alex_m

It's decided to stop raining every day in Cornwall. Now been sunny for a week. Astonishing. I forgot what it was like to be able to do anything outdoors other than work.

I'm with Trust as they do my PL and EL. Iveco tipper, £750 a year for any driver over 25.

I set up on my own 6 months ago. Set up a google business page and had previous customers leave a review. I have had loads of work from google ads. I think if you aim for 5% of turnover (or predicted turnover) being spent on advertisement you should be ok. It's a bit daunting spending £60-70 a week on google ads but the jobs that come from it far outweigh that cost. Facebook ads was a waste of time and money. I took everyones advice and steered clear of bark, yell, checkatrade etc etc.

I did a job recently for a construction firm on a building site and the invoice was paid minus 20% for CIS. This is fine as I’m used to it from rope access being mostly CIS. However this is the first time I’ve had to deal with it as an employer in tree work. I had a subby on the job with me. Do I pay him his full day rate or do I need to deduct CIS? Do I need to register as an employer for CIS? cheers

I’m not telling you to do this but I drilled two 6mm holes in my 150 exhaust and it’s a different machine. Picks up the revs a lot quicker and never bogs down, even with the whole 12” bar buried.

I’ve worked 3 days a week for some time due to helping with young children. More recently I’ve started up in my own and earn more in 3 days than I ever did in 5. When the weans get older I might push it to 4 😅

Cheers. And yes, back in 2009 when I’d finished college. Not sure where that time has gone!

I started in this trade during the last recession in 2008 and I’ve just started up on my own with the next one looming. Obviously I make all the best decisions 🥴

Ok I’ve ordered some from Amazon. £11.50 ish for 10 pairs. Thanks for the heads up. Pretty much the same price as 3 site pairs.

Climbing since 2009, own climbing kit and range of saws. Competent with any size tree, be it take downs or reductions. Land Rover I can use for towing. Held a towing licence since 2012 so had plenty of experience Happy to be on the ground if needed too for a smaller rate.

When i first went freelance around 10 years ago I let the companies set the rate, which seemed the done thing at the time (with the companies I worked for anyway). Every climber got the same £120 rate and we were ok with it because we were young and stupid. Even earning closer to £200 doesn't seem that much now with how much everything has increased. Back then a saw that's £700 now was £450, boots and trousers have gone up 50%. But wages have stayed fairly stagnant.

Old topic but thought I’d just chirp in. I swear by the red ‘Site’ gloves in screwfix. They’re comfortable, a good fit (actually modelled around human hands unlike a lot of them) and last many days of climbing and general work with good grip. Site 320 Nitrile Foam Coated Gloves Red / Black X Large | Mechanics Gloves | Screwfix.com WWW.SCREWFIX.COM Order online at Screwfix.com. Breathable, nitrile foam-coated gloves with comfortable nylon and spandex blend...

Oh and Cormac did that exact same thing as that sign in Mabe a few months ago. Took a week or two for them to sort it.

@kevinjohnsonmbe by biggest I meant tree firm but yeh I agree with what you say. I don’t really have much to say on them apart from seeing the boss on Facebook defending paying really bad wages as that’s just how it is in Cornwall, when it really isn’t. I’m my experience (being a subby), wages are much the same as the rest of the south west.

Gone into administration. Biggest company in Cornwall, I didn’t expect that to happen. Seemed like a firm that was too big and busy to fail.