csservices
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Everything posted by csservices
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Got a call earlier off a mobile number saying had seen my wanted ad on woodlots and was I still looking for firewood, I said yes and he said your in Belper and I said well between Belper and Ashbourne, he then said "oh near ......" Isaid yes and he replied "oh right" and hung up, as there is another firewood man up the road from me I can only think maybe he has possibly had a run in with him before
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And the worst ones for screwing you down on price are the ones with money because as the old saying goes "you don't get rich by spending it"
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I don't specifically price in profit, I've always found when I do this I dont get the job! What I do is say put 4 days on a 3 day job, this is twofold if I get it done in 3 days I'm quids in, if I get held up and it takes 3 1/2 days I'm still safe, I have found recently that its helped not being vat registered because although there is still vat on materials, theres no vat on my labour which makes me 20% cheaper than a vat registered firm to start with, also I always give an estimate rather than a qoute, its rare that I under price it and have to ask for more, but it also allows me if a job goes easily to maybe knock some off the final price which always goes down with the customer
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I work on the principle nowadays that if they start haggling the price then its not worth the hassle, although I can get the measure of the sort that do pretty quick so the other way to do it is to price it higher than usual and then you can "come down" to what you would usually charge, I've also had people say so and so can do it for £xxxx my answer is good luck to them then
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Well the saps rising, cut some field maples out of the hedge I'm laying today and they were running like taps when cut, done in blue skies and sunshine with the birds singing
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Usually wheres the remote, or before that get up and change the channel other than that was usually "come back here and say that you little ****" to which my usual reply was "do I look stupid" His other favourite saying is when spying a bunch of folk usually the local great and good would be "if the good lord should cast his net.........."
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Haha I'm older and wiser now lol, well like to think I am
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Very true I've been in agriculture all my life whilst also sidelining in firewood and landscaping, and all 3 are full of busy fools, the fencing job for years now, I will probably get 1 in 10 jobs price for as theres always someone willing to work for nowt, as I've always said I can sit at home and earn nowt without killing myself, what you charge depends on what level of lifestyle you want, you can work your arse off to pay for shiny new kit and panic everytime you get a quiet spell or use older well maintained stuff work for a reasonable wage , it all depends what you want there is no right and wrong, at the end of the day be grateful you have a roof over your head and food in your belly
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watch out the timber fairies are about again
csservices replied to Joy Yeomans's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Tell you an easy way to slow up ones who are taking it with vehicles, was used by the farmers up in yorkshire when I was up there and was a problem with some riuding round in a truck poaching deer, what you do is get a couple of old sections of seed harrow, and lay them pointy side up in the gateway, if they get in they wont be getting it back out -
About 12 years ago was doing some roadside hedgelaying and was felling out a clump of ash trees, one was leaning towards the road, farmer said would help with it but as usual when time came he'd vanished, so roped it to the landy, put felling cut in back cut and started to pull with landy, rope snapped and the tree whipped back snapped off and went straight across road I was out the landy like linford christy started the saw on the run jumped the ditch sawed tree up and got it off the road in about 60 seconds flat
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One I'm doing at the minute, been layed about 20-30 years ago at a guess, gapped up with blackthorn at some point and then flailed umtil about 7 years a go and left to regrow for laying, so its a bit interesting
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Got a pair of oregons at the mo, not been bad trousers, only downside was they split through the groin after a short time, mainly due to climbing back and forth over hedges when laying, they have survived two seasons of that plus firewooding but are getting ready, like the looks of the ones in the Strauss catalogue for next time, I know thier other work wear is very well made
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Dont know if it would work on them but on an estate I used to help on we had an old two man saw about 2-3ft long and it had had a hole drilled just above the teeth and rope tied through, this was thrown into the lake and then pulled back to clear pond weed, it would cut it and drag it in one go
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Home - Website of countrysideservices! still a work in progress, got a load of hedgelaying pics to upload at the mo
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First thought would be to check there are'nt any broken drains, if its sewerage it will be easy to tell by the smell, but if its top water from the gutters etc may not be as easy to spot, we sorted one last year which is actually caused by a spring under the garden which fills a well and then the overflow runs down the garden to a manhole on the road, lleylandi roots had got into the drain and backed it all up this caused a huge mess as this drain is 4inch clay and runs full bore all year round, will have a look if I've still got the pics of it
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Only experience I've had with post hole borers is hand held or tractor mounted both of which were pretty useless unless in soft ground, digger mounted should be better, as we don't usually do big runs usually hand dig and concrete posts in, should manage 10 posts per day per man more on easy digging, that includes mixing and concreting in, back filling with soil tend to end up with them coming loose due to soil movement from wetting and drying, hand done like that works out around £21 per metre thats 3 rail with 7ft 5x3 posts
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I know it does'nt look very snowy in the pic but it was, this was us clearing a fence line of blackthorn scrub last week, the morning the pic was taken the digger was frozen to the ground when I got there
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Feeding the sheep in sunny Derbyshire, been snowing all day and about -2, had gone down to -5 when I left the yard tonight
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Got a couple of bulldog yorkshire bills but hardly use them, also go an old spear and jackson welsh style which gets used if I need a billhook, but for hedgelaying I have used a brazillian made machete for years as can keep it in a belt sheath and is always to hand when needed
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Seem to have deleted most of my mine off pc but first one is some oak post and rail done back in september and other is post and railing for a cattle chase, all the posts were 8ft 6-7's every 6ft under trees alongside a concrete track just to mak it interesting
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Stock fencers- what order do you strain up?
csservices replied to Matthew Storrs's topic in Landscaping
Netting first, I've got a drivall netting clamp, had it for years, clamp the netting in it, chain it to the loader on the tractor and reverse away til the netting stands up, nail it off, release tension and wrap off round the post, my local supplier has the cheap fence posts at front and 15 year guaranteed round the back at higher price, to be honest it all seems as bad as each other quite often the strainers are so wet and heavy you cant pick them up without chance of a hernia, finding decent quality fencing at a price where you can stay competetive seems to be biggest part of the job these days, I've took out posts that went in 20 years ago that are still sound and yet have had posts recently that havent been in 7 years and have rotted clean off -
first one I've done this year, not very pretty, half dead, second lay up side of a building site, and the council genius decided I had to leave the ash and elders in as screening for the site
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Used to use 10mm to dust limestone and dry mix it and tamp in and let the moisture in the soil cure it, now I use postcrete most of the time less bulk to take to a job and you can get on much quicker, I've hung 12ft wooden gates same day using it before and had no problems ok so you need 3-4 bags for the hanging post but it means you dont have to guesstimate the distance for the clapping post and then leave it for two or three days and come back to hang the gate, its all done in one day saves time for me and means the customer isnt waiting to use a gateway
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Would a potato/grain elevator be any good? they have rubber belts and usually go quite cheap on ebay
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So long as it was local £60 tops or £50 if they were generous witht he tea and biccies or an oap
