Sophieo

Afternoon all, We are currently reviewing our staff contracts and wondered if any one puts anything in about staff injuring themselves at work? And what the conditions are. It's always been a grey area and with such a high risk job, wonder if it's best to outline some terms? To date, we haven't had any one injure themselves (touch wood!). Would appreciate any help or advice you can give. Thanks, Sophie

Hi Sean, are you still looking for work?

Hello! We are desperately seeking 2 x climbers to start with us as soon as possible. We run a small (but growing) business based in Ottershaw (near Woking Surrey) and work across Surrey, Hampshire & Berkshire.. We undertake domestic tree work, site clearances and Utilities sector for SSE. We are looking for someone who is passionate about what they do and keen to learn new skills. Candidates can also benefit from the opportunity to obtain Utility tickets. Following qualifications are a must: CS30 / 201 & 202 CS31 / 203 CS38 / 206 & 306 CS39 / 308 Additional tickets even better. Driving licence not required but always good. Industry experience required. Please contact us on 07738857619 or 01932 877619 for more info.

Based in Ottershaw but work across whole of surrey. I used one of your recommendations in Aylesbury the today, lady called Jo, she is taking 6 loads off of us over the next week for free which is great! Really friendly and helpful lady. Helpful to know where they are, but never often finding someone who wants a large quantity and for free!

We seem to be producing more chip than we can get rid of (for free) at the moment and I’m constantly looking for new tip sites. We have at least a transit van load a day, if not more and we have a few places that take the loads for free, but if we cannot find somewhere to tip (for free), we either dump it in our field (access is poor - can only just about get a transit down the track and around a sharp bend) or we have to take to somewhere like Colliers and pay to get rid which is quite pricey! I’m interested to hear how others in the industry manage their chip. What do you do with it and is there another way of making a profit from such a sort after material? Thanks in advance, Sophie

Hi, So, I have been trialling Jobber and Powered Now for the last couple of weeks but before I give any feedback, I thought I should let you know about some info from Arbpro that may be of interest to someone. We emailed this week to say how disappointed we were and wondered if there was anything we could do to keep them open. Mark came back and said they are currently looking for investors. They need £40k and currently have been offered £15k of that. They still need investors and are selling off shares so they can remain open. This all has to be done ASAP as they are tied to the deadline they previously sent in the closing down email. If Arbpro manages to remain open, I will 100% remain with them as since trialling, I have failed to find anything that comes really close in doing all the amazing things they do. However, if they close, I think the next best software would be Jobber. I've listed some of the pros and cons for both below, these are just my personal view, i'm sure some people might not worry about certain things. But thought it might be helpful to those struggling to find something that will work for their business, should Arbpro close its doors. Powered Now pros: App shows all the same items as desktop Customer service and training exceptional and always available (Graham was great spent nearly an hour on the phone training and happy to offer more) Great for regular repeat customers CIS capable Price much cheaper than any other company including Arbpro (£34 for 2 pro users) Cons: Not the most user friendly for flow (enquiry -> quote -> booking in -> job sheet -> invoice) Not very easy from iPhone when out in the field or quoting Quote and invoice templates - cannot attach header/footer, only logo Emails with quotes and invoices send a link (as well as PDF) and looks a bit like a scam email Pictures (taken at quote stage) appear on quotes and invoices and cannot be removed. Personally this is a con for me but may be a Pro for some. No tool list Cannot put Tree name or T1 etc. as you can in Arb pro. Tailored to gardeners with regular clients (weekly/monthly visits) Jobbers Pro: Extremely user friendly Training videos online are easy to follow as well as the training team. Had a half hour call with Joel and booked to do morfe Flow (enquiry -> quote -> booking in -> job sheet -> invoice) is easy to do in the office as well as out on the field Dsahboard gives you a very quick view of whats outstanding and reminders in calendar ensure you cant forget an invoice or follow up on quote QuickBooks compatible Payment intergration (paypal/square) Jobber Cons: Based in America so can only call from 2.30pm (7.30am their time) Price $116 (incl 3 x extra pro users @ $9) total £ 88.17 / m Quotes look a lot like invoices (or arbpro schedule) and no letter - you can however attached a document to be sent with every quote but it would have to be non client specific CIS not compatible Sorry for the lengthy essay! Hope this helps at least one of you in some way. Be interested to hear others feedback. Cheers, Sophie

I'm with you all. Absolutely gutted! We started using it at the beginning of summer this year and it has completely changed the way we run our small company. So much easier and great to have everything in one place. I have been looking over the last week at new software, the one thing they all lack compared to AP is ease of use. So many boxes to fill out and really time consuming. Also not many of them have the work pack as well organised, detailing tools etc. It was hard enough getting my partner to use Arbpro. He now loves it and also hates change! We spoke to Mark at Arbpro only a month ago and he said that they were due to release a new version of the app, so I can only imagine it's possibly personal reasons for closing. I'm hoping someone comes along and buys it! Any way, I'm testing Powered Now and Jobbers free trials so will give a bit of feedback in a couple of weeks to let you know how we found it.