richy_B

Hello, anyone know of a cheap source of plastic stillage boxes? Something like . I've rung around a few places but people want £80+ each for them which seems like loads for what they are. Looking for 10+ Thanks, Rich B.

Why not just get regular insurance in your own name on a car policy and have business use added on? You can specify you use a trailer occasionally. 23 year old even with no NCB shouldn't be more than £2k on that vehicle. If you are insuring under a business name it will be more expensive. You also need to be clear about the situation. If you mum runs your business then it is still YOUR business. If you own the car, you're on the V5, you mainly use it then insure it as you being the main driver. Putting your mum down and you named is called 'fronting'. Insurance companies are far from stupid. Don't chance it by trying to pull the wool over their eyes. If you have a crash they can avoid paying out and you will be liable for recovery cost, third party costs, loss of your vehicle and so on. Saving a few quid sounds good but when you need it, it will come back to haunt you big time.

I use a couple for outside storage. They would slow people down & deter casual thieves but certainly not impossible to break into. Weld a few boxes over the padlock sections helps and of course use 2 very hefty padlocks. If I am away for a few days I forklift something heavy in front of the doors as well (couple of cube bags of sand etc). Stick a pir alarm on the inside as well. Slow people down and make a racket is about as much as you can do. I have seen one broken into via the roof which is quite thin sheet.

I've never used one but the price tags are usually pretty scary! Not to open a can of worms but they are into the mog price range.

I've looked into this before and it is obviously very dependent on your circumstances. I've used leased vehicles in the past and this is my general view/findings (not in a particular order): 1. New vehicles are expensive!?! Do I/you really need one? I now buy vehicles at 5 years/60k. It is the best compromise for me of vehicle condition, initial outlay and future depreciation. 2. You have to be quite detailed with your financial comparisons. As an example you can lease an average spec hilux for £220 a month (ex VAT) for 5 years. Total cost is £13,200. After 60 months it just goes back. If you purchased the same model you would be looking at around £22,000 (ex VAT) so financing it over 5 years at around 7% apr you would repay a little over £26K. At 5 years you could sell it for maybe £12k so your cost to have that vehicle was £14k. In this scenario leasing is the better financial option. If you did the same thing with a ranger though the lower resale might stuff you. The higher the depreciation rate the better leasing becomes. This is very dependent on if you would sell and get a new vehicle at years or if you would keep the vehicle till 7, 10 years or more. The longer you plan on keeping the vehicle the more sense it is to buy it. The loan rate is obviously important here. If you could get a rate of 5% apr then finance and selling would be the better financial option over 5 years. There is a consideration about how it looks on your balance sheet as well. Having a leased vehicle might look better that a loan on your liabilities. It could also impact on future borrowing. 3. Leased vehicles do not generally include servicing, breakdown, MOT (for longer leases)or insurance. You may be tied to going to a main dealer for all work, you may end up paying more for insurance because it is a lease. 4. Damage. If you are getting a working vehicle it is inevitable they will get a few knock. I've found the lease company will hammer you for this. That said it is only the damage they can see. That is not to sound dodgy but if you are using a vehicle as a workhorse it could be carrying a ton in the back, pulling a 2.5ton trailer, 7 days a week, stop start driving around town, multiple drivers, etc, etc. In this scenario you might be glad to give it back at 5 years before big wear and tear items arise. I had a hilux used in exactly that fashion and I felt sorry for the poor soul who would buy it at auction thinking they had a bargain 5yr/50k vehicle. The hard life of that vehicle was bound to catch up with it. 5. Mileage limits. You generally get 10k PA. Is this enough? If not, agree more up front. You get hammered at the end. I've seen up to 12p per mile charge for going over the limit. If you do 12k a year instead of you 10k over a 3 year lease you'll get hit with a £720+VAT charge. That's my 2 cents worth, hope it helps you decide.

Yeah, I'd try that too. 'Land leveller' is what I've referred to it but not sure of the official .

