DN22 Gardening

if we didnt have 100% feedback, i might consider it for 99p and just fell it and run LOL

currently got three of the stihl ones, as said above, pretty fragile (new shaft £200 ) but we were doing rail work and got an Echo one, it lasted for half a shift !!!! got a four mix long reach as well as the pole pruner, they're brill, you can really feel the torque

once went to an old dears garden to be told "we want the front flower bed clearing of everything, we're putting gravel down" off me and the boys went and started ripping bushes and plants of every discription up about an hour later the old girl brought us a cuppa. "you're doing a grand job, just make sure everything comes out" at lunch time we'd finished and i went in to ask the old girl if the kettle had broken.. (only joking) she came out to view our work and was very impressed with how much we'd done........ apart from asking where the 12' conny was that her husband had planted just before he'd died..... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS she was a little distressed but agreed with us that she had in fact asked us to remove EVERYTHING.. guilt got the better of me however, and at great expense i managed to find one very similar and put it back for her.. as stated above errors DO occur, its just how you deal with them

its a sad fact of the job that you'll not be able to make the same money on hedge cutting, as you will on tree work. we all cock up either way from time to time. i've just lost a job, approx 50' of conny hedge to remove (approx 8' high and 5' wide), three 30' wide ass single connys, plus another 12 single 12/15 footers, all stumps and make good the holes with soil and grass seed. my price was £750-00 the guy who got the job was £400 who's right ?????? am i too dear, or is he too cheap. personally i think there's a day and halfs work for three men. must be half a days stump grinding, approx 5 trannys worth of chip so imo he's way too cheap. he probably thinks i'm way too dear.. who knows its all trial and error good luck to you for trying though

leyland 272 here runs the cone splitter, and forks and bucket for the front. it also works on site when needed, winching trees out/over, loading larger trailers with cord etc.

i started after redunancy ( no payout), with just the landy. watched every penny like it was my last ( often it was ) worked every hour of daylight, and even some nights. did everything that came my way, from cutting hedges to cutting kindling. saved hard, bought an old knackered trailer, found a farmer who'd let me burn the brash on his land (for a drink) forgot holidays, going out, every penny went into paying the bills, or back into the business. now i don't work as hard. cash in the bank, three vans, tracked chipper, new saws, tractors, trailers, all the toys. main lessons i learnt, watch EVERY penny, dont pay £1.50 for something if you can get it elsewhere for £1.40. chase every job like its your last, it may be give a price, and stick to it, everyone will try and knock you down a bit. always put in writing what you'll be doing for the customer, for how much, and what (if anything) they're doing for you. turn up when you say you will, even if its p&&sing it down and you intend doing nowt. turn up, tell the client why you're doing nowt. they'll think more of you. and finally, when you've done the above, you've grey/bald, you can have the headache of becoming an EMPLOYER...:lol: good luck. you'll love it i do

Wow. Janey, you're quite a lady to be flinging yourself about in the trees, those arms must be allllllllllll muscle.....:lol:

call me sexist if you like......... Pics Please

any tips off the pro's would be more than welcome. i.e whats the best way to do the gills underneath the cap ????

put pics of the failures up as well i did !!!!

we store our logs in these crates. i was thinking of stacking them 2 or 3 high, making a tent frame out of 3x2 and getting some clear plastic sheeting from the builders mechant. over the top, and down the sides, it wouldn't last long, but it'd only cost pennies to build.

if i were making alot, i think i'd invest in a big sawbench for the tractor. i made 30 last weekend but need to dry em quick, going to a show end of august and going to take em, see if they sell

