geoffers

Go down the pub find the nearest farmer / forester / tree surgeon type. (Look out for check shirts and flat caps this is a good sign) Get them drunk tell them of the large oak trees you need felling and logging up. By the time you have 7 pints inside them they will be doing the job on the promise of firewood. And bobs your ankle, get paid, give said farborist his wood and wear you check shirt with pride

Not bad little trailers and surprising what they can pick up, we have the road tow version with power pack and it's brilliant for picking up bits when your on your own. It also has a sliding bed to even out the weight distribution over the axles rather than nose of the trailer. I have found they are well built with a lot of thought gone into the setup of the trailer. Go for the larger lifting capacity crane if you can as you will find it better.

Got one on trial next week can't wait.

Honda pro roller 21" deck is top banana. Or the 4 wheeled version. Collects wet or dry grass no worries. Expensive but they will last years.

Decent ones are like rocking horse poo! But get a good one and shop around. You should pick a 06 plate one up for that money. They are easy to fix and cheap to run. Good luck

I employ 8 lads and I adjust their pay according to ability, work ethic, qualifications, experience, etc etc. I would rather my employees come to me and ask for a pay rise if they feel they are progressing. But I also understand some don't like to ask, and will carry on regardless until it's too late. I would rather they ask. because running a business comes first and finding work for the lads comes first. So as a boss you are generally so pre-occupied with other things. You generally need a kick up the asse from the lads to sort out the finer points of keeping a happy wage work relationship. Then it's up to you to find the happy medium to keep your best and most efficient workers at the wage they want and the business can stomach. I train all my lads myself so expect allot from them. Because if I can do it they can do it. Obviously everyone has limitations, this is where I find the category they fall into the team and can work out their value to the business. But most importantly part of the team. if you don't ask you don't get so go for it

Here is my baby

Doesn't he play for Tottenham?

We sent the lads on a one day ROLO health and safety course, and as long as they are awake at the end of the day they pass. Then booked the cscs test at the local driving test centre and jobs a goodun..... Well unless you fail.

I wouldn't worry about it, if one of my lads or subbys weren't confident on a particular tree and raised their concerns I would listen to what they are saying and rather than remove them from the situation I would work with them and find the best and safest method of removing the tree. I would rather my lads have an opinion on jobs, be it good or bad because everyone has limitations and comfort zones. Some Bosses unfortunately can't see the bigger picture because they are wrapped up in trying to organise the rest of the weeks/months work and loosing a day on one job often has a big knock on affect to the other jobs. It's swings and roundabouts. Fair play for standing your ground, your boss will realise your not a push over and if he doesn't he has just lost a decent subby.

That's what they all look like, but next time leave the hessian and wire on as it is full of fine soil to give the tree a good start. It eventually rots off in a few years. No harm to the tree.

460, or 461 if Santa can get it in his sack, I love mine, 18" bar, absolute animal;)

I use a 16 yard skip and light all mine in that. I've got a green waste burning licence on the farm and so far almost have 2 years worth of green waste or un chipable material in it. I then get a local grab lorry to come in and empty the skip and make a big dent in the composting pile as well, it only costs £220

Change the oil cooler, clean the header tank and hopefully that's it. A lot cheaper than a head gasket. I had a Berlingo which has the same engine and the oil cooler went twice on it. But the symptoms are identical to a head gasket going with oil in the water. Good luck

I just got myself a don blair ultralight harness from the states after using a butterfly and various others. I find it's one of the best ones to stop me getting a bad back, plus it's very comfy to climb in.

Same here, the only reason why I took a lad on as an apprentice was because he had sent me a cv and that impressed me because it wasn't just a run of the mill copy everyone else's cv. So I gave him a chance, as he seemed a nice lad willing to learn. He started his apprenticeship and was doing 2 days a month over the course of each month. Three months into the course it was clear it wasn't teaching him anything. In fact he used to ask if he could work rather than go in as he learnt more at work than college. Nine months down the line and two site visits from college staff and we cancelled his course. The good things to come from it was I now have a young lad in training gaining experience and qualifications every day. Enjoying learning and progressing in the industry. The bad things are the fact colleges are offering these courses and not backing them up with qualified interesting instructors, and churning out poorly qualified lads and lasses who want to progress. Obviously not all colleges and courses are the same, but from the sounds of it a lot are. Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

Yep 01295 690011 good luck Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

Southern cranes on 01798 875988 Arb friendly and I found very reasonable priced. Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

Try Alistair at practicality brown he has an array of big shiney toys that mulch anything. Plus he will travel. Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

Hi I think you will find a Kubota secondhand somewhere they are very good easy to use and easy to service. I bought a new stv40 last year and it runs our processor and log splitter I have also had our Schmidt snow plough fitted to the front weight plate running off the loader hydraulics. So it rarely has time off. Get in touch with browns and see what secondhand ones they have on their hire fleet as they sell them after they are 3 - 4 years old and they are generally in very good condition. Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

Argies on the break will win it. Single goal I reckon Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

How much do you want for it? It looks fan bloody tastic Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

In my opinion you pay peanuts you get monkeys, I would rather charge a fair price that's going to earn me money pay for my crew, kit, fuel etc and leave the customer happy with a quality job. Just charge what the jobs worth and earn some money off the top to cover all eventualities it's not bloody rocket science. You will soon find you are financially better off giving you more money to spend on man toys for your business Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

Depends what you want it for but a 361 is a very good powerful ground saw and is capable of most tasks, the new model is a 362. You should be able to pick one up second hand at the right price. Failing that a 261 is a good saw but lacks power compared to the 361/362 but on the plus side it's lighter. Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

If your only spending a day on it and not clearing and timber then charge around £400. That should give you some room for profit and cover all costs. The trouble is it's hard to price a job with not much information and from just a picture, as the price of a job depends on lots of factors. How far it is from your yard. Location of tree/trees. Access. Client. E.g do they understand the scale of work involved, how willing are they to part with their hard earned cash for work on their trees. Is the timber being removed off site. Is it being logged up for the customer. Are you chipping up the brash and removing all waste. And the list goes on but you can only gauge this by looking at the job in person and knowing all the elements in the equation. Hope this helps, good luck Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk