Paul Jenks

I think it's a great idea. Somewhere to drop off arisings for nowt. I'd almost drive up from Oxford. As mooted the challenge is to break through the suspicion factor, but that aside £450k is a fair chunk of money and the hoops one would have to jump through to get that kind of money from a bank would be numerous. Therefore expect to have to do a lot of work to be in the race for it and accept the fact you may not win it.

Thank-you. We do try our best

You probably right, if the building is on decent founds the tree will develop around it. However 3 metres is very close for such a large tree and it's well within the distances cited by Mattheck and Breloer, The Body Language of Trees, so there is a good chance the roots of the tree are using the underside of the foundation for stability. 30-40 years is a long time to hold a grudge. Is there any scope for sharing the burden of removal and replant with a suitable replacement. May be a line of leylandii.:lol:

I've just read this post all the way through and there are some really good points. Our experience in employing staff has shown that for the most part people nowadays are taught to pass a test rather than carry out a function, cheifly owing tto the commercialisation of the the training and testing system. This leads to an emphasis on safety, no bad thing, but a lack of effectiveness in the real world. (The driving test is a prime example). We now routinely test applicants on all their quals to assess their abilities prior to a days work interview and if they fit in with the team their pay reflects their actual ability rather than their 'ticket price'. As the MD/owner I started my company with a goal of creating pathways for my staff to progress into more cerebral spheres of work as they matured. Very few other companies do this, IMO. As we grow and managerial positions develop we train our guys to move up into team leader and manager roles. This gives them an incentive to stay with us and keeps them producing for us. It's expensive but gives us good continuity and corporate memory is maintained. We have a skills matrix for all the guys and fill the boxes as time, money and requirements allow. Again it's expensive but does help us retain staff. On the matter raised about when the poo hits the fan, my top climber, a couple of years ago sustained a serious injury whilst climbing. He's highly qualified, very safety concious and good in the tree. One moments loss of focus and he's permenantly damaged. Fortunately he worked for me and he is fully employed and we are benefitting from his knowledge, way more than mine. The balance has to be struck between experience and tickets. Tickets/certs cover the owners backside when things go wrong. If all the compliance paperwork is in place then hopefully it doesn't destroy the business. However ensuring safety through checks and audits is just as important. Broken fences or cars are one thing, a broken person is both physiologically and psychologically unpleasant.

I've got some cool pictures of a sequioa take down but am having a challenge with uploading pictures.

Haven't read all of them so I hope this one isn't a repeat. What has a monkey and a chainsaw got in common? They both fcuk up trees.

Going back to the thread, always check your line is clear as you reposition in the tree. For most trees I use a 20 metre rope even the large ones. Mainly through choice but partly cos I cut it in half. Does tend to make you more careful when you know you can't reach the ground with your rope. Generally, if you need to make a rapid descent, emergency or hot totty, use prussik and only touch it with your fingertips as it gets warm quick.

Could it be buddlia globosa

The main challenge with any taxation system is ensuring most people pay it. If the level is too punitive the black or 'cash' economy will thrive and the government will not gain extra revenue it requires. IMO emphasis should be on stimulating the economy. If the economy is growing steadily again people are more likely to spend and are less likely to avoid taxes. The point about collecting the money for HMRC is well made and it is a significant burden on the smaller operations, especially those just around the threshold. A lot of small businesses will carry out works off the books or adjust invoice dates to keep under the VAT threshold. In business there is always competition. Whether it's fair or not is subjective, we are a capitalist society after all. As legal and safe companies it's up to us to communicate the fundamental differences in our offerings to our clients and then it's their decision.

Our first three years were with NFU and they were pretty good. Then we discovered we weren't really covered for the type and volume of work we carried out so employed a broker. Now we are belt and braces and he fights our corner for the best price.

Sorry, should have been clearer. This measurement forms the radius of the root protection area. So it's 24 across the diameter.

Do you have the serial no's for all the saws. When we had a saw and harness nicked from site we made sure all the local dealers and repairers got the detail so if any of it comes in for repair, hopefully, they'll keep it.

Make sure it's a cheap washing machine and the wife's out. I wrecked the bearings on ours washing kit. You could try a steam cleaner with detergent.

