Mani

I've seen it while paddling in the sea in the dark at beach parties. they react to the motion of your feet only lighting up for a small time then disappearing. Anyone see any glo bugs recently? why is it when you get near them they switch off?

true. they also have tractors with pto chippers on the back and milling equipment. i was gonna go, but now I know its £15 per head, I wont be making the trip.

£15 to see a few logsplitters and some new age hippies carving mushrooms out of logs.....dont think i'll bovver.

tuppy, you seem like a good lad so dont take this the wrong way, but you look like a serial killer in your avatar pic. if you arrived for an interview with that deadpan face i'd be worried you'd attack me at random with a chainsaw when out on the job.

Bigger than that, about half the size of your average ladybird and only on the thin stems near the leafs. The leafs had black areas on them - honeydew? What would you spray the tree with and when? Is it when they are at the crawler stage?

That big merc you need an hgv licence for that? I like the roof over the top of the tiper back, means you dont have to rake up the chips that have blown over the top. also means you dont hit passing pedestrians by accident with high velocity chips. thats why i like that chris p transit, we just use ply boards propped up. this isfrom an american website, looks just about right size and shape, shame we dont have stuff like that here.

saw this photo in another thread - Chris P (owner) or anyone else...who does this kind of chipbox conversion for Transits and how much does it cost to get it made up tool boxes an all? Chris P, how do you like the Transit for treewrok and re there any downsides? looks like a smaller version of an American tree truck like Asplundh uses. Is that what got you the idea?

Working for a customer today, her Nectarine tree which is growing in a large glasshouse has someking of scale, but not Pulvinaria regalis, does anyone know what kind of scale it might be? The adult female scale looks twice as small as your avarage Pulvinaria regalis scale and its orangey in colour with a smooth surface.

Have none of you heard of the free market? its there to be manipulated - pricing is an art form which requires cunning and deviousness, why do a job for £600 when you can convince the customer you need to charge £1600? Its about finding the optimum time in which to rake in the profits, too quick and the customer wants money off, too long and the customer thinks your setting up home in their backyard.

You Sir are talking nonsense. its a simple concept, in treework you can earn more money by taking longer to do the job. If you tell the customer it's going to take two days due to your professional approach ie taking your time due to safety issues etc thats why you charge more than the other guy whose charging less and is going to bish bash bosh it like some kind of numbskull, probably break something in the process. We can all do that job in a day with 3 men easy, but by doing the work with two men and spinning it out to 2 days you can earn 30% more. I know its hard for people to change their pace especially if they're used to working at breakneck speed like demented ants, but you'd be amazed how easy it is to look busy when the customer is milling about watching you, ie rake some wood shavings or sharpen a saw etc.

I dont earn £1000 every day and thats my point, you never know where the next paycheck is coming from in tree surgery so you have to wager on the client accepting a high price which leaves you with more money to fall back on in hard times. Thats how I do it. Itys worked for many years now and I have a decent nest egg for your coming recession. Re crane - it should not be the same money, if you have invested in a crane you deserve to be paid more if you do a professional job, thats what seperates the amateur from the professional. The guy here that owns the crane deserves more than £950 + vat, he needs to cover the cost of the crane and his professionalism. If he does it quicker/slightly less effort with the crane its irrelevant. Speed/slightly less effort is irrelevant, money on the other hand is not.

There's about 20 companies within a 50 miles radius here, but the poor treework done by some of them would rulle them out of a tree like that. Also, many of the companies are run by dodgy types who wouldn't get the work based on their appearance or way. from what i seen on this site, I'd say most of the tree surgeons here (myself incuded) could have that tree de-limbed by lunch, stem finished by about 1.30/2.00pm or earlier with a three man crew, good chipper and tip truck. But, why would you want to do it that fast? Because you charged too little in the past and you had to work fast on every job to make a decent margin? this is a downward spiral of chasing the work and its bad for the wallet and personal life. Especially the guy who owns a crane, surely you should charge more for specialist equipment? otherwise whats the point in owning a crane?

I dont work out the cost per man day/hours. From that tree i'd pocket £1000 net Groundie - £200 Diesel/vehicle/chipper/saws costs - £200 Insurance contribution PL/EL etc - £100 Disposal fees - £100 = £ 1600 One thing I learnt very early on in treework is people will pay whatever if they trust you as a person. Most of the work is done on the doorstep or in the garden discussing the tree etc.

looking at some of the quotes here, i'd say many of you guys are still using prices from 10 years ago. my price of £1600 no vat allows me and my other worker to do the job in 2 days in a professional and calm manner and actually enjoy the process of bringing a tree like that down and away without rushing around like bampots. we regularly remove trees that size for £1600 or more depending on access etc. Never had any complaints from customers, in fact they have been full of praise for the work we done and are happy to pay the bill. Dont sell yourselves short, value your skills and professionalism and realise that in order to be a successful tree surgeon you have to charge high prices. Otherwise its just a serious hobby that pays very little.

we would not go lower than £1600 no vat. learnt from experience that medium to larger trees like that one aren't worth doing if you cant make a good profit on them. More wear and tear on the saws, ropes, vehicles and staff plus higher disposal fees.

From what i've heard on this thread it seems the Americans have the right idea to urban treecare. Coppicing, Hedging, Pollarding etc are all throwbacks to rural farming/woodland crafts and maintaining veteren trees/natural woodlands is something altogether very different. Its a micro-niche in the industry which includes fracture cuts and coronet cutting which are interesting ideas but have little or no value when it comes to urban/residential tree care. I'm sick of the sight of pollarded/heavily reduced trees in the UK, we pretend they are viable and praiseworthy techniques when we all know deep down its a crock of sh*t. Lets face it, its just a good way of making money, thats all. Take pollarding....I mean, who in their right mind would want an entire city or town scape dotted with stunted fat retarded trees that have lost all their natural grace and shape due to endless pollarding? The pic at the start of the thread highlights just how far UK arboriculture has come in the last 20 years, its just a pity all of it's been downhill. We need a change of culture in the UK arb industry, we need to understand that if you are going have the benefits of trees in citys or towns then we have to make sure you plant a suitable species of tree for the chosen location. I'd rather see a row of tall graceful fastigiate oaks lining a street than decrepit London Planes which are desperate to be put out of their misery. Thank you Americans for bringing some sense to UK arboriculture.

thanks for all the kind comments

Hi all, just found the forum and had this vid on my laptop for some time thought you might enjoy it, just some pics from my time as a tree surgeon. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPxzeMd4mYs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPxzeMd4mYs[/ame]