Clutchy

Never. Only to seek clarification on certain aspects. I mean if an old lady we have say booked 4 weeks away and 2 days before the job she calls and says shes unwell or had a bereavement theres NO WAY I'd charge a fee. I may have lost quotes from it and not known but then I don't want to work for those people. One thing I've learnt this year is the firmer you are with people and the more bullshit you decline with them the more they want you! Firm but fair, always.

We have: If the job is cancelled with less than 5 working days notice a charge of 50% of the job value is due. If the job is cancelled with less than 48hrs notice then the full job value is due. I always make the customers state they accept my terms and touch wood have never had a cancellation (bar 1 arsehole) in years. The point of the above is not to make money from them, its to stop them cancelling you and respect your time. We also have a similar policy for ensuring parking is reserved for us.

A good point Not so sure on that out look, you can re-plant but that doesn't seem like the best way to conduct work, also it would take many years to get back to a substantial tree. I don't rate Apple trees so wouldn't have one. Still doesn't get away from the fact I'd have to see an abortion of a tree in Winter without the leaves to hide the sins. Each to their own I suppose which helpfully does make me understand the customer's view point more so thank you

If this was your tree in your garden, what would you do? Its not interfering with any buildings but it will soon. It is probably at the max size suitable for the space. Pollarded Apple trees look sh!t in my opinion. Loads of straight messy regrowth and it will develop problems down the line say 7-12 years later.

If you're about to tell me it will come back fine.... that's really not the point.

Yes

North and North West London I have done that quite a few times which does help but its not a perfect science as I fear we would he held exactly to the shape/cut Also, here are 2 pics where I tried this on recently. Mine is in red, theirs in yellow. I sent the red, they sent back the yellow!

Perhaps this is something I need to work on. I have recently been saying 'I personally wouldn't for x y z reason, but ultimately you're the customer and it is your tree, I just feel the need to ensure you're making a fully informed decision' Me and my business partner often quibble on whether its better to have a tree pruned improperly to allow it to be retained rather than no tree at all. More clients seem responsive to fell and replants compared to previous years but I'd say that's the case for maybe 5% of fells.

It is definitely getting that way. It feels like trying to educate the customers makes you come across as being 'difficult' so you might be right. Perhaps clearance not appearance is the way forward - although this is slightly depressing. I suppose bad work can still be done well.

It takes a better man than I to want all that extra stress and time commitments of running 2-4 gangs for what is realistically a fairly small personal pay rise. I am quite new to this (5 years in) so maybe with the right commercial work it is very profitable and fairly straightforward, but as yet it does not seem to be the case.

What needs clarifying?

Pretty much what the titles says. A little rant and I suppose, after some advice. All I seem to of done the last 3 weeks is quote about 100 jobs and each and everyone wants their tree smashed to bits. I try and explain the benefit of a lighter reduction and I am most persuasive (historically) but recently its just not getting through to customers. Multiple have flat out demanded theirs trees to be pollarded or cut to stems or they will look elsewhere, to which I tell them to do so. Honestly just thinking of giving in and stop trying to do the right thing and just do what they say. All I see around north London is crap tree work. Even when dimensions have been specified on accepted work, we reduce the tree, has a beautiful shape, lots of foliage still up there and then they kick off with 'I love the tree but I need more light, so please do more without harming the tree' so we reply 'Totally understand that, but we've spent the last 5 hours reducing the tree to look great, taking more off will harm the tree and look terrible' 'well I need the light so do it or....' This is getting so tedious, any advice? PS we aren't cheap and we do have some wonderful customer, think its just been a bad month.

The first question has to be, are you consistently averaging a very profitable daily figure for your current gang/set up. If you're averaging say £1k + VAT per day, can you increase that to £1.5k + VAT by losing more quotes and winning fewer but much more profitable jobs? If the answer is 100% no, we simply cannot make more a day than what we currently do then I suppose the choice is, stress or more money! I thought £1.5k a day was the max, this year is to try and consistently hit £2k + VAT per day for a 3/4 man gang and then and only then will we consider expanding to another gang. That extra £3-400 profit a day can go directly into your pocket, having another gang is unlikely to be as directly profitable without being a lot more effort/time consuming. Honestly this business/industry really doesn't feel like something that will ever make you very well off without being Gristwood and Toms size! We treat our tree company as a good way to generate profit say 10-15k a month which we then set aside for other ventures. The stress to financial reward ratio in tree work really doesn't feel worth it IMO.

Does anyone know any companies that can supply a 3+ (I assume) tonne digger/excavator with a flail attachment and operator to clear a load of brambles on a job for 1 day. Bishop's Stortford/Hertfordshire area for the beginning of March. Must have RAMS Many thanks

Will have a look Has it actively brought you in any new business or has it been a requirement for some jobs/contracts in your experience

The 360 is brilliant and will fit in a lot more places compared to the 460. With 2 men it will go through most houses/homes and if you keep the teeth sharp and the grinding hole clear you can do some pretty big stumps. IIRC we did a 4ft stump in a few hours. Obviously not ideal and you would use a bigger grinder in that scenario but...

As the titles suggests. Looking to go down one of the above routes. It is clear that the decent money seems to be in the commercial work and would like to aim for an 80% commercial 20% domestic split. We have done a few £10k plus jobs for builders, estate management, block management etc and have recently been asked if we had any CHAS accreditation for a small clearance job. (We were able to proceed on this occasion without it) I have never been asked if we are AA in anyway. Any suggestions on which out of the 2 would be better to peruse and for what reason? If there are better schemes to be suggested that would help gain more commercial work that would be appreciated. Based in North London if that makes a difference. Not afraid of paperwork and we are quite competent with H&S regs + RAMS. Cheers

For those who find the business part of tree work boring or difficult I have created a template which should allow you to put in your own numbers and or costs for a basic 1/2/3 man tree gang and what profit you are actually making from your £400 or £1300 days You may well end up being surprised how much your monthly costs eat into the money you bring in every day! Could be a good time to review the business and put up prices! Excel doc attached, screen shot for attention/example. Happy to amend if anyone has any suggestions that can't be filled under misc For those who are business masterminds - this is not for you Operating costs template.xlsx

100% But don't steal him from me on the 20th Jan!

We use a marketing agency, pay around £1k per month, you select the area you want to work (nice rich one ideally) and 2 days into the phone starts ringing. Still going strong in winter. We were subbing work to fill gaps in the calender previous to this and now we turn away so much (crap) work. Our calander is full of enjoyable, profitable work. £1k a month seems to generate approx £30k of quotes of which we tend to win 30-40% Has allowed us to average £1200 plus vat a day for a 3 man crew this year. Finish by 2pm 90% of the time too. Inbox me if you want their details, depending on what area you are from. If you're near me, I'm not telling!

That's the kind of time frame I was hoping for, seems reasobabke

It does appear that C19 will be blamed no doubt. Although everyone I know has been working more since being at home everyday...

I heard good things about trust, they may well be. The chap we have been dealing with said they normally get this paid within a few days so hopefully is sorted this week. @MattyF it would be ideal to buy a new ST8 again in the interim but dropping £30k without guarentee that the insurance isn't going to mess us around with payment seems risky and i don't want to settle for an inferior machine if i can help it but needs must i suppose

Just checked, there's a list of exemptions about 3 pages long covering every possible get out. There's no reimbursement for hire, ergo, no inclination to speed up the process. I suppose until you've had a claim its hard to find out exactly what you want and need from a policy. Although i suspect most policies exempt anything that is helpful.

That would not be ideal to say the least Quick enough to take my money. No idea why it takes them so long, its clear cut.