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Mark Bolam

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Everything posted by Mark Bolam

  1. Mark Bolam
    SWB I know exactly where you are coming from. A lot of our stuff now is really basic clearance etc. Been great wearing shorts recently! I haven't got the kit you have, but the more kit I buy the less hard I have to work for the same money. My current project is building my own hedgecutting MEWP using a 20' ladder and an old skateboard.
  2. Mark Bolam
    Do some companies just put mega money on every job, and hope they pick up one in ten? I've done loads of jobs like the one Matty described. Perhaps it might be a good business strategy. Work one day a week and make the same money! Incidentally, I never ask customers if they have had any other prices then try and beat them or any of that old b***ocks. Pretty much got to be £50 minimum these days IMO. Quoted £45 to reduce a very small cherry last year. The old boy thanked me and said he had three other companies coming round to price it! Reckon that one went to the bloke who happened to have his Felco's in his pocket.
  3. Mark Bolam
    I will make exceptions in some cases, but I find the bigger the job/company, the longer they want to pay. This is a double ballache because on the big jobs I have more overheads, fuel wages etc. Did some work for a company building a petrol station who happily paid 4 times my quoted day rate on a 90-day payment basis. Crazy.
  4. Mark Bolam
    £350/day for me climbing, 1 groundie, truck, chipper and waste disposal. £100 per man on top. Less for hedgecutting/non-climbing work. Me climbing about £120/day depending on who/where. BUT the figure varies depending on loads of factors. For instance a nice local Ash takedown which will be great fun and give us a nice load of chip and cord, I'll price less. Conifer with bramble growing through it, slightly more. No, much more! Basic PL & EL £600. East Kent. Good thread.
  5. Mark Bolam
    I got so stressed about cashflow I changed my invoice terms to payment on completion and make this clear when quoting. If people don't like it they can get someone else in.
  6. Mark Bolam
    Well impressed mate. Most 16 year olds round here are too busy developing their thumb muscles on playboxstations to achieve anything like that.
  7. Mark Bolam
    Exactly 10 inches before the operation.
  8. Mark Bolam
    Jobs a good 'un. Do you know the reason for it's demise? We took down a Birch last year that the TO thought had been poisoned by a leaking septic tank.
  9. Mark Bolam
    Seriously they look like great boots, but I think the red colour is a bit OTT for my conservative taste.
  10. Mark Bolam
    Have to agree MB. Some close calls there, and I couldn't really see why the job called for a heli in the first place. The drop zone must have been much worse than it looked to justify the expense. Film doesn't always show the true picture.
  11. Mark Bolam
    Might well be if he still has that wispy little beard in the middle of his chin!
  12. Mark Bolam
    Is that the cordwood being stacked up from a recent Monterey Pine takedown in Penzance?
  13. Mark Bolam
    No mate. Easy to tell the difference. Mine have a pair of size 9 Haix's soperglued to the top rung.
  14. Mark Bolam
    Think I might go with the reds. Team them up with some new Hiflex in small, then head off down 'The Blue Oyster' for a couple...
  15. Mark Bolam
    Wow! Some job! What powers that dolly unit on the yarder cable Ed? Is it all run off the PTO? Cracking pics. Hope the fawn made it!
  16. Mark Bolam
    My father-in-law did something very similar in France last week, viciously re-topping a small Oak. Had to finish it for him when he was knackered. Hanging in the crown with one arm wielding a blunt bow-saw. Undercutting impossible, tear cuts galore. I hate that tree now, and you have to stare at the bloody thing from the patio. Full kit coming on holiday with me next year! Just shows that some of these DIY types have a big set of Cojones on them. I was bloody terrified!
  17. Mark Bolam
    Hiflex only last me a year, so the extra money will be worth it if I get 2 out of the SA's. I understand they won't be as cool as the Hiflex, but I find anything too hot for a full days climbing in this heat! Caning the hedgecutting jobs at the mo wearing safety shorts...
  18. Mark Bolam
    Gomtaro 300mm here, with Sawpod. I find it really annoying the way the sheath seems designed to crumble away at the top where you pull the saw out and shove it back in. This makes it dangerously loose after a while so you have to replace the whole lot now and again. Cracking saw though.
  19. Mark Bolam
    Me too. It's the 1/10 times that would worry me!
  20. Mark Bolam
    Ditto Huck. My steel core flipline came with a snap hook on one end and a screwgate crab on the other. Maybe I should try and sell it to a museum. Hate the thing. And its not long enough to girth the big stuff anyway!
  21. Mark Bolam
    MB you have stolen that move from Michael Jackson's routine for his sadly not to be comeback tour. And you've nicked his gloves.
  22. Mark Bolam
    I think we all know these fellas did the job and is was a monster tree, but the pics aren't going to appear on Arbtalk. I have heard a rumour that a groundie is trying to negotiate an exclusive with 'Hello' magazine...
  23. Mark Bolam

    Dead Elms

    Mark Bolam replied to RPA's topic in Video forum

    Nice work mate.
  24. Mark Bolam
    Looking large my friend...
  25. Mark Bolam
    Just played that Andy - thanks. In all this excitement/anticipation I'd forgotten just how good music can be.

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