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Mark Bolam

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Everything posted by Mark Bolam

  1. Postage would kill the deal Mick, the new one weighs 85kg.
  2. You may need to be a bit more specific.
  3. I would have thought they will move!
  4. Congratulations mate! Good post as well.
  5. Can it not be felled across the gardens to the south west Ben? Obviously that would cause carnage but there would be thousands of pounds in the kitty for reinstatement works. Remember it will take even longer than you think climbing on 2 ropes....
  6. This arrived yesterday and so far so good. Had 45% charge and Makita charger soon topped it up without a single fire! Used it in the drill and driver today and seems fine. Thanks for the heads-up fellas.
  7. £300 max then Stu.
  8. I would say it’s more likely that it could possibly be the case. A lot would depend on the size of the tree, the actual type of clay soil, and the topography. You’re lucky I told you that, I don’t normally speak to grasses!
  9. Toothed ascender above systems with no back up mate. Fail. My new system is both ultra-lightweight, self-tending, and invisible. I don’t want to give too much away at this stage, but I think it could make me a fortune so I’m playing it carefully.
  10. Here’s hoping mate, mine should arrive tomorrow. 18v 5A for £23 is about 2/3 less than Makita. I’m sure they’ll be fine if you squint!
  11. Same old, same old really Mick!
  12. Just ordered one on the strength of this, been needing a spare for my drill/driver combo for ages. If it's good, thanks fellas. If it's not you're all a bunch of bastards.
  13. I think the big danger with any over-zealous, badly thought directive (like this one) is that people will see what a load of bollocks it is and ignore it. That may lead on to them ignoring other directives because of the precedent, but some of those may be extremely well thought out and totally relevant, like eye protection. The whole thing is quite frankly a disgrace.
  14. Would the HSE prosecute themselves?
  15. I have taken 20 years learning how to turn a 2 hour job into a 4 hour job!
  16. Hope he’s doing well, you always said he was really sound and a proper grafter.
  17. So true Don. You’re not paying for half a day, you’re paying for the 20 years it took to learn how to do it in half a day.
  18. Was that Adam Rich?
  19. It’s an extremely valid point mate, and I think a few of us should print some hard copies of Lane/HSE 2004 before the website is ‘currently unavailable’. HSE, go and make yourselves useful by sorting the door-knockers out instead of pursuing this madness, you spineless twats.
  20. I used to back in the day. One Parish Council said their policy was to go for the middle quote of 3, and I was the lowest! (I guarantee I wouldn’t be now!). It’s tough working to a spec like the OP had. Most of my work now is repeat customers or referral, so if I get a call from a random involving the phrase ‘cutting back’ it sets the alarm bells off. At least half the time they don’t own the trees for a start. Domestics are usually ‘Sorry, we went with a cheaper quote’. Fair enough, everyone likes money. One that sticks in my mind I quoted £2k on (conny removals) and lost out to a £300 quote. I had 2 days in mind for me, the lads and decent kit, but these boys took 4 days with 2 of them. Exactly the same spec, low stumps, tidy site. You can’t worry about it too much. Prices and standards high and charge on!
  21. That’s the thing Wayne. The lads I use would never have a problem pulling a late one if required because we all know arb isn’t an exact science. They wouldn’t ask for extra because we get plenty of early finishes, although I might get the beers in! My business model is a lot different from some though, me and the lads I use have worked together for years and often work for each other. I do think it takes the piss to reward hard graft, skill, innovative thinking and new techniques and kit (supplied by the lads) with hours of extras when the team have already made the company the money that it set out to make that day. Probably why I’ll never be a millionaire, I’m just not a big enough c***! Spudd, forestry is a different game, your day is never done!
  22. C’est la vie mate. At least it wasn’t on a fart.

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