10 Bears

You won't be surprised how many times I have heard this said!

You are already paying over the odds, £100 is good money for his unskilled work - even if he's a really good grafter. I don't know his age obviously but for a benchmark, at £12.50 for an 8 hour day he is considerably over the minimum wage levels Minimum Wage 2016 rates UK Just picking up on your "self-employed" comment. I don't want to derail this thread, but in a very short review, if he is under your direction in the workplace, reliant on you for the work, and essentially doesn't work independently, then for insurance and tax reasons, he is an employee. Just advice, but mind that you have the right employers liability insurance in place...

It probably wont be as long as you think with Access, as its pretty easy and you can drag and drop lots of elements to set it up eg forms etc. Other then that SQL is a very text based language with simple operators, so, for example you write a query where you want to know the result of: IF X AND Y NOT Z = then the DB gives you the answer and pops it on your forms. You can store a whole set of queries in the DB so the next time you upload your data (ie from an excel sheet), the queries run and hey presto - out pops a new form with the answers filled in. This is the simplified version of events, as setting it up will take some amount of time, but I genuinely don't feel its a hard task - but I am good with tech, perhaps you are different? Best of luck either way, and you can post access files on here (or via pm/email) for me to have a look at if you run into problems.

Ha - yes! or close enough. I say, "Three Letter Acronym" but yours works just as well. Sorry Gary if this has mithered you - it really wasn't worth the wait. Just a bit of silliness on my behalf...

Access is a good suggestion as you can build it to print 'reports' designed as you need with the content taken from a back-end excel file. Access is a very basic database management software, but with a little time and learning some very easy SQL, you can make it do some very useful things. See this guide - I have a copy, its very good. [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Access-2013-Missing-Manual-Manuals/dp/1449357415/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456953218&sr=1-4&keywords=access+the+missing+manual]Access 2013: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals): Amazon.co.uk: Matthew MacDonald: 9781449357412: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41pWVJY2-DL.@@AMEPARAM@@41pWVJY2-DL[/ame]

Yes, just checked - Fatality! Fatal error: Call to undefined function filter_xss_bad_protocol() in /home/o109934/public_html/includes/common.inc on line 1059

You were missing for 6 hours - but it seems like I got lost for a day! Hmm, what did you think TLA was?

Yes, you probably have - care to offer your thoughts?

Is this a giveaway or are there costs involved? I will have to make a phone call but I may know someone over that way who would be interested in at least some of it.

I've heard a lot about this, although never experienced it myself, but have to say, this is probably some part of a factor in why I am not that enamoured with QTRA - that and what I said earlier of course...

I use many TLAs myslef (prize to the first who works that out) - have to be consistent and use the same ones all the time or it gets very confusing! I've tried to work out yours, and aside from knowing the tree has some 'wibbly chlorofluorocarbons at 2 metres, with some isolated sadness' I'm not sure what your TLAs say! Go on, enlighten us...

Just picking up tips at the moment Stephen, I have a chainsaw mill, but haven't had any time to break it out in anger as yet... The rope comment interests me - you mean that you operate the saw from the trigger, but instead of pushing the mill with a combination of saw handle and centre handle on the mill, you pull a rope attached somewhere? I'm not sure I have the right mental picture here, do you have an image or more info?

It happens to us all! I have a habit of writing peoples initials instead of full names for no other reason than it was something I picked up in an office job I had many moons ago. Just haven't lost the habit yet, it seems more efficient or economic somehow KJ!

Yes, this is what I was saying earlier, although perhaps in fewer words so the message wasn't as clear. The OP will need VTA, qualifications, experience, working knowledge etc. in order to be able to develop their own defensible system, and with a good amount of the right education - he should have most/all of these elements in his own system. So Lonsdale supports QTRA, and Barrell doesn't. I think that puts us firmly back at step one. Is QTRA worth it?...

Sorry to admit but I am laughing a little here! All just in fun of course... Where do you have these frank exchanges? An earlier thread on here, UKTC or other? Actually, I've not used UKTC (don't need another distraction!), but if there is worthwhile commentary that I'm missing, it may be time to start...

