Ty Korrigan

Part One:

For the amusement and possible interest of my fellow 'forumites'

I present to you the sorry tale of my first experience as an arborist in France.

2002, I decided to move to Brittany to do the Brit thing of buying a hovel, renovating and scratching a living doing whatever came my way.

Actually, I moved for love, of a girl in fact.

For a living, I started a garden maintainance company, mostly holiday homes and very few French.

Things went very well for me, I cut grass the height of my waist, cut oversize hedges from tractor buckets and even had a collaborator to help with hard landscaping.

However, it was trees that bothered me.

I found it difficult to get an arborist to do any work for me.

Those that I found in the expat community te.nded to have... their own agendas... or were just plain 'pikies' and thats not a nice word at all!

The local French tended to assume that because British were involved then the price should be double the going rate.

So I decided to return to the 53rd state of America (U.K) and enroll in a 10 week course at Merrist Wood College.

I shall now post this before I lose it.

Thanks Lads for you replies.

If saying that your 10k chipper is treated like a baby and therefore good for 1000hours (£10) then add fuel per hour (£1.50), blade sharpening every 25/30 plus and allowance for unexpected issues then perhaps £25/30 per hour is reasonable to allow in your pricing.

I am pricing per HOUR of USE alone.

Down time is of no issue to me as if I had £10k and it was in the bank invested it would only 5 would be worth only 5% max after 5 years currently.

I would NEVER hire out my chipper without its operator as I have seen what hirers do to machines and it pains me to watch/take part in this abuse.

Sorry, I'm a bit correct at times.

Thank you for that, any-one else...?

 

I have to admit, the next guy I take on will have to have an interview and send in a propper CV because I've had some really bad experiences with numpties over the last year and that has probably clouded my vision somewhat.

I don't wish to talk out of place here but would any-one REALLY take on a new employee without an interview, C.V or practical testing etc...?

Myself, I have only the basic tickets from Merrist Wood and with these I shall work for myself within the limits of my capabilities until I build up a portfolio of experiences that allow me to take on greater tasks.

You won't see me hanging from 30metre storm damaged specimens overhanging powerlines for a wee while yet.

Jack Kenyon and his team do the best they can with a variable intake in just 10 weeks.

I loved it and wished I had the time and money to study for longer.

I am looking forward to my first job self employed in Bretagne France come September.

You going to run that in France? How is parts availibilty and sourcing blades anvils/getting them sharpened etc?

 

When out in Germany a lot of the small outfits didn't have chippers, just trucks towing big trailers far more usefull if your work is divided up with works other than trees. They had well porganised yardds and would either burn the brash or have it biomass chipped every so often. All the cord was processed for firewood.

 

What i'm getting at is how usefull an investment would a 5-10k chipper be for you in your market? In the U.K a chipper is essential, my experience of Europe a chipper is less an essential item.

Chap, what you say is very valid.

Thank you for reminding me of this and re-enforcing a previous idea.

At the moment I am researching all future options.

In the past I brought arisings back to my land and burnt them come winter as there are fire restrictions in our area.

Also, locals here have a tradition of using most of a tree for fuel so less to remove from site.

Land use is less tightly regulated and it would be easy for me to persuade a local farmer to let me a shabby corner plot for waste storage.

I have several jobs already lined up and all arisings that cannot be used will be stacked for burning later.

Also, my own maths had come to a figure of around £15+ per hour for the TW125 chipper, reckon thats about right...?

Thank you all for your input.

Hello,

Should I eventually buy a chipper, say a TW125 Petrol for around 10k.

Around how much per hour should I allow for the running costs/investment etc...

Regards

Hello there,

I recently completed a 10 week course at Merrist Wood and will return to France shortly to continue working in landscape maintainance.

I'm a little mature (39) for full time tree work but with my new skills I am confident that I can take on many small to medium tree jobs with my 2 collaborators which will greatly add to our turnover.

I already have a basic climbing kit, rope, harness etc but should like to ask the honourable members of this forum before I visit Honey Bros' as to what additional equipment would be usefull/essential.

Thanks in advance

Le Jardinier Anglais de Bretagne

Steve,

Newby here posted about my recent work experiences in France and they have also evaporated.

I am too tired to post them again...

Well, we all have to start somewhere...

Recently vanless for a few weeks, I got me 'ole treader and rode 10miles to a client with my climbing kit and a saw towed behind in a cycle trailer.

Hello,

I finished my 10 week tree surgery for craftsmen in May 2008.

I worked in France as a climber for a landscape architect firm for 2 months before traveling to N.Zealand to obtain further experiences in land and forest management.

I'm now back in the Portsmouth area and looking for any position full or part-time in arboriculture.

Any leads or offers I would be gratefull.

Stuart Lee