Rupe

Any troubles with it after?? Mine blew a load of smoke out but thats all, started ok and finsished the job. Job was on a bank so I was really careful to not go across the bank, on a diagonal was fine. Then I tipped it putting on the trailer that I've done hundreds of times! Trapped my hand between it and the edge of the trailer (Iffor) ouch!

Constrcution companies can by pass it if they want, but they risk gettign caught. If its small bill (in relation to the project) they can put it down as a petty cash payment. Others just don't care about IR and do it there way! If you get paid by an accountant working for the company then chances are they will want it, but when I've been asked for UTR only that was to check I was a UK taxpayer (as stated above) and no tax was deducted then. Only when they required me to register CIS and put my UTR and NI number on every invoice did I then get 20% knocked off. Of course the 20% only comes off the labour aspect so if you are supplying kit (trucks chippers etc) then put some down as labout and some as "other costs". If you are labour only then you definatly should be paid through CIS.

How are the green teeth generally? Can they be resharpened or are they use, turn, use again and chuck? Tipped mine on it side today!!!!!

If your tax is up to date then they might not collect 20%, and if its not up to date then its 20% put towards your tax bill, no worries.

I think the guy Knows what it is!!!!!!! Thats not the question. If you are sole trader then the UTR will be a personal tax number, but the question was should they be asking for it for Arb work. Yes.

If your doing work for a construction company then they can ask for it. Usually UTR is just a check that you have it. CIS is a little more required, but onlu UTR and NI, and you have to register CIS with the IR. If you are doing arb work for the benefit of a construciton job (i.e. to allow the construction to go ahead) then you should be CIS registered but many get round it.

I once tried to explain that 3D thing to someone (a rock climber) and failed, but that is exactly right. And its that very thing that now makes me prefer trees over anything else, you are climbing in 3D, and whilst thats hard at first once you can plan ahead its awsome and give more freedom than rock climbing IMO. Although we are of course limited by overall height, but I always had problems once beyond the first pitch (rope length) of a rock climb so I was always limited by that. Maybe caving is similar, in the 3D sense, but now way I'm going down a hole when I could go up in the air instead!

Harness are for work......kids should climb free, they'll learn good balance and judgement skills, and what A&E looks/smells like! Hopefully once they are put off going to A&E too often they will make good tree workers in the future.

Your all getting your selves confused... You TRIM yews in summer. Cutting them hard back is a winter thing, and frost wont matter cos there aint any re growth yet! . You can sell clippings for taxol (common lime is right) but not chippings. They only take the trimmings of annually trimmed yews, its only the new growth that is any good. Not the cuttings form a cutting back job. This thread is not about trimming yew hedges.

Possibly a bit late now, late winter would be best. Be brave and cut it, and advise the client that it will take around 10years to recover. The trouble with cutting one side then the other is that the good side might continue growing and the cut side might not bother. To prevent this I would cut the best sunny side first, so its keen to put that growth back on asap. or just be brave and do it all, but in late winter. General rule of thumb with Yews, be brave and then patient!!!!!!!! Another trick for this year, would be to cut huge holes in the greenery on the sunniest sides or all round and let the light in for whole season. Then once you get some new shoots appearing inside then you can cut it back hard as planned in the winter. Whatever you do, tell them it will take ten years! Then you can keep the rest of the contract for that time at least! If they are that big then the original owner who had them planted obviously had a vision for the future, unfortunatly people don't have that very often anymore. I have just cut some Irish yews back to tall stumps, with a ten year plan to re establish them.

I've been climbing everything since the age of about 8, and rock from 12 onwards and ice for a little while too but it was too scary!!! So I was a born climber no doubt about that, its all I wanted to do but I thought it would always be just a hobby. Trees were a very hard transition, so I'm not sure if any previous climbing experience helped or not. Of course it helped to know knots and stuff, but tree technique is nothing like rock, and tree gear then was primitive by comparison. Karabiners?? I did some stuff in Alaska that I was very proud of, and my need to prove myself has diminished since then but still existed when I started tree work. Nothing I've done in tree work comes close to making first ascents on new mountains in winter! I would have like to have worked abroad more though, I think your right, the challenge is to fit in and make the grade, thats two tricks in one!