My wife is half French and her family obviously have a lot of stories of WW2. On a particular holiday 2 years ago I visited Omaha beach and sat up on the hills looking across the beach. I remember thinking just how far it was from the water (one of the widest beaches I've seen) and could not imagine what must have been going through the minds of the the poor souls who had to run through barb wire and minefields towards the machine guns on the hills. 'When you go home tell them of us and say: for your tomorrow we gave our today'

Appreciate this is not a current thread but to put in my 2 cents - talk to the banks before you assume they'll lend. I presumed because I had a good credit rating, financial history, business plans, etc that it would be as easy as asking for £15k and off you go. I had all but one high street banks say they do not lend to start ups or companies without 2 years trading history. The one they made an offer did so at 18% APR and want me to put up 50% of the money and provide security against the rest. For £15k FFS. The cliché that banks don't like small business was absolutely the truth in my experience. Even now as an established business with financial history banks still charge very high rates (from my perspective). 12-15% apr over 3 years.

Well worth it. £500 for test/training and use of a suitable vehicle then you have +e for life.

I use quikbooks for all my accounting. Very straightforward and only £19 a month.

Thanks guys, just the insight I needed!

Hello, was having a chat with someone the other day about thinning out some broad leaves for firewood. Nothing too exciting, a bit of ash, syc & oak. Relatively straight lengths that could go through a processor but we were debating the best size lengths. The kit for extraction plays a big part of it but generally speaking what do people go for? 2 metres is probably a bit short but you could ensure it was good straight lengths, 3 metres and straight might be far more difficult. 2.3? 2.5? or just a mixed bag of lengths as long as its straight. What would you go for?

-24 hour security manned security, -Lots of CCTV, -'Master Blaster' alarm. (highly recommended as this will make your ears bleed!). -Forklift-able concrete blocks to go in front of containers. Even then I still only think I will slow people down or perhaps persuade them to look for a softer target. I've heard of a lot of rural robberies with gypo's turning up with a cutting torch. What are you going to do to stop that! Landmines?

Feck, you wouldn't want to be in a Holden crash!

Looks positive. I've contacted Jim.

What is the correct hitch and uncoupling procedure? I know, I'm just testing......

Nice one, was it difficult? Been meaning to do mine for years but never quite got around to it.

I think what you need to do varies massively depending on what your end goal is. I was working on a project where a new wetland was being built and the material was being re-used on a landscaping project on a nearby site. We were required to get a serious amount of detail for EA approval to excavate and remove soil. I cannot remember exactly but the requirement was something like 12 tests all at different depths (up to 2.5 metres) and then laboratory testing. It might not be useful for what you are doing but I read through this (or something similar, it was a while back) and found out quite a bit of useful stuff. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69308/pb13298-code-of-practice-090910.pdf

How scientific are you going?

We've not sorted this out just yet but if it all works out as they say I think it is genuinely a good thing for small businesses.

That would be great. I'm near J1 on the M4. I'll PM you. Thanks mate.

Hello, Does anyone have any apple laying about (not far from West London)? I'm playing around with a bbq smoker at the moment but rarely encounter apple. Any old bits/branches will do. Thanks.

I've got an Exeter retort on the way. Mine will be the 12th I believe. As has been mentioned lifespan is the biggest concern but I am hoping we get a good few seasons out of it. Like all these things though, you do your homework then take a punt.

I am a little geeky when it comes to these things but mathematical way of working it out is pretty straightforward. Imagine a triangle (lets assume the tree is pretty much upright/without lean). You want to know the height side of the triangle or the 'opposite'. What you can easily work out from the ground is how far away from the tree you are standing by pacing backwards. This gives you the 'adjacent' length. From the the point you are standing you measure angle by eye between the base of the tree and the tip. Just use a simple 99p school protractor and a bit of string/pencil. Then using a calculator type in the angle you measured then press 'tan'. You then multiply this number by the distance you are standing from the tree. Add on your own height and you've got a roughly calculated height of the tree. So as an example - I pace 20 metres from the base of a tree. I hold the protractor flat at my eye level and look at the top of the tree. Lets say the angle is 50 degrees. type in 50 press 'tan' gives me 1.91 which i times by the 20 metres giving 23.8 meaning, I am 1.94 so add together you get a tree that is 25.8 metres tall. Sounds complicated but you can do it in a minute. This calculation is based on a right angle triangle but it will give you a pretty accurate figure. If you are on a significant slop the maths starts to get a bit trickier.

In the words of Chester Lampwick - "I don't need any more money. I'm not greedy, as long as I've got my health, my millions of dollars, my gold house, and my rocket car; I don't need anything else".