beechwood

Thanks for the tip. I'll try and sort it out.

Here is a video of the chipper in action. Regards Neil 0FD43C97-9AC6-4CD5-82AF-34590BD42B13.MOV

Looks good. Welcome to the world of SENAs. Give it a week and you'll wonder how you worked without them. Just a thought. I'd be cautious about putting the battery on the inside of the helmet. What happens if you get an impact there, do you get a battery in the back of your head? Neat job with the shrink wrap. Wires coming out work well with that style of Petzl helmet. Regards Neil

Thanks I think it's a generous package and I'm hoping someone local to me sees it that way, although it's expensive living in our neck of the woods so the salary reflects it. Using van on own time, opens up the whole benefit in kind thing, no one likes giving their money to the taxman do they!

Thanks Steve Gutted to be losing the guy who is leaving but it's his ambition to start his own business, so good luck to him. Big shoes to fill, just hoping I can find someone who is up to it.

I thought I'd post a few more photos of chipper and 360 in action. The chipper was originally a towed chipper but we converted it to tracked to make it more versatile and because it sank up to its axle on a couple of sites! I will put some videos when I can figure out how to get them on here from my iPad! Regards Neil

Never used ibc's but been using bags for the last 5 years. Personally I'm not a fan of the bags for the following reasons In my experience of using them I found There was a lot of handling time involved with filling, stacking and emptying them They were hard to stack well more 2 high and had tendency to fall over if we went more than 2 high. They degrade in 2-4years depending on how much sunlight they get. Although we deliver loose loads. If you have a method for delivering in the bag, like a lorry with a crane, I'm sure it's a real bonus for sales and saves some time but you do have the full cost of the bag each year. Although sounds like you had similar problems with ibc's I'm looking at totally different system for the future to try and cut down on handling time. I've found it hard to make money in the firewood game. Regards Neil

Brilliant Must have proof read it 10 times and still missed it! I think I should leave to let others chuckle at my inability to spell I'm sure everyone can figure out it should be manager

Beechwood Tree Care have a vacancy for a foreman/manger Due to a long serving member of staff leaving to start his own business we have a vacancy. We are based mid way between Reading, Henley and Maidenhead in Berkshire. We are looking for someone with talent who is * Experienced * Qualified * Reliable * Has the right attitude towards working as part of a team * Strives to carry out work to a highest standard * Will learn from a mistake * Proposes solutions to problems * Willing to take on extra responsibilities within the company In return you will receive * A basic salary of £30-35k plus extra allowances (This is dependent on your experience and qualifications) * Bonuses when you carry out extra works. * Company vehicle to travel to and from work. * 28 days holiday, rising by 1 day for every year of service. * Top of the range PPE and company uniform. * Company pension with generous company contributions. * Respect for your talents. * Freedom to propose your own ideas. * A great working environment. * The latest up to date tools and equipment. * Good work (we allow plenty of time on jobs, we don't top trees, we don't ask our arborists to cut hedges). * Early finish on a Friday (we only work on site in the morning, the afternoon is spent maintaining our equipment) * An environment where you can improve and better yourself. * Further training courses We believe in hiring slow. So we want to get to know you first, we are looking for someone to start in November. This allows us the time to make sure you are the right fit for Beechwood and just as importantly Beechwood is right for you. If your interested. In first instance we ask you to have a look at our Instagram page 'beechwoodtreecare' and our website www.beechwoodtreecare.co.uk, this should give you good flavour of what we are about and what we do. Following that if you feel you would like to be considered for the position then email your CV or a brief summary of work history and qualifications to [email protected]. I will review it and give you a call for a chat about yourself and the position. Then we can take it from there. Thanks for taking the time to read this post and I look forward to hearing from you. Neil

Great post Sophie Have you looked at the American software, there are lots but I remember 'Arborgold' as being the stand out ones when we looked. Pure speculation but sounds like someone has pulled the plug on Arbpro's financing. Shame Mark seems like a nice bloke. Maybe if the users want to keep it they will need to buy shares. Not sure I would do it if it was me. Regards Neil

Thanks for the compliments fella We haven't had much work for it this year and having spent the last couple of years fine tuning the setup, it will be nice to get it out there working. Planning on posting more pictures and videos to keep thread fresh. Good luck with your new chipper, you just need to teach the high 5ing dog to operate the top feed roller crush! Regards Neil

I did start to read Gile Biddles book a few years ago but lost the will quite quickly to be honest. Wasn't aware there was a second one. Gary's I like your comments and agree it's a very complex subject. In fairness my interactions with subsidence have by via removing trees for the loss adjusters/insurance companies and hadn't thought it might just be that the trees were getting blamed as it was quick/cheap way to settle a claim. But let's be honest the cynical side of me thinks it's very possible. Even though no one else have come forward to saying they seen a case of heave following tree removal. Obviously as you point out Giles Biddles book highlights cases and Paul mention one he was involved in. I think I need to retract my 'heave is a urban myth' and replace it with 'heave is extremely rare' Interesting posts, thanks fellas Regards Neil

