wjotner

Bit off both to be honest. Probably want one more than I need it though.

So am I better off buying a pickup and converting it to a tipper (assuming its not been treated as badly) or just getting a tipper (which means less expense converting it to tipping) but being prepared to spend money to upgrade, improve, replace a worn out landy?

I have limited space to store. A tipping trailer would take up too much space and would prevent me using a chipper. I think you're probably right on all points. But i want a 4x4. If it take 1 to 1.5 ton of chip, that would be enough for 90% of my jobs currently. So not worried about that. I'd consider getting a Ford Ranger tipper, or similar. But would they be able to carry as much as a landy 130 or 110 hicap?

Thanks. Finally some positives. To be honest, I've basically already decided i want one. I was just hoping for some positive points so i could justify to my boss (the wife) why i want to ditch a perfectly good, but dull and bulky transit for a battered old landy.

I think you're probably right. But i hate the transit. It's too big, and I won't be able to park it at my new house I'm moving to (won't fit on drive). Plus, cos i live in peak district, when it snows, i don't trust the transit on the roads, as well as most of my tip sites being muddy in winter, I have to be careful about when I can take my transit there. I'd be much happier with a 4x4 which is a bit smaller, so i can get rid of my car too. If Defenders are so crap, why do they hold their value so well? What other car/van would sell for £5K to £6K with 180K on clock and 20 years old? They must being doing something right?

I've been thinking about doing that. It's just a lot of debt, which I'm trying to minimise. I think if i can't find a used chipper for a reasonable price I might go down the route of leasing. I agree. I've been limping by just brashing up on back of van for smaller jobs and for large jobs hiring in a chipper or man and chipper until now. But it's gets expensive doing that. Yep, chip is much easier to get rid of than brash thats for sure. I've been thinking of getting a small petrol chipper like a 160. How do they perform?

So i want to trade in my reliable, but boring and too large, and shit traction, transit tipper for a sexy, battered old defender tipper. Everyone says they're awful to drive, breakdown all the time and fuel economy is eye-watering. So am I being a fool for wanting one so badly?

Yeah I agree. But finding a chipper thats affordable (under 6K for me) means delving into the murky territory of knackered unwanted chippers that will be useless. If I could only find an old Timberwolf 150 for around 5K I'd be a happy man.

So, as everyone who's started their own arb firm will know, getting enough of your own work to cover 5 days a week takes a lot of time (several years I'm often told) to get to that stage. How sensible is it as a strategy to grow your new business to try to rent out yourself as a bona-fide subby with truck and chipper to larger firms to fill in the gaps in your own work? Currently, I've a decent tipper van and some saws and basic gear to cover most small to medium jobs. But i really need to buy a chipper to kick on to the next level. But obviously, if I'm gonna fork out several grand for a chipper, I need to be getting enough work in to cover the repayments. How hard have other guys found it to get business going in this way? Any advice appreciated. Thanks

Being quick isn't necessarily the same as been rushed. I've worked with climbers who are very fast. But to look at them, they're not rushing about. They just have a very sound technique, they make good decisions and work efficiently. That results in work being completed in good time. Rushing about usually creates mistakes, either by getting ropes in a tangle, making nests in the tree, breaking stuff on the ground, or in the worst case causing injury or death. "More haste = less speed" is a very good adage in our line of work.

I must agree that although i think the overall plan of replacing the inferior tree stock and those causing a lot of damage is reasonable, I have seen some decent trees including some nice if slightly too large London Planes come down, and that was a bit of a shame.

Did you really just go to my website to find something to have a go at me because I'm offering a different side of the argument? Get off your high horse! Or don't we live in a democracy where more than one opinion can be offered?

All true. But when a minority is claiming to speak for everyone, then thats not democracy IMO. The protesters are regularly ignoring and overriding the interests of local residents in certain areas affected by negative effects of poor trees, including older people who are having to deal with risk of trip hazards and those who are experiencing serious property damage caused by root disturbance created by large trees pushing up tarmac and paved areas that need sorting out. Those tree surgeons being sent out working at silly hours of the day are forced into doing this to get the job done. Protesters have pushed them to this extreme. In terms of taxpayers money. Just think about how much money is being wasted by the delaying tactics of protesters. This work is taking more men, more time to complete. This will probably end up eating into the budget set aside for maintaining all the new and remaining trees. Probably meaning not enough to manage the trees effectively and in a few years Sheffield will end up right back where they were when this process began.

The protesters represent a small but very vocal minority in Sheffield. Most of whom are liberal house wives and retirees and trust fund kids who have too much time on their hands and need a cause to take up their time standing around on the street yelling abuse and getting in the way of legitimate tree maintenance work. I've heard of lots of incidents where local residents who want the trees replaced getting into strong and long arguments with protesters who weren't local. On one street, so many of the residents turned out to argue with protesters as they had all petitioned to have their over large and poor conditioned trees removed that the protesters eventually gave up and left the tree surgeons to get on with it. There's plenty of tree surgeons out there that just hear about this on the grapevine or on media and want to pass judgement - but i know guys who've worked on this contract. They're not taking part in a mindlessly destructive deforestation of Sheffield. The tree felling is just a part of a major and long overdue overhaul of the deteriorating, aging and badly maintained tree stock on Sheffield's highways. Most of the trees are getting replaced. Apparently, most of the trees getting felled are crappy overlarge ash, lime and cherry pulling up pavements and tarmac and that have been lopped/topped in past decades then left to regrow out of control with decay forming in the large old wounds - barely worth saving.

Light branches that need cutting and holding = Use a silky!

Hi I'm a freelance, self employed climber. My gear needs LOLERing. Can anyone recommend or put themselves forward as LOLER inspectors near Sheffield, Chesterfield or the Peak District PM me with their prices and availability? Thanks Will

Totally agree. And i was only referring to "conny bashing" with regard to Leylandii's and their like. I love cedars and Scots pines especially. I think it's always a shame to remove trees entirely though unless they're poor specimens or dangerous. I think the erosion of tree cover should be prevented by councils putting proper safeguards in place by perhaps expanding on conservation areas or getting more TPO's on domestic trees and insisting on replanting the majority of trees being felled within reason.

Hi mate. Getting rid of conifers is never bad for the urban landscape, they are - with few exceptions - a blight on the british landscape and every felled conny is an improvement in my book. So keep em coming down

Too many tree surgeons think Lopping and Topping are perfectly acceptable types of pruning operations, which is why much of the info in that article will fall on deaf ears.

Some good ideas there. I'll get my new Fort Knox up and running soon.

Well I'll make sure I'm insured anyway, so if they really want the stuff, then like you all say, they get in. But I'd at least like to make somthing that only real pros would bother busting into.

Good approach. If you're unsure, why not speak to HMRC yourself and see what advice they give. In my own experience I've never been deducted CIS while subbying as a tree surgeon. I wouldn't have it personally and wouldn't work for a company that insisted on it unless they're a construction company.

I'm looking at what design of garage door is most safe for keeping thieves outta my work stuff. What can anyone recommend? e.g Roller doors, swing doors, panel doors etc. Cheers Will

I get that. But it's a proper arborist's job to advise a customer that doing that to a tree is a bad idea and suggest a proper way of doing it to preserve the tree and give client what they want.

Looks good. I would have done exactly the same. Shame on the "tree surgeons" who butchered it previously.