Puffingbilly413

You use it. Do you like it? Would you recommend it? Why/why not? That's what this forum is supposed to be about - us lot using stuff, working with kit etc and feeding back on our experiences to help others make decent choices. I would never buy or use anything based on advertising - only use or personal recommendation, but I certainly don't find the OP disingenuous. But from a personal perspective, the more people use it the cheaper it should get, so I'm more than happy for them to get more customers. Was buying the 25l cans at around £85 last year, now up to £116.

You changed their wording. They said 'get over the cost barrier' as in to understand why despite the extra cost it might be worth paying for it (for the reasons already gone into). They aren't saying they're offering a way to make it cheaper.

Have done the same with my old Entec - made a massive improvement. Five mins with a flap disc v £450 odd to get replacement infeed roller blades. Still pulling in well over 6 months since.

Brazil nuts - was surprised when I found out those are higher than you'd expect.

He's not really. A company is an organisation that sells goods or services to make a profit. There are various types of course, and sole trader would be one. Perhaps 'limited company' is what you're meaning. Semantics I know but I know you like those!

I guess it depends what we really mean by commercial in this context. Are we talking firms that have contracts (eg council, highways, rail etc) or all firms that do carry out works for other businesses? If it's the latter, then I don't know of any firms who do zero commercial stuff - but some will do more and others less. Personally, I can't be bothered with commercial stuff - mostly because I find letting agents and the like (where most of our commercial stuff tends to come from) take the piss. But that's another story. The local examples I'm thinking of will have a high percentage of domestic clients but will also do loads of commercial work. Firms have different operating set ups too. Very common to have one or two man bands that use a network of freelancers to bulk out the team when required. And it works both ways. This is how we operate, for example. Has its downsides - you need to plan out well ahead of time to make sure you have a decent climber booked in; it's very difficult to cover emergency work for this reason; if a job runs over for whatever reason then you don't have the fall back of a full-time team to come back the next day. But there are positives - no staff, so no pressure to put money on people's tables; no pensions to pay, no payroll to manage, minimal staff issues. Linking back to your original question again - I'm hoping that being small and with a fairly simple and uncluttered operating model, we should be able to keep going. If not I'll just sell the kit off and sit at home watching TJ Hooker in my pants and flipflops.

To be fair you did post 'small domestic tree firms' and a huge numer of these will be sole traders, so they should form part of the discussion. To answer your question, I think many will go bust. But that could also be the case for large firms - big turnover, loads of kit and loads of outgoings. I don't think size is the issue, more whether they have a solid core of clients that will still be needing work done during a recession. A small firm that has no finance on its kit etc with no or minimal yard rent could weather such a storm quite well potentially.

Def not the case - there are vast numbers of tree firms that operate as sole traders; I can think of at least 5 local to me. But I agree - I don't think it's sensible. I'm a limited company, mostly because I want to keep any liability issues separate from my personal finances.

Also true! Although should it then go to court it might seem to a judge that the council was opting to punish someone for not doing what they had not had the authority to make them do. Buy yes, far simpler just to appease and move on.

Is the TO requesting that the field maple goes in the front garden or stating that it must? They can ask you to do more than you're legally obliged to but can't force you. Although I do see councils phrasing things loosely so that it implies it's non-negotiable whereas it might not be the case. As has been said already, I'd just make sure you are 100% clear on the legislation and advise your client on that basis.

Or Anglo-Saxon...

I think what most are driving at here is that the council is unlikely to remove the TPO, so easiest option for you is to understand the process to work on TPO'd trees and follow it. It's not difficult - thousands of us do it all the time. That said, you could always just email your local council tree officer with the gist of your original post and ask them to remove the TPO. You might even get a reply. They do have the power to amend or revoke TPOs but obviously won't do so without good reason.

An all too typical tale of the right move being hijacked for commercial gain. Renewable energy has to be the way ahead - but not the way it's being done. Look at Scotland - 100% of energy from renewable sources (granted that needs some unpacking) but it goes into the global market and in effect we buy it back at market rates, pegged to gas. I do understand the need for subsidy - new technologies have to be affordable if they are going to be adopted - but the Canadian example is crazy. But supply and demand and all that - if the UK were able to reduce its energy needs (and let's face it we are a wasteful, consumer-driven nation, as are others), then the problem as a whole would lessen. Depressing stuff really.

Need to persuage your local boulanger/ère to start burning wood again then you can sell it to them and keep them running in the process. Not that the French need much to provoke a decent protest, but I imagine the thought of foregoing the morning pain-au-chocolat or a nice ficelle will do more to bring a government down than a chancellor causing mortgage chaos.

Seem to remember selling off a load of the country's gold reserves for bobbins was one of his best ones.

Which is as it should be in my view. Nothing wrong with softwood either - just as long as it's cheaper!

https://logwisefirewood.co.uk/buy-firewood/softwood-logs/ Was just having a look online at sizes and prices - just picked this one at random but the price did take me back a bit for softwood logs...

I guess it doesn't really matter as long as the volume is stated honestly if using them to sell firewood in. I see so many that advertise per cube but then the bag sizes come up smaller. Does make it more difficult for customers to assess like for like with supplier too

Depends which size you buy...

I'd say so Mick yes. Most suppliers seem to deliver in builders bags filled loose - so you'd notionally expect a loose metre cube. In reality many bags are slightly smaller giving you a bit less than that. Price does vary- cheapest around £80 but as much as 130 round here. I've seen kiln dried stuff delivered via online places as high as 150. So actually 1.5 cube of tight packed hardwood now seems good value! But like you I have an endless (almost) supply of my own and only sell if someone asks me for some and I can be bothered.

So that's about 130 quid for 1.5 cube of quite tightly packed beech and oak? That seems cheaper than over here I'd say. Unless I'm reading it wrong. The small bags of kiln dried Baltic stuff we see over here in Lidl work out at over £400 a cube if you're daft enough to buy your wood from them

Thanks Jules. Interesting read. But in reality we could say that no one, even the highest civil judge in the country, can actually define it - certainly not succinctly (or dare I say it, usefully!)

This is it. I'd rather pay more for someone efficient, safe, professional etc than someone without those traits demanding less money. But there are many who will turn up late, need breaks all the time, forget their fuel etc but still think they they're worth the money. As you say, if you demand decent money then you need to be able to deliver. I should add that the flipside is that many firms take the piss out of efficient freelance climbers by adding on more work than they had planned for the day.

They are true enough - I bought the 881 for milling but it came with a bar and chain as standard as part of the price (which was a good one) so that's what I ended up with. Only use that one for cross cutting as I've a lo-pro one for the mill. If I used the 881 more for cross cutting I might get a different bar but I dont really

I've got 404 on my 881 on a 42" bar. I don't really get on with the Stihl bar though - possibly due to lack of nose sprocket.