An apprenticeship. You won't get paid much but you'll get plenty of qualifications and more importantly lots of experience. With the right company, college and attitude/work ethic you will end up qualified and actually able to do the job (all be it, to a very basic level). Just remember it's a trade off. You get experience and qualifications. The employer gets cheap labour. Regards Neil

What it Costs £800 +vat per day (plus haulage to and from site) (We are based between Reading and Maidenhead in Berkshire, so obviously the closer your job site is the more cost effective the haulage will be) What you get * Bandit 150XP Chipper (142hp, 14-17inch infeed) Tracked and Fully remote controlled * 3 Tonne Takeuchi 360 with tilt rotator and log/brush grab. * Qualified and highly experienced operator. * All fuel for machinery. * New blades. * Delivery to and from site. * On site working 8am-4pm to include 1hr of breaks. * Organisation for collection of oversized timber. * Provision of Generic risk assessments. * On site storage container (if equipment is left on site overnight). This set up is a highly effective and productive chipping combination. The operator Mark has been driving diggers since the age of 15, he is truly a highly skilled operator. Mark has a can do attitude, is a natural problem solver and gets on with most everyone he meets. He has been using 360s to process debris from tree felling for over 10 years. Mark holds all the relevant CPCS and NPTC qualifications required to operated the machinery and well as a CITB 'Construction Site Managers's Safety Certificate'. The 360 The 360 used today is the culmination of 10 years of experience and experimentation. The latest incarnation was custom built to Mark's specification and is fitted with a state of the art 'Engcon' tilt rotator, 'Intermercato' timber grab and the cab is protected by forestry guarding. This gives the ability for the grab to spin through 360degrees, tilt it through 180degrees and pick up timber up to 3ft in diameter. In the hands of Mark this awesome machine makes processing debris, chipping and moving larger sections of timber a breeze. The chipper Mark was heavily involved in the purchase specifying and modifications of the bandit chipper. Which has resulted in highly effective and productive chipping machine. The bandit is fitted with a 142hp engine, the largest size available for this type of chipper. This means it chips anything you can get in the 14-17 infeed opening. Tracks, feed rollers and top feed roller crush are all fully remote control, which Mark can operate from the cab of the 360. This means the entire chipping operation can be carried out by Mark. Large diameter timber The bandit is designed to chip timber and brash up to 12 inch diameter, the larger diameter timber will either have a market value or can be removed from site for free (dependent on species, location and volume). If you utilise our chipping service, we will organise collection of the larger diameter timber for you. If you want to hire this amazing chipping combination or required more information please Give me a call or drop me a email Call 07961 163520 Email [email protected] Thanks for taking the time to read this post and I would welcome any feedback or just happy to answer questions Regards Neil

Read this thread with interest. Nearly 25 years in the industry and I've never seen a case of heave. Read about, heard other people talk about it but never seen it. To be honest I think it's a bit of the urban myth. (I've said this to many people who look appalled but bear with me it's just my opinion, don't shoot me yet) Here is why. Most tree issues are logical and nothing beats logic and years of observations in the field. Theoretically heave is possible but I take the view that it's a lot easier to take moisture out of clay than it is to put in back in. Just let a lump of clay dry out and try it, you'd have to leave it sat in a bowl of water and for quite some time. We did a huge amount of subsidence related work after the long hot summer of 2006. All we did was fell and remove the offending trees for the insurance companies. I asked the consultants at the time were the not worried about heave. There response was that heave was so rare that they advised the insurance companies to have the trees completely removed and deal with any heave if it became and issue later. Obviously I don't know if any of these tree removals did result in heave but many of people we removed trees for the insurance companies have subsequently become clients and as I mentioned at the start I've never come across a case of heave. I hate to think how many trees close to buildings, like the Yew Will looked at, I've felled and no one has ever come back to me complaining that their house has suffered heave as a result. So my take on the question Will asked is to say. I get asked the same question all the time and I respond by Asking the client if they have had subsidence problems in the past? Especially relating to 2006, as that was big surge year. If they have I explain about the theory of heave but say in my 25 years as an arborist I've never seen a case of it but theoretically it is a possibility so it's up to them. I base this on the reasons I've listed above. If they haven't I explain about the theory of heave but say in my 25 years as an arborist I've never seen a case of it but theoretically it is a possibility but tell them that personally don't think it will be a problem. I base this on the fact if there hasn't been any subsidence issues, it's unlikely that there house is built on a shrinkable clay sub soil and therefore heave is not going to be an issue. That's my opinion. I could be totally right or I could be totally wrong or the truth could be somewhere in the middle. However Will suggestion of heavy reduction now any then felling it in a few years isn't a bad shout and he gets 2 jobs out of it. Really interesting to get other people's take on it. Have you ever seen a case of tree related heave? Regards Neil

