ukminch

I don't think they've changed it, only did mine last year, it's an off road manouvres section followed by a drive round and about the place. Pretty much the same as a HGV test. Only bugger is I can't tow anything over 750kg behind anything bigger than a 3.5t vehicle, shoud really have gone full artic but needed doing a bit before i did it...... R

I'm fully compliant I always make sure the vehicle is on the grass, not the tarmac.............. R

Oh and why should firms pay for it, most people would not expect to have there cross cutting paid for them before they started at a job. I guess it comes down to supply and demand. Rob

You are wrong, if you've got HGV 2 now called category c you can only tow a trailer of 750kg behind you. All cat c does is mean you can drive any rigid vehicle, well any cat c vehicle before someone mentions tanks. I did my B+E test cost me £85 quid to do the test and £20 quid for a couple of hours beforehand with a normal driving instructor to look at my general driving. Used my own trailer and car and looked up all the manouvres beforehand. Think it was obvious to the examiner though, as I did things like putting my seatbelt on which apparently was not necessary for the manouvres. Before I'd done the trailer test I'd already done the HGV test which I don't think helped really. Think that cost me about £500quid to do. Rob

I had big problems with my cap when I first brought it, gota new one and been fine ever since! There didn't appear to be anything wrong with the old one though, so kept it as a spare

On that note, has anyone ever climbed a tree to aid with pricing. I did a couple of times when I was less experienced, think I've got the job on a couple of them because they could see I took my time at thequotation stage, along with a well worded written quote sent in on time. Rob

I may well do that if I come across such a situation again, for the moment I've not really been trying to get much work in for the past couple of months as I'm away for most of August so going to have a big push in September when I'm back - If I come back......

By the way thats quite cheeky so I understand if you don't. R

You wanna share the prices that you've agreed with them. I did a similar thing for a client, took absolutely ages and ended up getting two jobs out of them before the sold up to another company. So I never found out whether the pricing really worked. R

I just guess, but it's useful to have reference points such as houses, lampost etc that you can use to gauge it. I think that I will always balls up quoting be it in my favour or the customers favour, and think that's true of most people. As long as it works out ok in the end its ok though. I also now tend to overestimate as I've burned myself to many times in the past. Also means I do less work for more money. R

I've been using the old advertising signs that you see lit up in light boxes as tarps, fantastic things.

My 260 leaks chain oil, but to be honest it's such a small amount that I can't be bothered to investigate. I notice it if I leave it in the kitchen overnight instead of locking it away properly. But it could even be the fact that it's got a constant oil pump rather than throttle activated and is just oil thats not got to the chain.

I dunno I think a tree firm ought to be pulling in £1000/day with 3 people in a team with the right equipment. Then again they need to be doing £1000 worht of work to get it in the first place. I know I have in the past. Having said that at the moment the work is hard to find so I'm now happy with less equipment and two of us to be pulling in £4-500ish a day but were doing half as much work. And then of course how much work have I got - Not very much maybe it's me getting it wrong.........

Oh yer so what I was getting at is your system seems about right

Or maybe the competitor is buying work.............. Don't think there is a right or a wrong answer, all depends on you at the end of the day

It's quite simple in the accounting world, unfortunately not so in real life. Expenses and profit don't really come into the equation whereas cash flow does. Say you want £100 a day then if your job is £100 expenses then you need to charge £200quid to make your money. It doesn't alter on bigger jobs, but the risk does. The chances are the expenses are higher so the risk is bigger hence as your risking money you need to charge more. Say 1 in 10 of the bigger jobs you don't get paid for that means you need you need to charge an extra percentage on the other jobs to cover it. The other thing is how much is the money costing you whilst it's tied up, it can be frightening. If you've got savings then it's costing you 5 percent ish a year, if your borrowing it then it could be 40% before you've realised whats going on. Again these cost need to be applied to these jobs. Then you need to work out how much stress is worth to you and again put it on the job...... Rob

The other thing that I must admit I never even consider is how much is stuff actually costing you. Most of us have mortgages ,that £80 quid a month could save you stupid money over the lifespan of the mortgage (A few grand - Which is a lot of firewood, especially if you could earn money better elsewhere) It's something my accountant keeps trying to explain to me, but I guess I like a beer and I like toys to much to take that much notice!!

About £80 month more viable or a grand a year....

I think the problem that you have there though is that even if the trailer was braked it's not going to help as the friction still not be enough to even keep you stationary? R

I think if your buying it in at high cost you can't do it unless your completely set up for it. I wouldn't dream of buying it in unless it was mega cheap. I only process my waste and see it as a few quid beer money (obviously taxable) Hence if somebody offers me £20 quid on site for the wood 9times out of 10 they can have it so long as it goes before I leave site. R

Erm yer it does when you read it back, should be how they've had kit stolen, and nearly stolen.

A mate of mine works for gristlewood and toms in london and he was telling me about how they've stolen and attempted to steal kit over the years. Quite scary really, but lets not sidetrack this thread to another thieving scum one.

I'd leave it open, there are some really thick thieves about as I've had the misfortune to gather other the years. I was thinking more about on site during the day when it's parked at the front of a house and your out back..... A few of the guys that I've subbed work to over the years have had toolchests in between the chassis rails so you have to lift the back to get in, don't know how practical it would be. Probably more practical than my toy tipper, i reckon it will be ideal for little jobs and my chipper is only small anyway:

Get the old truck on ebay somebody will probably buy it!! As for the toolbox looks good, although don't know how thief proof it is. I've known roller shutter doors be put in very easily. They hit the middle of it with a sledge hammer which causes it to pop out of the runners then they just bend it out the way. We found that a bit of steel bar half way down means that this should be easier to stop. You could put a steel (Or wood) shelf halfway up which would have the same effect. Or it maybe that that shutter is better than the roller shutter door type and wont come out the runners as easily. Rob

It is indeed scary those pictures say a lot. Guess it all depends on what the original poster wanted to do with it though. If your bringing 200kgs of logs out along a track possibly not an issue, if it's more then well, the above pics speak for themselves. Never even thought of the above scenarios..... R