Pedroski

You should still be able to get a digger in THROUGH the garage door. Micro-diggers are readily available to hire and can actually be manoeuvred through a house. BUT you do need to know how to use one effectively otherwise you'll waste time faffing about and they're not cheap to hire. For the small area you're working on, I personally wouldn't bother. A rotavator would be a better option so you can loosen the high areas and rake them to the low areas. Stihl do a good rotavator attachment for their equipment, which is only narrow but makes light work of this sort of job. Remember, after levelling everything you need to make sure it's properly firmed down again, otherwise you end up with really soft ground and lots of sinkage.

OK, yep, I was harsh and agree that everybody has to start somewhere. You need to think what will happen if you build up the bottom - will it be too high against the fence? And if you scrape out the top, will it be too low against the fence? Can overcome the problem of being too high against the fence by building a sleeper wall (nice new oak sleepers, approx £22 each), plenty of timberlok/timberfix screws (6 inch ones approx £25/box 50 and 8 inch ones approx £35/box 50). Level the sleeper wall horizontally at lowest point of garden and build it with a long return on each end. Build it up to however many courses you want to raise the bottom. Then you can either bring new material in to build up the bottom, or drag material down from the top (provided it doesn't end up too low against the fence). To screw the wall together tight enough then you will need a powerful drill/driver, so budget for that. You can also build a wall across the garden and split it into two terraces if it's particularly steep. If you need it perfectly level then level pegs, as you mention, will help. But with terraces you need to think about how the wheelchair use will get from one level to another.... a gentle slope going across the garden will do it. As for surface - build a solid pathway and standing areas for the wheelchair (there are nice Indian stone slabs that are good and strong, or use concrete which can be pretty attractive if tamped nicely and broken up with some brick edging and inlays). Or use 'slip resistant decking'. And for the main area use turf - do it properly and it will give a good firm surface and look nice. I still stand by what I said before though - despite this only being a small project, it still has to be done right so price it properly as it won't be cheap with respect to time and materials, and if poss have someone with you who knows what they're doing. Otherwise we'll end up with the same scenario as a customer who gets an inexperienced person in to butcher a tree, then has to pay an experienced person to sort it out - more expensive than having got someone else in the first place.

Something is mad on this forum. You clearly don't have a clue about gardening and landscaping, yet people are offering you advice. If you said you were going to do tree work then they'd all be saying to get a pro in and that you need to get experience with a firm, and they'd all be slagging you off for offering a crap service and undercutting everyone. I don't mean to be unkind, but you're getting off on completely the wrong foot and you really need someone who knows what they're doing to work alongside you. At the moment I would not want to be one of your customers. Harsh but true.

It's quite likely to be the valves need adjusting. Also, if you remove the air filter you'll probably find it drenched in fuel. There's some pathetic issue with the 4-mix engines where fuel siphons back into the filter housing from the fuel tank when laying down or stood engine down. Pain in the arris rail.

Yes fella, I would. Had a big job on a few months back - climber's rate (he's a very good and fast one) was £180/day. But he had an hour's drive each way in his LR so I bunged him a bit extra for each day he was with me. He gave excellent value for money and we got done in one day what another "pro" climber took two days to do. What I won't abide is paying someone more than they deserve, but if someone deserves a lot by way of the amount he enables us to get done in a day, and by way if his attitude, then I'll make sure he's treated well.

Steve Darch at Filf down in Rottingdean (just east of Brighton) could prob sort you out. Bit of a trek from N Hampshire, but it's quite nice round these parts.

'tis a piece of weewee. Just pull the hedge out starting at one end, then pulling the others the same way. Then dig the holes with a fence spade and a post hole digger. Chop straight through the roots. If you can't dig the holes like that for a few bays of fencing then you're probably too weak to lift the posts up anyway Augers and stuff for a few 8 or 9 foot posts.....

My workmate has got an RA somewhere for this. Long and short - you need to keep people out of your work area - tape off the paths you're working on. Work on set areas together so you have a look out. Once that bit complete then move to another path, close that off and do that one. Common sense - don't strim when people are within 25m. Choose a time to do it when it's likely to be less busy. The areas we're responsible for we try to strim as early as poss in the morning. Are you insured for strimming in public places? Might find your arb insurance doesn't cover you. If so, you might be better off leaving it to a pro landscaping firm who know what they're doing re the risk assessments etc.

Best to ignore grammatical errors. While arbs may have sharp chains, they're not the sharpest tools in the box....

You beat me to it! Years back (over 30 years ago) when I lived in Chingford, Walthamstow actually seemed like a half decent place. Dunno what's happened to it the past couple of decades! As for chip tip site - sorry, can't help. I just got attracted by the word Walthamstow

Just think of all the people walking by who have seen your truck there and now think you're the one who was doing the tree

Yes, plenty. Check the specs.

Def start with a long reach hedgecutter - chop it and rake it. Much less mess than strimming. Then mow and strim. You'll get there in the end. Without seeing it there's no way of saying how long it will take, but if you allow a day to get the bulk of the brambles cut down you should be ok.

I use API-TC, JASO-FC, ISO-L-EGD rated synthetic oil.

The flyers have no artwork on them at all. They were about the cheapest ones my workmate could get done - plain green A5 size recycled paper with black company logo and text, just explaining what we do. As you say, a lot is down to luck - flyer hitting the doormat in the right house at the right time - but also targeting the right area. Good looking girl delivering them helps as well

My daughter delivered flyers for us in 4 streets. We paid her £40. It has so far generated about £3k of work on one job and more to follow

I know that, but surely the freelancer should allow for fuel within their day rate and also on their tax return, assuming it's not cash in hand and unaccounted for work.

Errrr, even as a freelancer, why would you be spending £4000 on diesel to earn someone else a profit? Surely you include diesel in your business expenses and in your price?

Perhaps the other guys are going to take it all out through next door's garden. That's what I'd do if work was being done on two neighbouring properties in one go - all stuff out the easiest route!

Congrats to you both Sloth And cool name too

Bet he's from Brighton King of the Ring.... welcome Any reason for not returning to teaching in the UK?

Yep, we call it inflation too. And it's mental. The flat I bought for £20k was recently sold again for almost £200k, yet wages the same as when I bought it! Makes no sense to me.

"Man up" (the words of Rich Rule 2012)

You're not allowed to have simple answers to simple questions One of the problems with our UK weather is that it's so changeable. One day you can be all wrapped up as it's cold and wet, then go to work the following day in the same gear and you get caught out because it's hot.

It's all down to what you're used to, init? Dudes in the Arctic manage to carry on with their work in temps of below 10C (average summer) and -40C (average winter). If anyone who is used to the UK climate can't cope with that then they need to man up