Paul Jenks

I'm looking at mine now and it's one of the bits that is fairly vague and open to interpretation. As with the differences in the level of detail required between this and the last one in 2005 I dare say that as this is a new section, in the next evolution there will be much more guidance on this point. Looks like something else that requires either training or subbing out. If the level of competency can be gleaned from your local TO or planning dept you may be in with a shout having read a book or two and armed with a piece of litmus paper.

He also has to consider what the purpose of the reduction is. More light Unsafe Bird droppings Leaf litter (I understand that these are not really good reasons for reductions, I'm just surmising what the client may think) A contractor working to BS3998:2010 would be hard pushed to acheive a meaningful solution to any of the above, especially as there are other large trees adjacent to these 2. I'd also go with what you said Paul.

I suppose that's where it pays to have a working relationship with the TO. If you think it's dangerous, which is still in the new regs, then a call to tell them so should do it. Perhaps with some supporting evidence. If they say no, not until they have issued the relevent paperwork, back it up with an email so it is there on the public record. Should anything happen in the mean time it's their problem. We had a big tree a while back that the TO wouldn't even sanction a reduction. After going through GOSE the client received a letter confirming the TPO and no works and, importantly, that if anything happened to the tree within the next 12 months they would be liable. It fell over 3 weeks later. It was 30m tall/long and if I'd stunt felled it into the gap it landed in I'd've bought myself a bottle of champagne. Missed everything. Cars, houses, road, wires. The LA ended up paying for the removal. Typically, and I would reckon this position is defendable in court, a tree that has fallen over would be classed as dangerous and one would therefore be able to clear it up.

That sounds good. Have you seen the latest copy of the bs 2012? How does the file come, as an email attachment or a link? Cheers Paul

Well it looks like the pressures of the adjacent development have probably done for this tree over a number of years. Ground level changes, including probably structural root severance. There is a large industrial looking unit above the tree and its construction and effect on subsequent alteration in soil moisture/run off added to the tree's woes. If there is no evidence of pathogens then the roots may have suffocated and died, lost structural integrity and it didn't take much for the tree to fall. If the potential contributary factors alluded to are relatively recent the landscape/construction companies may be liable if the tree was meant to be protected during operations. Depends on the legislation you have over there and how it was managed.

I reckon if the dog thinks there's a gerbil up there it might be easier.:lol:

You'd do better to consult a specialist and build up the supporting and antagonistic muscles. Wearing a support will encourage the muscles to atrophy and will do you no good in the longer term. Mosts stresses on knee joints when climbing are twisting so a pad won't do a great deal of good. Also, check out your boots, trainers and shoes and make sure they are all wearing level. It may be worth seeing a podiatrist to check your feet as this has a great effect on the way your knees and hips wear.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you, assuming the hand is quite large and its pockets are jangling. We had a case a few years back with an amount of over-hanging vegetation that we cut back from a housing association boundary for the HA. Turned out to emenate from a private house and when tidied up and affected a proper pruning cut on a small branch that was pushing the boundary fence over, which relieved the pressure on the fence, the whole site and the tree looked much better. Not according to the tree owner. The foot long stub we cut off was criminal damage and to keep her and the HA sweet it cost us about £2k. New fence, (bespoke), new tree etc, (it was only a crappy sumach). Point was we kept the HA in the loop and gave them no headache and dealt with it. We still work for them on all their trees and the incident was 4+ years ago. So the points about very clear specification for the client and the team are very important as well as taking your medicine from time to time.

