Stephen Blair
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Everything posted by Stephen Blair
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I like the 1 that goes ‘ if you think you are important, try telling someone else’s dog what to do!’
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The height limit does exist, don’t work above it without contacting them to increase it , the same as if you score a bigger contract than usual, call and discuss. If you spend most of the time doing smaller back garden stuff then break it down to percentages. I doubled what I charged years ago and at the end of the year a previous insurance company wanted to charge me more, I told them the risk was the same I just charge more now. I sent them my pricing schedule as proof and it stayed the same.
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Once, I bashed a car with the digger in a car park climbing out a foundation I was digging out. I was only insured for tree work at the time but the digger was fully comprehensive, they sorted the van no bother and there was no change to my discount. NFU all the way imo.
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never been an issue for me.
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NFU work on percentages and turnover. Mines broken down into digger work, ground work, tree surgery.
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Haven’t seen this for a while, it popped up on Utube so thought I’d share.
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100 %, all RAMS include staff tickets. That cover all aspects of the job, digger, chipper, Mewps, felling, climbing, Windblow . Bigger clients will ask for updated info every year to stay on the contractors list. It’s so much easier now we have technology in our pockets . -
Kate I already had a client list ranging from private customers, companies, councils, FC , RSPB and many more but the loop was closing with old school site agents retiring off and the new breed of safety officers who didn’t know the job on site but knew what contractors needed to have. The difference it made was I didn’t need to employ climbers with tickets to put on the RAMS for the jobs. So it gave me freedom from stress of employment problems that I was always poor at managing.
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I heard it’s to be 12 degrees next week!
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-15 here just now.
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-17 in the village last night. -13 just now, doors wouldn’t open in jeep.
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Dodger Daves getting his winter coat!
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Here’s my version of a stump peeler. matock face 1 side and serated edge the other, with a sharp corner. made from Hardox 4 the secrets in its curved anchor shape for leverage so you use the crowning action and not pulling the machine back and forth loosing energy and power.
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I dropped these trees about 5 years ago so hoped they would of been pretty rotten. So I tried with peeler first as the tip on the corkscrew is £300 and the ground is stoney. After a couple of hours of bucking bronco I decided, screw the £300 let’s use the cone. Single pass busting up all the stumps with cone. Then start with tooth bucket digging out what I can and passing back making fresh pile for lad in Avant. When I need the stump peeler to either cut or mattock I swap between and work my way up and turf patch fill and pad down as I go. The customer is aware it needs soil and seed in spring if he wishes it to blend in with the rest of the lawn.
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Managed to get back to the stumps yesterday afternoon and this morning for a couple of hours between climbing job, customers happy. Job list is getting shorter for Christmas so happy days.
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Grew up helping my dad do firewood and getting sent up trees to tie a big rope on for the tractor. Made my first coin at 14 pruning a big cherry tree for an old guy called Mr Grant, he just pointed and that’s where I cut. Did my felling ticket at 19, mucked about on garden small trees until I was 22 then bought my first harness and spikes and went from there teaching myself in the woods around my shack. Word got about I was the lad who cut trees, got my first job that year for a tree surgeon, lasted 5 weeks as he was an idiot, then got a start as a climber for a better company and that was it, 6 months there on the dead elms then started myself in 1999. Finally did my climbing tickets in 2008. Still on the saw and climbing when I can’t get the young ninja subby out. But prefer sitting in a machine now.47 now.
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Special root stump murdering kind!
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Conifer hedge standing volume to chip volume
Stephen Blair replied to Ty Korrigan's topic in General chat
Volume of material always stays the same, a chipper allows the material to compact easier. Before I owned a chipper I’d mash it down with the saw in trailers, then tippers and you could really cram it in. Especially with a high back door. 90% I was told with a chipper. bonfire 99% -
I discovered I was a dick in under a week and once I’d got all the Ego out in black and white on a screen, threw a tantrum and got humbled by the good nature of the veteran member I’d insulted and the patience of Steve Bullman giving me a 2nd chance I discovered I could make myself a better person by listening to others.
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When you hear it squeaking!
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This raises a point that I overlooked in my previous posts and what I didn’t consider before! TRUST! It is hard earned and easily lost. Your family farm will of worked with their neighbours in the past and will know the boundaries. When working for a new customer no matter the reward, monitory or timber or use of a machines, it’s important to keep the scales evenly balanced, not every day it will be a 50/50 deal but always remember to balance things up when pay day comes is what I say.
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That was my mates Hilux, we called it the Pig. He bought it new and added all the bits over the years. I go between Fb market place for local sales, Gumtree for local and a bit further afield, EBay to cover the country and Arbtrader for bespoke tree trucks.
