Rupe

A 660 is not too heavy if the size of the pieces you want to cut off are big enough to need a 660. Same with an MS880 or husky 3120, if thats the size of saw you need for the task then thats what you use. For smally trees use a smaller saw, its not rocket science. All back handle saws a good for climbing if you need a something bigger than an ms200/201. I personally go from ms200t to ms660, not much point messing about with much else in between. ms460 maybe.

I think theres some people on here who dont quite realise who they are talking to sometimes. A lot of advice on this forum, not necessarily this thread, comes from people who have been round the block several times, and have come accross these problems and dealt with them many times over. I dont consider myself one of those as I am always learning from others, but in 22 years of tree work I have never known any neighbours actually go to a court over who disposes of debris! Theres a right way to deal with these situaltions and that is to take each situation on its merits and work out what is best for everybody involved, including the tree. That is achieved by discussion and communication, not by quoting "laws" and trying to interpret meaning from such laws, many of which are old and open to huge variotions depending on all manor of things. An ability to communicate and assess the needs of neighbours is vital, and a degree of negotiating skills, diplomacy and maybe an actual degree in phsychology can be really handy !! Having all those skills in abundance means I get these jobs completed to everyones satidfaction nearly everytime, I get paid, the tree lives, everyones happy and no "law" is ever mentioned, or broken. With trespass you have to have a complaint first, its not tresspass if no one minds!! (i.e. you have permission) Do the right thing and you dont need to worry about the "law".

What's the point of going into what maw says what, and what a lawsuit might result in, who cares!!?? The tree can be pruned, nicely, and the neighbors will be fine. Some trespass may occur with ropes etc. But that doesn't matter, the neighbor can be informed and if done politely it should be ok. Oh I was looking at this job and the tree owner was completely, irrational and refused to allow any "tresspass" then I would leave it, but I get a successful outcome nearly every time, without worrying about laws or calling uncle solicitors. My job is to find solutions to tree problems, that's what must of us do here. I do take issue with new homeowners wanting to reduce the height of neighboring trees, I take great pleasure in telling them they've bought the wrong house!! But in this instance the tree overhangs, it can be cut back nicely, and really doesn't have to be complicated like this.

It should be done from rope and harness, from the top slam or bottom up, doesn't matter really. Some trespass may occur with the rope position but nut the end of world, especially if you're arborist has informed the neighbors of what's going on. Loppers would leave stumps and this is not good.

No hes not good, 15ft is nothing, no scaffold tower needed!! It would take longer to carry in the parts of the scaffold tower than the job will actually take. A ladder to get into the tree maybe, and it doesnt have to touch the trunk, but then the work must be done from rope and harness in order to get the correct work position to get the correct pruning cuts. The scaffold tower will be in the way of getting the work done!! However its spelt, no proffessional would ever use a scaffold tower for that, or any tree ever!!

Here is what I mean. The red line is where I am guessing the boundary is(soory I cant do straight lines!). The blue line is the pruning line, and notice I have crossed the boundary at the bottom to avoid leaving stubs, but I've left enough up top to leave a decent tree. If done right your neighbours would forget about it in a week, as said before if not they will hate you forever. If I was your arborist I would explain this proper method to your neighbours and they would agree, and probably make a cuppa while im doing the work and ask me to quote for their side too and to marry their daughter, but I have a way with people! Seriously though, polite proffessional discussion will get the right results nearly everytime, thats why the proeffesionals really are worth getting. Im still upset by the mention of tower scaffolding. I hope I dont know any arborists that own such a thing unless its maybe for hedge trimming in which case it might be allowed.

Oh, and proper tree work would mean not following the boundary line all the way to the top of the tree, so you shouldnt really go all the way up. In the photo there is a gap in the crown at about 2-3oclock, I would remove the branches below this gap but not above, and just bear with the stuff higher up that is over your garden. The amount of mess you would get from that bit of overhang will be negligable and you'll get jsut as much blowing over from next door anyway so dont scalp it all the way up just because you can, leaving that top bit will leave it looking better, albeit a bit onesided but if your neighbour ever decided to work on there side to balance it a bit then they can and the top is still intact.

Forget about roots for now!

Get a proper arborist to climb it with ropes and get on with it, maybe use a ladder to get off the ground but that can be lent against branches and not the main trunk. Cut the branches off to the main truck if you can, but in theory you need permission for that. No point fannying about with scaffold towers, that looks like a two hour job tops. (n 99% of cases if the work is done properly and the tree owner isnt paying or having to clear up then they wint fuss too much. Hacking branches off and leaving stumps is going to leave an eyesore that remonds them everyday whats been done so try and avoid that if you can. Get a proffessional!!

Not concrete at all!! As I said the employer is responsible for making sure you have correct ppe and that you use it, this does not mean he has to provide it. If you turn up one day without ppe he can provide you with some if he wants, or send you home, or give you other work. It's quite possible that providing your own ppe could be part of an employment contract (usually with an allowance as we are discussing) and so if you turn up without it one day he can send you home and take disciplinary action against you. There is no legal requirement to provide pep but there is legal requirement to ensure you have it and this can be achieved in many ways. To put it another way, if it were a legal requirement for employers to provide ppe then no one would be allowed to buy there own fancy trousers and boots and we would all be wearing cheapo Stein crap or something!! Your all entitled to buy your own fancy ppe, even if you don't get any allowance for it, as long as your wearing it then all good! So, your right in that the employer must provide ppe if he wants you to use a chainsaw and you don't already have ppe, but he doesn't have to buy it.

