Paul Jenks

Actually, although the money goes to the landlord and the LA, the money is well spent. The working conditions for the guys and girls are sooooooooo much better. They are the lifeblood of the company so why shouldn't we have decent accommodation. I have some really good, hard-working folk with me and to either work all day in a portacabin or work all day and come back to a cowshed is not great. The girls work in a well lit office with carpet, air conditioning and everything. (The guys have to take off boots before entering.) We have a resource room/second office and a meeting/training room. All the kit and vehicles are stored inside in the warm and dry. We have showers, toilets and kitchen facilities. We have a forward thinking company headquarters where our clients, large and small, come over for meetings or coffee and we're not embarrassed to invite them in. We have a fridge with beer and the guys chill out when the get back from grafting. It's a great place and worth the money.

We pay about £8k rates a year for a very nice 4000sqft unit, rent is about £20k on top. Expensive, though immeasurably better than the rat infested cowshed we used to be in.

Carrying out a site risk assessment is more than having a look round and ticking some boxes. All the operatives should have a deeper understanding of the site specific hazards and the risks associated with these identified hazards, the hazards of tree work and the risks associated with these, who and what is likely to be affected and how to control/abate the risks. Unless everyone on site truly understands the hazard abatement process, ticking a sheet of paper and asking them to sign it is unlikely to stand even a small amount of scrutiny at a PACE interview, let alone a courtroom, if the worst should happen. Get yourself on a risk assessment course and you'll get all the forms you'll need along with a degree of understanding so you can implement your learning.

Traffic lights should only cost about £150 +vat a day. If you're concerned about how to go about your TM then contact your local NRSWA dept and ask. Of course you may then get charged for a licence to work on the road and you may have to book a time to do it, so it doesn't conflict with other works and the emergency services know. Traffic lights are much safer and better for static works and generally work out cheaper than having a guy or guys stood around for more than half a day.

Prompt Payment Code https://www.gov.uk/statutory-demands/overview Check out these 2 sites. The statutory demand is a bit of a sledge hammer though it might focus attention.

We always used a cigarette lighter to 'mend' the frayed ends:lol:. Unless it's a very expensive and very new rope I wouldn't even think about mending it. Too much time and effort for a non-guaranteed result. Cut it in 2 if 2 or more strands are compromised.

We used Everest and they were absolute crap. Had to call them back 5 times to rectify snags and then didn't pay all the bill. They put one of the windows in without an external sill. You could see into the cavity from the outside. As has been said, find a few local companies. Get a few recommendations and check out some of their work.

So. Chop down a tree and feel like a shag. Makes perfect sense to me.

Ask these folk, HomePage | Flora locale Though Difflock has summed up nicely. Once the hay has been worked you could use a pedestrian baler to get the sward off the ground. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMK3O00Fyo0]BCS Model 853 walk-behind tractor with CAEB mini-haybaler - YouTube[/ame]

Decent not too processed food is the trick. As you mature you'll get a feel for the amount you need to eat and drink and when you need to do so, commensurate with the level of exercise you do, unless you're a fat fkr. I used to row at national level and be lead climber for a company. Often it was difficult to get enough calories so I had to resort to protein shakes. I like fresh juices made with almost any kind of fruit or veg thrown in. Last night we had carrot, apple, lime, broccoli, celery, beetroot, ginger and pineapple. Fantastic. Check out juicemaster.com. It's like an elixir.

The busy market stalls are usually the best places to eat as they have a big turnover. Go where the locals eat and you'll have minimal 'gut' issues. One usually gets a bit of 'Delhi' belly when travelling between countries as the local symbiotic bacteria change and it takes a while to get used to it. The best curry we had was from a stall in a very grotty back street in Penang. Rats running over our feet as we ate it from banana leaves. As an aside, for 3 nights there was a running battle in our hotel room between a mouse and a cockroach. Eventually the mouse won and we found a beast of a roach under the bed, dead and on it's back, so we left some chocolate for the mouse.

