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Mick Dempsey

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Everything posted by Mick Dempsey

  1. Mick Dempsey
    I did a job for a guy over here, 5 easy oaks to dismantle, leave wood onsite, easy days work. €650 plus VAT iirc. A few months later his mate asked me to quote an absolutely massive deodar, restricted access, limbs 2ft diameter over the house, absolute nightmare material. I told him 5k is a ballpark figure, he was totally gobsmacked, said I thought as you charged €650 to my mate it’d be about the same. 10 years later, tree is still there.
  2. Mick Dempsey
    Well, I can only imagine that they do like I do when I take the car to a garage, a chipper to a repair shop or any other trade in to do a job. You sort of guess, using experience and a rationale. Then you add 30% cos life is like that.
  3. Mick Dempsey
    Clients usually have a figure in their head of what they hope it’ll be. What husband and wife hasn’t said to one another ‘how much do you think it’ll cost?’ Followed by the other one saying ‘dunno, a grand maybe?’ You walk in and say £800 and the jobs yours. If they won’t pay what firms are charging for an expensive removal, it doesn’t get done. Same for any trade, window fitter, roofer or whatever.
  4. Mick Dempsey
    Wouldn’t a rake be quicker? (on the digger)
  5. Mick Dempsey
    I started a thread, ‘Problems and issues this industry faces..’ as a direct consequence of your post in a hope that we could address your question. Could you post those on that thread? Thanks. Mick
  6. Mick Dempsey
    Is this the same? Found on a sweet chestnut stool.
  7. Mick Dempsey
    If my aunt had bollocks she’d be my uncle. Look we’re going round in circles, I’ll leave it for a bit
  8. Mick Dempsey
    You’re wrong, they’ll pay what it costs. Not all in fact not much of tree work is formative pruning that people can make a choice about. Big trees near houses, dead stuff etc. HAS to be done.
  9. Mick Dempsey
    My post was about climbers pay.
  10. Mick Dempsey
    I don’t agree. The money is what it is, it’s not the market’s perception that dictates pay, it’s the supply and demand of capable climbers that dictates the pay.
  11. Mick Dempsey
    All I can say to this is….so what? Who is frowning on us? Why should I care? When I work for people like barristers or people with high paying, powerful jobs, I’m not after their respect, I am after their money, it’s a transaction. If I was emptying their cesspit I’d feel the same way. It is nice if they show an interest or compliment me, but it’s nicer when the chèque clears and/or they call me back next year.
  12. Mick Dempsey
    Trying (perhaps in vain) to steer it back to arb. The VAT threshold in the UK is 85k sterling. In France it’s €36k I think. This means that nearly every firm charge it, so clients expect it. If they don’t want to pay it, well….you know. I often see posts by firms fretting over making the leap to VAT registered, worrying that their regular clients won’t swallow the extra and get someone else. Its alright saying just move on to commercial clients, but it’s easier said than done. Solution. Lower the VAT threshold.
  13. Mick Dempsey
    But the temping agencies pay the NI, holiday pay etc. or not?
  14. Mick Dempsey
    What’s the thing where they’ll deduct 20% off your invoice on work done on a building site unless you have it? Edit. Eggs just answered it.
  15. Mick Dempsey
    I agree, hidden employment is an issue, not throwing any stones, I’ve been guilty of it myself, it’s one the building trade addressed with the cs card scheme (or whatever it’s called) Not so easy to address in arb where people are going to different sites every day.
  16. Mick Dempsey
    One that I have read often is ‘we don’t get the recognition for the work we do’ or ‘unless we do A or B, this industry will never get taken seriously’ Well, so what? You get paid, if you want appreciation be a nurse or a copper what is it you’re missing? Respect at the burger van from scaffolders? As it goes it’s not an unusual occurrence to come down from a tree to a round of applause, but maybe that’s just me.
  17. Mick Dempsey
    Sorry for the pompous title. This may get traction or it may die a death. There’s a lot of talk about this sort of thing without really pinning down if they are real problems or just personal gripes. So let’s try and identify specific issues and think if there’s any answers. All levels of experience and competence welcome, especially younger, newer entrants to the job, your views are as, if not, more important than those of us on the home straight working wise.
  18. Mick Dempsey
    No need to sound surprised I had a good idea! Some of the issues (that I imagine will come up) are some of the great things about the job.
  19. Mick Dempsey
    Can we have a list of ‘the issues we face as an industry’ please?
  20. Mick Dempsey
    Well, there are better peeps than pan me to diagnose, but I’ll start.. A petrol engine like that it’s either spark or fuel. Have you checked the plugs for a spark?
  21. Mick Dempsey
    @AA Teccie (Paul) Why not just show him this thread?
  22. Mick Dempsey
    Post a video.
  23. Mick Dempsey
    Ha! I thought it, you said it Rich. Prolly a little angrier than necessary but spot on nevertheless.
  24. Mick Dempsey
    What do they say about it?
  25. Mick Dempsey
    How old are you?

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