flatyre

I think they need the houses finished and sold asap, its in a very expensive area, probably paid over the odds for the site and need too get their money back quickly, very busy site with everyone tripping over each other, must be looking a quick turnaround. Whoever gets the job has a very small window of time to get in, get the work done, and get out. Two weeks max, they want it started at the beginning of March and finished by mid March at the latest. Two weeks to turn a chaotic building site into a plush estate. Maybe its a turnkey thing, cutlery already in the kitchen, toilet roll in the bathrooms, manicured grass on the lawn!

Northern Ireland, we only have two decent sized firms and both charge about the same, £272 per 100sqm. I reckon there will be 7k in materials at Northern Ireland prices, is 9,000 too steep a final price?

not round here unfortunately.

Hey folks still trying to get a price drawn up for this job, the pink area is to have weed membrane and decorative gravel so according to my calculations there are roughly 320 sqm and at 50mm deep that's 16 metres which according to Myers Building Supplies that's 30.72 tonnes of grevel which at the best local suppliers price is £1,380 for gravel plus £200 for membrane and pegs. Then according to my calculations there is 1,640 sqm of turf which at the best local price is £4,467.36. That's over 6k!:001_huh:Then on top of that the price for trees and shrubs and a small section of hedging. Are my calculations way off or is that about right? When I say local I mean regional. If someone can give me any advice before sending in the quote I'd be very grateful. Thanks, John

Hope this isn't controversial but as much as Sunday trading laws are a pain in the backside, sometimes I feel that stuffy old out of date laws are the only shred of identity Brussels has left this country with.

I know quite a few commercial gardeners and most don't do tree work so I'm thinking of offering a finders fee/cut for any tree work they pass onto me. Has anyone done this when they were starting up and what would be fair percentage? thanks

Hey folks bought an 038av off ebay a short while ago, early all alloy body, mostly complete with a new barrel and piston, runs really well but the chain brake band and linkage are missing. Bought the missing parts off ebay (original stihl), but it looks like they are off a newer 038 similar to the setup on my later 028av. Can't find the parts for an older one anywhere so if anyone has a doner 038 i'd gladly buy some bits off you. I could do with a new top plastic but the linkage would be enough to get the saw up and running again.

Just finished fitting the new piston kit, gave the bore a bit of a hone too. Seems to have good compression and fired up right away, problem is it runs fine for about twenty seconds then dies. Removing the air filter makes no difference. Could this be the fuel filter or something more serious?

Sorry buddy but unless it came from the official cheque signer I doubt a court will rule in your favour.

some woods produce irritants, cedar for example, for all we know in twenty years time there'll be ambulance chaser adverts on daytime tv offering no win no fee for wood poison illnesses!

hey folks has anyone ever owned one of these? I know they're old but are they still usable, been offered one for £60 but it needs a side casing, read a few mixed reviews, would it be worth buying a sourcing a casing?

I bought a second hand 560xp with a 16" bar, great saw, love it to bits, keep trying to justify buying a new one, but the old one keeps surprising me with how well it tackles everything from small conifer topping to large fells!

it looks nice and I hope it works for you, the luxury of a mwb van over a pickup or smaller vehicle is having a fold down work bench and vice, a sink and running water, a gas camping stove, frying pan, bacon, baps, brown sauce, tea etc. That way I can file away in comfort. Some would argue a tipping body would be more useful, but different folks have different priorities!

managed to get a carb off an identical engine, swapped the diaphragms over and running well now, i'll order up a carb kit anyway just to have. thanks, again, John

thanks Gardenkit, it does run when you pour petrol down the plug hole, I'll get a carb kit ordered up for it.

I reckon you could drum up a fair amount of work with the tipper, even on your own doing small work, topping conifers, clearance work etc. some might consider two years not enough to go out doing your own work, but then how long? You might have gained more varied experience in your two years than someone else who's been doing the same kind of work for ten. I had zero experience when I struck out on my own, got made redundant on the Thursday, found out the wife was pregnant on Saturday. No choice so started doing gardening, which led to tree work, almost all conifer topping and removal, trimming up cherry trees, etc. I have a mwb transit and 10x5 trailer, for now I hire a chipper when there's enough profit to cover it. In my second year of business and thinks are going well, plenty of small work out there until your qualified to take on the bigger stuff, and plenty of low paid climbers happy to get a weekends work and double their wages. Get liability insurance and don't take stupid risks, one mistake can snuff out a fledgling business.

I have an old Qualcast Rotovator with this engine fitted but can't get it to run. It has a great spark but not getting fuel, took the carb apart and couldn't see anything wrong with it. I have never worked on this type of carb before so does anyone know if its prone to any problems? Although its an old machine, it only cost me £30 and has a plough and aerator attachments so might come in handy one day.

old pallet with the brash stacked on top and a good glug of diesel. The pallet burns well but also allows the air to get under the fire.

I think its a good idea charging sellers for ending auctions early, there's nothing more annoying on ebay than the seller cancelling an auction early because the bidding isn't going their way. Auctions are a gamble, you put the item up for auction, you may win big, you may not, if your worried put a reserve on it.

yeah found that out one day when I fired up a husky 136, the clutch shattered and sent chunks flying in all directions. I think the inboard clutch is a better design for this reason!

Husky 480cd, there is another one listed on the same ebay page, looking for something bigger, if i'm going to put time and effort into restoring a saw I want a biggy, just on the off chance I ever need a big saw!

chainsaw spares/project | eBay Well I've been in the shed for the past few nights getting some of my old saw collection ready to sell on, which means I can justify buying another one to the wife out of the proceeds. I seen this on ebay which got my attention, no idea what model it is, but the hexagonal badge makes me think it belongs to the CD range? I reckon its a lower cc model with the chainbrake? Am seriously considering taking a punt on it though would rather have something bigger like a 2100cd. First though what model is it and can you still get parts?

took the side casing off and was able to move the clutch with a flat head screwdriver, it seems free enough, but still no good, any ideas?

Is the falling price of tree work due to small businesses undercutting the big operations, or have the big guns become victims of their own success? I'm a one man operation, running a very simple setup. I can win work without 'undercutting' anyone and contributing to the falling price of tree work. When someone asks me for a price I give them a price based on the equipment I'll use on 'that' job, not what's parked up at the yard. At a local level I've seen the bigger firms putting in 3k prices for one day jobs, I might charge £300 for the same job. Question is are you charging based on the size of the job or the size of your business? Obviously the bigger the firm the bigger its overheads and the more it needs to charge. From what I've seen small firms taking work from big firms and big firms taking work from small firms is what's driving the price down. Add to that every handyman with access to a chainsaw is out there moonlighting as a tree surgeon!

it wasn't, I was turning the ring to see if it was free or fused to the piston, will remove the piston tomorrow after seeing what way the arrow is pointing. P.S. when fitting a ring where should the split be? Any time I fitted a new piston and ring I put the split to the side, between the exhaust port and carb inlet.