simonm

The site has to be clean afterwards so bulldozing is not an option, is there a swinging hammer flail that would be suitable for rocky ground? 

I have got about a 2 acre site to clear of mostly bramble, rough grass and lots & lots of small self sets. I am wanting to put a bobcat & forestry flail through however the site used to be an office block which was demolished & crushed on site, the hardcore was spread over most of the site & compacted down.

I know that dropping the mulcher on the deck wont do it any favors, is it possible to keep it just off the ground to avoid the stone or would it just not smash stuff up enough?  

Second week on my own now and its being good, got subbies in on a few jobs then steady away on my own, no waiting for folk or telling them what to do. Get there get stuck in & go home earlier without worrying about working longer to pay wages.

looks good...nice steady job.

Try calling Ian Waddington on 01430 444 700 or 07816343377 from Russel group ground care he's based near otley. Don tell know fully what your after but it's a start.

Cheers matey

As per title...on kubota uk main website it inly shows 2 dealers both down south?

I think the key is to have an exit plan and do what you can to work to it, I know there is some jobs i can do perfectly well on my own and others not so well. If subbies are working for me and various other firms then there is no issue! Skyhucks comment makes a lot of sense all of a sudden

But its perfectly acceptable in construction...

Are the government trying to stop all this subbing stuff & trying to get more people on.the books.

I mainly work on my own, my own work or subbing. I do have an old boy to help now and again.

 

One Bloke I do some work for tells me his biggest problem is finding reliable staff, which surprised me because he's a fair bloke that pays well, and looks after the lads. Good Kit, good vans that the lads get to take home, and what I think is good money for lads on the books.

Do you find you are as productive on the right jobs?

Turnover is vanity, profit is reality.

Going to tattoo that on my hand so I can see it when.im banging my head

I have been in this situation before & decided to keep going down the employment route for convenience more than anything as trying to get subbies in when you need them was not always possible, i suppose an organised diary would solve this.

Struggling to get my head around the doing less bit without feeling like i am letting the business down.

Perfectly possibly. Your profit margin will likely be less though, but so will your headaches for the most part.

I have chased £ for the last few years but am coming around to the idea of taking on less work, turning over less money and just being greedy with my wage. The headaches that seem to be never ending employing folk are driving me round the bend.

It seems perfectly possible for 1 man to do 1ks worth of work a week, any bigger jobs that come in bring subbies in to help out.

Its difficult trying to change your mindset from driving work through to doing enough to pay yourself a good wage & enough to invest back into the business.

Does anybody work on their own when the job allows it and bring subbies in as an when for bigger jobs?

Is is possible to run a small arb firm with no full time employees?

Simonm whilst I know it can be frustrating to have unreliable kit I hoped my earlier comments would at least show it can happen to most major manufacturers in this market place, there are plenty of us who have run Forsts without issues.

 

My reasons for looking elsewhere is because I don't like using the machine, not that it's bad.

Oddly the ST8 we demoed I thought was a beast compared to the ST6 at that weight though and price I'd considered a Bandit.

I appreciate that machinery by nature will at some point have problems, its the never ending list of problems, the fact that we are loosing money & being made to look unreliable! The list goes on!

Ive got an 09 tw 190 that is in daily use and has being flawless, a carlton sp2010 that has never let me down & bandit grinder that has being spot on.

Maybe I bought a friday machine! Either way its going before it lets us down again.

Forgot I'd started this thread and have just had a read through and noticed a couple of things which concern me.

 

1. Marc you had the same grease bank issue and were told to replace with stronger pipes. So it's a recurring fault and I wasn't given the same advice, I shortened my pipes to fit new olives making recurrence more likely.

 

2. Someone's machine blew all it's hydraulic oil out of the filter, mine did this just over a week ago. Buying a filter not through forst is impossible and we were in Sheffield with Heavy engineering everywhere, a little concerning why isn't it a common part? Fortunately the I ring was ok so just refitted the filter filled up with oil and hoped, it's been ok thankfully.

 

3. It threw a track, we had the kit with us to sort it but the only way to empty the grease from the tensioning piston is to remove the idler roller from the machine put it in a vice and swing on the nut. Not ideal and fortunate we had access to a workshop.

 

4. Twice this week it has stalled when the anti stress should have kicked in. A quick fix but surely anti stress should mean this can't happen it just stops and you back the jam out of

Has got me thinking that perhaps I need to carry more spares and spanners! Oh and given depreciation just hope I'm having a rough couple of weeks.

No amount of spanners or spares will make up for the fact that its going to cost you time, money & reputation! Get rid now before you end up stuck with it!

9 weeks mine has been in with redwoods now, yes I have a loan machine which has also gone tits up, this is piss poor imo!

3 years warranty on a machine that has constant issues is a joke, nobody at redwoods seem to be interested in discussing the machine only the poor service manager!

I cant understand why some folk are prepared to sweep it under the carpet as though its acceptable on a 22k machine!

As a small business 22k on a bad buy is a hard mistake to swallow! Especially when its through no fault of your own.

Its ok a manufacturer repairing stuff but when it just seems like 1 thing after another what do you do!

Hi Simon, said car may possibly be refunded/exchanged but it would be an epic fight to make this happen. Look at Beau and the grief he had with a brand new Isuzu D Max pickup, i read stuff in the media all the time with customer dis-satisfaction regarding new sub standard vehicles and peoples efforts to get the faults remedied.

 

Reading all the comments in this thread is a bit sobering as these rogue machines are indeed a black mark against the manufacturers and an expensive thorn in the side of the respective business that own or lease them.

But why send 20k + machines out to market that clearly aren't ready and expect everyone to accept it and take it on the chin! If it were a new car it would be replaced or refunded after so much grief!

Sounds like our Timberwolf... at least you got a loan chipper we were without ours on many occasions until they finally sorted this out and provided loan machines.

 

Our Forst has been trouble free and is 3 years old with 750 hours only issue is kubota engine fuel pump went. And the hood hinges kept breaking until we welded them.

What tw is it? Problems???

get a tw230 on hire for a wk se how it fairs

We are shafted with this johny as money tied up in it and resale value is nothing for a 2 year old machine with no hours!

Stuck between a rock @ a hard place springs to mind.

Sounds like our Timberwolf... at least you got a loan chipper we were without ours on many occasions until they finally sorted this out and provided loan machines.

 

Our Forst has been trouble free and is 3 years old with 750 hours only issue is kubota engine fuel pump went. And the hood hinges kept breaking until we welded them.

The loan machine actually broke down.

Shame because it smashes brash...just unreliable to the point its making us look bad as we are knocking on jobs, more down time stood waiting for an engineer. Its crippling us!

Longer, just found ticket for when it was collected on the 24,4,17.

Problems in order...

New electronic control unit...

Feed roller bearings hitting each other, washers bodged on niggly bits.

New ingnition coil.

Tinwork around flywheel shaft cracked, chute cracked.

New machine 270 hours on approx 27 months old.

Loan machine while mine fixed blew hydraulic filter off emptied tank everywhere.

Fed up of it!

Mine has been in for 6 weeks now! Spends more time in bits than on site working, worst machine I have bought!

Anyone have any experience with the newest John Deere x950r???