I rode 10 miles to school everyday for two years (a level years) so it's not hard at that age.

I'm guessing you're joking. I'd love to ride a bike to work, my yard is barely two miles from home but would be ideal as a warm up for the day. I'm 43 mind, so can't go too far!! I cycle in the evenings and weekends anyway, and run 10 miles a week, and swim about 3 miles a week too. Tree work is too easy so I have to burn off the extra energy somehow!

Another thing with lack of buses running at suitable times etc. is get a bike! If you cant ride a bike 10-15miles (maybe 20) in the morning for work then your not fit enough for this kind of work anyway.

Oh, and no to your lunch costs, everyone has to buy lunch, no to clothing (self employed office contractors cant claim back suits etc). It would be PPE and tools only. Your employer might buy you PPE and tools anyway? Then you wouldnt have the expense in the first place. Before anyone says Employers have to buy PPE, thats not the case, they only have to make sure you have it, and some give an allowance each year (tax free) for this, see my second example above. So if you ruin three pairs of chainsaw trousers and then run out of your allowance its tough you have to buy more out of your own money.

No to the VAT on stuff, you cant claim that back at all, no way. Fuel costs for driving to work? No way, everyone has to drive to work! Im guessing you mean driving to your bosses yard and back everyday? Everyone has to drive to work so no you cant claim a thing there. PPE and equipment? Mmmmm, maybe, you cant get the money back but you might get a tax rebate on the money you spent on it, you would need to do a tax return at the end of the year. So if your boss is paying your tax through PAYE and you have spent lets say 1000 on stuff (total price including the VAT on it) then you might be able to get the tax on 1000 of your income returned. An accountant would be more help than me. Another way might be (some companies do this) your employee sets aside 1000 of you income for kit that you need to buy, and then pays your tax on the rest of your income. Both methods would be similar, i,e you get about 250 of tax back.

David, all you need to be a self employed gardener, hedge cutter or tree surgeon is to be really really brilliantly good at gardening, hedge cutting or tree surgery. If you are you will be able to do the work better and cheaper than anyone else around you. If not, if your a bit rubbish or just not really very good at these things, or not as good as others in your area then you wont get very far. And if you cant drive you have no chance. Its quite simple, no amount of driving licenses, advertising, buying tools or hope will actually help. Customers look for someone to do a good job for the right money thats all. Have a look around your area at people doing this kind of work and try and see if there is a need for another person doing it and if you can do it better. That is what a business plan consists of. A business plan is not " advertise, do work, make lots of money" it doesnt work like that. If there is no market or need in your area for your services (by that I mean the quality of work that you are able to offer) then you wont get any work. You can't create a new market place for yourself by wishful thinking. While your getting your driving license etc. you can be working on building sites or stacking shelves if you have to but get a full time job until you have everything in place and a market that needs your services. That might be 4-5 years away yet so if you have financial issues now what are they going to be like by then! Get a job ASAP, anything, and then keep looking into your own business, it could well happen one day but its not going to be next week. Good luck, dont get disheartened but please try and be realistic.

Of course they are ok, thats what they are for. Yuu can even get metal ones, a slight scratch on the top of the piston wont hurt anyway, my 066 has a big dent in the top of the piston where we really struggled to get the clutch off recently, its fine though. An impact gun works well too, sometimes no need for a stopper!

He means 2012 because that is when your "comprehensive tree survey" was carried out. Nothing to do with ash dieback, what did the comprehensive tree survey say about this ash tree? And no, its quite possible nothing was visibly wrong with the tree, thats why many tree surveys are a bit pointless, they are just ways of showing you have made an effort to look for risks. If a tree has absolutly no visible problems and is inspected and deemed safe, and then it falls over then that is just how things go, no liabilty or negligence issues. A cause might be foud but stable door, horse etc. bit late now eh!

Would suit somebody starting out or thinking about tree work probably more than someone fully ticketed etc.

How is that not funny?. Nice one mark, the hilarity is in the over speculation of what happened to the plane (via the press/media) and how this thread is over speculating the zig zag. Intelligent humour in every way.

Looking for some help, some days in and around cheltenham/cirencester area. An interest in tree work would be a good idea, otherwise its a boring job, chainsaw tickets etc. would be a bonus but you dont need them to feed a chipper and operate a rake.

I know all the advantages, just wondered what ratio of cheques v Bacs people are up to this year?

Just had a quick look through previouse years invoice spreadsheets. I used to highlight all BACS payments in red so my book keeper knows there wont be a corresponding paying in slip for those payments. bacs payments as a percentage of total payments were as follows 2010 18% 2011 26% 2012 43% 2013/14 69% Thats quite a quick increase. From next year I will highlight cheque payments in red as these are now the least common method. Im sure everyone else is seeing the same increase in bacs payments? Another few years and cheques will be gone, good riddance too!

Nothing is compulsory, all you have to do is whatever you are asked to do by the prospective client.

A good sack for tree climbing gear. Black Diamond Touchstone Haul Bag, 70L | eBay