Puffingbilly413

We do indeed agree 😀 Yep there’s no way I’d be putting external insulation on our house, purely for aesthetic reasons.

No I’m not - I agreed with the point. I was just saying I like my house cool inside in the summer. I believe I acknowledged J’s point about insulation…

I did try to get our loft re-done through one of the grant schemes but when they came round to assess the job, the cost of ripping out the old loft boarding and re-doing it (not that old either) would have fallen on us and we simply couldn't afford to do it at the time so we let it pass. I think we'll have to revisit the idea though.

The insulation point is a good one and certainly is a factor in the winter re money spent on heating. That said, there have been certain points this summer when I have been glad of the cooler temperature inside an old stone built house.

We run an ASHP that does hot water all year round and some heating in the winter (we have 2 wood stoves too). It's hard to separate out the cost of running the heat pump from those of the washing machine and dishwasher, which with a young family seem to be eternally on, hammering the electric bill in the process. I reckon we're on about £2-2.5k per year for electric (minimal gas as only have a hob). Given our bills were much lower pre-heat pump (and family demand for electricity otherwise unchanged), it seems the heat pump is seriously expensive to run. It cannot also cope with cold winters (it's in the small print) - it also can't really do heating and hot water simultaneously ie you have to stagger it. If it weren't for the money coming back to us from the RHIP, the ASHP would be too expensive to run. Ours is 5 years old now, so I'm not sure how much they have improved. Sounds like GSHP might be more efficient?

Just thinking back to when I bought my 6100 from him, it was delayed getting over from Germany and I needed it on a job so he couriered me out one of his own saws FOC on loan to get the job done. Now that's service for you.

I like it Rob - keep it going I say...

Completely agree with you IronMike. I can see the arguments on both sides. What I don't understand is the need for people to be so obnoxious when commenting - there's just no need for it.

I have a 6100 from Shavey. About what 5 years old now. Awesome saw. Never misses a beat and people keep asking what cc it is as it keeps up with some bigger saws. Always been run on Aspen and runs brilliantly. Love it.

To an extent, but if you have experience of seeing good climbers work and have observed their work rate on different trees / in different circumstances, then you should still be able to price jobs accurately enough.

It's never quite that black and white. Most consultants will work for the NHS and have private lists too. Those private lists won't have been getting seen to during that period as a) they wouldn't have been given clearance to operate and b) many would have been covering NHS shifts in any case... Certainly in know of at least 1 orthopeadic surgeon who has lost tens of 1000s due to not being able to operate privately for some time. It is the Guardian though, so no surprises there...

Grown up against an old, now gone gravestone then maybe?

SIP too for me. I'm 6 ' and 100kg and they are roomy. They are lasting much much better than the Arbortecs I had before.

Ouch. What did they do to bend the anvil? I'd be with the other's views on spares or repairs I think.

Exactly - every spring I sort the raised beds out for planting and the neighbours' cats think I've just sorted them a fresh latrine. Ah but they're cats they say and they can't help but shit where they want. But somehow they can be trained to shit in a litter tray or go outside and not shit in their own house. Bloody bastards they are!

Macro rather than micro economist then...?

Good point re training. Public sector as whole gives great training opportunities that we wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. I had two Masters degrees and a PGCE out of my previous life before a career change brought me to arb. No way would I have been able to afford that as a mature student. I'm not saying that should be an excuse for paying people poorly for the job they do, but there are fringe benefits that ought to be taken into account above the pay packet itself.

Depends on your age too - but it still comes in a bit over minimum wage. Minimum wage is seriously low...

Many arb firms don’t pay that much better

Yep not a great wage but the 37 hrs per week, job security (plus other public service benefits) will appeal to some.

Yep fair points. I like to enjoy my work too (hence my lifestyle choice comments above) and I guess some elements of the job carry a benefit to me that isn’t just monetary.

Partner in a firm. Lots of big ag clients round these parts. Ultimately, if my firm can pull in what I want it to whilst not being VAT registered then to me it makes sense not to be. Part of the reason why Maggie Thatcher’s slant on monetarist economics didn’t work as well as she’d hoped is that she miscalculated the level at which people would want to earn more money and be taxed less on versus earning a bit less but spending more time at home or working less. But I digress…

Aye, the answer to how much I want to earn is ‘enough’. I’ve earned much more before switching to arb. It was much a lifestyle choice as a business one. Everyone has different motivations in life after all.

Perhaps. I’d be disappointed if this accountant was on less than 90k a year having seen my accountancy bills…

True. I’m still undecided on it. I’m a one-man owner operator and want to keep things small. It’s 50-50 for me really on whether it’s worth it