Really? There's millions, and that's no exaggeration, around here. We have hundreds of miles of elm hedges. We're doing a patch for OCC Highways in a couple of weeks and have just completed a big run of them for same. Yesterday I looked at a load of dead and dying elms for a local parish council. Hardly a major hazard and definitely not worth sending a crew out to deal with. Felling some trees that are already dead/dying trees as an urgent measure seems a bit daft. Unless, (before anyone jumps in), there is a large and prominent and unaffected feature tree nearby.

Yup. That's cos they're poor and have to get their protein from something. If you've been to Thailand you should be used to some of the idiosyncrasies of the region. Go with your gut feelings and don't spend any more than $10USD on anything without thinking it through very carefully first. Speak to the longer term travellers you meet out there and they'll be able to give you solid guidance. Food and people make a country, scenery gets a bit boring after a while. If you find a guest house you 'feel' comfortable in, just stay there the week and soak up the local atmosphere. It's better than trying to cram in lots of sights. (For information, my,[now], wife and I spent 30 months travelling around Asia and Australasia a few years back).

Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) - Guidance for Farmers. Summary of the guidance for farmers in NVZs (Leaflet 1 - PB12736a) - The crop N requirement limit - Nmax (Leaflet 7) This is what a search brings up. If nitrogen deficiency is implicated then regular watering, as you suggest, and a regular, weak dose of 6:6:6 would probably suffice.

Are there specific points around the tree you have to dig these pits or is it up to you? I'd have thought localised concentrations like this would be detrimental. Were there other instructions like watering or decompaction or mulching?

The wobble is due to the oscillating frequency of the stem. The limbs oscillate at differing frequencies to the main stem and so when energy is introduced, i.e. a climber bouncing about, the limbs 'kill' [read: damp] the oscillations or vibrations. When working on a tree try leaving just a single branch on the section with your anchor point. Leave it there until you're done and remove only at the end of operations. You'll find the difference amazing.

All too true. Learn to sweep up before you're allowed to make a mess.

Are there lesions on the trunk? Type oak phytophthora into your chosen search engine and click on images.

Blimey. I think it's great when my staff talk to the clients. Look after your staff, they look after the clients and the clients look after you. Provide a good place of work and employ guys and girls who want to do well, give them opportunities to grow and reward them. They'll sort out the wasters for you. If a boss can't have an open and courageous conversation with his or her staff the relationship needs work. Be honest with the guy and say how you feel. Caveat the conversation first with sentence like, 'This is how I feel and please forgive me if this comes out wrong'. What have you got to lose. Get rid of the worry and find a solution.

Only if the ladder is secured. If it goes, I'd rather take my chances landing and rolling than being tangled up in a ladder with no control. I still remember the time, (some years ago now), I suddenly found myself working in 3d rather than working at height. Climbing Mojo.

If a client of mine wishes to use someone else, whomsoever they are, that's their choice. If it's as a result of my poor service then more fool me. If it's because they feel they get a better[read cheaper] job from someone else, so be it. I don't regularly use sub-contract labour, though this situation has occurred historically. Good riddance to both. Confidentiality agreements are usually used when accessing another companies' information when looking to buy it. You'll usually have a confidentiality clause in your contract of employment. Goes without saying really.

I like the website Mark. Really nice photography. Almost makes me want to go down there now. If you're still considering selling it might be worth considering being tied in for a year or two to help the new owner to get going. It's an option and it would maximise your return. The challenge most sellers face is their view of what the business is worth compared to what the market thinks and is prepared to pay. If the key individual, as TY said, is too much of the business it's virtually worthless as a commodity, assets notwithstanding. Any business in any business sector has to be able to run without the regular input of the owner to command any sort of sale value. Then sale value is based on profits and assets. Goodwill is worth very little these days so if you're prepared to stand by the new owner and maintain contracts, make introductions to good clients etc you should be able to reap some of the ongoing profits.

On that note, if one were to pay by credit card I'm guessing the protection is still there?

It'd take more than 100 degrees to catch oak flooring anyway. Might mark it a bit. Mine sits on about 125mm of York stone. The hearth is 125x125mm planed oak. No worries. If there is a problem in the future and their house burns down, that's when doing it by the book counts.

What's suspicious? I'm not an EBay aficionado, am I missing something?