Mark Wileman

The main reason for doing this is as BenEdmonds says, this puts a figure in my head that I need to make in order to cover the costs of my personal bills and business stuff. I'm sure that I do want to work for myself, but if I can't make the figures add up compared to my local day rate then it will be a pretty bad financial decision. Tax is the only thing confusing me, most of these overheads will be offset against my tax returns (minus the salary) so there is no need to add VAT to my day rate? A note, this isn't the figure I'll be charging necessarily, just gives me an idea of what will be profit and what will just go back into the business/mortgage!

Maybe the Dogwood thinks he is a Holly!

Also, at what point do a I factor in tax? Just whack 20% on top of what I work out as my daily rate?

Hi guys, I'm just weighing up the pros and cons of going self employed or PAYE. Will be working as a climber owning all my own saws, vehicle and PPE, no big overheads such as chipper/van finance. Firstly I'm making a spreadsheet of my total anticipated overheads, we'll leave actual values out of this as there is too much variation across the country and people don't like talking money sometimes The plan is to tally up all my overheads, take out the weekends, bank holidays and a couple of me time days and work out exactly how much I need to be charging for a day rate. Here is what I have so far: Salary (I've shot low, just enough to scrape by as any profit will be mine anyway:001_rolleyes:) Personal Liability Insurance Vehicle Insurance Arb Association Membership Equipment Maintenance Equipment Replacement LOLLER inspections CPD Fuel (hard to work out, averaged on a 30 mile round trip per working day for now) Anything else you guys would add to list? Thanks in advance!

Sorry to revive an old thread but I've "lost" my copy too I'll swap someone a PDF 5837 for a 3998!

Thank you!

What's the score with registering trees like this? Is there an open source database that shows record breaking species in the UK? Sounds like a fun game! *starts searching*

Would be interested to hear if anyone uses small vans to tow a trailer and what weight they manage?

This is probably worth opening another thread, but what advantages are there to sticking with the same brand? Things like parts, engine familiarity, service items etc.. running a few saws would it pay financially to use the same brand?

Cheers for the reply, seems to be one way or the other. I take it from your name your saws get a ton of use? I'm still leaning stihl here guys, especially after hearing that the needle bearing problem has been 'fixed' (need to find out when and what manufacture dates will be the improved version).

He'll soon learn his place, or die trying I've got a 1 year old Parsons JR, hes just over a year and a dominant nightmare with weak temperament dogs. On the flip side he gets rolled over by our 4 month Whippet/Bedlington (looks like a mini wolf hound) and our 15 year old Parsons JR

https://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/products-page/stein/throw-bags-lines-cubes1/stein-basic-throwline-kit/ If interested anyone, basic as hell but cheap!

Thanks for all the advice and yeah, I've seen a GriGri used in SRT base anchor application for rescue, the worlds cross over enough for each to learn from the other I believe. British mountaineers are so obsessed with there only being one way of doing things, thin prussiks etc... meanwhile in the Italian alps I worked with some mountain guides who just use munters and biners!

Jesus, I've seen a Stein kit for 25 bucks, guessed I'd just have to get very good at throwing I don't think I'll be getting that carried away, all I need for my main system is a 35m rope as I already have the pully, biners and an eye to eye for a VT. Harness is a big one, I've read mixed reviews about the TH5000. Cheapest on the market, which is usually a bad sign, but the reviews aren't that bad consider. Spending out £300+ on a decent treemotion would severely dent my budget, that's nearly the price of a MS150! I really want to get my CS30,31 and chipper out the way (doing it next month) then hopefully I can put in some weekend work around my current jobs and spend that cash on tree gear!

I can't find anything online about the "fimbiclimb", who makes it?

In this scenario though you could just spike back up to where you were before coffee break though right? My reason behind using the hitchclimber as the backup was simply because it's already set up, so literally just clip in the standing end to choke, whack through a fig 8/munters and descend for tea and biccies I'm not going to even look at SRT until I get to the stage that DRT is no longer fit for purpose, and with SRT being new(ish) to the industry, that could take 20+ years

Thanks, yeah after posting I thought that, hence descend on a fig 8 or something and keep the hitchclimber following it down as a backup. I'm getting way ahead of myself, just making a wishlist/pricelist of equipment to be a SE climber, 8 months to go! So far worked out cost of saws, harness, DRT system (inc throwline), lanyard system, flipline system (tempted to just get this first and use as my secondary) and PPE. Going off my current list, a £200-£250 a month until November will get me the essentials. I have a ton of biners,slings and stuff from my mountaineering days but am I right in thinking that I need to start logging use of all my gear for LOLER inspections? If so probably best to start over with everything. Not factored in any rigging stuff as of yet, nearer the time I'll ask around to see just how much rigging gear people expect contracts to bring to the job.

In the rock climbing world descending on just a prussik is a big no no so after re-reading what I wrote I'd probably stick a fig 8 or other belay device below my VT/pulley and descend on the fig 8 with VT as backup.

Sorry to revive an old thread, after reading all this i'm confused. When dismantling down the stem using your flip line for positioning and a hitchclimbr DRT secondary can't you just wrap the standing end of your DRT around the stem (few wraps) and then just clip into the running end and descend on your hitchclimber? (basically making a static anchor and then descending SRT style). I hope that makes sense.

Yeah that is what is on my mind. For some reason I'm drawn to Stihl, which is annoying, as the Husq dealer is primarily a garage and using him for everything would obviously make sense. I've also known him for years!

I'll look into that, do you use a 261, Dan?

Thanks Gary, what do you use your 550 for if I may ask?

Seems one of two people have encountered that problem.

Hi all, In an effort not to start a huge Husqvarna vs Stihl debate I've got a question. FR Jones' professional chainsaw sale looks very appetising, specifically I'm looking at a 261 for the extra 8cc and 9hp over the 241 (which is only £30 cheaper). My local Stihl dealer quoted me 25% off catalog price for the 261, £565. At FR Jones they are £479; bargain! How does that price compare to dealer prices on a Husq equivalent, 550XP is the closet match I found and FR Jones have it for £469. My closest dealer/maintenance place is a Husq dealer so I originally planned to use him, for ease of maintenance/repair as he's only 2 miles from my place. I doubt I'll be able to get a price from him as low as FR Jones but might be worth paying the bit extra as he is my local guy. Here is the controversial bit, from reading other posts it would APPEAR that the 261 is more reliable than the 550. What are people experiences with these saws, ideally people who have used both? I have a 66cc Stihl 039 already that I got for cheap, it's got a 20" bar and will be my "bigger" (I didn't saw "big" ) saw. The 261/550 will be my main saw (probably with 16" bar) and used for ground arb application, processing and felling. Also, do dealers usually provide warranty? Want to have a rough idea of the industry standard before rolling in and taking a dealers word for the truth right away. Play nicely now gents.

That's me sold! Lovely setup and good to see the chipper in action.