jfc

I guess for most of us the biggest expenses on most jobs are man hours then machinery. With that set up it is the other way round. However in the UK big machines like that can only do less than 50% of the work. Still plenty of scope for tranny and chipper teams.

Prussic tied with an eye2eye friction cord and cheap pulley will cost about 30-40quid, if you have a carabiner. Prussic is very simple knot best one if you have no training. You are going to do your climbing tickets I assume?

I think you just need to be able to show you projected turnover will be less than 83k. I will need to speak to my accountant about it, I'm not sure what happens with vat we've reclaimed on plant etc. It might be worth the hit though. J.

One of my team has left to join SSE , I am now wondering if its best to stay as a two man outfit and look at deregister from vat.

How many on here have seen a significant drop in work and enquiries? I have about 2wks work booked in as opposed to 4+wks the last few years.

Hi, get a reputable local company (one with plenty of experience applying and getting tpo work) to assess the tree. The application needs to comply with bs3998, which I assume you have no knowledge of. The council may well reject any other applications you make as you don't have a scooby of what is permissible/recommended. However you may well have to modify your expectations of how much it can be reduced. Btw Cedars shed branches in storms, snow and just cos they feel like it.

Is that arb? One of my team came to me today and said he's been offered a job with sse. Starting salary 27k, plus hols, pension etc he has felling 380 and 760 tickets only. I cant pay anywhere near that. In fact I paid myself 30k last year (could of taken more but invested in plant and let the business build some reserves). I'm now wondering how much I would get with them, as a team leader?

I have spent last few years with 4-8wks work on the books all the time. It has dropped off massively since April. Got 2wks work booked in now and phones/enquiries gone quiet. Most of my work is domestic arb. However hedge season is coming up so all my regulars will be in touch but I think it's tough times ahead.

Are you meaning trusted traders as Co ordinated by Trading standards? That is the case in scotland anyway. I have had mixed results as I was membership in 2 areas. I gave up membership in 1 area , the other one provides regular work and is worth it. I have found that if you Google trusted traders in your area you get a lot of ads for my builder, bark, check a trade etc. Hope that's of help. Tough times to be setting up your own gig btw imo.

I had a local guy specifically request Prunus logs for growing mushrooms, which I supplied in March. He said he would drop me some off when they fruited, which will be great if they work well.

Cone and needles I got from ground nearby. Needles are in pairs.

Thinking it might be lodgepole pine but bark isn't like my book. Tree is leaning a lot over neighbour house. I think I have climbed one of these before and it was really brittle. The root plate may have shifted but I need to check when windy.

DO NOT REMOVE natural braces in bark included unions. I don't know how you read Slater to think he was recommending removing them. They are what is holding the stems together. J.

The top one would be the one I made! Looks great finished. [emoji106]

I have a fsi b20, small but does 95%+ of stumps we do. Weighs about 130kg, which means we can get it up steps etc in places big machines can't go. There are benefits with a small light machine. Obviously not as powerful as the tracked ones etc but we make it work.