Tom10

Love your being sensible - many others wouldnt look twice at a bit of shine of hitch cord, including me. A few plucked fibres on the rope sheath havent yet worried me either, am I being stupid or am I in the majority of arborists! Good luck with it, I kinda hope your wrong being so careful, if not youll need to bulk order some hitch cords!

Ian - your days must be long! after climbing for a day you must spent hours making fancy videos with music and writing and editing. The only videos I have a vested interest in have a lack of nature.... well.... Good work though

Normal polyester lasts one to two trees? what do you do, eat it? I must be being a girl on loads of small trees as mine is holding up (at least I think it is! )

I dont think a tiny resuce (if you descended slowly) should of killed the cord. Im sure its more about speed than weight! You could tow a truck with a hitch cord its about the heat build up between the ropes which obviously gets massive when going fast - like carpet burn on your bum, or knees, or face if your kinky. Dont blame you for not ignoring fellow arbs but just seems strange?

Mmmmmm OK i kinda get your point but i would look at it differently. Can you reduce that 30ft sycamore as good as the next firm? yes? why be so much cheaper? Next time you go in and look at something on the side - turn up confident with your smart chainsaw trousers on and price the job, dont price yourself as you feel your not worth the same as another company (which your not if you take into account staff, machinery etc) You might not be worth 'as much' - but the job price is the job price and if the quality of work is as professional and as good as the next man then I dont see an issue? just be careful with insurances if your not self employed, but thats another thread and off subject. The industry would be better off if EVERYONE who quoted a job quoted it professionally, then the customer would just have to choose contractor and accept tree work is expensive as its specialist.

One rescue and its knackered? Something is very amiss and its not the cord surely? 8mm beeline is fine for a rescue (who cares what it is if it was a real rescue) the same as 8mm prussic would be fine, its all a friction hitch, just variations on a theme so I cant see the knot making a difference. What rope you on? I have been using Imori with OP 8mm on a distel / HC set up and its been going strong for a while with no glazing? Are you being a girl and putting it in the scrap before its done its work, or is it genuinely knackered? Seems very strange to me your decents would have to be constantly and always unbelievably fast to ruin hitch cord that quickly? or am I just a girl and being too slow

Great ideas everyone - Hope this helps others as well as me. Tom

Do the same job but charge more? I know what you mean, but your shooting yourself in the foot, as well as any other company pricing that same job sensibly and properly.

Its only a woman who can have such a response after your short story about being in the forces dealing with landmines! A bloke would of said, ah thats crap mate, if you want to drive you can. Sounds sooooooooooooo much like a lady i spend my life with

LOL agree

Good to hear - obviously a nicely laid out flyer that promoted a good response. I cant help but feel all the skill / art / professionalism put into the flyers though, its really down to luck. I think you could do a whole town and get nothing then do 1 road and get thousands of pounds worth. Just finding the wheat in the chaff. But you don't get luck without getting them through doors - good to hear its paid off for you.

I find something always does come along but its not nice worrying where the next jobs coming from. It wasn't long ago I was weeks and weeks behind with any number of jobs to go and do whenever I wanted - very few people are in that situation now.

... I think the fundamental issue is having the leads and inquires so you can go out quoting.

Idea 1 - Seems the pro-active way and the way most of us should be looking at! Idea 2 - I think is a brilliant idea but only works if you've been established for long enough to get away with it. Once it picks up word of mouth will come to its own and people will use you, because other people use you. I believe you can charge a premuim on this basis too, or certainly be questioned less about price and less quotes obtained from the customer. I haven't been established so long as to get away with it and if the phone isnt ringing with adverts in the paper it sure wont without. Tom

Please consult my recent thread ''idea to boost work / enquiries''

Interesting feedback from your council experience - sorry to hear you've laid guys off but its easy to see why. Agree with the TPO application time! Does not help cashflow. I priced a job recently at a pub, by the time I applied for the work and then booked it and and got it done it was 7 weeks, the pub paid the invoice in about 4 weeks, received cheque on a friday afternoon so could bank til monday, 5 days to clear. From quote to money banked it was over 3 months. Doesnt help the cashflow of the business at all. I personally (and not to start going off topic) think the councils need to be looking at their application system.

Nice idea

More why not? Why reduce the lower left hand side and not the rest? it looks balanced and the crown will grow and progress evenly. Its what I would have done.

