Ty Korrigan
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Everything posted by Ty Korrigan
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Cheers for that. We have a huge potential here. In fact, we have a hit rate of 75% on quotes. Our equipment is at straining point and we need to upgrade and take on employees on zero hour contracts for skilled labour. We currently use sub-contractors for labour and occasional climbing but we need to make a greater margin on them. I certainly would never spend out on equipment if there wasn't a use for it. Took me months before I splash out on even simple things like an arb trolley. I don't know why we are doing so well, it's difficult to pin point the cause but I feel its a pinch of everything. Energy, image, equipment, personality. The French love to have a British gardener/arborist. Ty
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Honestly, I've tried to give wood away to the hard up ex-pats here in Brittany but I find it better to offer it for sale at a bargain price. Firewood offer 30euros per cord! (Le Jardinier Anglais.com (Tree Surgeons)): AngloINFO Brittany Even at this price I have very few takers as there seems to be some kind of phobia about burning conifer. I sell oak for 230euros per cord and they are sniffing at a mere 30 for pine! Jeepers... Ty
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Yars... I would love to go down the mog route but we cover serious kms all over Brittany and Normandy and I cannot imagine the fuel bill! Ty
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Its not all bad. We have just finished a 4 day over mature lawson hedge felling job. A neighbour gave us permission to work from his garden but asked use carefull about his wire mesh fence. Second morning, one of my team (old Rab) dropped a tree that twisted and caught the fence, breaking a wire and losing all its tension. The owner came out and from his face I thought he was going to explode. And yet... In fact, he was over the moon with our work. It was the first time in 10years he had seen the morning sun on his garden. He shook Rabs hand and later presented us with a bottle of very good Bordeaux for lunch. Rab then wondered if we dropped one on his roof if he would feed us too! Ty
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Stumpy, you're full of poo! No-one would ever do that to a working man...surely not...eh? Ty:001_tt2:
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Ah! I must have the same client! Ty
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Hah... I tried the £ per inch method and it lost me more than I gained. Really, first work out your costs. Mine guzzles 4litres per hour and can use a set of green teeth per day. I calculate the cost price per hour to be £20-£25 per hour approx. Add your wages and travel, and other business costs. So it is with experience that I got to know the different stumps types and situations and their costs. Cherry, hard as nails. Walnut, hard and very deep. Poplar large, chasing buttress roots all over. Digging around with a mattock saves teeth and exposes nasties thrown at the foot of trees. I price single stumps differently than those done on a day rate which is proportionally far cheaper. Best of luck I learned it all here on arb talk:thumbup: Ty
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O.K, Thanks for your mostly pessimistic responses... I'm working with an old friend, in 2 years together we have argued twice, over nothing and due to tiredness, I'm lucky with my friends, in fact people take us for a couple of queers! (I'm Stuart he's Sebastian, same boots, trousers and t'shirts ) Right now, we are working a CS100 so far past its spec its like going logging with a butter knife. So, we are going to invest in a BIG CHIPPER and use the wee chipper for a second crew doing jobs better suited for it. A 4x4 pickup, with a winch. More rigging kit. Land and a barn. We rent our land and have a less than secure barn at the moment. Our web site is going to be more professional with regular updates. Work more on our image and publicity. Well, thats what we hope to achieve, I just wondered what others may do. Cheers:001_smile: Ty
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Hello, I want to fire this past you all and receive with open arms your feed back and suggestions for good or bad. I am in a business partnership with a an old and trusted friend. We are due to commit to our already successful enterprise an injection of capital in excess of £40k+ We have all the saws, lightweight rigging, stumpy, wee chipper and 2 trailers, one a tipper and 2 vans. If you had £40k+ to invest to grow the business, what would you do? Take this thread and blow it wide open. Thanks in advance:001_smile: Ty
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First time for everything, small claim's court...