Yep, he sent Jerry some stuff, Its good that Jerry has included stuff from around the world, a gathering of information and practices to add to his own. I don't think he has done much with Beech trees in california!!

Detailed information in the review, but basically it covers the work doen in the tree, not the actual climbing aspect (thats in the first series). Its available from treeworker. Tree Climbing Equipment Online Shop - Treeworker.co.uk - Home Although its not featured on the website yet.

I have written a propper review of it here. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/rigging-hardware/15987-working-climber-dvd-series-2-cutting-rigging.html But was wonderign if anyone else had seen it and what there thoughts were? I think Jerry has done an awsome job, bringing together all the fundamantals of tree work together into one film, although there is 6 hours of it. Many of the things we don't even know that we know are covered, and many new things also. I learned plenty and it proved I have plenty to learn. Jerry is a true master at his craft.

I have recently been watching this 6 hour DVD box set from Jerry Beranek and its been really interesting.

I can't remember who for or against what anymore, this thread has gone on for so long. I think some worry about what others think and some don't. Life is good because we have different kind of people in it, and thats what makes a good forum too.

Maybe another way of looking at this skills issue is to look at what we skills are needed to start out in the industry?? MAybe that is what defines us as semi skilled? To start as an architect or an engineer requires a degree. To start as a teacher requires a degree and/or the teaching qual thingy. To start as a doctor requires a degree and medical school stuff on top. To start as a tree worker requires nothing! So thats un skilled work. As you progress you get training and experience and quals and can be classed as semi skilled (even though we all accept that it is a skillled trade) in the scheme of things that is all that we are. Theres lots of talk about plumbers having to be corgi etc and we should have something similar, but that is not how it is. Anybody can be employed by a plumber with no exams or much schooling. You don't need corgi to be a plumber! You only need a corgi reg. person or company to fit up the gas to the boiler, the rest can be done by trainee lad under supervison. He then get his quals and tickets at evening school and become skilled at plumbing but its still only a semi skilled job because all trades are semi skilled. Does that help at all? I don't knwo why folk are getting so upset by all this. Tree work is a great trade to be in, and for some who may not have got very far in other proffesions its a great way to be really skilled at something and to make a living from it. But its suitable for a wide range of abilities (achademically) from total thickie to degree capable drop outs, (I'm not saying which of those I am) Common sense and physical ability and determination are of course required but those aspects alone don't make it a skilled proffession. Its a great sense of achievment to be good at something like tree work, and I remind myself how well I've done, and I remember how hard it was to start with. That makes me highly skilled at tree work, but I don't expect to be regarded as a skilled proffesion overall, I'm still just a tree cutter ! I stuffed my A' levels, got turned down by the Navy (I wasn't called Rupert for nothing) because of my laid back attitude, and I fell into tree work for the doss really. The only thing that has made me skilled is the time that has gone by, I had no actual skills at anything except climbing before I started tree work. Making a decent livign out of it?? Well that is a skill in itself!!!!!!!!!

I took my driving test in Swindon, and wen tover the magic roundabout. No worries! Its scary/confusing, so that slows the traffic down and it works quite well.

BArtletts have a base just north of Cirencester. Generally a good area for work, but so is bristol and bath areas.

Apart from ground clearance I would say subaru legacy is the best car/4x4 compromise available.

Mate of mine has a disco M reg for sale 1200 quids.

You cant use it on a lifeline though, it wont realease under a high load so you won't go anywhere! Its only a gri gri but with the handle removed and no spring in it. The gri gri can be used for climbing but its still not ideal, better when used in a rads system. It doesn't have a fail safe either though.

Well I'm not a freelancer now Paul, but I've had my GRCS for 6-7 years and was freelancing when I got it. And mine may have been used on some AAAC site audits a bit nearer to home ! All I can say is that business was good for freelancers who had the right kit! So much so that they set up on their own, especially as a gap was left in the market in this area and CBC found themselves with one less contractor!

Yes or borrowed it from the local freelancer!

John, which one of your kids designed it?