Self-employed/sole trader can be applied to someone who, in this example, runs a business that employes people or just themselves as a climber. You register with HMRC 'trading as' Joseph Bloggs or Bombay Tree Surgeons. When the person or business is expected to reach or exceed the vat threshold they must inform HMRC and register to become vat registered. A limited company has to be set up with Companies House. You can do it yourself or a lawyer/accountant usually has packages set up to make the process simple and relatively cheap. The same vat criteria apply. The name, 'Bombay Tree Surgeons Ltd' has to be approved by Companies House to ensure it complies with their criteria and that it doesn't conflict with an existing company with a similar name, i.e. 'Bombay Tree Surgery Ltd'. A company has to have articles of association, a registered address and at least one director and a company secretary, (a different person not necessarily employed by the company). They also have to be cleared by Companies House. As a director a person has statutory and fiduciary responsibilities to the company, its staff and creditors. A director is directly employed by the company and is salaried in the same way as any other employee, and with the option of taking dividends from the profits of the company, assuming that the director is a share holder. (Not always the case). The company also has to hold directors meetings and shareholders meetings that are recorded and minuted even if there is only one director and he/she is the only shareholder. Accounts have to be submitted to Companies House every year as well as to HMRC and these accounts, abridged, are available to view by anyone who wishes for about £2. There is a lot more so that's it in a nut shell.

Sorry. It's the fourth one that should win an award.

The third review is brilliant. Still clearing the tears from my eyes. How you stumbled across this I know not, but thank-you very much for the laugh.

I agree that the first error was to listen to JV. If I'm driving I switch of Brucey at about 11:30 and listen to R4 so I don't even have to hear him do his tease. His self-importance and devils advocate positioning for public titilation is disappointing and demeaning to better journalists. The benefits system, as with virtually all systems, has to be designed to catch as many people it is designed to help whilst excluding those who don't need it. The crux is in setting the parameters. Make criteria simple and easy to ensure all those in need are catered for and the opportunities for abuse of the system are magnified. Diminish these opportunities and more of the needy are excluded from the system. There is no happy medium. If there is a set budgeted amount to be spent, give or take a few billion, the parameters are set to include enough of the needy and not too many of the freeloaders. The key challenge for the powers that be is that there only has to be one pensioner, one war hero, one widow, one disabled child who goes without and the media magnifies the issue out of all proportion, (granted, it's a tough situation for the person concerned), and steers a sizable section of society to think that the system is rubbish. Where people are involved, either developing, implementing or benefitting from, a system cannot be perfect. (And here I'm not suggesting the current benefit system is even approaching perfect). The media, and here I do include Mr Vine, are guilty of self-aggrandizement to the detriment of the wider community. If they practiced a little self-abnegation they would help the situation and perhaps gain some small measure of respect.

That's exactly what to do. Offer yourself about and work hard. However, working hard isn't all it's about. It takes time, and some never get it, to read a site. I imagine that if you are working a door you get vibes about people and situations and generally manage to avert trouble, re-direct aggression and dissolve situations before they begin. Assuming you good at your job. A similar type of skill set needs to be developed in tree work. The hazards are ever present and the operatives state of awareness and ability to adapt to situations using learned/taught skills is vital to the safety and efficiency of the site. This becomes harder as a person tires and this is when mistakes are made, so self awareness is important too. Knowing when to ask for guidance, take a break (and I don't mean slacking off), intervene etc. Yes, tree work is hard and it's not just hard physically. It is more difficult to learn and ingrain skills as time marches on. Not only because the brain doesn't absorb skills and program muscles in the same way as it did when young. We get out of the habit of learning as it pushes us out of our comfort zone. We are no longer the master of what we do. Break out and open your mind. Give it a go in your free time and don't be put off if you get knocked back. Expect to be tested. (I don't mean examinations/qualifications)

Very few people start out climbing. The old adage of working your way up is particularly apt here. It helps to get to know what to do on the ground in and around trees that are being pieced down or felled. Often you'll get the chance to try your hand at climbing and you'll find that the fitness you develop doing hard groundwork is just an appetizer for the aerial work. Some days jobs can be like playing rugby all day long. Every now and then you get a week of it so expect to be really, really tired for a while as you learn. Oh, and expect to get covered in all manner of dirt, resin, faeces and dust. Rain, wind, snow, hail and sunshine. Cuts, bruises, strains, sprains, breaks, creaks and groans. Wouldn't want it any other way.

Anyone with kids will appreciate the joke. Good spot Pedroski. Tony, the kids are already making the parents pay, this is the parents getting their own back.

I got bored when the text said he'd taken out some of the crown the day before and I'm not a big fan of Vivaldi. A bit of Wagner might have helped. But not much.

