richy_B
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Everything posted by richy_B
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Maybe big corporate customers and the lads on the ground just grab what they need with asking the price.
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I'm sure everyone has covered most points but I'd be apprehensive about taking a big pto onto a steep site on the back of an alpine. I have a agt 835 forestry spec and, as the all do, the handling is great but with 500kg+ on the back you'd be asking for trouble on wet slopes. As an alternative idea how about hiring a tracked dumper to get the tracked chipper in and about? £300-500 for a week but you could load the chipper into it then slow on the bad bits and put you foot down on the more level bits? I've used a 3 ton before and it was pretty quick.
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Found myself in a HSS today and there was an ad for red diesel. They sell it in 20 litre plastic containers. £24 plus VAT!?! Can't imagine they sell many of those.
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Sorry, no help to you but I made something similar for a friend a while back. Looked great on the day. Split after a few weeks. Definitely run a sander over it.
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Do they get 5 days a week, 50 weeks of the year work though? Plasterers I know do.
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You could be right. Personally I've always been envious of trades with minimal kit. I mean as an arborist you have a 3.5/7.5t+ tipper, chipper, several chainsaws, PPE, climbing kit, rigging kit and so on - easily £30k worth of kit everyday you head out. A plasterer can get away with a compact van and a hundred quid worth of kit. Plus easy to work from your home where as even the smallest arb set up needs a yard somewhere.
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I saw some 'premium' bags of hardwood logs outside b&q. All absolutely coated in thick white mould. I'd be embarrassed to try and palm off such shoddy products.
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My tip is something that might be obvious is putting group anchors below the axles of machines/trailers and a short chain. I often see people have gone to great efforts to concrete on a big post/steel eye but then chain the chipper around the tow bar/front etc. Easy to get a grinder/torch to. Two separate HD eyes welded to the base of a container, two separate chains going over the axles to the eyes with two big padlocks is my approach. You could cut it still but you have to slide right under the machines to do so and it would be a awkward.
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I've not tried the new(er) ms661 but had a 660 for years and it's a great saw for bigger stuff. I run a 25" and 36" bar.
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If you are going to put your hand inside a running machine you probably deserve whatever you get. A trimmed finger is getting off lightly in my opinion.
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Good looking brekkie. I have a bit of toast (if I'm lucky) on the way out the door.
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Agreed. We have been able to benefit from deductions I would have never known about doing it personally. -
Drax in n.yorkshire I expect. My understanding is there is good availability of dry wood (shredded pallets, wooden construction waste, etc) which will obviously be far easier to burn than wet chip so hardly anywhere wants it now. I've heard £2-4 a ton plus you have to have a machine to load it. As you say, now it's hard to give it away. The logistics, as you mentioned, must be a killer. I can't remember exactly but in the past we had a lorry collect it to take it to Slough and they could only get 16 or 17 ton in at a time. We're relatively close but it would easily be an hour coming to us, 30-40 mins loading etc then an hour back plus whatever time to queue/tip at the other end. Once dried it's probably only 9-10 tons a load.
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Permanently or a temporary stop? Since Slough stopped taking woodchip for the power station dispose g of chip has been much harder across the while SoE.
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If you travel directly to the site then these hours will count. If you travel to the company yard then head out then they won't. I presume most people start and finish at the yard in arb? In reference to the OP it is really down to you to decide what your time is worth. The PPE, climbing kit etc will actually be a small percentage when you look at it over 18 months/life of kit. I'd have though if you are a ground in the SE you would be looking at £8-8.50 an hour. For an experience lead climber £14-18 per hour. I know a lot of places work on day rates but for me a working day is 9 hours with a reasonable allowance for breaks. 10 hour days on a regular basis should be compensated.
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If my power tools are going away for more than 4 weeks I run them dry. Just what I was taught.
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My advice is buy equipment/machinery you HAVE demand for currently. Do not buy equipment for what you WANT to be supplying. Without an established market you could find yourself with £25k worth of ornaments sitting in the shed. Costing space, insurance, etc.
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Depends where you are? Forestry flail seems like the obvious choice. If you can't find anyone free a big excavator would be my next choice.
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Could see it working well on domestic jobs (provided you can get it down side access etc. Small petrol chipper 'driven' in. Chip into the truck and then back to the truck.
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I've used a muck truck a few times. Definitely an advantage over a wheelbarrow of steeper ground. Not used the arbtruck version, which appears to just be a change of 'bed'.
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I appreciate what you are saying but for me being able to sit down with someone who knows what they are doing is valuable. Face to face contact is preferable for me, or atleast the option of. Everyone is different but i try to concentrate on customers and generating business. I do not want to spend a lot of time doing payroll, my personal tax and accounts. I think I am good at what I do and ultimately spending my time on that is more profitable. It is spend 3-4 days a year working on tax (or googling it!) I'll be a couple of grand amd no guarantee I'll get it right. Also I don't like to fall into the trap that many of us on here moan about (not that I am accusing you of) - People assuming they can do it themselves and paying a 'professional' is a waste of money. We've all had customers who had said 'it's just a tree, I'll give you £50...' Accounts spend years training to become chartered so I certainly don't think I can muddle my way though it.
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Agreed. You should be an employee taking an £8k salary minimum.
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I pay around £3k for LTD company covering all the usual plus my personal tax and a couple of employees. I shopped around, near London it seems about right.
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I did my b+e a couple of years ago. Prior to that I had been pulling trailers almost daily for years. Despite this I thought it was worth having some tuition. After all they don't necessarily teach you to tow, they teach you how to pass the test... From what I recall the actual test isn't cheap so having a few goes to get it right didn't seem like a worthwhile option. Not when a two x three hour training sessions was only £200. One of the big thing I learn was if you caused another drover to slow down, when you you were pulling out for example, it was a straight fail. This sounds common sense but in busy areas you really need to watch this as you also score minors for hesitation. Edit - a quick Google says it £115 for the test on a weekday. £141 for the weekend.
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Thanks. Its a L200.
