Matthew Storrs

Good thread - this is something I’m starting to think about more often. I’m 30 in January so reckon it’s best to start early- whatever I’d invest I’d want it to still be valid for my family should anything happen to me and being a basic sort of person (!) I’d prefer to invest in something tangible rather than something floating around in cyberspace at the mercy of the ‘system’! As you say Beau, keeping your fingers in many pies is got to be the safest bet. Buy to let has got to be a consideration can’t see bricks and mortar ever going down in the long term- but letting out property can be a pain in the backside, as some of my family have found out what with a tenants and worse still ‘tenants rights’ small invests in the right machinery can even be a good sideline if you know what your looking for. building a buisness that can run itself after your retired is another way or sell it I think some people do it but requires a lot of initial time and work and hard in line of work where you are essentially the buisness. will follow this thread with interest.

Yes, nothings really that important that it can’t wait until after the Christmas period. I’m taking a week off and back to work on New Year’s Day- reckon I’m more of less booked up untill end of March and have a job booked for all of May. Work is really piling up at the mo so can’t complain.

You should have been up by the Warren house inn this morning Beau. Road was getting hidden and council transit unable to get up the hill- offered them a pull but they turned round and went to get the gritter- I got down to Bovey and the sun was shining and not a flake in sight.

Keep it and keep the £600 in the bank- you never know you may never need to spend it!

No definitely won’t get rich but a reasonable income can be achieved- generally it’s easy work for your body compared to thrashing yourself out as man and chipper. Also a digger will do 5000 hours with barely a spanner to it with good maintenance , they hold their value very well so whilst achievable day rates may seem relatively low- it does work out in the long run. I keep my digger busy 4- 5 days a week for the most part but funnily enough it doesn’t often have a bucket on it.

There is also the mini digger idea- forget having just a standard machine and bucket though- equip it with tree related gear- rotating grab, rake, tree shear etc. £40k will get you a nice 2.5tonner with all the attachments. My buisness would cease to exist without mine!

Nice! But mainly I’m just impressed you haven’t managed to bend those front roof rack supports yet on low branches!

Definitely- and also not that many tree surgeons can justify a loader as it’s not a tool for every job, the scope for attachments will also lend yourself to all sorts of applications- post hole borer mower etc- you could pretty much run a buisness of the back of one of these machines with operated hire thrown in as and when- you will likely earn more money doing your own jobs than hiring yourself out for the day where the hirer will understandably want their monies worth.

All I will say is don’t waste £25k on a van. It will depreciate very quickly and it’s not really the van that’s earning you the money- you can buy a decent tipper/truck or whatever to carry you, tools and machine around. £6-8k will get you something nice and tidy and put the money saved towards the machine- or leave in the bank to cover any eventualities that may crop up. For what it’s worth any fool can jump in and spend lots of money- you would be better off spending a big of time getting to know your market by working in it and developing contacts etc and see where it leads you knowing that you have the capital waiting when the time is right.

I should also add- whenever I have bought something brand new and kept it a decent amount of time I seem to do quite well from it- my method is to do plenty research prior to purchase and buy the best you can afford- it usually pays off in the long run, flimsy kit is just a no no for the full time contractor.

Different ways of looking at it- all with different pluses and minuses. This applies to any machinery not just chippers- but this is my own thoughts- a machine will almost certainly do the largest percentage of depreciation in its first 3 years- but also these 3 years SHOULD be trouble free so that has to be offset against potential repairs and downtime from running an older machine. Personally if finances allow My preferred method is to buy a machine brand new look after it and keep it for more like 6-10 years and it will be these later years once it’s paid for itself when the machine really starts to actually earn you money- if you just chop and change every 3 years I’d be surprised if you really ever make much money off the actual machine other than just covering depreciation. And in any case a warranty isn’t a sure fire method that things will be hassle free- downtime is still downtime and that often costs more than the actual repair bill. just my thoughts.

That’s my feeling on hiring too- I know someone who hires a chipper for his tree buisness- a couple of days a month- I said why not buy one and he said no point for just a few days a month- but yet is happy to brash down on a trailer to save hiring- if he had his own chipper he’d save untold time as it’s always there no matter how small the job. Out of interest to all you MO owners how many hours do you tend to put on the machine in a year?

