richy_B

That is so broad it is meaningless. You are either sensible and charge the 'maximum' so you cover yourself against a large financial loss or you do in 'cheap' to get through the process and basically get buggered in the long run. Basal and epicormic for example. You quote a few pounds a tree based on it being a London Plane and they send you to do a Lime. Massively different resource input from you. What is interesting is they seem to lack the most important items of a council arb framework - pollards and repollards. Perhaps your region is different but my experience is they form the bulk of your annual work.

An interesting number was that in the wake of Carillions collapse 2700 small business who subcontracted to them folded within 6 months. Read into that what you will.

I disagree. Outside MOD you can directly contact anyone if you are willing to put a bit of honework in. Ask around on a job site, get a name. Google/linkin them. Tell you what you have put here, interested in commercial work, would they consider using you. Rinse and repeat. You may get somewhere eventually. If you want an easy way to get commercial work contracts then you are going to be disappointed. I'd stick to domestic. Once you run a few teams then look at term contracts.

Have you contacted them and go no reply?

If that's what you are aiming for then just approach housing associations, small business units with vegetative areas or similar directly. Hello, this is what we do locally, please bear us in mind. Contact 500 a quarter and you mind start getting a few. You're going to find commercial GM rates are going to be crap. Far more money for the same work in domestic.

I have bought a machine that had finance on it. Seller was completely upfront about it but it was a pain in the arse. We agreed a price he'd sell for, we then contacted the finance company and asked for a final settlement figure. I then had to make them the payment and they would 'release the title' I think they called it. I then paid him the balance. It was all done via BACS and on the phone whilst I physically sat beside the machine, lots of communication and hassle before. Totally honest, there felt like so many ways you could get scammed. I only did it as the deal was really good - Had to be really or no-one would touch it. My advice would be to decide you definitely want to sell it then take out an unsecure loan for the finance settlement figure. Clear the finance and you have a straight forward private sale. I reckon most buyers will be put off and the sale price will suffer.

Ha, I feels a bit like it. Going to have a go at the EGR on the weekend. The intermittent nature of the fault is the worse bit. I can do 10 X 33 mile journeys with a quick check of the coolant before I set off every time and its absolutely fine. Then out of nowhere the coolant shoots out like a fire hose. There seems to be absolutely no oil/coolant mixing at all. I drained the oil (which i only put in a few weeks ago) and its looks fine. Equally the coolant exiting doesn't appear to have any oily residue. I am thinking its exhaust gases that are getting into the coolant system but the head passed compression and chemical tests so what else is there but the EGR cooler?

Well back to the drawing board! Had the new radiator in a week and a bit. Did about 500 miles, 200 towing. Happened again. I had driven 150 miles with no bother, stopped in a layby to check directions before setting off again (engine not turned off). Temp just fine. Pulled away and within 15 seconds the temperature jumped to the red line and I could see steam from the bonnet. Coolant was exiting the expansion tank rapidly. Really foamy and coming out like I'd cracked open a beer keg. Let it cool and refilled the radiator - it took nearly 5 litres! So we'd had new water pump, radiator and thermostat. System flushed. Compression and sniff tests for the head. I am thinking EGR system has got to be the next port of call. Maybe the valve is sticking and in certain scenarios there is enough pressure that a porous EGR cooler is letting a sudden gust of exhaust gases into the cooling system. I can't think what else would pressure a cooling system so much it would be ejecting so much coolant all of a sudden. So I can either blank off EGR and then bypass the EGR cooler with a bit of pipe or replace EGR cooler.

Ultimately it lies with the owner. Having staff means having problems. By having staff you can theoretically achieve more work, thus a greater revenue and hopefully a higher profit and remuneration for you. If you find staff too much of a problem then you are not forced to have them. Work solo and accept you can only achieve X amount of work. Being the boss might not always mean you are making the most money etc but you always have the decision making powers. Two sides of a coin as well. You feel employees are getting it easy. Employee feels like you are making all the money without having to get involved. The grass is always greener...

Did you make your own blank? I assume it's between the cooler and the EGR pipe. Not at the top end towards the turbo.

Obviously a fully functioning EGR valve is a legal requirement of the new MOT system. But for offroad use I completely agree with you. Next maintenance session I am going to take the inlet manifold off and clean it all out. I had an issue with the EGR vavale sticking so cleaned it out a while back. far amount of shit in there.

