richy_B
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Everything posted by richy_B
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Insurance aside have you spoken with your current employer about your additional work? If you are competing in the same market place with the same services I imagine you are going to run into some problems sooner rather than later.
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Ah, I understand. The machine value will be figured into your monthly payments then obviously the lower the hours the better chance of getting a higher resale when you sell it. Finance companies like to confuse things with lease hire, lease purchase, hire purchase, contract hire, contract purchase or any other combination of similar words! Its like the j̶u̶d̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶n̶t̶ peoples front of Judea.
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That's got to be fairly unusual, who do you get them through? I can't see how it makes sense for a company to lease you a machine and not have any restrictions. You lease a 3cx for 5 years and return it with 2500 hours or you return it with 7500 hours - massive difference in disposal value for them.
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Agreed. Its seems like a lot now but £150 today and even with daily use you could get years out of them.
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Are you looking for a basic one page site with a photos, bit about you and contact details or something a bit more in depth? My experience is it is worth spending money on a decent site. We can all spot a naff one someone has knocked up in their bedroom. These days a lot of business comes via the internet and it will be their first impression of you as a company.
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I would hope that if you went back to the retailer they would replace the belts FOC. It would seem very poor customer service not too.
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I think it very much depends on the type of kit and the volume of work you plan on doing with it. I have found in the cases of a chipper/ mini digger/3cx/more common bits of plant that if you are going to be using them on a fairly regular basis (15-20 hours a week) then buying new with finance is very attractive. You get a brand new machine with warranty. Higher chances of reliability and hopefully less downtime. You can buy near the end of your VAT quarter so you can reclaim quickly. Low finance rates (I've been offered JCB finance at 3.1% before). Put down a larger deposit if you want to reduce the finance amount. Then at 5 years old you've still got a machine you can sell on for a decent resale value. I dislike leasing as primarily because the hours limit per year is usually low (500 hours PA is common in my experience) and the additional hours charge is a lot. For a chipper I would expect to clock 800-1000 hours a year.
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I was doing a bit of work in a river, tied a bit of regular blue rope to a tree to help scrambling up and down the banks. Come back 15 minutes later and someone has had it away!Unbelievable.
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I try to never buy anything till you have guaranteed customers lined up. Advertise locally with the prices you want and see what response you get. This will make the decision far easier.
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Employed and wanting to claim back equipment vat
richy_B replied to kiersindevon's topic in Business Management
Something not quite related but worth knowing is that if you have to clean your own PPE/Uniform you get tax relief. This can be back dated up to 4 years as well I believe. I used to 'save' £75 pa because I informed HMRC that I had to wash my own kit. -
Gardening is worse than tree work in my opinion for being under valued. The biggest challenge is convincing the customer you are worth more than £7/hour (or the equivalent as a job rate). The vast majority of people think gardening is a no skill job and will be flabbergasted if you want more than £50 for a half day. It is not helped by the sheer number of people who enter (and leave) the market. Anyone with a van and couple of tools from B&Q can call themselves a gardener and start competing with you. Its cut throat. Have you considered specialising in a particular aspect and building your pricing on that? Could be specialising in patio cleaning/pressure washing, garden design or renovation, instant hedging, etc. etc. Specialised skills command better rates even if it not particularly challenging.
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Depends on the location? I heard Surrey, inside or out of the M25?
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Any ideas of how you change the lock on the hitch for an ifor williams plant trailer? Bought one recently but there is no key. Its locked in the open position. I've had a brief look but its not completely clear how you'd go about changing it. I know these are very vulnerable locks and only likely to slow someone down for a minute or two but as its on the trailer I'd prefer it worked and you can get a replacement for £12. Any pointers?
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Soon to be charcoal I reckon. I was amazed how much they made in Morocco.
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Thanks guys. Much appreciated. Assume I know very little about diggers/hydraulics - When you say double acting you mean the hydraulics will move two ways - forward and back for example? Would this not be the case with a 'breaker' piping? Sam, what you have seems to be pretty much what I am looking for although I might go a little larger and with a full canopy (for those wet days). Do you mind if I ask how much that set up cost? Stephen, I did look at at the option of just a thumb but but I really think the rotor aspect would be so much better for me in the long run, manoeuvrability wise. Budget wise I'd like to get a machine and the grab/rotor for £6-7k (ex VAT) which I know is tight but hopefully do-able.
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Can anyone offer me some pointers of 'arb diggers'? I am looking at buying something compact for general landscaping but also to assist with shifting logs around the yard etc. I'd go for something in the 1.5-2t range so I can trailer it. i'd like to fit a grab and rotor for ease of use when moving logs. Budget not huge so I would be looking at second hand. How easy is it to fit a grab and rotor? Most diggers I am looking at are pipe for a breaker but I assume I need a second hydraulic service to power either the rotor/grab. I quite like the Takeuchi TB16 and they seem to be in my price range. Any tips?
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For any business you really need one thing - paying customers. Have you got any lined up? In my first business I got sidetracked by dozens of other things and lost sight of the this. Keeping focused is the best tip I can offer.
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If you've got the knowledge and experience why not just go for the assessments? I think you can get 30/31 done for £150ish. Then after a months work do your 38 then 39 the next month. Call your local college, see if you can tag on to an assessment day.
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I've used these guys before and so have 6 colleagues. Not the cheapest but very well done. chainsaw training, woodchipper training, tree felling training, uk
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I did my 32 about 5 years ago and found it difficult to get a course. If I remember rightly there were only two of us on it. I think the reality is a lot of guys only bother with 30/31 and 38/39 so they dominate the courses. Limited interest other courses, limited providers and limited assessors. Try looking for a cs33....
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I think the 1899 act is just an example of several possible exemptions. I was told before MOL is exempt and there are many woodlands in London that have this designation. They have, as mentioned, recreation at their core and are not there for the purpose of timber production/revenue.
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If it is local authority land then it could be worth checking if the sites are designated public open spaces. If so I believe they are covered by the exemption: 'Felling fruit trees, or trees growing in a garden, orchard, churchyard or designated public open space (eg. under the Commons Act 1899).' The local planning team might be worth asking in regard designation.
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I know, I'm keeping an eye on them. No harm in inquiring here though, I know quite a few people who steer clear of ebay. Best to cast a wide net!
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Hello, I'm in the market for a tipping trailer. Manual or electric, 2700-3500kg, caged/solid sides preferable, not too far from London ideally. Only got £2k(+VAT) in the budget unfortunately. If you one is selling or knows anyone please PM me. Thanks.
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Is it worth having logs that 'dry'? 20% MC seems about right to me as most species will burn well/cleanly. At 1-10% I can imagine it would burn far too quickly. Perhaps useful for a pizza ovens etc but you'd be getting through so much wood in a fireplace/stove I'm not sure its viable.