Mark You can stand on there no problem but obviously we wouldn't do that as there is no fall protection! That and I don't make my arborists cut hedges, so why would we need to! And thanks for compliment the lads are always telling me I'm little bit more than slightly overweight!! Regards Neil

As others have said simply there to stop excess chip flying out again, although with a powerful chipper we use a tarp as well. We had ours hinged, so it can be lifted write out of the way if we are loading by machine Hope this helps Regards Neil

Olly Ignore all the ranting and going off on tangents It's like Steve said you use a cambium saver or similar for one or all of the following reduce wear on your rope, reduce damage to the tree and reduce friction in your climbing system. The easiest way to explain your query is for you to search 'cambium saver' or 'friction saver' on YouTube and watch a few videos. This guy explains a few options I'm sure there is loads more vids You'll get it in no time Regards Neil

I gave it quite a bit of thought before posting this but it's my opinion and I hope some good will come it. So hear goes. I've found myself trying to avoid Arbtalk for the last year or so but recently, I've been laid up with a broken leg and with time on my hands, I have started to visit the site more often. I used to enjoy taking 10 or 20 minutes most days to look at the posts. I found it informative and interesting to see lots of opinions expressed on a wide range of subjects related to the field of Arboriculture and now and again I'd post a comment. I stopped visiting as often because I found it had become boring, frustrating and at times I found some of the comments to be condescending and intimidating. It seemed that less and less people were posting comments. I spoke to a many people in the trade and a common response was 'I go on Arbtalk but I don't post anything'. Most said this was due to the aggressive bullying and intolerant nature of some of its more regular posters. They didn't want to post their opinion just to get shouted down. It felt like in the past people would disagreed but would general say 'in my opinion x,y,z' and in this way you ended up with a range of opinions and experiences. As far as I could see 'Arbtalk' had become dominated by a few individuals pontificating and bullying for their own self satisfaction. It seemed to have become acceptable to effectively shout down anyone with a different opinion to your own and in a lot of cases just pick a verbal fight from behind your smartphone or keyboard. I don't expect that these people would be brave enough to say the things they did directly to somebody's face and with good reason, as their behaviour was unacceptable. Perhaps some didn't realise the effect their attitude and tone had on others. With the arrival of the new website Arbtalk appears to have lost a lot of contributors but I'm glad to say the condescending and intimidating posting seems to have reduced. Maybe a lot of people shared my opinion and having to work out the new website is just a good reason to not bother with Arbtalk anymore. Sorry if my opinion upsets some but it appears to me that a few have ruined a good forum for the many and I for one would like the old 'Arbtalk' back. May I suggest that to order to regain the old Arbtalk we... When responding to something we might not agree with, take time for a simple reread before pressing send, just to check how our comment may come across. If you have something to contribute to a thread, do it, without fear of what others may say because your experience and/or opinion will help and/or interest someone else. We cross our fingers that people haven't been put off for good. Just my opinion Neil

Unfortunately there are no spaces left on the course in South Wales. Will forward contact details for Kev just as soon as he confirms it's ok. I've left him a message. Regards Neil

Happy to put you in touch but not Ben or Kev would want me to post their contact details in a public Forum. PM your email address and I'll pass in on

It has happened to us a few times, that I'm aware of and probably a few more that I'm not aware of. TPO and CA applications are a matter of public record and as such some businesses will see direct mail marketing to households who have submitted a application as a sensible bit of targeted marketing. When we lost our first job to this I was as angry as a couple of you appear to be but I believe in business and life anger is a waste of energy and solves nothing. I believe you need to learn from the problems you encounter, not bitch about them. We charge for submitting applications and we make it clear in our T&Cs that it is a reduced rate on the basis that we will be carrying the works, if not the rate will be 200% more. Now if a client wants to let a competitor undercut us for the works so be it but at least we have charged good money for submitting the application. Bit brutal but truthful I feel. Don't get angry get paid! Regards Neil

Great attitude always nice to see to see other arborists wanting to do things properly. Kev Moore is based in Essex. I can send you his details. I'm going on a course in October as a refresher with Kev Moore, that Ben Daniel is organising in South Wales, it's possible that there is a space on that course. Send me your contact details and I'll put you in touch with both Kev and Ben. Regards Neil

That sucks. Amazing the difference in service we have both received from the same company. I'd recommend calling Ray Gardener at Redwood and explaining your situation. My guess is he would really like to know it and will get it sorted out in no time. Regards Neil