Puffingbilly413

I don't believe it would. You specify the works to be carried out on the tree. Disposal of arisings doesn't come into it surely (in TPO terms). Sure, the council might write it in there but I don't think that's within their remit to specify. Unless I'm woefully out of date.

I think the original point was that high turnover is a poor measure of success on its own. Profit - or being a profitable company is probably a better way of putting it - is what gives you the ability to pay yourself or your staff more and invest etc. As opposed to having a high turnover that simply doesn't outmatch your running costs. Granted, if you're an owner-operator then you're going to have a slightly different perspective depending on whether your looking at the situation as the employee or the director. But then that's your prerogative to choose to pay yourself more (or less) v having more cash available for your company to use (or not). What was the name of that big arb company down in England that went under a few months ago with a million plus turnover but a tiny, tiny profit in the few thousands, I forget now?

Got halfway through but got an early start tomorrow so I'll watch the rest another day. A fascinating watch - there's really good stuff in there. Thanks for sharing it. I must say I admire your attitude, your strategy and your ethics. Keep on doing what you're doing.

I'd say lifting heavy wood poorly is bad for your back. No different to lifting in the gym (not been there for a while...), lifting wood at work can exercise us well - you just need to lift properly. I'm always amused by the lads who won't lift something and use a grab or whatever but will then be in the gym lifting big weights (probably badly) and paying for the privilege... Def agree on the climbing thing though Mick

But if you take this across to, say, the building sector then an average house extension should cost the same. But it doesn't. Because different firms have different reputations, abilities, lead times, running costs etc etc so there will always be different prices. Often significantly different ones. Arb is no different in that respect.

You really need to engage the services of a technical translator if you're serious about it. Automated translation programmes are still really bad (albeit much better than they used to be). If you don't want to pay for someone to do that then the advice already given to borrow the relevant phraseology from chainsaw manufacturers' English websites is a good way to go. Bon courage ...

If you zoom in on the floor, there's a few twigs that suggest pop but the image gets grainy so not sure. I initially thought ash, too, based on the background trees but ash takes a long time to get that latticed bark pattern and in any case as you point out it's not quite right in this picture. I don't think this stem is old enough to consider ash regardless. Acacia, maybe - perhaps the bark seems a little bit grey for it? I think the other one is a small black lab but could be a cross...?

Sounds cheap for Norway... If the chassis is sound and the bulkhead isn't too bad then at 150, 000 that doesn't seem crazy. Not many decent Defenders being advertised under 15K in the UK currently and many go back to the 200 and 300 TDI era.

What's the site history? Background looks like there's been a fair bit of activity, so soil compaction and root damage could be an issue, esp if there's been plant about. That said, I've not seen this specific reaction before.

Can't find fault in your rates then for the area. Up here - Edinburgh, Lothians, Borders, Fife - new trained climbers will be lucky to get £20-21 on starting. Once a bit proven maybe 26. These guys obviously know what freelance guys get and want it too - but not all of them understand what actually goes into a pay packet.

What part of the country are you in Clutchy?

I would say most of the rates discussed here sound familiar. And regional variation will have a huge say - in the same way that a 4 bed detatched house in rural Scotland wouldn't even buy you a 1 bed flat in other parts of the country. What I don't think has been touched on (it might have been but didn't see it) it what will the client pay? It's all very well calling (justifiably) for better wages for tree work but if clients can find someone that undercuts the firms that pay their staff well then those better paying firms will start to lose work. Granted it's not quite as simple as that as reputation and quality of work will count for a lot. The average extra cost over and above the basic wage for an employed member of staff seems to be about £2k a year just including employers NI and pension for someone on around £19k a year. That doesn't include sick pay, paid holidays and paternity/maternity pay - or providing PPE and training etc. Plus there's the entrepreneurial risk. Employers have to finance the firm, find the work, ensure they meet all the various regs etc, probs employ office staff unless they're really small. Interestingly a trained soldier in the UK starts on around the same money, although the salary progression is much better. FWIW - I don't employ staff but climbers are £180-220 a day, more if bringing their own bigger kit etc. Groundies absolute bare minimum is £100 but more if they know the job. As long as I have people's rates in my head when quoting for a job then within reason it doesn't matter - their rate plus a mark up goes on the job. Back to the OP's question - I wouldn't employ staff as it's too much hassle, too expensive and oh, too much hassle.

Worth a read: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/10/openreach-build-fibre-pole-in-private-garden-without-permission.html Suggests legal wayleave must be in place first.

You really seem to take issue with anyone that puts up a counter point to something you have I said small beer compared with. Any figures you put up are meaningless without some analysis. My slant was really twofold. Calling for war crimes prosecutions for Putin has zero relationship to whether the same should be said for the other you mention. Second is that if you are going to lay all violent deaths at the door of who happened to be in power when the fighting started then you'd be pretty much putting every head of state and their govts behind bars. If people don't want the consequences of warfare then vote for a party that won't get involved. We elect them (or choose to live in their states) so we have to share some of that responsibility.

I've spent a bit of time over there. Maybe you have too, I don't know. This article doesn't wash with my experience. There were obviously no records of how many Saddam Hussein killed during his tenure. This bit stood out for me: 'We think it is unlikely that deaths were falsely recorded. Interviewers also believed that in the Iraqi culture it was unlikely for respondents to fabricate deaths' I found things very much the opposite. People would tell you whatever, sometimes changing their views in the same sentence. We (the Allies) killed 10,000 French civilians during the Normandy landings. Trying to decide who is the biggest shithead amongst current and historical political leaders won't change the simple reality that warfare is shitty, bloody and no matter how hard well-intentioned people try, it's pretty indiscriminate when it comes down to it.

Well it seems fairly obvious that war crimes have been committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so I don't find that particularly incredible. Bush and Blair's previous actions make zero difference to the guilt or innocence of Putin and those he sends - only their actions do. Am no particular fan of either Bush or Blair but they are small beer compared to tovarisch Vladimir.

Fungi ID (various states - new, old, decayed etc) and the ability to inspect a tree and write (or type) up your notes quickly for the assessment. Those were what people struggled on when I did mine a few years ago. A lot of it is (or was - assume it's not changed) open book though so not as bad as you might first think. If you're doing an intermediate course first then you'll be absolutely fine as everything you need will get covered on that, so it's just a confidence booster really. Good luck with it.

NATO doesn't have Russia in a chokehold. It's hardly a surrounded nation (or federation really if we're talking blocs). It's ironic that Ukraine and Russia both joined the PfP with NATO; one has sought to embrace the spirit of cooperation and integration, the other hasn't. Besides, this isn't really about Russia - it's about Putin and the people behind him and like him.

Alaska is about 50 miles from Russia. Or about 2.5 miles if you count the Diomedes...

Some years back I was planning on having my old 90 converted to run on veg oil by Dieselveg but they ceased trading in 2013 it seems - does anyone know of firms offering similar?

Ha yep they were interesting times certainly

Think I've seen that one. And on Billy Ray's channel where they spiral prune - seems to create the illusion of a natural canopy when viewed from different angles but let's wind pass through it. Also in BC.

I remember being in Basra in 2005 and being told we were probably going to have to start washing with water out of jerry cans because the water used for the one shower block was going to be used to fill the FCO's new hardened swimming pool. We didn't in the end so I guess that idea was kicked into touch.

Brown and bitter, or a cold light and bitter used to be a favourite. Manns was usually the brown or light of choice....

Hopefully not a batch from the 80s! Lovely beers mind.