Ty Korrigan replied to samthescam's topic in General chat
Ahem... I know of a chap, who when owed several hundred euros by an absentee second home owner, just sprayed off the garden with glyphosate. I don't condone such behaviour but can also truly say that I have done the small claims route and find petty cold revenge attacks far more satisfying than the stress of even a small claims hearing. Sodium chlorate wrapped in tissue and thrown onto lawns. A spray of diesel on car windows with a potato up the tail pipe. Dogs mess wiped onto door handles. AND... nappies stuffed down drains (they swell...) Oh happy days.... Ty -
Customers that deduct £ every time you pause for a motion...or a tea.
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It won't fall. Thats just Daily Wail thinking. France has a strong economy, people are still spending but mostly their own money as banks here have never been reckless lending to the feckless. Since the fall of Iceland, did any-one see any cheap holidays there...? NO. A collapsed economy doesn't always mean that commodities become cheap. Things still cost the same, milk, coffee, electric, fuel etc. Ty
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Not too long ago I had a chap call me from Redon which is an hours drive away. "I got a tree that needs felling, I'll clear up all the wood, I got a saw and its a 10min job, how much?" I replied, 150euros, its a mornings work for me regardless. Last I heard, this chap found a farmer in the local to do it for 50euros. Good I say, thats just what the job was worth locally. If some-one who lived in Bath called a London plumber to change a washer then I imagine the bill would reflect the travel and minimum charge more than the value of the work done. I try to never charge less than a mornings work but I use my discretion (old biddy with 1 branch or pretty single mother with...) Ty
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Hello, We have a lot of work and a great future BUT... Coming to live and work in a non-English speaking country is a big leap. Its like being thick, dumb, illiterate and second class all in one hit. Try taking the 'holiday' of going to a foreign country and thinking...'without the support network of my family, mates, pub, tesco etc' will I be happy or even survive... Its a huge leap, not like going to Oz or N.Z or...Scotlandshire. Ty
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I work with a French fellow, awfully garlicky at times though...
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Right, here is the latest prices from France from a generous ex-pat tree business We, for we are a partnership, pay 150euros gross for a groundy with sense and experience. 120euros for a groundy without. You must be self employed and we supply everything inc lunch and t shirts (except PPE) We have just given a 100% bonus to one groundy whose experience saved us a days work. We pay bonuses when deserved and it never mean, even if it come out of the partners pockets. Its all good at Le Jardinier Anglais.com
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OY! taking the rise out of wee chippers mate? You mug, you melt, you know whose posting on this forum...? you melt. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUN0RLF-WuU&feature=related]cockney parents' evening - YouTube[/ame] I'm a proper moody geyser if any-one has a pop at my wee chipper.
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There is a Scottish chap who regularly posts on this forum ...
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Try. For a better tree care service call XYZ Reasonable rates, fully insured, professionally equipped. Putting customers first. Try words to that effect in your ads Friend Ty
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Hey, don't get me wrong, my Vanguard has done 120 hours now and starts every time. I was just curious as to the expected life span. Ty
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Hello, If the oil is changed correctly and its not abused, how many hours should a Vanguard 18hp be good for...? Also, how do they compare to the honda V twins? Ty
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Urgh! I had a bite from one whilst cutting a hedge in '07. My arm swelled up at the shoulder and I had a fever type aching bones man flu for a day. One of my irregular groundies has just been stung by a hornet (frelon in French) and his hand blew up to the size of a softball. Ty
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Er... no. We are at our busiest at the moment and expect to go right up to Xmas. Possibly early New year will be slack. I'm running a team of 3 most days and will go down to 2 in Jan' for a while. Ty
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You got it bad eh? How about this. We just dismantled a cedar on Friday and evacuated the wood and chips back to our place. I have a list of people who are interested in free firewood, so I call the most local one (French) The woman asks me what type of wood is it? When I tell her its cedar she refuses it and asks for some free oak instead! I tell her that I sell oak for 200euros+ per cord and that only softwoods are free as a gesture to those on a limited income. Thanks but no she says and hangs up! Cheeky Moo! Ty
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Stop bigging up your find boy! Its cat vomit, probally kitten, 3 months old. Ty
