theflyingscotsman

Second Ty, any imp can put a silly price in but if you value your customer put a inflated but semi sensible price on it. If you put a large price on it and they ask for a break down of costs you could easy trip your self up....and hand the business to the competition.

eBay scammers: look or under a hundred feedbacks but mainly 0 feedback 0% and an external email like hot mail... Also look for places which are out of the road like Skye, Isle of Man etc.. Very easy to spot a dud from a fair auction.. Unless they've a fair bit of feedback and the standard lines of selling (contact seller through eBay, PayPal etc)walk away fast!

Hi Tom id be interested in this. I'm in Mexico at the moment can you pm me with the location I'm based in Midlothian and could give you something for it. Many thanks colin

Haha really... Tell me when was the last time you did three or four weeks straight ?!?!

IF you've the knowledge, It's not really about certs and the pissing contest that follows, it's about what your insurance company will cover you for...your cs30/31 is enough to insurance wise let you fell any size tree. As you have proven to them that you can maintain and use a saw safely. (When I first heard this I thought the chap was mad so I had him email me it in writing.) But it is true. (Climbing your always going to need extra tickets) Mostly your tickets are you bosses way of showing every one you've had the right training so if you have an accident he/she can sleep at night and he won't get sued evil ogar.. If your self employed (your own boss) and you have the same accident..it's tricky to sue yourself and nobody else would care..it's all about putting your big boy pants on.. What's more when building the business you'll likely spend cash on getting employees ticket'ed up rather than yourself as you'll have been strimming and chipping away for years by that time.. If you want to save a bit of money on tickets initially.. Get a insured climber in to do the climbing.

I think your answer lies in the weight of the hedge cutter... Stihls back pack is great but a better thought out head arrangement for hedge cutters would be better...like there carbon pole extension...but with a super light head on it...not easy as they need to be tough too... (Scratches ones head!!)

Hi there, Problems: no..is it hard work..oh yes.. I cut miles of high hedges per year and it is brutal. There is no easy way. (Perhaps tractor and flail!) I've friends who use electric machines which are light weight and slow. Cables/generator I use the stihl kombi system ( 130 and 130 back pack) which is fast and heavy. Also a hs81r (cutting version) I also have just bought a fr back pack engine unit which I thought would help as some of the weight goes through your back but in reality the 135 degrees head weighs a bit and has not the engine to counter balance it so feels awkward. For the back pack ones to be good stihl should make a head minus the extension pole. Then it would be well useful. The back pack using the extension then the hedge cutter on top would be tricky to use as it's then very front heavy. If it's a huge ugly job I usually only plan one a week as it gives my shredded arms time to recover. One of my recent jobs was to shape and cut a 800m stretch of young-ish hedge about 6' high x 6' wide on a conservation farm which didn't want to use a tractor mounted job. Sore on the arms but no ladders so did it in around 10 hours of actual work time. No including lots of little breaks... In my opinion hedge cutting on grander scales is one of the toughest jobs you'll do on your arms as you never have anything to rest the machinery on. It's all 'air-shots' I guess it saves going to the gym though. The elephants trunk systems might be the way forward but I'd worry as you have to get so many different angles and positions when hedge cutting especially when on a ladder. (I use large/med combi ladders and love them go up to 2 stories reasonably safety and cope with rough ground well.) it might be restrictive. Hope that sheds some light. Colin

A 10 ton electric one on fleabay for 750 the last time I looked!

Haha brilliant ...don't say to much that may be a choke hazard! Haha Stihls online policy must be really hurting there pockets now... What a ridiculous move...hey ho!

