josharb87

Here in Sweden it got up to about £2.30 a liter, since about a month back it now seems to have settled at around £2.08, still twice what it was 6 years ago when I started paying attention! no one seems to be making a fuss though?! Just accepting it 🤷‍♂️

First get a quote for all stumps, and a quote for only the big ones. buy the little grinder if you must, do the smaller stumps yourself. Remember it’ll still cost you in fuel, teeth, rookie mistakes etc (make some diy shields too) you should get half of the purchase cost back, maybe more when you’re finished But still pay someone else to do the big two, or do them yourself if you’re really really bored and then pay a similar amount in back, neck, shoulder and hand therapy

good tip even if they are set right I done it to my old 37hp 530, not that they were set wrong, just personal preference. No stress cut in quicker and didn’t take as long to build up speed again, sounded like a Timberwolf! I thought it worked far better. my 540 however, unless on cord, has the grunt to keep munching, revs drop a bit but not enough to stop the rollers, just digs down and chomps. (got a proper engine in the 540 though 😆)

On the flip side, you needed to work those days in the cold wet snow to help pay for the higher costs of running a pickup 😆

My information is absolutely 100% correct my information is mostly correct 50% of my information may be correct 🤣🤷‍♂️

In theory the manufacture should never stray from the RRP. It’s the dealers choice to sell below that

Yeah I’ve done simmilar, last year with the grinder, on a hot day too

If it’s spinning freely and without play I’d continue to use it. Change the tip when it fails.

That’s not extra, that’s just the norm

Gym 3 times a week only an hour a time but plus 20min stretch/yoga. Three 5km runs a week. been doing the above for 4 years now-since I was starting to get niggles in my back. No back niggles since week 6 of training and the dad bod has been held at bay too 😆 Start karate on Sunday - sons been going a few months and now wants me to join in too. looks great for flexibility and body control

That’s kinda my point, what’s the point in paying yourself a mediocre wage but the business has lots of profit? Isn’t it better to pay your self more, or improve the business and have a smaller profit? I don’t really see why it’s beneficial to have loads of profit which could have been used for investment’s or higher wage

Listened to it yesterday, did find it interesting. be interesting for you to do one in say 5 years too one thing I think could be worthy of a discussion on track with running a business (and from the other thread I enjoyed our dialogue) is the old saying you used, turnover is vanity, profits sanity. is it? my first few years I paid myself on the modest-low side of what a decent climber should be getting on the books. (rough currency conversions-I’m in Sweden) paid myself 30k a year, I (well my LTD co) made 20-40k profit those years. Great! but that profit isn’t my money, I can’t use it, if anything it’s vanity money! …. Yes I could pay the tax on it and take it out as dividends, but that is a short sighted reward - an alternative I done last year, I whacked my wage up (mainly due to buying a farm needing renovation) to about 50k- I wanted to buy a mill privately, build a barn etc. So 20k increase, I pay a little more tax than dividends, but gives me a higher pension and better sick/paternity pay-more benefits! profit last year will be down on previous years to about 5k. (That 20k pay rise cost the company 30k) but my private bank balance looks better, the machine park still grew (like every year) and there’s still a healthy balance in the company’s bank. (Even taking a sabbatical until next summer but keeping the kit. no moneys owed on the kit just a few years of writing it off in the books left) so why is profit sanity? Why does profit benefit us as private individuals?

It sounds like your professional attitude is what customers are willing to pay more for, your niche, that’s their prerogative though. Like choosing a Mercedes’ over a lada, both do the same job and both customers are probably happy for what they paid-you expect more from the merc so are willing to pay more. you certainly should charge more if you can, or the customer wants a reduction an arborist would be proud of (Mercedes’) But some don’t, some just want a smaller tree that billy bob does in half the time for half the price for halving a tree(!). Giving a job worth half the value. But they’ve got what they paid for (lada) invest in some labor saving kit and happy days, good money, efficient and easy working here we come!

I guess another way of looking at it is just because some companies are running inefficient doesn’t necessarily mean the whole industry needs to up its prices/is too cheap maybe 🤔

It’s good to disagree 😊 We cut bits of trees, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, it’s not rocket science. Some of us are good at what we do, some not so. Then there’s shifting material from point A To B something that literally anyone without a disability can do. most tree guys I know aren’t exactly academics 😆 most turn up in scruffy clothes but expect to be paid a premium it is strenuous on the body, but as mick touched on, a tree should cost the same no matter who the company is, to make more money, it’s generally do the job more efficiently. Has the business owner taken the leap to invest in machinery, they should be able to work more efficiently/quicker/earn more profit, as a side to this investment there should be less strain on bodys. I quote with confidence and turn a good profit year on year out. first it was because I was good and quick. In recent years it’s been down to investing in machinery-for speed and to alleviate the stress in my body, something that’s often overlooked. Certainly don’t work late or scrimp on time off. imo it seems that those with a battered old tipper and chipper, who haven’t invested in their own company, and therefore work harder and longer for the same money as the likes of Mick, that moan about the industry’s pay the most