Yes I’d agree. I always say Dartmoor isn’t wilderness but it is wild country. Not really sure of the correct term for wilderness but in my mind certainly not somewhere you can walk across in a day, I love Dartmoor though for its desolation- on the north moor it may not have the mountains and fells of other places in the uk but I always get the feeling of solitary that I don’t feel in other national parks- generally the masses stick to honeypots and even on a busy bank holiday you can walk for hours-all day without barely seeing a soul. just watching Ray Mears how the West was one in the Mohave desert- that’s wilderness to me, Alaska, Australia

I was lazy and just bolted a towball to the blade- it works but hinders bucket to blade clean up operations. I think the best way would be to cut a square out of the blade then weld a bit of box section behind the blade so that it’s flush at the front- then have a smaller bit of box with the ball on that can slide into the blade secured with a drop pin in the back- if that makes any sense!

Works well towing a trailer with mini digger. I often put a 10ft Ifor behind my 3tonner and stack it up with timber as I go- not for gardens but was just the job on a old railway line I cleared of timber.

Wish I hadn’t sold it- curse myself all the time! Apparently it got nicked of that estate- a chap (your old boss?) phoned me asking for serial numbers?

Yes, there’s a world of difference between jobs that generally tend to be in rural areas- large accessible gardens and grounds and generally more tolerable of a bit of scuffing on the grass etc. IMO most machines of real capabilities tend to be aimed more at this market- parks, estates and big gardens. Finding a machine that is going to be useful in a small back garden with a manicured lawn is a tall order and myself I’d be looking at something small, light and cheapish-such as a muck truck/tracked barrow. for the bigger areas seeing as you already have the tractor setup a digger will add another dimension of use over any of the articulated loaders etc. Handy in the yard too.

What about 1.7ton digger- much cheaper to buy over a 2.5(particularly if buying new) and will lift 300kg (200 at full reach). But perhaps the best bit for you is that with expanding tracks you can get the thing to under a meter wide. Can feed chippers. You could add a small tracked dumper /barrow if required and tow it all on the same trailer- keeping it under 2.5. i used to have the Takeuchi TB016 and this was a belting machine- regularly used to clear up massive wind blown Beeches with it. picking up 4ft rings etc. not as much loading height as bigger kit but depends what your loading into- Ifors are ideal.

I have absolutely no idea what any of you are on about! I must be leading a very sheltered life as iv never heard or bitcoin or Crptcoin. Google here I come.!

Oh yes, most definitely! Actually I once phoned up VOSA and asked exactly what would I have to do to run my tractor all above board as a contractor, basically it would have to be reregisterd non Ag then treated much like running a 7.5t on a restricted operators license. Iv never heard of anyone actually doing this mind but I think running on white is probably safest bet and also keep maintenance records to prove you are keeping your tractor in a roadworthy condition. None of this is really enforced until you have an incident of some kind then it all may come crashing down around you!

It’s a fair point- I know that tractors and backhoes have drawbacks in terms of speed- but just playing devils advocate here as recently I have been giving this a bit of thought, a loaded truck and trailer isn’t exactly quick either, on top of this you have to load it all up at the yard, unload it at site, risk not getting truck and trailer across a wet field then find somewhere to put truck, plus all over again at the end of the day. A tractor whilst slower on the road will probably make up the time through saving the faffing around with unloading etc. Its always that thing of trying to find a machine that has as many uses as possible, particularly in this game as jobs and sites vary so much from day to day

Did you see the price of the 1cxt? I’m fairly sure they are well north of £40k

There is a lot to be said for sticking with conventional tractor or compact if space is limiting. every now and again I get myself all excited about getting one of these ‘specialist’ machines- alpine tractor, avant or whatever but by the time I have bought it, got all the scaled down attachments and then factored in having to tow it about with a truck and trailer I’m better of with a smallish 4x4 standard tractor that can get itself to the job with attachments leaving truck freed up for other things. Micro machines (nice as they are)are really only worth having if you are on micro sites a lot.

Yes size and probably more likely weight would be an issue. They weigh best part of 10 ton on relatively small front wheels, so best kept to hard ground to avoid mess and ruts. I reckon they’d make a great yard machine though. Proper good at loader work and pushing into stuff again because of the weight behind them. i always keep a loose eye on the market- I reckon if a 4cx or equivalent with equal wheels came up locally I’d take a good look at it- that’s for my stonewalling work I do- still grab work.

Iv often thought a wheeled digger could make a good tool for site tree work- loader on front for chip, brash over distance. Arm on the back with rotator for timber work-chipper feeding. A good operator could make very efficient use of one.