if i couldn't change a pull cord, i think it'd be time for me to hang my spikes up if you read the post, the first chap i spoke to was going to give me the cord and handle to fit myself, it was his boss who obviously didn't get his leg over this weekend. according to him its Stihls requirement to fit all warrenty parts. if it had only been £50 i would have got it from the local dealer, i'm a big supporter of shopping locally, just ask the butcher in the next village (£25-00 for a sunday roast !!!), but a price difference of £150 on an ms441 is not peanuts. i use them for most consumables, as well as repairs, they've got an fs86 at the minute which is looking like a £100+ bill (new clutch, and bearings), but as theres 3 Stihl dealers within 20 mins drive of us, it'll be the last time they get anything. when i took the saw in, while i was waiting to be served, i'd picked a new bar cover up for it. obviously it stayed on the counter when i left. lost sale they robbed me a few weeks back, i asked them if they had any Silky blades, non in stock, when i took the fs in, they'd got me two in, got home thought, hmmmm that bill was a little high, looked closely, they'd charged me £5-00 postage....!!!!WTF never again, my main point, which i suppose never came through, was the fact that i'd recieved crap service, and just wanted a moan... monday morning blues

bought a new 441 from justin at the AA show this year. top saw.... however, the handle on the pull start has started to fall apart so, passing one of the local stihl dealers this morning (platts harris of tuxford) i thought i'd call in to see what they said.... spoke to a guy called peter whom i've had dealings before with, couldn't wish for a more helpful salesman, went into the back, got a new handle and cord (they're bonded together) "can you fit it yourself dave, saves a lot of messing, you'll just need to nip your invoice in next time you're passing" "no problem, thanks buddy" says i, happy as larry. next thing main chap for the saws comes over having a right go at me "you didn't get that saw from us!!!!!" me "no, you were £150 dearer" him "the saw'll have to come in, we have to fit all warrenty parts, it'll take at least two weeks" me "TWO WEEKS !!!! to fit a new pull cord !!!" "well if you'd got the saw from us, we'd have done it straight away" "well if you could have matched the price i paid, i would have" this continued for another 10 mins or so, with him bleating about margins, profit, shopping locally etc, and me going on about competitiveness. i'm sorry, but if i went to joe public, £150 dearer than the next man, don't think i could whine when the customer uses said chap. and if the customer comes to me saying can i fix such and such problem caused by said tree surgeon, i'd take it as a good opportunity to show why i was £150 dearer and hopefully next time they'd use me. on hte upside, i'm off on my hols next week, so he can have the saw for the two weeks also, we WERE discussing buying our new pedestrian mower from them, a £1000 honda, guess not then...............

10k buys a lot of butties

hardest thing i found, was holding the piece still while cutting.

tried two more as well

ok, no laughing...... the first one i've ever tried. looks a bit like a table lamp

luckily, my bedroom window overlooks the only gate to our place, about 30' away. gravel drive, three yappy cockers loose at night, and a 3 shot semi auto shotgun to hand.....

replaced one of our old 044's with a 441 from Jonsie's at the AA show this year. Brill saw, tend to pick it up now instead of the 341's......

when i worked for hw martins we got the job of clearing a large railway cutting a Tring, Herts. It was 3 1/2 hours each way, every day, for 9 months. for the first 4 months i shared the driving, last half i did on my own.. bloody killed me.... :lol: now i'm on my own, about half an hour tops.

we started at home, until, same as you Mark, the wife got too fed up. now rent someone else's garden for timber storage. pay £500 a year, plus trim their very long conny hedges twice a year. all the vans and plant ( except the tractor and log splitters) stays at the house still, much to the wifes annoyance. one of the lads keeps pestering me to take one of the trucks home. NOT happening

you can really only do costings at the end of the year IMO. we're doing ok this year so far, bank balance is looking good, then along come three MOT's, a failed wheel bearing on the nissan, two strimmers going t*ts up. and now the bank balance is £1500 lighter..... no way can you cost things like that. at the end of the year, if you've made enough profit to live on, carry on, if not, jack it in, and go push trolleys at tesco's as for log prices, if you can sell at £140 per cube, good luck to you. round here i'm considered expensive @ £75-00 h/wood and £60.00 soft. if i could get top money, i think i'd sell all my equipment and buy ready to sell logs off the cheaper lads on here. :lol:

hi all, got to price two jobs up, both require pickets. need around 500- 600mm long, round top ones the other job requires around 400- 1200mm pointy top ones. any one got any idea where to source em from. thanks, dave

first project should be a lifesize stag.......in walnut or shall we start with the pine mushys.. :lol: