Scott95

Cheers for all the comments anyway guys.  Some good stuff posted.  I'm still no closer to deciding what to do however ?

17 hours ago, Jonny69 said:

Have you tried employing someone with no previous experience of trees, landscaping or college? 

 

Maybe you could mold someone to suit what you want them to do. They may turn out a lot more useful than you expect, but it will take time. 

Had all sorts over the years.  Molding someone is the route i'd go down if I could choose but it never really seems to pan out

3 minutes ago, aspenarb said:

Scott you need a shit filter, they are called managers. You really dont  need to be taking on board all this crap and worrying yourself. Pass the stress on.

 

Bob

Not big enough to have a manager really although I totally get what you are saying.  I was discussing this the other night in the pub actually.  The guy I was talking to is reasonably successful and says the magic number is 1 manager per 10 members of staff.  I unfortunately don't have 10 staff, and finding another wage for someone purely to manage the guys I do have isn't feasible.  Unless I totally let go and turned my attention towards another revenue stream

2 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Yeah, stuff can be a pain in the arse, but there you go, maybe look at it from a different angle, what are you doing wrong? Too many gangs, underpricing work, sending clearly inexperienced guys to tricky jobs?

 

Maybe you are the perfect boss etc. But there are two sides to every story.

I have spent a lot of time looking inwards believe me.  I don't think i'm a shitty boss.  never really fell out with staff and I always muck in without disappearing when the going gets tough.

1 minute ago, aspenarb said:

 

Cheap is fine but just sometimes quality matters. Belts as you know vary  +/-3% on width, +/-3.5% on height, +/-3° on angle, a good bit on length and up to 10% in elasticity . Its really important to have matching belt sets on multigrove pulleys fitted to chippers and stump grinders , are you as a company prepared to select batches of belts in sets as OEM`s do to ensure they match and tension correctly ? Same with bearings, bearing shops are quite happy to supply ball races on size irrespective of whether the originals were a shallow or deep grove , you really do need to do some homework here if you want to supply and compete with the machine manufacturers .

 

Bob

Buy cheap buy twice is the saying.  In the case of machinery you risk causing other damage also.  For the sake of saving a few quid I would always go original

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

Where abouts are you based Scott?
And I deeply sympathise about college leaver divas.

Near Blackpool but I cover quite a wide area

3 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

A different angle...
Be a tradesman.
Start on £100+ a day,
Going up to £150-200 with experience.
Be a tree surgeon,
Start on £50-80 a day maybe up to £100-120 a day with experience.
This is the problem.
As I've pointed out before.
Pay your staff a decent wage. You might actually attract decent guys.
The arb world is full of firms who will charge top money for jobs and pay their staff the scraps.

I do pay a decent wage, certainly above the average by a long shot.  Perhaps I am just unlucky

4 hours ago, Mesterh said:

Can't you look towards getting staff who have been in the industry 5+ years?

 

Taking on someone from college should be seen as training them to do the job imo.

i've had a mixture of staff over the years with different amounts of experience and different age groups.  The problems persist.

I've been in this game now for 15 years and am now making serious consideration to packing it all in and starting a new business.  I love this job, pretty much everything about it but there has been one constant throughout the entire time running my business that has given me the same issues.  STAFF!

I like to think i'm a reasonable easy going boss.  I never rant and rave, I pay my staff well, let them have early days most weeks, and regularly buy them lunch or a pint after work.  Despite that they come and go.  Most of the time they are asked to leave as they simply are not up to the job despite coming out of colleges with all the tickets and thinking they know the job.  They could learn it for sure but it seems no one has the desire to really be the best they can these days and simply want an easy life.  I am thinking a lot of this is due to the training courses not giving a realistic expectation of what the job truly entails.  I think it should all go back to where it began with the old YTS schemes, with trainees working on £30 a week but getting hands on training as they go.  Everyone on those schemes got a true taste of what the job was and also knew that if they performed, not only would they get their tickets but would come out of it with a job for life.  Fast forward to now where everyone completes a 1 or 2 year course and automatically assumes they have earned a job for life.  Why were these schemes abolished?

As I said, I am literally on the verge of packing it all in.  Just can't handle the stress anymore and despite what I do its pretty obvious that its something thats out of my control.  I know i'm not the only one as I see the same companies repeatedly posting on here and elsewhere for staff.  I feel their pain!

Despite saying earlier I never rant and rave, I guess thats more or less what i'm doing as I don't believe there is an answer out there to solve this problem!

Both are amazing fighters

A great day out.  Me and the guys will be visiting for 2 days. 

2 minutes ago, carlos said:

are there any trousers that are type A but offer allround protection from say just under the knee down?

thanks carl

They certainly existed once upon a time.  Not seen them lately though, and can't remember how they were classified.  maybe B?

I have a pair of Yukons, they are surprisingly good for the money.

I remember when I first started you would do well to even find a pair of trousers over £100.  Prices have rocketed for the top of the range ones.  Justifiably, who knows

4 minutes ago, butters said:

I would also look into the husky 525 I’ve got it and it’s a really good saw. Beats the echo in the cut but the echo is a bit lighter

Is that the new one with the dodgy bar and chain?

You basically have the wrong type of machine if you're after good quality chippings

Lucky you.  One of the nicest parts of the country.

Whats her name? 

36 minutes ago, Matthew Storrs said:

Yep- just looking at the Makita. I like the fact that I can share batteries with other tools. 

if you already have a load of makita tools that you can interchange then its a no brainer.

Otherwise I have used Stihl and Husky, Stihl have the upperhand IMO

Seems feasible to me.  If you have large hands then its going to take more effort to hold a smaller handle.  Much like dropping a rope diameter.

Not had any vibration issues with mine I have to say

3 hours ago, bigtreedon said:

Two pines from yesterday

How long did they take you to knock out?

43 minutes ago, casto2 said:

White finger has got me at the age of 31 thanks to strimmers and chainsaws.

Thats a young age!  I think strimmers are worse than chainsaws though.  Have you been using older models as a rule?  Do you wear gloves?  I think any glove has to be better than none.  I have tried anti vibration gloves but they were just too think to work comfortably in

1 hour ago, MattyF said:

I still find it quite amazing that kids can drive huge powerful tractors with stupid loads on before they can drive a car.

I cannot understand that either, its mad

4 hours ago, Trystan said:

 

I’m thinking about buying a new chainsaw, at the moment I have a STIHL MS362, but she’s getting a bit tired now, so any advice?

 

Were you happy with the MS362?