Clutchy

Thanks everyone, will go for it 👍

Only really looking for opinions from people who have owned both. Before it was stolen, we had a 2019 ST8 which was great. We want another as the ST6P is lacking a little. Can anyone tell me if the new stage V Doosan 55bhp diesel is just as good as the lower powered Kohler engine from the previous generation ST8. Or if anyone has the ST8P (I doubt there is) whether that is comparable at all. Many thanks.

I was gunna say this looks like something written by a homeowner, then I saw it was marketing spiel. Putting pruning wounds into the tree makes it stronger? Would love to know more about this as I assume you're not talking about wind sail effect 🤣

I find the problem with emergency call out rates are that you are 1, punished for being good and efficient, 2 they often don't take that long (typically 1-2 hours). Therefore if my hourly charge is £250ph for emergencies and I get a call at 2am, like hell am I going to the yard, getting loaded up, driving to the job, do it, drive back, unload and then drive home for 4am, knackered for the next day. I now have a minimum charge of £600 plus vat for the 1st hour, then £250 an hour for all subsequent hours. If im too expensive I really don't care, I'll stay in bed

Not sure I'd be wanting to do more work after 15:30, lasting till then is a good effort!

Well if you charge the rates most tree surgeons charge, all you'll be leaving them is a bad back and not much money.

I think all new chippers will have some issues, its inevitable. The fact forst have imo the best after sales and technical assistance is what makes us stay with them.

I have no idea how even a 2 man gang could ever operate under the vat threshold unless your tree surgery business is actually a charity. Register and get on with it, very short sighted to play the game of staying under 85k You'll also look like a joke if you ever get any commercial work.

Saving clients money would be at the bottom of my priority list if the job is so complicated that it needs a crane 😶 Somethings you shouldn't save money on. Contract lift all the way. Reevaluate and consider this decision very carefully.

Its decent and cheap. You'll be fine with one

You need a cancellation policy within your terms, then its their problem not yours

Does anyone have any UK contacts to have a remote control retrofitted to a predator 38x? This kind of service is quite popular in the US but I can't seem to find anyone here that offers such a service. Had the grinder a few days and fully understand why you'd want the remote now ha!

FIL Works for BT He always tells me to do it myself from the homeowners house or as others have said, cut through it and get the customer to call, as long as its not fibre. The guys who turn up to repair will not care one bit. The issue we have had recently is that a lot of clients are working from home so it's quite risky in the event it is down for days. T FIL also mentioned that we should NEVER rely on an organised and paid for drop by BT as so many just sack it off if they don't fancy another job that day... Last time I checked with BT they said it would be around £250 + VAT to repair a copper line. It would be £200 + VAT x 2 for a disconnect and reconnect, even if it is same day.

I suspect the OP wants the findings to be 'unsafe' and removal recommended. Just a hunch... 😏

Lets just say I've come to that conclusion through years of working for people who write in such a manner. Not saying he is a bad person, but will almost certainly result in 10's of emails before or after the consultation. Considerably more than a normal tree survey. It's likely the OP is not on speaking terms with the neighbours (there's normally two sides to a story like that) so inspecting on the day could be problematic. Potentially the OP says its fine, then on the day the neighbour decides to refuse entry to spite the OP, which in turn, messes up the surveyors day (does he still charge etc). I'm getting 'cut back to boundary vibes' and those jobs often end up in squabbles.

My 'This customer is going to be more hassle than its worth' senses are tingling. I'd bet big money on whoever gets this job that it is going to be a massive PITA 😂

If they can't wait until 9am Monday for me to call them back I highly doubt I would ever want to work for such an unreasonable person

Whether you like to admit it or not, it isn't good for your mental health to not have a mental cut off between work and home life.

I won't answer calls after 6pm unless I really fancy it. My voicemail says to keep calling if its an emergency or to text. I've been called at 10pm many times. I love answering these ones as I'm so intrigued as to what it could be. After they say oh I'm after a quote ill interrupt and say so its not an emergency? Ill call you during work hours tomorrow. Its normally the biggest time wasters calling at funky times so couldn't give a toss if I lose them. Or they say oh wasn't expecting someone to answer.

Hi, wondering if anyone can give some advice. We took down 3 large Poplars 2.5 months ago. We advised the client to let us poison the stumps with ECO MAX plugs and leave for 6 months before grinding so this exact issue didn't happen. Unfortunately the mortgage company who wanted these trees down wasn't happy with that and instructed my client that the stumps must be ground out immediately. We did as we were told. Unsurprisingly the underground roots which extend approx 6 meters from the stump and under a shared roadway have started to send out shoots. Customer has called raising the issue (she knows its not our fault) and was asking what can be done. Is it best to uncover some roots near the road way and plug them? Would a Glyphosate spray work on the shoots? Or just instruct to keep pulling them out as they come up? Pics for attention. Thanks for any help

Sorry to revive an old thread. To give another side to the story. A lot of the companies we used to sub for I have no idea how they are AA. One particular AA company in London often showcases their terrible reductions so I can't see how getting your best climber one day to pass the assessment for a reduction somehow makes the whole company competent... Still in two minds on how to further our business. Getting CHAS accredited has helped getting onto building sites where we earn a lot more ££. I have never once been asked if we are AA and can't see much point to it. All you get asked to do is work that would 100% not pass the assessment to be AA. Some of the cut backs you have to do to accommodate planning/building plans are brutal. You have to remember that a lot of builders have no idea what the AA is... and we have worked for some of the largest UK house builders and council partnerships. The main criteria they want to satisfy is that your company is competent in H&S (CHAS) and your workforce has ROLO and a skilled CSCS card alongside the main tickets for tree work. That and the ability to turn RAMS around in 24 hours. I have changed my mind 3 times this year whether to go down the AA route but reading through the assessment pages on their site makes it look a lot more agg than its worth. If the day comes where it is recognised in the building sector or becomes a requirement we will of course do it but until that day comes it is much better to gain more building related accreditations such as CHAS, SSIP, Safe contractor etc Again, no disrespect intended to any one who is AA, it is a massive achievement. If anyone can actually give some example of 'doors opened' it would probably help convince me to go down that route but simply being on the list on their site isn't enough. I actually hope being AA becomes a requirement for any commercial works in the future.

Any idea what this is? I assume old Inonotus hispidus. I found smaller crumbly bits at the base that had fallen. Client wants a fairly robust crown reduction, just wanted to know what the fungus is and whether a reduction would finish the tree off or would be a sensible idea given it is right next to the house.

I'd love to take you out for dinner as well but again ill be asking soooooo many questions, it might be annoying. I was looking to buy a target account list of North London block management companies but couldn't find anything suitable. I did it manually (searches the web, writing down the emails and popping over an intro) but took ages just to get 20 Drummed up a few quotes from it.

The invite is there... However I will have a million and one questions 😂 If you're serious PM me your location and your favourite local restaurant and we can fix a date.

No, wasn't planning on getting qualified for those for quite a few years. Ill drop a few intro emails. I can never tell if emailing is a better option to calling as I know i find it so annoying when people solicit me over the phone