Tom D

Sad to see, I have had a winch nicked off the front of a landy..

I'have seen that before, not sure what it is though. Its probably just feeding on dead wood, the tree being killed by something else. Honey fungus maybe, did you lift any bark?

Awesome stuff, just make sure you get the super fast setting one, by the time the end post is in you can be nailing boards on at the beginning... means a short fence can easily be done in a day.

I hope they get the bastards. Why not post a sticky up with all the serial numbers just in case, folks on here seem pretty quick to spot an ebay scam, might as well use them to look for stolen stuff.

I'll tell you one thing............ Its not 38! 25-35 for me, starting to fall off a bit now. Spending more time pointing at stuff and driving machines hasn't helped..

We need to subsidise our farmers as they compete in a world market, as tree surgeons we don't. The huge wheat farms of the ukraine, usa, canada, and australia will always be able to produce grain for less than we can in europe. Even though their yields per acre are much lower than ours the economies of scale realy add up. They don't have to conform to all the environmental rules that our farmers do and their labour costs are less. If indian companies started doing tree work paying their staff a pound a day and putting us all out of business then we would be asking for handouts too. What is interesting is that we are approaching the time when our subsidies are no longer required, the huge expanding world population and the higher net cost of fuel world wide has pushed up the price of food to the extent that with the right management our farmers could probably live without subsidies.. Problem is; try telling that to the French!

I started working for another firm, then got a £5k loan from the princes trust and £5k on an interest free credit card to go it alone. I have worked pretty hard since, I sometimes wonder if it was worth it... LOL I make a reasonable living and I have built up £108K worth of kit (actual value, not replacement) which I suppose is an achievement, still a long way from being rich though..

Sorry Rupe that is totally wrong. As far as the tax man is concerned a pool car stays overnight at the work premises, employees must get to work by their own means, if employees are allowed to take it home regularly then it becomes a benefit, and must therefore be taxed. If an employee has the use of a works vehicle, even if it is just used to and from home, then this is a benefit and must be taxed as a company car. These rules are widely abused, they are also very complicated, rates of tax change according to vehicle type i.e. van or car, milage, and emissions.

You seem to be missing the point regarding subcontractor insurance, the reason your insurer insists that any bona fide subby has his own insurance (as main contractor it is your responsibility to check) is that they are washing their hands of any liability. The security firm that you subby to don't need arb insurance. You have the insurance.. all they are required to do is check your insurance is up to the standard required by their client and off you go. If I bring a subby in with a 360 digger I don't need groundworks insurance, I just need to make sure that the subby has it. There is a lot of confusion regarding this in our industry, if you employ subbys they must have their own cover, or you must cover them on your employers liability policy, either as part time employees or hired in labour. No employers cover, and no subby insurance = no cover. simples.

45 can be a pain at times, but if you think about your route through the tree beforehand and get organised its not so bad. We often come across trees where a 35 isn't long enough and occasionally a 45. Nothing more annoying than getting a nice fork with the throw bag and then finding that your rope isn't long enough... It all depends on what the trees in your area are like, round here they are quite big.

Huck is spot on, I have done £00,000's of work as a subcontractor, I'd be mad to try and poach their clients direct. I charge the same as I otherwise would so what's the problem? In these difficult times take whatever work you can get and be grateful...

Good effort! the knives on my posch 30 ton machine curve the opposite way, i.e. towards the centre not away from it. This makes sense when you think of it as it stops the log trying to wander off, creating side tension on the knife...

Retail is £5580, that one is £3458, it is 2.6m wide not 2.3 as I said earlier. Needs 80Hp+.....

Thing is, if there's no work, there's no work. Doesn't matter how many people you ring. I get loads of CV's sent and quite a few calls too, its sad to think how many guys there are out there looking at the moment. IMO there has been a bit of a perfect storm as far as tree work is concerned: Firstly there has been a downturn in the housing market, 5 years ago I recon 50% of the domestic work that I did was for people who were A. just about to sell, B. just bought, or C. drawn down on mortgage to build extension/garden makeover/decking etc. With 50% of the market now gone the next part of the storm kicks in, after 10 years of growth the number of people getting into tree work spiked, colleges turning out hundreds of fresh new graduates each year. These youngsters, unable to find the work they were promised began doing jobs on their own or with their mates, and began undercutting the established firms. Who can blame them! The established firms, seeing their workload shrink due to the fall in domestic jobs, and the downturn in the building trade, ( we used to do a fair bit of site clearance, not any more) found that they were loosing money. Their workload had fallen and they were having to cut prices ever lower in order to compete, so they began to lay off staff... who, unable to find work, began working on their own further driving down prices and so the cycle continues.. I hope you find something... and although I said there is no work, that wasn't true. There is just a lot less work. Keep ringing round and eventually something will happen.

How did you work that out Dean, I recon mine has cost me £18 an hour!! What were your sums?

It is actually very rare for trees to damage house foundations, walls are more easily damaged as they have shallower foundations and are much lighter than houses. I have seen buildings damaged by branches rubbing in the wind and trees can cause damp problems if they are right up against a wall. It will not damage the foundations of a house though, not for a very long time anyway. An extension with say a thin dwarf wall could be damaged, it is the weight of the masonry that protects the building, and the quality of the foundations. It could cause damage to the wall although I would say it will take 10-20 years, and only if the stem or buttress roots are in direct contact with the wall. If the stem is even 50cm away that will be enough to protect the wall as the roots will be thinner by that distance, by the time they are 2-3m away they will be no thicker than your thumb and of no cause for concern...

I've just bought a wee one for my alpine tractor, My dad is the importer so I got a good deal. If you are interested Scott he has one in stock just now, a big one, 2.3m I think, your case should just about be able to handle it, its a really nice heavy duty one, takes brash up to 3", and cuts grass, brambles etc. I know he is looking to get it out of the way so would do a good deal. Its just too big for what I need.. This is it..Bargam S.p.A. - Sprayer Machine - polverizzatori - nebulizzatori - atomizzatori - sprayers - pulverisateurs - feldspritze - atomiseur - mist blower - atomizer - atomizadores - pulverizadores - sprgerte - automoteur Call 01361 883418 ask for Patrick.

mine's orange... can't tell you more than that..

Thanks, do you just use softwood?

Tachyon is awesome.. Really hard wearing and not bouncy..

I don't know? Do you do kindling? There's loads of threads on the price of cord, logs per M3, bags of logs etc. I have no idea how the kindling job works..

I don't do kindling, out of interest how do the numbers stack up? How much timber does it take to fill a bag? how long does it take? and how much do you sell em for? Nice neat stack BTW...

That's the ones, Thanks!

Good point Rich, although I know a couple of locals who it could have been.

That's ten minutes from my house, they never rang me, we have rescued the odd cat, I usually charge though. I'd love to know who chickened out, I' will be asking around, I will be offering the lad a job, clearly he has talent.