I think someone has been OD'ing on The Matrix

How and where you spend your budgets is also dependent on your business objectives. How many of the businesses/companies on here actually produce a budget forecast for the year along with a cashflow forecast and have monthly management accounts to see how you are doing? It's pretty straight forward to get proformas for most of these but by god it's dull. Luckily I have someone to do it for me. Adds administrative costs and saves me alot of time and I get a good overview of how we are doing.

I agree with a lot of the posts. We are AAAC and it was a decision I took as soon as I started this venture, (yes, I know one has to be trading for 2 years before application). I think it took us 3-4 years after that to get it and now we have it we endeavour to live and work by it's ideals. Anyone who is AAAC and thinks it's cheap is either deluding themselves or they are not doing it right. It's very expensive to fulfil the ongoing training, auditing and compliance duties. Given the economy at the moment it's easy to understand why some of these functions take a bit of a back seat though the underlining culture should be there. I take the point that some AAAC's employ one or two capable staff and the rest are not so flash. We don't align with that model. Before we were AAAC we believed we carried out works far better than some of the existing AAAC companies. This was true up to a point and the AAAC process was a very valuable learning platform for us. The point has been made, that for private clients, the LA cannot impose the type of tree company used or it's accreditation, only the standards to which they are to work. Stepping into the AAAC arena opens the doors to some opportunities and it also starts the process of closing others. Being seen as a more professional, bigger, more expensive puts off some clients and not just the smaller ones. I think the key beefs alluded to on here are the AA quality control, the markets' lack of awareness of what AAAC means and backhanders. Does anyone know the code words for 'I take backhanders in return for work'?

I guess, ELG, it's because not everyone who has contributed to a thread checks it every day. I sometimes go for weeks without checking. Not because I don't want to, sometimes the days rush by. On the more sinister front, maybe there are dark forces at work to ensure the message stays current. (For the greater good:biggrin:)

Try speaking to Lee at Arms of Old in Devon. He lives opposite my mum and I pop over there when I'm down visiting. They do long shoots in mum's top field. armsofold - archery supplies and equipment - Home He's a very good teacher and knows alot about the sport in general. I seem to have gravitated toward an American flat bow, 35lb draw.

I never liked bridges. I use an old fashioned Willans. Don't get on with the maillon either. I'm more cautious with a Silky than with a chainsaw. Most of the cuts we get, myself included, are from Silkys. Especially when they're new. By christ don't they make you bleed. Elastoplast and sawdust are a good clotting mix though. I'm not sure a steel core would last long given the constant bending at acute angles.

Thank-you Peter. Very succinct and informative.

The smaller the operation the more options are available for different forms of quoting. As a business grows there are more factors involved, as the information pertaining to each site has to be disseminated through more people. The client and surveyor need to be clear on what is to be done. All this information, along with tool lists, the SSRA and a MS if required have to be clear and understandable by whomever is carrying out the task. This level of information is sort of ok to do verbally on small jobs if the guy in charge is also on site or chooses to be on site for at least the beginning of the day to pass on his/her instructions. I typed out quotes from the word go as I believed it gave a clearer and more professional image. It also allowed my staff to go to site and know what was to be done without me having to be there, (I'd often forget details anyway). Now, the girls in the office process all the documentation, soon to be completely digitised. A lot of the specifications we get are already written out so that makes it a bit easier. When quoting, when we know we are competing for the work, it helps to write down detail as firstly it may well set you apart from the opposition and secondly it also ensures that we are quoting for the same thing, especially when traffic management, MEWPs and wildlife issues arise. It also allows us to highlight the clients' potential exposure to risk if they choose someone less qualified or competent. Doesn't always work, but it gives us and the client clarity. The industry is moving on. Many clients expect more and more as part of the service. A written specification and quotation is part of that expectation. We still thrive on referrals and the human interaction associated with it at the quotation stage is vitally important. We do between £80-150k of quotes a month so with the best will in the world I'd struggle to remember all the detail involved.

It's quite a lengthy task, but I usually try to sharpen them a couple of times. I use a round file to get right into the corners. I suppose it depends on their uses. If you do both neat hedges and all sorts of other stuff too, brambles, verges etc, then it might be worth having two heads. One for the good stuff and one that gets the abuse.