nick channer

seems like lot hassle to me...!

mines been doing that for ages.. took key into lock smith.. had new one cut and it works perfectly now

i appreciate what they do and they no i do.. they also seriously appreciate what i do for them.. all 3 have worked for me for over 9 yrs now and 2 thought the grass was greener on other side.. only for few months mind u... then they came back.. with less money and longer hours for a while.. i will always find the 2 younger ladds work.. if theres no tree work on there processing logs.. 7 days week if they want till midnight if they really want...

i pay them to work.. they no how i like the work done and if they dont do it properly i'll make em do it again.. they like any other worker are easy to hold there hand out on a friday or turn up in mornin expectin a days work... i have a full time job running round pricing work, picking money up and driving a skip lorry.. not to mention running the farm.. would you have a dog and stand there barking yourself????

only corners cut might be fellin a tree when prod should be climbed.... have been known to stop traffic on road and fell trees in the road... but anything else is done to highest standards... and i'm very very fussy on clearing up... drives my ladds mad when i make em get blower back off truck if i spot a few twiggs or bit wood chip on drive.. even after customers paid up and happy.... old boy i used to do bit work for 20 yrs ago said 90% of customers wont have clue if you've reduced or reshaped their tree properely but they will no if you've cleared there garden up properly and i drum that into any new groundsman when they start... we obviously try to do trees properly too though...

to be honest only 1 of em does bit work on farm.. my climber and other guy wouldn't of dreamed workin past 4pm 4 yrs ago before resession kicked in... after havin spells of not workin for weeks on end they wanna do every hour they can now..

i like doing the work while its there.. ladds started a £570 job at 5 which i got on monday.. only reason i got it [i was 50 quid more than other quote] was cos i promised to do it by end of week cos they got garden party on sat and other guy couldnt do till next week..

ha.. theres 3 of em still out working now and my climber tells me they just got a job up the street for £120 to do... they get paid by hour.. if you dont do the hours you dont get paid.. simple.. some are happy with a regular set amount each week.. my ladds wanna earn as much in 7 days as they can.. they havent had a day offin 3 weeks now... and there workin sat but not sun so that'l be 4 weeks less 1 day... my 18 yr old groundie very often takes home £700 in 7 days... and his mates are all skint all the time cos when there not workin there out spendin..

he said the brush would barely fill a high sided transit [un chipped].. 50 quids 50 quid at end of day... ladds that work for me are always sayin why do i bother tryin to get an extra 30 or 40 quid off a customer to cut a branch or clear bit rubbish that i've spotted they got in corner of their garden when we just had £1200 off them.. i beenon my arse with no money in my pocket plenty times in past and i no those 30'sand 40's add up...!

if i was passin with the mog i'd do it for 30 quid.. prob take 10 mins by sound of it and that'd pay my diesel for the day..[and i do do it in my area reguarly]

i'm not sayin they dont hold there money well cos they do.. i bought that 57 plate 90 van.. had it 7 months and sold it with 25k more miles on clock for grand more than i payed for it.. after a new clutch... a new gearbox and startin problems.. [2nd new gearbox in its short life]. and only done 40k miles..

or try summin else.. i'll never forget my dads mate about 15 yrs ago who had always had 110 truck cabs for yrs and yrs.. he drove my D reg hilux for half a day. and couldnt believe how good it was off road [he was and still is a game keeper] not long after he bought his first hilux.. a G reg one and is now on his 5th one.... he couldnt believe the diff in drivin..comfort..performance and reliability..

with what mileage on.. most people who buy a landrover defender will not do serious mileage in them..or if they do will suffer with back problems and they'l sell em at 3 yrs old with 100k on the clock with more clonks and rattles than you can shake a stick at..

god no's cos everyone i no with a disco 3 says same as me.. for ever in garage gettin faults taken off for a start.. and main agent not havin a wheel bearin in stock [for a car thats so popular] is bad enough.. then to be told theres not a main dealer in the country thats got one and its gonna take 7 days to get one is just unbelievable and unforgiveable... end of..

have no idea but if you want to tow lotta weight buy a landcruiser.. a hilux will do over 200k miles.. and still drive half reasonably.. will a landrover.. dont think it will..

wait till you get a wheel bearin go and your wife has to drive a courtesy car for 8 days cos theres not one in the country..[ and of more concern was it going at 36000miles]

the defenders supposed to be and that was the worst.. there all made under the landrover badge and i cant believe they have the front to churn out such unreliable poorly made rubbish.. and i cant believe how anyone can say they'd rather drive round in and maintain say a 2000yr 110 land rover pick up compared with a hilux.. its a no brainer to me and anyone who has owned both has to sgree

i'm talkin about discovery 3's.. 57 plate and newer defender landrover.. range rover sports.. and range rover TD6's.. un reliable iieces of junk..

