Wood wasp

As previously emphasised I don't know your site, I was making general point and perhaps venting frustration that the nation is awash with quangos "managing" the land for the environment but who is planting tomorrow's commercial timber, both hard and softwood? Also as stated its good that you're getting a turn, however the money is kaput so I'd suggest branching out into other fields in coming years. I will stick to my guns though in that no one can create a natural habitat better than nature, fence it off and leave it alone. So on that note I'll sign off and wish you a merry Christmas!

Well the dirty white van made another appearance today, came creeping down the road towards site until he saw me standing behind van and did an immediate u turn. Got his number and a photo this time so called it in to police who said they'll let the local cops know.

A productive crop such as softwood (and I'll emphasise I don't know your site) gives work for the drainage contractor, the planters, beating up, then thinning work for contractors, road making, finally harvesting. From the harvested timber the haulier gets work, the sawmill gets work, the pulp mill, the chipboard factory. Then we have a finished high value product which needs hauled to markets, maybe exported. At every stage jobs are being created leading to more wealth and taxation. Alternatively we can buy in the finished products from abroad while we f@ck about spending millions that we don't have creating a worthless peat bog.. And next year the cry for more funding gets louder, of course we're now so skint and in so much debt there will be no funding never mind more.

That's good you're getting a turn just now but remember this can't go on, the nation can no longer afford (and never could) so many depts spending so much money and creating absolutely nothing year after year. As for specific site, if it's meant to be a boggy hole with scrub then just leave it as it is. Alternatively drain it and plant it with a productive crop

I don't know your site Gareth but I can never get my head round why birch woodlands need felled on peatbogs, if anything like up here then it'll be beautiful wee woodland that was getting along just fine on its own till some quango deciding the land needed "managed". Meanwhile up the road another quango will be planting birch... And all the time the debt keeps spiralling. If you really want to create peatbogs, native woodlands etc then fence it off and leave it to f@ck alone and nature will sort it out quickly enough. That of course doesn't suit agenda of the non-job contingent though. Hopefully common sense will prevail soon enough, coupled with a long hard dose of financial reality!

48w sounds even better!

Ok thanks, I'll go for the 27w ones. Thanks again

Thanks for that Tom, Which kind did you fit?

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We had a double wheel base white transit, dirty down the sides do a drive by four times today. Last couple times very slow and almost came to a stop at the vans, machines are still on site so parked them as far away from road as possible. Unfortunately side on so could get number.

Go to "settings", "general", "about" In there you'll be able to see what's using memory

2.5 is pallet, 3m is pulpwood/chipwood

I would imagine it's so that harvester can reach them from road at bottom of hill. Edit: Looks an interesting piece of kit and if gets them over quicker and easier than hammer/wedges then worth a punt. Edit 2: Where did you buy it, just had look on FR Jones and don't see it?

Of course I would charge to take away the wood. That looks a big old tree so an awful lot of work before it's in manageable sizes and loaded onto pickup/trailer, which then needs driven to yard and unloaded. That's all an expense. If you get a lorry and crane in then fine but you're just replacing one expense with another, albeit one way or another may be more efficient. If you think you can sell the wood as firewood then fair enough, just don't forget to cost your time and haulage getting it back to your yard - it's not "free" wood! You then have to convert those big roundels, season them a bit and ultimately deliver.. then you finally get your money back. I think there's two clear train of thoughts re pricing jobs and never the twain shall meet! I'll reiterate that I don't do tree surgery but I know what my time is worth plus all other costs. To have all the hassle and costs of running business then work at the prices quoted here is not for me, I'd far rather park up/sell kit and go do something else more profitable. Each to their own though, good luck and merry Christmas to all

DG, fair balls to you for posting your price breakdown but I would still say your massively too cheap. As stated earlier I don't do arb work but would think something like following: Day one Climber: £150 Rescue climber/Groundie: £150 Groundie with chipper: £240 (8 hours at £30 p/h) Day two Groundie with truck: £240 (8 hours@£30p/h as lot of timber to go back to yard) Groundie: £120 Total labour: £900 Mark up 40% POR: £360 (covers your time looking job (and the jobs you didn't get) plus all other expenses and leeway for f@ck up) Total: £1260 plus VAT And I'd say that's still at the sharp end. If you can get cheaper labour then fair enough but you should still be charging market rate, in fact there's argument that if climber getting paid £150 then your costs should reflect £200 I always price work so that labour covered, management time covered, additional costs covered then finally additional profit to go back into bank as I run a business to make money. Always should be increasing bank balance after each job, even if for no other reason than to cover breakages and replace kit

I don't do tree surgery or arbwork as I believe you chaps call it.. And thank goodness I don't! ..for those quoting a grand How can a three man squad be on site for two days for £1,000? Not forgetting a truck, chipper, saws, spares, management time for looking job/preparing quote, insurances, tax & NI stamp, holiday pay, pension etc etc Very basic sums but say two jobs a week at a grand so £2k a week, £8k a month £96k a year. To run a three man squad plus aforementioned kitI/expenses, I might be out a bit with figures but add on another 25% and still not enough. I realise competition had forced prices down but you really need to have a look at your pricing and if that's the going rate.... Go do something else. Not trying to be a smart arse, just can't understand how those figures leave you enough to live on.

I have the maps on my iPad and also iPhone which has backup battery on it so that's not an issue, I don't use them for emergency use anyway but for looking forestry jobs. As Tom says buying lots of paper maps is expensive and there's enough clutter in van without adding piles of maps!

I remember those blocks! We used to skyline big timber off the hill, full length trees too so a fair bit of weight and drag. Ropes would break but the blocks never failed other than wearing through time which you could see on the pulley and side plates.

Ok fair comment £10 for west Scotland 1:50 is grand but £30 for 1:25 local maps so can see how would start to add up. The £10 one should me for time being

Ok thanks CJM Pricey buying maps or in data usage?

This sounds excellent as just spent £15 on two local OS maps, am downloading the basic program as we speak! Thanks for sharing link How can it find your location if no network coverage though?

We always meant to get a table but never got round to it, mainly because crane just lifted from split pile onto log deck

Bear in mind how good your flat file is, I've got new flat files and with them a rub on rakers per sharpen would be too aggressive. As earlier posts stated you'll soon find a level you're happy with

It's a Balfor and apologies, I said 40t but it's actually 30t. From memory it's a 2011 model so 3 year old, would need in region of £6,500 for it. Some pics attached

We still have our 2.2m 40t splitter which we never use, if someone wants to make split billets then make a sensible offer (emphasis on sensible) and we might be able to do a deal. Has its own pump and tank