DN22 Gardening

we've done about 100 cube this year. also been selling in rings, both green and seasoned. we're moving yards in April so want stock as low as possible. Seemed like a good idea at the time but i'm thinking about next years supplies now....... had a guy ring this morning (sunday) at half seven, new customer, never heard from him before "sorry for ringing so early on a sunday morning (obviously not THAT sorry). i've just been past your yard, can i buy a crate of logs please" sorry buddy, we're all sold out" "but theres loads in there" "what there is in there is either for my own use, or is reserved, sorry, and do you realise its only half seven !!!!!" "yeah, but so and so up the road gave me your number and said you'd sort me out." "as i said, sorry, but we've sold out, and i never sell logs from my bed" "thanks for your call, if you'd like to ring back later in the year we may have some stock. " What a pr$$k, who wants logs at half seven on a sunday!!!!!!!

well, after panicing a month before christmas that we were going to have a yard full of timber left over a the end of the winter....... took my last order today.....thats us sold out...again hows everyone else doing

we try to aim for natural breaks in the work. i.e. we'll have a cuppa and a natter during morning sharpen, then it might be a cuppa between 10 and 11, which might go something like "we'll have a brew after ive dropped such n such tree" lunch around 1ish same as above, home when jobs done

explain to the customer that your quote didn't include the big ash, but, as a gesture of goodwill you'll do it as long as payment is made in cash at the end of the job. if you explain it correctly, in a pleasant sort of voice, you might be suprised at their response ( you might not be though ) we did a re-modelling job recently and when it came time to pay up the lady said to me in a very condecsending voice "you can't have made much money, did you underprice it ?" " yes love" says i "just a bit" she paid me in full, in cash, gave the three lads on the job £20 each, and me £100 i hadn't underpriced, just done a good job for a reasonable price. the other quotes she'd had were miles above ours.

whenever we sub to folks and include a truck its always £50 per day. try getting a tipper with a tree surgery back on it for less. also the night before the job i fill it up to the brim, then, on the way home fill it again. the firm we're subbing to get the reciept and charged exactly what it costs us. no hassles, no ripping off, everyone wins

the old girl in all her glory

lol you might be right with the pickup we've got, but if you'd ever driven our chip truck, you'd realise the folly of your comments the ldv was a racing car by comparison.

or get very drunk with alot of unruly, hairy ars** tree huggers

cheers ian, but itll be mainly conny. dont think it agrees with bio burners

hi eddie, near Brundall just off the A47 buddy, there'll probably be a couple of tranny loads of logs as well

hi all, just pricing a job near norwich maybe 8 or nine loads of chip anyone know anywhere nearby thanks, dave

no Worcswuss, mores the pity, we've got a couple of new transits and they're not half the van the old LDV was. in the four years we had it, all the LDV needed was three tyres, a clutch and clutch cable. it never once wouldn't start, it pulled like a train (upto its 50mph top speed), it carried anything we ever put on it, over all types of terrain. but it definately looked like its nickname. the pik** bus.. lol. soz mr bullman, not being racially aggressive, that WAS what everyone called it. the transits get through tyres like there's no tomorrow, have spent an average of three weeks a year in the garage, get stuck on grass if there's even a hint of moisture, are nice to drive, quiet, and we defo won't be getting anymore thanks for asking

hi all, please be aware that you're not always protected with paypal either. a mate of mine bought a gearbox for his lotus 7. paid via paypal, no gearbox, no money. after much wrangling with paypal their final answer was that the guy had closed the bank account connected to his paypal account and they had no way of getting the cash back. BEWARE people

don't go for the one in your pic either mike. the pin dosent stop up on its own, so you have to have some one stood behind you holding it up while you reverse onto the trailer. ( got one on my nissan) get one of the type where the whole pin pulls out, and if you ever break the securing chain, don't leave the pin in the hitch, they pinch em for fun round here

hi all, just read the "business advice" thread and some of the comments regarding vat registration really made me chuckle. if we take two sole traders, who have the same equipment, same overheads, do the job to the same standards, in the same time. yes, at the end of the year, the vat reg firm will be better off. BUT, purely working the domestic side of things, quoting against each other, the non vat firm will win every time. mrs miggins up the road couldn't give a monkeys if you can claim the vat back for your shiney new 880, all she cares about is the fact that her tree needs removing and firm A wants to charge her £600, and firm B wants to charge her £720 (£600 +20%) now if we tweek the formula so firm B charges £500 including vat, things look even worse, as they'll have to pay the vatman his slice. Yes, firm B can claim the vat back on the new 880 and put the rest into capital expenditure, but firm A can claim the whole lot (saw and vat) against their profit. Plus firm A hasn't got to worry about Mr. Vat man coming knocking to do an inspection. A mate of mine has just been investigated and its been three years of hell. High court appearances, letters accusing him of fraud, you name it. Just finished the process now, no action taken against him. As for larger firms not wanting to spend large ammounts with non vat reg'd firms, thats total rubbish. one of the first jobs i won when i went on my own was a £5k job, which spiralled, over two years, to over £30k. One of the last ones we won before going Ltd ( and vat reg'd) was a two week £15k job for one of the uk's largest construction co's. we beat three of the largest tree co's in the country. Not bad for a guy with a rusty old LDV....:lol: Sorry guys, just playing devils advocate.

PMSL you've got far too much time on your hands.

we once did half a mile of 40'ers down to 20' for a chicken farm middle of summer, all i had on was a vest ( i wasnt as fat then) ,was covered in rash. as you said in your original post. connys pay the bills. come late spring they'll be 75% of our work.

My boy is also 12. he's been chopping kindling for about 18 months. i pay him £1.50 per net and include a net with each cube of logs we sell. we get free off cuts of pine from a local furniture manufacturer, i cut it to 9" on the cross cut saw, and store it all in a bulk bag in the shed he goes in fits and starts though, when he wants to buy something, he'll go out and do a load ( his best was 80 nets in a weekend). if he dosent need anything, he'll not bother.

do what i do steve, sleep with a loaded shotgun under the bed. they might get away, but at least they'd be injured. there's only one main hospital near us......easy to trace

moving to a new yard in a couple of months, and we'll be constructing a chip bay. concrete base, dunno about the walls yet. main reason is, i'm hoping that the one load a month we should get out will nearly pay the rent. no contamination, and the blades are changed regulaly on the chipper so good chip. who knows, got to give it a try.

when i did my 30/31 (many years ago ) i only used a 170 with a 12" bar. the assesor was impressed with how i did the larger trees i'd check first if you need a bigger bar. failing that, theres an ms260 on ebay

it'll kind of clash with our jensens colours though

bloody hell i need to up my rates

As Alex has suggested earlier. Directory of tip sites Probably available to members only

We'll be moving to a new yard around feb / march time and will be offering tipping for chip and logs, and possibly brash prices TBC probably around the £10 / £20 area DN22 0AN