pls dont get me started on land rovers or i'll be here all day.. all i'll say is i'll never own one again as long as i live.. nor will my dad.. and we've had numerous veichles with a land rover badge... never.. ever.. again!

p.s.. in my avatar my daughter had just spent the mornin... 5.30 start..[she gets up early] till 1.00pm with me in the tractor when her mum bought her brother and some lunch out for us..

i bet i spend more time with my kids doing the hours i do than the average person on here... i took my little boy out with me this mornin at 7.00am.. went to the yard.. went to the first job with the lads... went from there to look at couple jobs.. put him in skip lorry [ which he loves ] for hour or so... took him in the old mans for bit lunch then in the fastrac and off to pick a 40 yard bin up down the road... it was nearly 2.00pm when his mum came to collect him and i'll be doing summin similar tomorrow... his sister comes home from school and few days week gets dropped at farm where she'l feed the calves or come with me doing whatever it is i'm doin at the time.. shes 8 and will be on tractor tomorrow on her own toppin my paddock...

i've worked on a farm with large contracting business since i left school and every school holiday, weekend, evenin since i was 12 yrs old... i used to do over 100 hours week reguarly, more if i think about it... i dont no any different.. i did have few yrs when i stopped contractin and went into tree work where i did 8 till 5 but that didnt last long... in the summer months.. [any time now if it stops rainin] i'm up and out the door by 5.15am.. get into my skip lorry..drop skips and pick full ones up till 7.30-8.00.. sort the lads out with there tree work for day.. either take them to job to show em what to do or talk em through whats to be done and send em on there way... then go price few jobs for hour or so.. back to yard for 10.00am at latest where i get tractor and what ever i'm gonna use for the day on back of it serviced up and ready to go by 10.30 or 11 dependin on time year, how heavy the dew is etc... then i'll sit in that tractor usually balein straw till the early hours of mornin [weather permittin].. its not unusual for me to walk in the door till 2.00am.or if the weather forecast is bad for followin day and we got plenty straw laid out in front of us i wont go home at all and work right through the night and keep going untill it rains which could be the followin afternoon or evenin.. i must admit when i was 20/25 it was lot easier.. now at 37 it gets bit harder each yr.. and in winter when we're flat out on the firewood i'll work till 9 every nite 7 days a week for months mostly just drivin from 7 in mornin deliverin logs.. i cant see me changin any of this anytime soon..

course we all have overheads.. local tree firm to me has 4 gangs of 2 or 3 men who go out every mornin and as long as they earn his boss £150 after wages he's happy.. they finish before lunch time unless there on bigger job where he'l put 2 or 3 gangs together.... to me this is just ridiculous.. get rid of 2 gangs and make the other 2 do proper days work.. he has to run a mog and chipper and to timberwolfs as well as 3 trucks... now thats what i call overheads..

i think the only way to guarantee a certain amount of money comin in every day is to have plenty jobs comin in.. i price every single job that calls.. they could be up to 100 miles away or more at times.. i walked in door half hour ago.. just had my dinner and spent 5 mins with the boy before he goes to bed now i'm off on prob 40 mile round trip to look at 4 jobs that called today.. i looked at 3 last nite of which 2 agreed straight away and one other has called today to accept after gettin another quote... i no tree firms who wont look at a job unless its on their doorstep or between 8 to 5 or on a sat mornin.. unlike other tree firms we start around 7.30 and leave the yard at 5... none of this finishin at 2.30 or 3 in afternoon... and when we're busy my guys will work till 8 or 9 at nite especially if a neighbour comes out and wants summin done.. what i'm sayin is you only get out what you put in..

i want to win every job i price. i like to work on min of £600 in my pocket after wages every day.. some jobs i look at i think theres fair bit work there and if i have to be on site for any length of time i want a certain amount and wont budge... if i can send my 2 lads there and perhaps a climber and i dont see them till they come back in yard at 5 with cash or cheque then i'm willin to improve my quote... at the end of the day a job for a £1000 could still be done for say £500 or less and still earn a reasonable amount, think its more about knowing how your competitors price work, around here we prob have the most population of travellin community doing tree work and believe it or not they price there work very high.. so do other "proper" tree firms.. i've recently gained lot work from guy i no who's been doing tree's for 25 yrs but cant climb anymore cos his elbows had it.. lot of work he's already priced and won but he hasnt put his own wage into the equation.. where as i pay my climber from £150 to £180 a day plus 2 other workers he pays 2 workers and if he comes out with £300 after hes happy. some jobs dont need a climber which is lucky and ones that do we can normally do in a morning and fit summin else in that afternoon otherwise they wouldnt be worth doing.. job we did yesterday for him for instance for £540 took us 2 hours [3 men] he'd put full day on it.. 5 out of 10 jobs i price i get at full money then couple more i reckon come in bit cheaper... there arent many jobs i price that i dont win one way or the other.. and i'll try every trick in the book to get em and if that means droppin my quote a bit then so be it..