Midge

I currently sub contract to these and highly recommend them to anyone looking for a full time position. Great set of lads, super friendly, excellent attitude to work and a good set up for various arb works. 👍

Interesting. I've recently set up on my own (part-time and mainly Garden maintenance work) but I do get asked to do a lot of tree work. As I don't have my own van and chipper I usually pass the work onto lads who I used to work with, but, as I do want to do more tree work myself I was wondering what rates were for man, van and chipper until I get set up properly! I was thinking £220 a day would be reasonable for groundie with thier van and chipper?

Who runs a small truck/van in their tree business? I know tippers are the no. 1 choice, for obvious reasons, but anyone running smaller size vans and how do you get on with them? Cheers.

Has got to be sharpening Chains! Hate doing it, takes too long and I never do it right! Might just buy a load of spare chains and change them everytime instead ??

I've been thinking of doing this same course through HCC for a while but a bit sceptical about home learning/ online courses. Do you really learn or just Google the answers? How are the tutors at replying to your questions? Thanks.

The ground saw will be used for everything you could think of. Felling smaller to larger stuff, snedding, brashing up, clearing under growth and all the usual stuff. Not sure if a battery saw would be robust enough. Not too worried about the battery life as I would just have 2 fully charged batteries for the day.

Ey Up folks, Ive got a decision to make on what top handle and ground saw to get! I can basically get any saw I want through work. I work as a Utility Arborist in the North of England so im not going to need any of the big boy saws. I prefer Husqvarna over Stihl so been considering the following........ Ground... 550 XP 540i XP 535i XP Top Handle... T535i XP T540i XP Is the extra money going to be worth it for the new battery saws? Are the ground battery saws capable/powerful enough for a full days work? Considering battery saws for a variety of reasons and my top handle is definately going to be battery powered just wanting opinions. Im currently leaning towards the 550 XP for ground and T535i for climbing. However, im drawn to having a battery ground saw but not sure of their capability. Any opinions, thoughts and experiances are greatly appriciated!!

Alright folks. If i do a job, say at $400, but get another lad into help me and pay them 100 do I pay tax on the full $400 or just on the remaining $300? Cheers.

Thank you. Are you aware of any differences between the two? I'm guessing the numbers reflect the CC of the engines on each machine?

Is there much between these two strimmers? Used the 410 before and it's a good strimmer (would certainly be enough for any of my jobs) but as it's slightly more expensive, and further away to pick up, would I be just as better off getting a 360? Cheers.

How many of you ask for feedback off potential clients when you didn't win a job to find out why?

Had to Google it, but agree Arbtalk is definitely CPD for me ???

I dont know what CPD is!!!!!?

On this subject, if I do my tax returns myself it should look a bit like this...... $$$ earnt for the year = 10,000 $$$ spend on genuine business stuff = 2,000 $$$ profit = 8,000 Tax & NIC to pay = 2,400 HMRC the check this, agree everything is legit and we all move on with our lifes? Basically you submit everything on the annual tax return in one hit? Sent all reciepts, milage records etc in together. Hope that makes sense and sorry about the $ symbol my pound sign isnt working on the laptop ?

Dont know anything about the South East but can recomend TKF Training in Holmfirth. Ive done many courses with them and no complaints about anything.

True, thank you Kevin. When first looking into registering as self-employed all you read about is how much tax you owe or will owe, make sure your tax return is done blah blah so you think its all pay out when there are benefits to been a sole trader too! I have just bought a pair of hedge trimmers which I should be able to claim back on. However I technically bought them before I registered the business so can I stay claim on them or not as they are older then the business?

Am I also correct in thinking that in your first year of registering as a new business you have to pay half of your expected tax for the year upfront, and then the remaining tax on 31st July?

Extra money on top of my employee wage and hopefully I'll be able to build up and become fully self-employed at some point! I know I need a lot more work for that to happen but as I only started doing self-employed work towards the end of last year I haven't had that much to pay out. All my tools have been bought second hand (except hedge cutters that are getting delivered today ?) I don't have a tipper van so only paying out 1 load of insurance and tax, same with fuel, for a vehicle that is used for work and personal life. Hope I can grow and earn more but happy with what I have for now.

Yes I did sorry! I realised people will read it how you read it and think my total earnings for the year would be £7200 alone! But with my employment wage aswell it will be around £32,700.

Does that still work with my self-employment wage added onto to my full-time employed earnings though? I was under the impression I would have to pay tax on the self-employed earnings to as both my wages combined are over the £12,500 threshold?

I have also read as much as I can on t'old interweb but its all big business words that I dont understand ? Crunch was a very well written website though.

Needing some wisdom from the self-employed crew!! I am looking at registering as a sole trader this year and trying to work out what id need to pay out for each month. I am currently in full-time employment but do my own garden maintenance jobs aswell. I have worked out that I would not earn more then 7,200 a year registered as a sole trader (with employed wages approx. 32,700 per year) Working out tax and NIC is a nightmare so at the moment I am just trying to get a list of things I would need to pay to go legit! List....... Public Liability Tax National Insurance Last years tax Half of this years estimated tax More tax on 31st July Waste carriers licence Sure there are more but this is all I can think of! Any and all help is really needed as I am wondering weather it is even worth doing with the small amount ill be earning per month/year. I hope too one day be able to go full time self employed but this first step looks very daunting! Thanks for reading another new boy business post!!!!

Thanks David, I had a look at the long reach ones but they were a bit out of my budget. To be honest i only bought these as they were reduced from 344 down to 129!! They should be enough for what i need them for and I always have the petrol ones as back up too ?

You should have a TV licence if You want to watch ANY live tv. Now, live rv doesn't just mean events that are been broadcast live right now in the present, but also any pre-record program that is scheduled to be played at a certain time on a certain day. You also need a TV licence if you plan on watching any catch up tv, iPlayer, 4 on demand etc. or even want to stream tv shows through a games console, Netflix, Now tv and so on. If you mainly watch movies through the likes of Netflix, Now tv and Amazon you won't need a TV licence but you will get letters through from the BBC threatening you with court action and even possibly people comming around to your house! I don't watch tv and my.partner rarely watches 'Live' tv either but for £13 a month it's not worth the hassle cancelling it.

Just bought a pair of Husqvarna battery powered hedge cutters (136LiHD45) Reduced from £344 down to £130!!