Hello Jules, No offence taken when there is a considered difference of opinion. I contribute here to try to learn more then pontificate, I believe '2 ears and one mouth' is a good general rule to follow. I agree that for some clients such as the ones Kevin mentioned e.g. county councils, ISS, Thulborn, Glendale, Hi Line etc. and no doubt your client too, they feel that a publicised/licensed 'system' with defined application and consideration of probability etc. will help them deal with their potential liabilities. As you say, horses for courses and I agree, however, the point I tried to make to the OP was that QTRA is not the only way to deal with the same problem - there may be other solutions available for him. About VTA, the full line was, "if you follow the basic principles of VTA, use up to date tree knowledge, are methodical and record what you survey etc. of course, you will also need educational qualifications or experience to help you justify your opinions expressed in the survey", so what I was getting at is you will need to use all of these elements in your surveying in order to have your own system that would be a suitable alternative to doing a course. For example I mention educational qualifications, so if the OP only has GCSEs and no formal tree quals at L2 or above, then he may be on a sticky wicket when it comes to justifying his opinions in regards to remedial action or otherwise. It just may be that he needs a training course, QTRA, PTI or whatever in order to fill the gaps in his knowledge. The Goode Vs. Burnside case was heard at the Environment, Resources and Development (ERD) Court, which yes you are right is an Australian version of our PINS. I appreciate that doesn't affect our legal system, but I believe the judgement holds gravitas in any case as an impartial review was carried out about the system, and it simply came out wanting. The position of the commissioner supports my previously developed views, so it reinforces my position on QTRA. I suppose with it being considered the framework of legality, heard in a court and judgement passed by a commissioner the easiest way to describe it at the time was as a legal case - so, that tells me, I shouldn't cut corners when posting! There are the cases you mention yes, but these broadly focus on principles of surveying, levels of qualifications and/or experience - unless I missed something from them? All this is important certainly, but the reason for highlighting the treatment of QTRA was that it was specifically considered as a 'system' in its own right, not just on wider principles of surveying. That said, as the wider principles of what is legally acceptable in surveying are defined in these cases, hence why I outlined VTA, quals, record keeping etc. to the OP. Actually, I think its time we heard again from the OP so he can fill in some gaps. What are your levels of quals/experience and do you know if any of the known surveying training courses are actually considered essential for the work you are looking for? Another thought that came to mind is that the OP may not be geared up for big contracts with the companies that Kevin mentioned - so again, perhaps a more general course is in order? Oh and Joules, M.E. owns your soul and you know it...

I would just go for straight felling. It looks as if there is enough room to put them parallel with the building. It looks just like a matter of planning your felling sequence properly, ie making sure that each fell gives you more room to do the next one. They also look generally quite small/not too heavy, so even if they did roll I can't foresee any damage if the building was hit. Are they all coming down?

I like the Latschbacher system too, and have used it many times. The only drawback I would say is that grey squirrels are a little find of them, either scratching off the numbers as they try to chem them, or completely removing the tags and running off with them - I have seen this happen! All in though, when tagging trees, I would choose Latschbacher over ali tags every time.

A follow up thought here, where are you in the country Dilz? There are meet-ups for tree climbers, but perhaps there may be an opportunity to arrange a meet-up for chaps with different tree surveying techniques? This may give you the chance to try out a couple of methods before you buy, so to speak?

I really have problems with the concept of QTRA. My personal opinion of course, but I believe it to be inherently flawed. Its also the only tree assessment system, *that I am aware of*, that had its procedure and use considered in a legal case, and simply, the judge found it wanting as it demands a "fair degree of subjectivity" - and therefore isn't really *objectively* quantified at all. The case was Goode Vs City of Burnside, 2007, if you are interested. To be fair there are some counter comments to the judges summing up from Mike Ellison, on the QTRA website - but if you read all the information carefully, Mike is just protecting his business and the judges views are spot on. To the OP, just to give a different view, you don't need to do any course and can develop your own tree survey method. This will be perfectly defensible in law if you follow the basic principles of VTA, use up to date tree knowledge, are methodical and record what you survey etc. of course, you will also need educational qualifications or experience to help you justify your opinions expressed in the survey. Or, simply, you may want the security of having done a course and to follow someone else's method? It won't give you any further legal protection, but it may just set your mind at ease if that's what you need. I've not done any formal tree surveying course, but I am told this is a good one. It may help get you these contracts you are looking for?

Well, electrictree, you may want to jump to conclusions as is your want, however have you considered an impact on the lack of response may have been your poorly constructed opening post? You put up your post at roughly 10:00am where most people are outdoors working, so probably only have access to their mobile phones - then you write two words and post links requiring internet connection. Are you really surprised that there was little immediate response? Now, suffice to say, you appear to be slinging the mud somewhat, broadly accusing the members of this forum of being in cahoots or not caring about this issue, just because you presume that many folk on here are also Stihl users. I applaud the cause, and to some degree your passion for it - but perhaps you need to put a little more thought into your call for arms, and then less effort in belittling the people you are trying to get a response from. Get that right, and then you may get a better reaction.

Just out of interest - Im not into commercial fire wood on a scale big enough to warrant a machine, could you change the position of the hydraulic in-feed table?

I was pulling your chain - don't worry! Progress may take precedent, but there are many environmental laws to protect against this sort of development... ...unless it just happens to be the regional government that are both upholding the law and undertaking the development! Hmm, conflict of interests perhaps?

Just because you put a smiley face at the end doesn't mean you're not taking the... you know the rest! Google has all the answers of course, however, I thought you may have found a good snippet. That said, the link you put up highlights other trees for the chop and the spring fed pond with GKN that they are also going straight through the middle of! It beggars belief really. I would love to see the EIA paperwork and developmental plans, but I'm certain I know what is on there already, ie very little!

There is very little funding about I'm afraid - particularly for tree workers either in arb or forestry. An organisation I know, who deal with seeking environmental funding opportunities in Cumbria, basically said, 'if you work inside the forest gate, you get no money. If you work outside at a mill or haulier, then there is a very slim chance you may get something'. Sorry, but thats the way its been for years. Scotland may be different of course, but I am not best placed to know. Perhaps Joules could chime in if he knows anything?