Jon Lad

I thinks it's a good website, most of Joe public looking at that would be impressed I think - looks professional. I agree about the cheesey scientist photo though, made me chuckle that one.

Just be careful you don't start treading on the toes of the firm you subby for, otherwise you might find you need to find work for yourself for more than just weekends.

£252.00 + vat

This seems almost as pointless as the clown I used to work with in Brisbane, who recorded how many feet he'd ascended at the end of each work day!

A friend of mine was doing some powerline work quite a few years ago. This was back in the day when lets say it wasn't as essential for you to have all the right tickets to be working. He was climbing a tree to be drawn back from the wires, there were two other lads nearby felling some spruce which were growing too close to the wires as well. At the same time two contractors were up a pole just next to where they were working, doing some work to the cross member at the top of the pole. One of the two lads felling the spruces, just stuck a back cut into one of the trees that was to come out - no gob or even a step cut and it fell the wrong way and the top of the tree landed on the wires, before bouncing and sliding off them. One of the pole lads shouted down "What the f****** hell are you doing! A bloody tree surgeon shouldn't fell a tree like that!" To which the lad who'd done it replied "Well I'm not a tree surgeon, I'm a baker".

That was very interesting, thanks for posting the link.

Has anyone used one of the new Huskys which have the secondary chain brake lever above the grip on the back handle? If so, what did you think to it?

G.B. Oils Ltd 01925 858500.

In my experience, employers will pay you what they can get away with paying, not what you should be getting paid in terms of how valuable you are, in terms of productivity etc, to the business. If you aren't happy with what your being paid - speak up. If your employer wants to keep you and thinks your worth it then he'll up your wages. If he doesn't, and he knows he can replace you - he wont.

I'd list what qualifications you have eg NCH, ND etc. There are alot of tree firms' web sites where people say they've got umpteen years experience and the only qualifications they can come up with are NPTC units. That's ok for the practical side but if you can show the customer (and the competition) that you've got a bit more than that, it can only be to your benefit.

Fair comment. But you might find some people are put off by your age or alternatively they'll think they can walk all over you if they get you to do the job. Good luck to you though and I hope you get your business to where you want it to be.

I think it's pretty good, but I'm not sure you should put down that you've only got 4 years experience as it might not seem all that long to some people. You don't really need to put how many years experience you've got, just state that you are experienced.

I am interested in any feedback,pros and cons, about the 3.5 tonne twin wheel tipper from anyone who uses one for tree work or who looked into getting one. Do Isuzu make a crew cab tipper in that model? Or just single cab tippers?

That's an excellent web site you've got there, more and more people are using the internet now even the older end - I'm sure you will get a lot more work from it.

We pay £35 to get ours done and he's usually done in 30-40 minutes. Cheaper than a chimney fire though.

Lucky. My mate was too as the section that hit him still had the rubber stopper in place, otherwise it could have been really nasty. You certainly don't need to go looking for accidents in tree work, they'll find you in time.

This was what happened to my mate when someone hadn't put the retainer in place on the top section of a triple set of ladders, he lifted up the middle section. The top one was caught on a guttering became unhooked and shot down and hit him in the eye. NOT when he was working for me I hasten to add.

I though that as a glimpse of what tree work is for someone who has no idea what it involves and purely for careers guidance, it was quite good. The choice of a tree in such a state of decline, in some ways made it more obvious to people quite how dangerous this job can be. I agree about the spikes though. Why would you opt to do any dismantle without them? Never mind a tree with a canopy as unsound as that.

Something really has gone seriously wrong with the legal system in the U.S. when people are claiming and WINNING for things like that.

That was as infuriating as that programme last night, comparing english and foreign workers. Total wastes of skin the lot of them: especially the parasite solicitors driving it all along. And you wonder why insurance premiums are so high in this country.

Really good programme on C4 now: Scams, Claims and Compensation Games about the personal injury industry we have in this country now and the habit of suing for little or nothing.

It's a lot more complicated than was put across in that programme. They selected people, as has already been said, who would make good tv not who would give an fair comparison of a hard working eastern european and a hard working english person. I'm sure there are plenty of lazy poles etc in their own countries. But we aren't going to see them here: if you haven't got it in you to work, your not going to regardless of where you're from. They should be allowed to come here as economic migrants, and work when there are jobs for them. But don't allow them to come here and put their kids in schools, when they can't speak a word of english and have to spend extra money out of the education budget to teach them. Or allow them to remain here when there is no work for them, like happened when the construction industry collapsed, and claim benefits for them and their families. I couldn't believe it when I heard they could claim child benefits on kids they don't even have in the country with them! Make use of them to the country's advantage, then as soon as they start costing money: get rid.

The price would come down because they would have to shave their mark up! The annoying thing is that over the last few years the quality of the components seems to have come down, such as not using Tillotson carbs anymore, but the prices have gone up. I don't mind paying for kit if what I'm paying is worth it. Take those new 4 stroke engines in their hedgers, if those engines last a year they'll be doing well. Trying to tune them to tick over takes forever. The sooner they get this 2 stroke oil job sorted, like they're trying to do with motorbikes at the moment, the better. They'll be able to go back to 2 stroke engines again.

No one dealer would dominate the market. They would be in the same boat as the rest of us and have to compete for customers. The products they sold would be priced by the free market not fixed between themselves.

My mate tried to get a crown wheel for the cutter head on a pole hedger and Harlands said they couldn't sell it and tried to flog him a complete head. He just took it off an old one we had in the end, as Pickles at Otley were as awkward about it, tried to tell him it couldn't be repaired.