Hi Phillip, You mentioned you where going to start a Landscaping/Tree business.. My advice to you would be to concentrate on building a solid client base on the Garden/Landscaping side first before heavy investment into arb kit. Get all the tickets while it's funded! A garden maintenance/Landscaping business takes little to get off the ground. Just a lot of tidy/neat work (graft) will soon have your name being passed about and your business will grow. Like Kentjames I started small then moved into arb work once I had a huge client base. For the first two years I sub contracted the climbing work out so that I still made the money out of the job for finding it basically. Or at least made as much as the climber as I was providing him with lots of work. If you can't afford big kit and you don't have the work for it day in day out don't buy it. Hire/beg/borrow.. To get you through the piece of work. If your totally 'green' to tree work (no pun intended) yes I'd agree, go get some experience else where. But if you have some arb experience and /or a contact, maybe a friend, even other local businesses...(ask to hire a climber for the day, I pay my climber minimum of £200per day as I trust him to look after me and my job) You get the work through your business: cost them in and watch and learn, that way you pick up experience but make the money you need to grow the business and buy the big kit. Cost wise, I now usually do all the ground work or provide man power, and get a climber in to do the jobs that are above me. (I will get there in time) If you want to do this as a living and set up your own business I'd start as soon as possible. It takes little experience to cut grass and weed neatly. Tree stuff is a lot different. (Bluntly more dangerous for you and the properties you'll be working in) Don't be afraid to pay experienced people to do what you can't . Anything straight forward do it yourself. Tree/arb work is tricky to get into unless you have the client base from gardening . Most areas will have trusted and professional Tree Surgeons that have the market already. It's not something that's easy to jump into. I agree mostly with the others, this is merely a more business orientated sway on your situation. At 31 when I started I couldn't have afforded to work as a groundie so i just had to get on with it. Grass it like hair....rarely stops growing.. Good luck and stick in

I bought a 56 plate Ranger Thunder... Then found out that the first of the newer shape ones (late2006-07) have very soft drive trains... I have fix gearbox, replaced clutch, flywheel and a host of other smaller niggles... rangers are good just beware of anything late 2006-2007.. I've spent around £5000 just keeping mine in the road...ouch. Good luck...

Hi Timber, We have a Sawmill so waste from that, some arb waste too I hardly seam to sell any softwood at all there's not much demand. I'm £80 per bag of hardwood and most of my customers go for the expensive stuff In my area there are people doing seasoned hardwood at £45per m3. So I think I'm doing well to get 80/50 for mine . I stack all mine for free and smile a lot

Howdy I charge £50 per m3. firewoods pretty pricey around me

Hi Dan I went through this 3 years ago on start up. Sadly for me being 31 didn't help and no body's that interested in lending to a sole trader. If your <25 the Prince's trust might be a good shout. I went through all the normal 'Business gateway' lines and came up blank. I ended up remortgaging slightly for a "conservatory" to get me up and running. I had first noted that there where no visible professional companies operating in my area and started from there. I bought most of my early kit from fleabay with various successes/failures... And then started to trade up as the business and workload grew. I target large +1 Acre gardens / commercial sites in the area (which tend to have maintenance contracts through the summer, then hedges/trees through the winter) Also I get around 50-80 tons of arb waste a year which I've now turned into a small firewood business which helps ease the workload/back work in the winter. (Although it's a busy summer preparing the logs!) To start with do anything to make money and stay afloat. Start shedding the un pleasurable jobs when you get bigger. If you do snare the odd good contract give them no reason to look else where. If you need a cheap website go to 1&1 and build your own. A lot easier than you think. May not be the best but at least you'll have one! Good luck Colin

I'm with Trust Insurance for PL + EL, simple company to deal with there certificates and policies are fairly straight forward which I like. I've heard they're good at paying out if you ever need to claim. I happily pay for the comfort of knowing I'm covered for all aspects of Tree/landscaping/firewood and machinery servicing work. They get my thumbs up Also Swinton for property/machinery insurance thumbs up

Hi Miker, Depends how much ground you have to clear. I have both 2009 Br 600 and a 2012 Br 430... If you have acres to clear it has to be the 600 for the simple reason of grunt. I shift literally tons of leaves from a 28 acre site every year with the 600.. The new Br 430 is lighter but would take weeks longer to do the same job. But will do a good job of smaller areas. I wouldn't waste your money on anything else than a 600. I am selling my 430 and buying another 600 and a blower unit for my kombi as I blow driveways etc in the summer season after strimming verges. Hope that helps

Hi there, I started last year and have found the 9'x5' Paxton trailer (as on fleabay) very good. About £1100 brand new and takes two bulk bags without issue and is small enough to fit in most places and very light to tow. Good luck