same thing, just better. Such as the one above. Same pull push climbing style, easier decending and branch walking, and no seizing.

Here it is..

Try this, it is just as secure and trustworthy as a prussic once you have loaded it. and it never sticks, you can even tend it with one hand. Steve's right, prussiks are the work of the devil.

At this years APF there were 2 110 double cab defenders parked up at the travel lodge, they both had nice toolboxes on the back. I am looking for something similar as I am planning to change mine in the spring, this time I would like a double cab so I need a well organised box to look after all the kit in a smaller space than my 110 hardtop that I currently use. Does anyone know whose they were or where I can get such a thing?

Its is always neccesary to have employers liability unless you are a contract climber and you are the subby. I am surprised an insurance company says otherwise, probably they are referring to contract climbers. In order to officially be classed as a subby you must work un supervised using your own tools and equipment, i.e. you turn up on site and someone says "its that one" and points to a tree, from then on you go to work without the main contractor. If the contractor and subby work together, i.e. as a groundy and climber then one is the employer of the other. This is regardless of how the "subby" is paid. I often employ self employed workers, they work along side our PAYE staff and invoice me when they are done, they are not subbys though in the official sense of the word, and they are covered by my EL policy. if you read the terms of your insurance there will probably be a clause about your duty of care when taking on subbys, i.e. you should check that the subby has his own insurance and ask for a copy of the certificate.

I can do it but the haulage will kill it, £50 a cube..

It is a lot of mess, we cut down on that by having log stores built into the walls of the house, we fill them from the outside and remove the logs on the inside..

Its worth it, if you are in a home you intend to stay in for a while.... Fitting one with a combo style system won't be cheap, you will either need to fit a conventional HW cylinder and neutraliser into which you plumb your gas boiler and wood boiler, or you keep the combi for the HW and fit a heat sink i.e. a double coil Cylinder into which you plumb the neutraliser, and the output to the radiators.. either way wont be cheap.. We used to do about 1600litres of lpg a year, now we do about 250...... and 30 cube of logs....

They are great, Mark Bolam has one too... Been used a lot this year..

I see, just remember that when it comes to off road pulling HP doesn't really come into it, weight and traction are far more important, The biggest alpine won't pull as much as a larger heavier tractor with the same power, IE a 95hp valtra 6300 will out pull a 90 hp bcs simply because it is heavier. on the other hand on a bog with floatation tyres the lighter machine will be better... I have been impressed with what my 50hp bcs will do but its nowhere near what the valtra can pull.

Why large HP? Unless its for a pto requirement I wouldn't think it was necessary..

You say tomato.. I say Monsanto.... Haven't watched it. Not going to. Just off to the bar for another roundup and coke... Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk 2

Not all LA guys are lazy, I have met some grafters... The whole ethos and attitude is totally different: I was in a pre start meeting with an LA the other day, we got to talking about how much they had spent on tree work in the last 12 months...about £250k. Two of the guys round the table had run LA tree teams in the past and I asked them how much it would cost to run a 4 man squad. The answer £300k!! I can do that for about £150K... That says it all really.

Its a knut or TK by the looks of it, I use the same finish on the howard knut combo that some of my guys use... http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/climbers-talk/21327-dave-rich-howard-knut-combo-treeflex-mod.html

Thanks for the replies, I have one trial next week and another to phone back.. sorry for the delay, its family time at the weekend.. I am hopeful that this will be more than just a couple of months work and will become a full time position. please get in touch if interested... thanks.

Ever try picking up loose split logs with the clamshell? I was considering it as a loader alternative....

Sad indeed, it seems a group were camping underneath it which seems bizarre given the weather...

I had always thought that human waste could only be spread on non food crops such as biomass and christmas trees... must have got it wrong unless thats a scottish law...

Bump...

I think low air intakes are common on french cars for some reason, I know of 2 renaults that hydrauliced hitting puddles fast.