I did read up on this. The EGR cooler could be to blame. I assume if you blanked the EGR off (purely for offroad use) it would mean no gases passing through.

Going well. I got some new stickers and have orders some Same paint. going to give the bonnet and panels a little spruce up.

Update. Flushed the radiator myself and put a new radiator cap on. Seemed ok, nothing obviously coming out from flushing that shouldn't (fragments, rusty bits etc. 200 miles later I noticed it getting hot again. Topped it up with about 200ml of coolant. Put it into the garage for testing. They did a compression test on the system and apparently all normal. They don't suspect the head gasket. No obvious signs of coolant leaks anywhere. Going to get a new radiator in. It's about £150 but it'll eliminate that at least.

Anyone want some free spiral guards. I have thousands of unused ones I am getting shot of. There is a full ton bag. No idea how many but it's a lot. Will fill a ton bag. Can collect from West London (just off A40 near RAF Northolt) or I go home down the M40 so could meet someone at Beaconsfield services around 4pm. I'm going to skip them next week if no takers. PM if interested.

Value of long term contracts is your most valuable aspect in a sale. Value per year X years remaining PLUS any clauses for renewal/extension.

how would I know? will it be hard to flush through?

Thanks guys. I'll give the radiator a good flush out then go from there.

Hello, got an intermittant overheating issues I want to put to the masses. L200 mk5, 2009, 2.5 diesel. Just hit 100k. So about 2 months ago I was driving in. There is a point about 5 minutes from my house where the truck reaches normal temperature- I know this exactly as this is where I switch on the heater in the winter. I glanced down at my temp guage and it was stone cold. Bit odd so I watched it for another 20 seconds and all of a sudden it jumped from cold to normal. Not gradual, just nothing to middle in a blink. Stopped and check it all over, levels seems fine etc. Carried on, nothing different for another week and few hundred miles. Week later I was on the motorway and the temp started to rise. Got towards the red so I stopped. Check it all over, left it 5 minutes and restarted. All fine again for a week and few hundred more miles. I was due a bit of maintenance so did the timing belt and tensioners, new water pump, new thermostat and coolant. I thought the temp issue might be a sticky thermostat. A week after it got hot again. I stopped and this time the expand tank was bubbling over and steaming out the over flow. I let it cool down and found the coolant had dropped loads. Lost about a litre. Refilled with 50/50 mix and carried on. Fine again for 2 week or so. I thought i'd give it a test so when I had my multione trailered behind and a reasonable steep uphill on the M40 - dropped it down to 4th gear and really pushed it. Within 10 seconds tue temperature rocketed and when I stopped it was bubbling over from the expansion tank. Let it cool and topped up. I am thinking it's the head gasket but I'm not seeing anything else Is associate with it - the oil seems clean, no milky aspect. Same with the coolant, no oily residue. No smoke from the exhaust etc. I have not seen any drops or obvious leaks under the truck so I don't think it's a spilt hose split. The thermostat seems to be working fine. cold one side of the unit the. once the engone has been on for 5 minutes the other side heats up. Radiator fins seem clear and nothing that would hinder it. I'm going to run it into the local place and get them to test the head gasket. Any other thoughts?

Ball park - What would a full engcon tilt rotator set up cost on a 2.7t machine (two aux hydraulics)? Unit, standard bucket, controls and set up? Considering for this winter.

I tend to go in at about a foot high then back out at ground level. Gives you a chance to see underlying crap before you hit it. I avoided many a brick/chunk of steel/mattress this way.

Any groundwork with own tipper looking for a week's work? No tools required, we have a tip site. Just you and tipper. 8am - 4pm. West London, just off A40. Paid in full on the Friday. Message with a week's rate if interested.

https://multec.co.uk/shop/post-drivers/post-driver-side-tilt-pd2-2/ With an adaptor bracket was what I thought. Side tilt. Would still be a two man operation to be efficient.

Not myself but I have seen one on an Avant. It was ok but I wasn't hugely impressed. It was next to a 300kg on a 70hp tractor so perhaps not a fair comparison. It looked like you would need to have a smaller weight (150-200kg) than you would on the equivalent size tractor (1.5-2t). Multec do one on a MO/avant bracket.