Ty Korrigan

Same problem with our QuadChip. Alko running gear. New axles under warranty but still one wheel (kerbside) scuffing outside edge of tyre. This time I've just swapped the wheels over. I'll replace the tyres when I come to sell the machine. Ty

Dave, When you've a big shiny machine to show your clients when you go to quote, I find they accept the price easier. Many people LIKE to pay for something that looks awesome in action. So I show them short videos on a tablet or direct them to our FB page. Ty

Go Cropper GO! Better get your day rate upped and punt a few flyers out to all other smaller arb outfits French and British. Good on you for expanding. Ty

Brave job there! Well done. Ty

Ah, yesterday we were discussing this same model as our apprentice used one last summer cutting for his local council. I have to admit I was won over (especially as it is only around 10k) until I read about it being easy to get stuck. The other machine we are looking at is the Etesia 124 hydro but that require a few more grounds care contracts to justify the expense... Ty

For the local travellers site! Just had to share this with you all. We got invited to tender for this last year but lost it to another company in town who employ 150+ with 75 of these just on summer mowing. This year we dropped the price a tad and damn it if we didn't win it. One condition of the contract is that we only go in when called to do so and that may be a very short notice and that we also must clean up any 'waste' left behind... Luckily we already hold keys to the local tip as that's one of our jobs too! In general travellers here are alot more respectful of the facilities offered and so we must also lift every blade of grass and ensure the work is of the highest level. Pretty good job though time wise it's a day for one guy mowing and strimming about 15 times a year. Ty

Thuya stump. 10min = 70euros Longer to load/unload machine! Ty

The 4012 has the oddest setup of controls. Manual ones set so far back that I cannot see the stump for the radiator. Wired remote whose buttons do not correspond to the radio remote (as different as Azerty and Querty) The manual controls also do not really correspond to any logical movements. As in forward and reverse are actually up and down. Left and right steering and boom controls are the same, not actually left or right. So the radio control is the only one I ever use. Downside is that I get Xbox thumb after a day of grinding... Ty

Grinding is 1min into this video which was made by our apprentice and set to a most excellent sound track well edited in but deleted by YouTube. I have others of grinding with sound tracks but cannot load them up onto Arbtalk. [ame] [/ame] Ty

France has regulations concerning rainwater harvesting for domestic use. For drinking it is strictly forbidden with the law being clear that you cannot connect your domestic system to your rainwater system. Washing floors, watering plants, washing cars and all permitted. For washing machine use there are strict controls, pre-treatments required and not if you have any asbestos element to your roof. At home, most of our summer washing up water and baby baths go on watering the flowers on the balcony. When we next buy a house to renovate we will install a large underground collection system for the toilets and garden watering. Many people here have rainwater butts which are not sufficiently sealed and so make a breeding ground for mosquitos in the summer...misery. Ty

Alot depends on the exchange rate. In 2009 the pound hit parity with the euro making my euros go very much farther when buying kit in the U.K. The difference between a CS100 wee chipper and it's French branded sibling was a couple of thousand euros, same with Ifor Williams trailers which I used to import on a regular basis to re-sell here as there could be 2500euros difference between the euro and sterling price. Today, the Pound has risen to 1.36 against the euro which means that that dreadful Husky tophandle for instance only cost us 423euros plus vat here against 482 sterling in the U.K. I still buy from the U.K as many things even with the postage added are still a marginally better deal than France as many French dealers don't offer a decent discount. Ty

Hello, I have in fact imported 2 machines from the U.K First, an HB20 Sidewinder from Global in 2010 which has proved to be a sterling piece of kit for earning euros. The second in 2014 was an ex-hire Carlton 4012 remote control. All the images sent suggested a well kept low hour machine but what I did not realise was, that this machine was pressure washed very hard every time it came back from hire. From delivery we could not get the machine to behave. The controls were erratic and it would answer one minute then not the next. The alot of the electrics where stuffed, corrosion which led to short circuits and burnt out relays. Upon opening one of the control boxes, 30mm of water came out,I measured and took images of the tide mark. The remote unit also had to have ALL of it's micro switches replaced. The cable remote had a broken connector so that was useless. The fuel tank was full of filth so that had to be cleaned out and filters replaced. It has cost over 3000euros plus vat to get to the bottom of the faults so far thus bringing it up to the price we would have paid here in France. Although the engineers at the end of the line where helpful, even those in the states at Carlton HQ, the U.K sales manager was just plain nasty refusing to take it back to sort out the problems for free accusing us of damaging the machine and even inventing problems. Once the 28day warranty was up and without ANY of the faults fixed up the U.K dealer and importer of Carlton washed their hands of the lemon they had passed on. But that is all behind us now and the 4012 makes us some very good money as not only are the French very keen to have stumps removed, there are few people currently offering stumpgrinding here. I turned over around 20k in stump work 2014/2015 and it would have been double that but for the above issues losing us a fat contract with a building developer with a deadline. Now I find I need a bigger grinder still plus a newer HB20 Ty

