doobin

For a new compact tractor I'd stick with Kubota or possibly Iseki. Deere if you're feeling flush, but I wasn't keen on paying £3k more than the Kubota like for like when the only difference I could see was that their marketing department spent a lot more money targeting City folk with big country houses. The best thing about the Kubota is the bi-speed turn, it makes such a difference to your working day. Kubota's pedigree is immaculate when it comes to compacts. It's a great machine with a mid mount and collector on too. I bought it with the intention of having 'one tractor to do it all', but then the alpine and a 38hp Iseki came along. All have their place, but it seems silly to have one brand new one now! If you're looking secondhand, Iseki are by far the best value.

Thanks. I sometimes wish I'd bought the alpine new and the Kubota secondhand, but it's done now. Almost took the alpine today as the ground is pretty steep by the treeline, but a good op who knows what he's doing with the independant brakes can keep it upright. Thought I'd best put some hours on the Kubota, and in the end it was actually the better tractor for the job. It's a fantastic tractor for large gardens in particular as it's so manouverable. In fieldwork the independant brakes and bi-speed turn means you just spin it around at the end of the row, whereas the alpine would be a two-shunt job at a minimum. Today I'd have loved a cab, but realistically they are a pain on garden jobs. Can't have it all. I'm going to look out for an alpine with cab.

Lovely chilled day yesterday at the local pub. Being brought back to life after three years. A fun easy job, decent day rate and a month of free beer when she reopens. Plenty of groundworks to do there also. Rescued a slow worm- warned him up before releasing into a sheltered spot.

Perfect flail collecting weather

Looks ideal.

Cut holly back to the stump and it will coppice. It’ll be fine I reckon.

No staff currently, just a hand now and then. I'm preferring to earn £4-500 a day sitting on a mini digger, compact tractor or loader. I might burn £30 worth of diesel in the machine and another £20 in the truck. No stress. Cheap machines, no 13t with tilty here, a Multione is my most expensive thing. Sometimes do the odd £1k quote that takes a day (often spread over two mornings and do something else in the afternoon) All local, no travelling more than ten miles for me. A diverse workload- 50% domestic and 50% farm/commercial/charity/nature reserve I actually found myself enjoying setting and pointing some granite setts the other day- used to hate that kind of work, but when it combines in to a job you make £1k profit on for a day's labour plus a micro digger for 15 minutes (what's that, £1 worth of diesel?!) then it starts to appeal. Especially when the job is five minutes down the road. You can run a load of concrete back to the yard, pick up some materials and take ten for a nice brew and a hot pie. Rather than sending a lad back, wondering why it takes them an hour for such a simple task and being stressed. What's the point in running round like a blue arsed fly keeping multiple jobs going and staff employed when they don't appreciate it and you make maybe £50-100 profit on their wages for the hassle? Especially when we are facing a major slowdown anyhow. I'm starting to realise that being multi skilled (and I mean properly multi skilled) is a blessing if you work on your own and rely upon a wide customer base, but a curse if you try to employ. I've spend years wondering why employees are so thick. It's actually me being thick, and not realising that they are very unlikely to be as good as me on just one task, let alone a dozen skilled trades in their own right. I'll never be short of work with my skillsets, and it's time I relaxed a bit and enjoyed life.

Why? He presumably manages to send the VAT every quarter. My accountant just does mine whenever they fancy, they have all the data from the VAT submissions.

I'd send it back in that case.

The subscription for the heated seat was the last pisstake from them that made the news. I'd never buy a car like that. If you buy the base model you've already paid for the heating elements to be fitted to the seat ffs!

1900s?

I nabbed it from PlantTalk

I'm only surprised it hasn't happened sooner.

You could add a tipping body for way less than £15k. A straight swap from another truck would probably cost £2-3k, less a few hundred back when you sell the old dropside body. Say £2k for a tidy, possibly already arb spec body and £1k to swap it over. If your 33k miles truck really is a bargain, this is the route I'd go down. As for another £15k for some high sides and a toolbox (arb conversion)- what are you smoking? Parkers valuations are about to be slashed in the coming recession- they are bloated from Covid excess and supply shortages. In the current climate, I'd be minded to start with a presentable £5k tipper and some greedy boards. If you've got an extra £15k to spend then buy something like a mini loader to make your life easier. You get money back every day when you use a loader rather than employ an extra guy, I'd sooner that than electric windows and air con on a newer truck. I'd definately go straight for a tipper- I ran a dropside for a few years as a first truck (used to push it off at the yard with a loader tractor) My first tipper was a game changer.

Spend less on a first truck. Especially with the coming economic storm.

5m public and 10m employers

Just renewed my public and employers liability with JCB at just under £100 a month. 2 employees, incidental demolition, tree felling up to 30m. £250k of machinery cover is considerably more expensive at £250 per month. Two small vans, two pickups (one a tipper) and two 3.5t tipper trucks are on a fleet policy, any driver over 23, Fleet and Commercial sorted me out at £215 per month. Highly recommend them as brokers for fleet policy, JCB are also great for plant. So all told £565 per month.

Regardless of the cheap Swedish insurance, that sounds like you were getting shafted for insurance here. No way a forwarder plus some tools should be that much.

That's it exactly! Doesn't help that it's badly balanced to start with, the axles are dead centre.

You want a big butt to carve a bench out of or planks to build the bench from?

The reason it’s ‘easier with more axles’ is that generally multi axle trailers are longer. A better way to say it would be the longer the trailer the easier it is to reverse. to tie in with what you and @difflockjust said- my ten foot tri axle trailer is a pig to reverse anywhere other than a concrete yard. It’s short yet tri axle. As the wheels encounter a tiny bump, the pivot point shifts wildly and the way you were aiming the truck is suddenly no longer right 🤣

Is that up at Chiddingfold? Japanese knotweed in one corner?

I was gobsmacked when driving through NI and seeing the size of the holes being dug for turbines, and then the ebar cages awaiting concrete. I turned to the missus and say, if those things only last twenty years, I'd be surprised if you get back as much energy as you expended building the darn thing! Had a google at the time, apparently the lifespans of the turbines are turning out to be less than claimed. Surely offshore turbines, mounted on driven piles, where it doesn't matter if they fail eventually, are a better bet?

What happened?

They must be dead straight! I envy you, sounds like good sawlogs.