Hodge

If I didn't have a truck and a chipper than I would as I pay £140 for a climber, then I charge my chipper out on jobs at £120 so that's not far off the mark eggs.

Come on, a man, a truck and chopper for £150 a day? That is just bloody stupid. I'm baffled at how you can make a living.

If he has not got accident insurance he can. That's not really the point of the post.

In the tree game this "subbing out" is a real grey area for all concerned as we have read in many threads on Arbtalk. Some people sub out with loads of kit to other firms that find the work and pay them to do it, they still have overheads to pay, as does the lad with a chainsaw and fuel can going felling for someone. In most situations insurance is advised/needed as you will inevitably be doing your own jobs as well as subbing. You run a car/van/truck so they need tax/insurance/servicing and this money has to come from somewhere as does paying for kit. Some lads think it's ok to buy an old chipper and truck and go round doing jobs and "subbing out" for folk and charging £low prices to get the work££ with no thought of if something breaks or what if something happens. As we have said before if we all were more capitalist minded then this industry would pay well but we have lots of tree hugger types happy to make ends meet working in the wood etc (no offence meant to anyone) for peanuts. There will always be people who work for peanuts but if you are serious about this game then you need to charge properly. Another short example of why we must get real with pricing is the risk factor, a contract climber I use had a nasty accident in Friday and cut a 4 cm long , 1cm deep cut into is thumb area, it was his right hand, he was cutting a conny hedge and the branch brok as he cut and he lost his footing, as he slipped his hand came into contact with the slowing chain. He will be out of action for quite a while. If he has no accident insurance how will his running costs be paid? If he charges a proper rate he should be able to afford accident insurance and build up some Capitol for such events. Charging too little also can put pressure on jobs to get them done quick so then another job can get done to pay the days cost. Just something to think about lads n lasses:)

I agree, £400 plus vat for a day for 2 men is about right but like you Ian try never to work on a day rate to the customer. I charge by the job and that's that.

Cut and climb are tough as old boots, I've had em for years and they are the Best!!

No wonder this trade is on its arse if you charge £250 a day for man truck and chipper, and that bing a new chipper to. Beggars belief lads??

Thank god your ok, I've been getting worried! Take it easy mate.

I've tried calling him today and got no reply, very odd.

The new 230 VTR has threaded holes on the sides of the chassis for attaching tool carriers, a clever bit of thinking by Timberwolf!!

I really can't understand why this bloke is mixing aspen with normal fuel?? It defeats the object of Aspen does it not?

Chilling after a good day mountain biking:)

Sorry, I couldn't help it:)

There's only one blue moon and that shines over Manchester!!!! MCFC!!!!!!!

My mate has spent a small fortune on iodine, special juices from the U.S. That cleanse the body, spends loads eating organic yes smokes loads. He thinks he's ok as it roll ups. Well done Steve for keeping off the fags mate:)

How many of you on this diet smoke? That's what I find funny about this kind of thing, I have a mate who is on it and won't eat anything unless it's organic or free range etc but smokes 20 a day. Kind of defeats the object of being healthy.

And if people charged a proper price for doing the work in the first place they would be able to buy Kosher gear instead of cheap knock off!!

Thanks, the lads did a great job and the customer is happy. They are looking after it as it has a TPO on it and is 10m from the house and want to keep it in the best shape as possible. The consultant put forward a management plan for the next 6 years. If only more people would do that then maybe more trees would survive longer.

It was to stimulate growth so some of the bigger limbs can be reduced in a few years according to the advice of the consultant. Yes the lads used SRT, Matt and Mike are big fans of the SRT.

About 6 months ago I got asked to arrange a tree survey on a monster Walnut, I did and the outcome was that Retrenchment pruning was required, 2.5 meters off all round to help stimulate growth. We did the job today. The tree hung over 4 gardens. 2 climbers and 3 of us dragging and chipping. The 230 was spot on and I only had to cut a union on a limb once, other than that everything went through the chipper, 1.5 loads of chip.

Been on it for about 4 years now, brilliant stuff. I left it in a petrol mixer.....2 years ago, never been run. It started first pull today and runs sweet as a nut! I would not go back now.

I have a list of garages I can use to get that price, if I use a shell not on the list it is pump price. The one I use is 5 mins away and very handy. No idea on petrol.

Get on with it then Ham😝

I found a lot of B&Q sites seem to be looked after by ground control who used to advertise for people on here. It might be worth contacting GC and asking if you can on their contractors list.

Any vehicle mate