Your a sad troll Skyhuck, nothing more. Now please do not contact me again on this forum. Can you manage this? Or am I some kind of itch that you have to scratch? Ty

Skyhuck, My avatar and signature are not an open invitation to attack me on a personal level. I ask you to do as I already do with you and that is to stay away from me on this forum and never refer to my personal life choices again. Ty

Skyhuck, Why do you feel the need to bring religion into the equation? Really non of your business what my faith is so stay clear of the subject. Ty

None, However, I would feel terrible if I lost out to another company because of any moral issues surrounding bird nesting and then had to drive past another crew doing what could have been my job. Some of these Thuya clearance jobs run over 10k, I've 4 days for 3 men this week on one so I would be a total mug to turn one away for a nest of wittle wed wobbins... Ty

Hah, I really don't give a tree sparrows fart about what you might think of my ornithological knowledge. I just laugh at all the fuss over the bird nesting issue when Mrs Miggins Ginger Tom is the biggest culprit in town not your tree surgeon. Madness... Here, if you suggest you might 'crown cut' a branch to make a place for bats to roost or leave a trunk as a 'monolith stem' they just look at you askance. Ty

Business before birds and bats. Here in France if I refuse to fell a tree/ hedge some-one else will get the work. As the public here has little awareness towards wildlife and the 'authorities' whoever they might be do not enforce whatever regulations may exist my own conscience doesn't need to extend much beyond the next coin. Try telling a client their hedge can't be removed because of a nesting bird and you'll just lose the work. Ty

Tree sparrow eh? Just had a look on Wiki as I'd never heard of this bird. House Sparrow yes. Well, down 93% but on the up says the RSPB I've read another source where pesticides, mink and cats cause the greatest loss of song birds. Certainly tree surgeons are not mentioned. Monday-Thursday we've another humungous conifer hedge to rag out, this time through the eye of a needle so no good the biomass chipper. I don't have ANY conscience about nesting birds. If I didn't do it then another business would. Not as if urban Thuya hedges are home to the last breeding pairs of any endangered species. Ty

Our bellied out after 6months or so. Annoying as it makes refitting the body panel difficult when you come to grease that hidden belt tensioner. I don't think it's a rupture risk though. Ty

Hello, Do you know you mowers hourly running cost plus margin? Once you have that, add your other costs, wages obviously but transport, insurance blah blah blah. I'd pick up close to the buildings and paths and mulch/cut and drop further away on a 2 week contract. £30 to me sounds professional, a good price for you and if your anygood for the clients. They can always get a 10euros Dave with a plastic 7hp rider to do the job but... Like me this last B/H Monday, I used the grab bucket on the JD1026 to pull the last 'gardeners' mower out of the paddock where it had burned it's drive belts out last summer...hhh! Gardener simply walked away from it...actually common enough here in France for expats. We'll be looking at buying a cutter deck, grass wheels and hydro lift pto grass collector for the JD if we get any more groundscare clients on board. Best of luck with it all! Ty

Brings to mind that old saying: "Does a gardener dump in the woods...?" Or was it a bear...? I forget. Ty

That would mean wrangling with French consumer and business law. I'm pretty sure that I cannot just re-write the rules and set conditions without taking some legal advice first. I'll get back to the client soon and send in an arboricultural consultant who works with us. Robs fluent French is more convincing than my broken patois when getting a message across. Bon nuit! Ty

Sorry, it's late for me, Short of raising the trees to the ground, is this not subjective? I mean, it is then down to reasonable care being taken and if the work done was adequate. We are not happy with the risk of being held accountable for the twig that scratches the paintwork of the wedding Mercedes or worse, the limb that kills... Ty