cw1987

Councils etc. usually require CHAS. They won't approach you just because you have it but it is a pre requisite for some people.

In my experience many people will buy a bag of "firewood" readily, you advertise "softwood" they're suddenly not interested. Theres obviously a marketing stratergy to be had there. I'm not suggesting you lie or milk it but you could advertise it as firewood and find maybe only 40% will question species. As said before softwood is still a good product and has its own merits for the supplier and the buyer over hardwood. You could also consider selling in pulp legnth at your margins or in cloggies. FC sell 3m softwood at roadside for £60 per tonne in some places Darn Sarf and plenty of people are buying, even in Lochaber people were buying at that price in 1.5m legnths. You do it at half that its still worth your while...? This then adds to the "convienience" of buying softwood for the customer over hardwood in that situation (easier to handle, split, get lit etc).

Yeah that would be good to see. I think we're going 50/50 with Fraser/Nordman this year- mostly for profit. Hopefully we will get better trees this year, it was our suppliers 1st batch last year. We took some pot grown Nordman aswell and struggled with them, many ended up planted back out in the wood. I guess its different where-ever you are, where you get trees from etc. We also had a good foot of snow on the ground which may have affected sales a bit, most people took the 1st tree and ran with it!

Interesting what you say about Fraser, we ordered some last year for the 1st time along with the usual Nordmans. Half the price from distributors but not a patch in terms of quality, yeah they sold but pretty poor trees comparatively and certainly not many peoples 1st choice.

Thats was my 1st thought, 2nd would be try Whykeham nursery as they will almost certainly have contacts in the North East. We source quite a few from Ireland also.

Theres been a few jobs recently in the area on countryside jobs link and a climbing apprenticeship. I have a contact through a mate who may take on weekends etc. but I can't remember his name I'l get back to you, if you haven't heard in a few days PM to remind me!

Maybe not exactly what your after but you may be interested, Forestry Commission Good opportunity for training and space in Lochgilphead area

That a good point, something I was trying to establish aswell. One size doesn't usually fit all. I know money is never going to be great in Forestry but the way I see it is I'l get more money doing something I'm half decent at but that doesn't pay great than I will doing something with big £'s but that I'm no good at.... Also as I say the tree surgery market seems saturated in the Sheffield area, theres a good dozen or so people competeing for a job within a day of it being posted on a local forum and loads more over time- quite frankly I probably can't compete with so many people on all fronts.

The problem with getting a job elsewhere is I can't find any! Forestry would deffinately be an easier path for me but the problem is no lone working. Again I can't find anyone looking to take people on, but in looking I'm finding theres very few Forestry contractors in the area I'm looking. I've had an expression of interest from a large reliable company so I'm confident I could get Forestry work, its just I'm in no position to set-up on a viable scale in Forestry(i.e. with an employee). Interesting to hear you've only used a mewp 3 times in 15 years though, that goes a long way to answering my question!

Spoken like a true Scot. 10-15 thousand stems pha coming up in our sda's this year, thats going to be some fun thinning in a few years time

Thanks for the replies, some really good feedback coming through. As I've tried to point out I'm not suggesting any mewp will replace a climber, I understand this is not the case in many situations. What I'm trying to establish I guess is, how many situations are there where a mewp is either on a par or "better". Example of "better" would be a tree with splits or disease which is unclimbable/ you'd have to be a bit unhinged. Where in my book it would be on par is a reasonably straight forward climbing job where I could not climb alone but I could use a mewp alone. Or is that just a nieve view... I have looked into hire costs and availability- I believe I could complete a job alone using a mewp for much less than to climb with a member of staff, most importantly without comprimising safety of quality of work. SiW, thanks for your reply, I have looked at hire in the area and considered the other range of applications for a mewp. To clarify I am looking at offering it as a complete service, machine and operator not to sub contract or hire out. Obviously these are reasonable alternatives if the work was there but I am aware certainly sub contracting there isn't much.

The distance is pretty much personal reasons, home and family are 400 miles from where I currently live/ work. I moved away in pursuit of building a career and I feel I've gained all I can in this position. Recent loss in the family has made me realise its no good being so far away trying to build my own. And yeah as I say I know any platform isn't always the answer, each have pro's and con's. It just seems the list of pro's and con's doesn't add up to the list of climbers/ "specialist" platform cutters. The ratio of companies offering climbing to companies with a platform in the fleet seems way lower than I can see reason for? Relatively cheap, reasonably low labour, increasingly good access, working heights/reach, safety.... it seems theres a catch I'm missing or a huge gap in the market. I'm not suggesting it replaces climbing by any means, horses for courses etc.

Hi, 1st post here and I hope I don't get off on the wrong foot! I've read through many posts and the sections but I'm not really sure if this fits into business management, employment, forest management or general so here seems best. I have a background in forestry, starting after leaving school volunteering, gaining nvq's in trees and timber, land based operations and environmental conservation. I've worked for the last 5 years in the public sector and quite frankly don't want to be there (but thats a wholllleeeeeee other topic!). I am pretty well trained specifically in forestry, have lots of cutting experience and a wide range of other related forestry/ conservation tasks. As I'm sure everyone has I've often thought about working for myself but the climbing market is close to saturation in the area I'm looking and I don't really have the cash/ people to set up anything worthwhile in forestry. I have a reasonable amount of capital but I do not feel I could start up and employ staff on what I have available. A big problem is I currently live around 400 miles away from the area I intend to work (South Yorkshire/ North Derbyshire) and have a family to support. This obviously is a big factor. This leads me to 2 options I would appreciate feedback on. 1- Forest/ gardens Apply for tenders primarily work for a cutter where the harvester can't get. Most if not all felling sites will have edge trees that are too big, double leaders and windblow. Where these contracts were available seek a freelance cutter to work alongside, therefore solving the problem of employing someone and giving me the required safety cover. In off times work alone basically odd jobbing, fencing, walling, planting, grass cutting, hedges etc. Are there freelance cutters that would be interested in such work with the added possibility of the above jobs if they arose? Is it a viable approach? 2- Cherry Picker I've looked extensively into this and very few people offer cutting with and ariel access/ mewp "full time". I could buy a platform with the cash I have available and theoretically work alone. I appreciate it is no subsitute for a climber in some situations but in others could be much faster and the angle I would approach more would be safer. In the current climate of risk assessment etc. it seems this could be a sway towards using platforms (yes I know they have their own seperate risks and I don't intend to start that debate). I know this maybe isn't the place to gain support in this but climbing isn't always an option and not always the most commercially sensible way of cutting. I wouldn't intend to "muscle in" on all the climbing in the area. I'd plan to keep it as myself maybe 1 other taking suitable work. Obviously costs would be higher doing this which would I guess keep the balance between working a platform and climbers fair/ even. Very few people seem to specialise here and to me as a relative outsider it seems like a huge gap in the market, quite easily filled? Any feedback from people in the area or with experience/ general input will be appreciated. Alos expressions of interest or suggestions are welcome if anyone has any! Cheers Chris