forestboy1978

WRONG!! I had 2 lunatics try to bend me over for reviews and I was told verbatim by checkatrade if the customer give you a zero because you left a packet of crisps on site then they have to allow the score. I got away with it cos the tenants were so happy with the job and heard my convo with the landlord (who said I made his pregnant wife cry - tenants and neighbour were stood next to me during the convo and were shocked at the accusation) that he said "screw it mate. I'll review you. He's a prick" and he saved my ass. Another time the customer wanted me to do more work for them but didn't want to pay for it so I said sorry but that's my price so they phoned to leave a review of another small job I'd done. (already left a 10 for a fence which they tried to change to a zero) I phoned checkatrade and they said there was nothing they could do about it but off the record the guy said if you deny you did that other job then they would have to produce an invoice. If they haven't got invoice they can't leave the review. I denied I'd been there, it was a tiny gutter repair, and they hadn't kept the invoice. I got lucky.

No not really. I get 50 reviews a year at least without much effort. I have links at the bottom of my email though. One of them is "view or leave checkAtrade reviews" and it takes them straight there. I always say, please, if you get time, leave a review, they are SO important to us cos they bump up advertising. Just click the link. Most people do. some don't. I never ask twice.

On checkatrade YOU are the victim, not the customer. 1 screwball can ruin your business if you become reliant on it, as I have. The best model I would imagine is to build a solid customer base by being good at what you do and in line with the market, building a huge customer base and people in your corner and then GTFO checkatrade so you can tell ass****s to ***k themselves.

I have it as my only advertising for 8 months of the year apart from the local rag I'm in cos it's cheap. I'm a small company though at the moment with no immediate interest in expansion. Only problem is is there are 100+ other fencers in there in my city alone which is a joke. 90% of my business comes from checkatrade and any other advertising is compounded by it. Downside is customers kinda have you over a barrel re the "would you mind if I asked you to do this thing here that you haven't quoted for....." - You can't say "when you go to burger king do you ask them for a happy ending with your burger and fries?" More than 1 bad review and you may as well leave CAT. If I get a whiff a person is trouble, I mean the slightest whiff, I utter the immortal line "We are very sorry we cannot tender for this work at this time" and now I don't even respond if questioned why.

I regularly use gallop 360 and as long as it doesn't rain within a few hours post application it will kill everything within 2-4 weeks dependent on time of year. Works faster during the growing season.

People who get pissed off when you ask them to do their actual job. Gets me....

That's a really interesting option. 117+vat per month for a new one. Definitely worth considering. If I bought it I reckon I'd keep it for a spare rather than sell it when upgrading. Not sure but seriously worth thinking about. Cheers This is a great thread.

Thanks Rough Hewn. I will obviously keep people updated on how things go.

Just measured my van. Don't have to increase wheel arches, nor remove racking. ALL tools could stay in the van even. Amazing!!! In short I could transport myself, 90% of my tools, including generator, 3 guys, the chipper and then carry away 2.5 tons of chip to waste disposal with that setup 100% legally. What I need to do is detach the trailer and weight my van with tools in it on the weight bridge to see if I can legally put a 1080kg chipper in the back including ramps. Only downside to having it instead of a trailed chipper is storage when not needed. Can't get it in the garden. Wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it at the storage yard either.

Lol, well I get the impression you have to be a total numpty to fail so I kinda accepted that if I was that numptyish to fail this, I wouldn't be going any further in this profession... So yeah good news. climbing and aerial rescue next;-)

Well, slept like a log last night. First good nights kip all week. Night and day in how I felt. Assessment was a breeze, mind was clear, no errors at all. Thank god for that. edit.. my bore cut in the dogs tooth tooth went at a funny angle and came out low on one side so I ummed and aaghed and then just bored it again which was apparently acceptable.

Well yeah. I have been enjoying this new xp560. Really nice feel to it.

Cos I had 3 glasses of port last night which did me no favours. At all.

Well I have only had to sharpen my chain once this week so I'm not that bad. Processed about 20 trees I would guess. Got sharpening down, finally also

I'm reading this NPTC manual and it's got lots of stuff with blanks to fill in.... 07 taking down a hung up tree! Asses the ....... of the tree and check the .......of the hinge! Stability? & integrity? I have no damn clue lol

I lolled.... Very reassuring haha

No, I'm doing maintenance, cross cut and small fell this week and next month I'm doing climbing and aerial rescue, chainsaw from rope and harness and aerial pruning. I may stay in a B & B next month, not sure cos it's only 1 hour each way but between shit sleep, travel, dealing with emails in the evening and a lot of processing trees in the day I'm totally **ck*d. Probably the lack of sleep that is the worst culprit.

^^^Thank you ?

Thanks Steve, Just need a good uninterrupted nights sleep...

Finding this really damn difficult I must say. I was expecting to be more natural at it. Doing chainsaw maintenance, cross cut and small fell. Testing tomorrow. Passed chainsaw maintenance easily and I'm sure cross cutting I will pass to but I have such a crap memory. Remembering all the techniques for hung up trees and the different cuts for different diameters and stuff is quite difficult to remember when you haven't seen them lots. Not helped by the fact I'm driving a lot and had 3 crap nights sleep out of 4 so far I'm sure but yeah hmmm. I might be over thinking but well, I'm certainly not so confident and am actually quite awed about just how much there is involved with tree work....

Nothing wrong with gypsy tarts mate. Step into the unknown once in a while. God :-)

Wow. I never knew that!

Sod that I'm commuting 100 miles a day atm for training but my bed is just too nice...

Cheers mate. Yeah I'd read that some get problems with them so I ummed and aghed about it for the last month and just decided to pull the trigger. I'm usually quite lucky with mechanical tools so fingers crossed. Vehicles on the other hand.....

Me too.....