doobin

I've always found that any power tool specialist mail order place such as powertoolsuk or SGS will be cheaper than Screwfix for the same spec tools. A screwfix model might be brushless, but it will be bottom of the range brushless, for example. Ebay is usually the place to find the cheapest price, but research the specs and search by the model number rather than assuming that a brushless Makita drill from Screwfix will be the same as any brushless Makita drill. They must have have a dozen brushless models. Personally I just buy the top of the range of whatever I need, bare. Then use Chinese batteries- but only a 'good' chinese brand such as Waitely. Example- BHP481Z. Looks like a top spec Makita brushless drill, bare version £189.99 at Screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dhp481z-18v-li-ion-lxt-brushless-cordless-combi-drill-bare/2486j But only £140 on eBay from a dealer. Makita DHP481Z 18v LXT Li-ion Cordless Brushless Combi Hammer Drill Body Only WWW.EBAY.CO.UK If you regularly do a lot of drilling, it's worth investing in a tool that you can truly rely on: Makita's DHP481Z. For all its... Yet it's a pretty old model, the top of the range currently is the 486z, bare version is only £147.90 on ebay. MAKITA DHP486Z 18v Combi drill 13mm keyless chuck WWW.EBAY.CO.UK Warranty info. So yeah, don't buy powertools from Screwfix or Toolstation!

As an aside- this is a good piece of kit- Pnupoint - Pnupoint PNUPOINT.CO.UK Making Pointing Easy

I was thinking that. Looks like that stone has already suffered the effects of being pointed with cement in the past! 9 tonnes of sand and 3 of cement is a hellishly strong mix too!!

If you are buying the top end models and 18 or 12v, Milwaukee currently piss all over dewalt and makita- and I say that as a former makita devotee. Never buy any power tools from screwfix. They are always cheaper elsewhere, and as mentioned the specs aren’t great either.

All those telehandlers will bog quicker than you can say ‘oh shit’ if the ground isn’t perfect. All they gain is reach and possibly a bit of load capacity. They’re a builders tool, not an Arb tool. For repetitive cycles off-road using attachments a multione type will be much more efficient.

Get a decent plant trailer, no tipper trailer will be sub 3.5t with a 2.5t digger. Add airbags to the ranger and it won’t be ‘legal’ but it will much improve it. I run a 2007 model, chipped with airbags. Don’t feel any need to change it.

Bigger machine is a lot better for Arb work. You’re always shifting heavy lumps. Sod the train weight. What’s the truck?

I can’t climb and have no intention of doing so. But it doesn’t stop me taking your work 🤣

Where are you based? You can come and practice on my firewood pile🤣

It'll be much easier if he just gets the big boys to stack the smaller branches in the corner for you.

Husky 135 vibes are on par or slightly better than the 181 I’d say. You just need a decent pair of work gloves. If the vibes were that bad you needed anti vibration gloves you should be looking for a new saw anyway!

Chainsaw wellies are useless. You won’t wear them cause they hurt so much. Oregon Yukon leather boots are very comfy, I use them as general work boots. Chainsaw gloves are totally and utterly pointless. Don’t bother with them. You’re more likely to have an accident because you can’t grip anything. If the chain snaps (very unlikely) the chain catcher (clue is in the name) or the chainbrake handle will stop it from getting your hand.

Yes, a selection on the common near here. They get pretty rotten though.

Now you’re just being a prick. He’s in a giant house share, paying bugger all rent and mucking in with chores, as happens in a house share. Is your wife doing the washing up ‘forced labour? 🙄On top of that, he’s free to run his own business from there, and if he wants to buy a house to let, that’s cool too. I fail to see the communism. Is he forced at gun point to provide all his machinery for free?

Can’t beat ripping up the whole footing and carrying it to the front. Better than messing about with the breaker in the shit.

Muttley's setup sounds pretty cool. I've always thought that a big house split between a few families could provide a much better standard of living for less cost than the norm, so long as it wasn't too 'culty'. Economies of scale really kick in when you get into double digit bedroms! Sounds like there is ample room for personal enterprise too. I've lived in house shares in the country and if you have the right people it's great. Perhaps there are not too many older people because they buy their own place with the money they save? Muttley, are any of your members also renting their own houses out, or is that against the ethos?

JCB specialise in short term hired in policies. Expensive though- you may well be better off getting it annually if its more than once a year.

How does 47kg of gas last you only two weeks? I take it you're using it for heating? 47kg of gas lasts me about a year at the yard, doing hot water for the kitchen. Before I started taking cold showers, it would still last me half a year (a shower every day, I like to go home fresh and clean and keep the mucky clothes at the yard. Makes for an easier home life!) If I were you I'd look at fitting a log burner. Gas fires are **************** all use for heating a caravan- you want a nice lump of steel log burner/heatsink, and you could run it for free too. Doesn't take much wood to heat a small space like that until you need to open the windows.

Stuff like that is easily done on a small hobby type mill. I have a warco minor, pays £500 for it in mint condition, been in a jewellers all it’s life and never had anything other than a 2mm engraving bit!

The small engine chap can be as honourable as you like, it's still a secondhand two stroke and liable to shit the bed. For light domestic use better to go new.

You want a Husqvarna 135. StackPath WWW.WORLDOFPOWER.CO.UK £15 over budget, and even though cheaper than the Stihl MS181 it knocks the spots off it, let alone the MS171. More power and nicer to use, it'll pull that 14" it comes with fine. I was always a big fan of the value for money of the MS181 for garden jobs etc, until I bought one of these as the MS181 was out of stock. It is the perfect saw for your situation. Budget pro brand, genuinely pleasant to handle and enough power for what you want.

Depends upon the axles but generally you will either tighten a bolt on the back of the hub (knott axles) or click an adjuster round with a screwdriver (alko axles). The wheel should rotate with a little bit of rubbing but not locked. look for around 5mm free play on each cable. Handbrake lever wants to come up around halfway.

I think you'd need to find your own jobs to make enough profit and keep you busy. You might do better to start with smaller kit and a more diverse range of it, such as 15hp petrol chippers and stumpgrinders, maybe a pedestrian flail. Plenty of odd pruning jobs around as said. These little jobs if priced right will make money, and will lead to other things. So depending upon the work you end up being offered you can buy more machines to make your life easy. Really it comes down to this- you don't want to do forestry- fair enough. So what do you want to be doing to earn your living?

Because it pertains to the original post. Low wages currently have to be subsidised via housing benefit so that low paid workers can afford to live, particularly in the SE.

£200 a day is plenty for a subby, who takes none of the risk of quoting or being the main contractor with whom the buck stops. It's also miles away from minimum wage, (the original topic), and on top of that reads like a humble brag. You won't out-ball trigger andy, one-upmanship is his life's work.