Thanks for all the replies chaps - some good ideas and feedback. Shabz - I think your right, alot of us are going to have to 'diversify on a theme' so maybe surveying / consultancy is an option or something more hands on like making products from wood or processing firewood. I think ways to boost income on quiet days are something the vast majority of us on this forum will have to at least think about as I cant see your standard domestic householder or small business looking to throw decent amounts of money at tree's when everything else is so tight, not for the foreseeable future either. I shall draught a letter on my next quiet day and get flicking through the yellow pages sending letters to companies who may require work, and see what this brings. Then contact the council and inquire about their contractor list which I have never before got round to. Hopefully as summer progresses things will get busy again rather than just ticking over

I do agree, however the commerical contracts we have are slowing up, construction companies that used to provide a lot of work are getting the odd quote, and the odd bit of work, but nothing substantial. Its not a case of they're using other contractors, its just a chain reaction of a lack of funds. The local council have an approved list of contractors which I have so far not inquired about joining as I have never had to, We are happy with our current commercial customers and the domestic, quick paying work, but this is where its slacking now. To join our local council may provide us with some work but we will be bottom of the an already large (and to be fair, very reputable) list. Also, and fundamentally, the have just formed a new and revised team of arb's that are employed indirectly by them. I know several companies that are still afloat solely because of a large contract with one firm, it would of course be nice to get a large contract but its a 'buyers market' for them with so many decent companies out there who who jump at the chance. This makes the contracts worth less in value and even then these people are slowing up. Tom

Exactly - things aren't diabolical, I'm not watching Jeremy Kyle every day its just a case of I don't feel comfortable not being stacked out, in this day and age you need to be stacked out to live comfortably and do what you want, and need to do. In response to Old Mill Tree Care, this is my thinking also, I'm 99% sure I wont go domestic with letters unless someone on here has a very professional / alternative measure, but for now it would be a no. Good letters with cards to businesses seem a very affordable way to get your name out to new people. Interested to hear from anyone who has done it and what audiences to target - can't cover the whole yellow pages! Hope this makes good reading for everyone on here, even the largest company can expand, even if they're busy at present. It seems the only companies really busy are really long established ones with good recommendations. Which is great, but in a difficult market for every trade (not just us) there's good, quality and professional outfits that want their diaries busier so any ideas to see this through is great. Tom

Hi all, Another day at home due to cancellation of a job and a lack of new quotes / jobs in the diary from new customers. Seem to be living day to day as opposed to having a full diary to work with like it was not so long ago. From speaking to other companies around it seems im not alone - everything is stacked against the odds at the moment. Even if your lucky enough to have someone ring you with a serious inquiry your then battling against other stupid quotes from people who don't know what their doing because they've just come out of college, or other professional companies that are going out for £100 quid a day because they've got nothing better to do. I priced a job the other day (sensible price) and worked out the customer could fit a new bathroom or buy a new 3 piece suite for the same cash, and with things so tight and economising a priority for most its no surprise people are pushing prices down or the customer is not calling at all. Im ticking over by tightening up the finances, subcontract climbing to long standing collegues in the industry (who themselves are finding things tough) and my existing customers, but it would be lovely to generate some new interest from serious customers who are prepared to pay for an extremely professional service. Adverts, no matter where I put them, don't seem to generate enough to hardly bother with and any new customers at all at the moment are word of mouth (which is fine but more is needed to really say were busy again) I am debating sending a professional letter with a business card attached to companies around my locality (hotels, builders, gardeners etc) to generate some work and at least getting some business cards into some new people, has anyone had any experience with doing this, if so what audience did you find best, and what reaction did you get? Im steering away from letters to domestic homes as I feel it lacks the professionalism of sending a smart letter to another business. Its a bit more associated with bad companies, and where do you draw the line? I could drive round knocking on the door of any house which has a tree in the garden! Plus domesticating this idea would then cost a bomb and I want to keep this marketing idea as professional as possible, but could be persuaded with other peoples experience? There will of course be people on here who are really busy at the moment, but I think Im happy to swallow my pride and say the recession is definitively taking its toll on my workload, to the point where I need to drum up more work for me to still consider day to day running a profitable success. I refuse to go in cheap on everything to be busy 5 days a week - Id rather sell all my gear, have a nice holiday somewhere and stack shelves when I'm back home again. I bet there's a larger percentage of members on here than you might think, feeling the same as me that haven't posted on the forum yet. Also, replies from the 'half glass full' brigade are understood, and I love this job and running a business and wouldnt want to do anything else, but paying the mortgage is more important than telling myself it will be OK every 5 minutes! Thanks, Tom.

One piece of invaluable advice - learn the assessement schedule, word for word. Its easy after you read it several times and then get family to test you on every question, until you answer every bullet point. Its much like a driving test, you dont have to be a great driver to pass, you just have to meet a criteria - after than the world is your oyster to learn. Good luck, and remember... you clean your air filter with hot soapy water ps dont do anything stupid while trying to be too technical to impress - remember the basics like putting the chain on the right way and wearing gloves when handling sharp components.

agree

Couldnt agree more. I like to think I earn a mint when I price a 2 day job in at 4 figures... but when we all look at it, pro-rata and minus expenses were all just confier dragging sweaty chainsaw lovers who dont do it just for the money... we would all be better off financially in an office, and we know it. For any company to be offering a position is great and should be congratulated not slated for being too smaller pay. I would only slate them if after the employee has proven and greatened his skills they dont offer more. The sign of a good company is being able to see peoples value, and you'll only do this after a period of employment, so why should companies pay the figure people think they are worth before seeing it for themselves.