RPA is the root protection area as decided by the BS5837:2005. Multiply by 12 the diameter of the tree trunk at 1.5m above ground level. Then use this measurement to draw a big circle, centred on the tree, around the tree. This gives a supposedly sacrosanct area into which no construction traffic or materials or works can enter without arboricultural supervision. That having been said a tree will often grow in a smaller area quite happily.

If the house is well built and not on a highly plastic soil and the tree itself is a reasonable distance from the house it should be ok. In Chile these trees are mahoosif so it does need to be a good bit away from the house. They are horrible to reduce and not much nicer dismantling. How far is it from the house and how tall is it?

It also has to be someone empowered to condemn and if necessary destroy faulty equipment to take it out of service. HSE frown on the directors or owners of businesses carrying out this task as they have an overt financial incentive to retain potentially faulty equipment. There is also a compliance issue. The equipment has to have a certificate of thorough examination available for inspection and this has to be renewed every 6 months even if the kit hasn't been used. The certificater will have a unique reference number that has to be put on the certificate of thorough examination thereby giving traceability. In the event of an equipment failure or climber error resulting in injury or RIDDOR report or insurance claim, if there are no certificated records the owner of the company will have a hard time getting any money from the insurer. We supply most of our commercial and public sector clients with copies of our LOLER certificates as they are renewed.

Bite his hand off and get rid of it. If he needs help transporting it or carrying to the car charge another £20:thumbup:

We do lots of work for OCC Highways and in built up areas they ask us not to use any noisy machinery before 0800. If we have to do jobs by traffic lights, say, we do it nice and early with handsaws and stack the debris for later. With the tree officer, sometimes they don't have all the info, sometimes they are power crazed, sometimes they're right. A detached branch is inherently dangerous and you can legally climb the tree to remove it and any other branches that are broken, pruning back to a suitable point. What you shouldn't do is prune any live growth without giving notification. How you inform the TO is down to your relationship with them and how assertive you want to be/appear. It's usually good to be polite

We had a virtually identical experience with a 66 dropped from a tree. Broken side case etc. Came back to us, wouldn't run. Took it back. After a week or so they had taken the exhaust off and told us it had a scored barrel. Looked like they'd done it with a screwdriver. The saw was actually my managers personal saw and it ran perfectly before and directly after the fall. Discovered on closer inspection they had replaced a couple of the external carb parts incorrectly. Damage done the poor thing never ran properly again. Had some words with them but to no avail and have never been back. We spend 000's a year on saws and repairs so it's their loss.

There will always be someone out there willing to do jobs cheaper. The point about £10 per tree is extraordinary. We are currently doing costings down to the individual productivity and skill of staff; running and depreciation cost for different vehicles and equipment; distance travelled; along with all the other associated costs for insurance, holidays, breakages, admin, training etc. That's just to get our man day cost. Always good if you can squeeze a bit of profit in there too. It always used to be a finger in the air calculation. Then there is guestimating the time it's going to take and how much you want/need the work. Importantly, if you can get a good handle on the amount of time the job is going to take you'll be better off even if your man day price is a little low, (IMO). Best to work on both though. £250/man is an average price for the more advanced companies around here. (Oxon)

I think general first aid is sufficient. First aid is, after all, about ABC not patch up. Very few places in the SE are inaccessable to the emergency services so they can usually arrive in pretty short order. First aid combined with good aerial rescue skills are more than adequate, IMO. Continuous training and a proper WAH assessment should mitigate against injuries severe enough to warrant either first aid or aerial rescue.

Is that autofellatio for people with a bad back?

It seems to be the way with the bigger saws, especially as we often buy them on the back of a big job. Lots of people ask me what we do with our felled timber, planking, furniture etc. My stock answer is most of the trees we are asked to take down are coming down for a very good reason. 'Cos they're fooked. Most of the reason for this is because they've had a hard life next to roads or in gardens where people have built fences next to them, used them as fence posts, lamp posts, gate posts, kids try to fill the cavities with stones or misguided oldtimers filled cavities with concrete. Big tree=Big opportunity for metal and stone. Note to self,"Buy a spare chain at same time as buying new big saw"

I'd say the leaf drop was due to the dry weather. We've got loads of it round here, Oxon.