josharb87

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

I often wonder, what if the price we work for is actually the going rate? we make a profit, what more can we ask? Should we be making a hideous profit and rubbing shoulders with the upper classes for doing a basic labor job? Realistically (imo) we’re an over saturated industry that’s not as skilled or as elite as we like to think 🤔

Just get a 70cc saw from your preferred manufacture. None of them are bad. I prefer Stihls 46 range, not much in it between the husky 572 and the stihl 462 (even done a film from dueling them against each other in 2017-absolutely no difference!) I would like to try out the new echo, as really impressed with the 2511 but no need for a 4th 70cc saw Perhaps spud on the like could comment but I’ve never heard from mates/colleagues of electro gubbins failing.

It’s the way that they declined your quote/reacted to the price that hurts, like rubbing salt into the wound. Atleast you had a nice ride out and about!

No chance, and certainly not by a machine as crude as that - got one simmilar, it’s ok for “resetting” a knackered big chain but no way near as good as hand sharpened, plus then there’s the depth gauges…… invest more or don’t bother IMO

Take better pics next time (seriously!) Of the whole tree, close ups, twigs (but with good light not like yours!) If that’s flower buds on the twigs I’d lean towards magnolia. If not then apple? Walnut?

There’s a machine in Finland with chains on, could be worth asking them? a mate had chains on The rear of his avant, made a massive difference

Brimmed with a full tank of Diesel? Sorry, but i'm a little bit sceptic that any 3,5t arbtruck full of chip isn't vastly over weight (The worst i've had was winter felled beech, nearly 500kg per m3, hence my scepticism)

strapped them down well though!

Are you doing the job in the same time though? if the ZT is using twice the fuel but twice as fast …… 1hour 2x£250 stumps =500 -£20 fuel or 1hour, 1x250 stump -£10 fuel who’s winning here? id happily say the ZT is twice as fast as the wee tracked Vermeer. then the jump in price to a more fuel efficient grinder is more than substantial, it’d take a lot of stumps to recoup that extra investment. the 38hp petrol machines are a lot of performance for their purchase price imo. Good enough to be competitive/profitable but cheap enough to sit in the garage for weeks on end.

Out of interest, what country’s should a machine come from?

A dozer blade would be nice. may be worth seeing what this lands at in price Ian. Long tracks look stable

Picked up a greenhouse for the garden last weekend, shifted it in place this eve Been wanting a greenhouse for the veggies for ages, but with a full house renovation ongoing, it felt like an unnecessary expense for a while. This was on Facebook marketplace, free, but all the windows had been glued in place so no chance of dismantling….

Looks great! Is it the upprated weight one? What’s it’s payload kg and m3?

I’m no longer considered to be anti social, but responsible for my lack of socializing 2 years of not having to go to missus’s friends cousins dogs brothers owners Childs birthday party

Stubby cuts particularly on top, un even side reduction points. Uneven shape. Looks a small easy tree less than 18months experience he’s doing ok. Longer and he needs to pull his socks up

40k is cheaper than all the higher end models of the regular pickups over here! A mate has a high spec new 110, he loves it, reckons it handles far better than the discovery’s he’s had before. Look great I reckon, as with any new vehicle it’ll be packed with electronics, but that’s unavoidable now, I’d rather have that than a new jap truck tbh, shame the basic models aren’t available here.

Well, what’d you expect from a gardener??