Paddy1000111

That's 95% of my driving... 😂 I can't forsee any circumstance where I would ever need one. I know the rules around towing and tacho's and I am always within the tacho free radius of base so it is completely surplus to requirements. I just know nothing of tachos and the info is hard to come by. Having a little mystery black box that's causes issues sounds like a no for me. Plus I don't intend on applying for a tacho card etc from the DVLA

Sorry, I'll go for a deeper dig! I just wanted to know if I was required to use it which I can't really find on the DVLA website as they talk about when I am required to use it. Also want to know if I can take it out easily without issues.

Hi everyone, Anyone know the law on Tachographs? I am going to look at a transit tomorrow that's low mileage and has lots of additional "toys". One of which is a tachograph. It looks to be ex highways so must have had to have it for towing or something (its a 350, 3.5t btw). If a vehicle has a tachograph do I legally have to use it? A tacho is completely useless to me so does anyone know much about the digital VDO tachographs? Can I remove it and sell it on or is it some way coded to the vehicle? My other question is if they cut out the ignition and put the vehicle in a non-start position if you aren't logged on? If I'm not legally required to use it, it might make a good anti-theft device.

You're probably right. I was just looking at the current growth from the previous prune where each branch has been taken back and now 2-3 new sprouts have grown from each one where it's reacted to it. If you did it again then you would get the same issue all over again after a couple of years. It's hard to tell but it doesn't look like the previous prune was done back to a 1/3 size growth point and more just lopped off at a certian distance leaving a load of stubs. (As you said hat racked) When I say I thin I really mean remove dead, damaged, diseased and then move out to the previous prune points and remove 1 or 2 of the current reactive growth from the last prune to give a thinner outer crown. A gentle thin I've always thought is quite natural, trees drop weak branches in the wind all the time and you're just imitating a heavy storm and removing some branches to create a good airflow and put more light through to the inner branches and encourage the tree to create some more growth points inside the crown to make future prunes easier

Just what I need. Can you make me one. Sorry, as you can see from my certificate you need 0 experience to gain it.... You're welcome to have a certificate of attendance instead? 😂😂

Surely if you just reduce harder you're asking for a massive reactive/epicormic growth so it will be even worse in time to come. Better off with a light thin and go from there no? The size isn't an issue as it's all fluffy junk but the density is a problem

You might as well just run it. There's two options here- 1) The engine is shagged and bits need replacing 2) You may have lost a little lifespan but it runs You might as well just run it, you aren't going to get it repaired on warranty or something so just suck it and see,

Well no, I only intended to get a clearer image on what I should expect to pay for more people on bigger jobs!

I do, and I like to think that I provide that, and my feedback from customers and companies that I have freelanced for has supported that so far! To be honest I'm not really worried about rates or struggling, I'm not sure how we got to this point 😂 only thing I get annoyed by is giving a quote to a customer and them saying that another guy has quoted a rock bottom price so I've just wasted my time, fuel and effort going there. Not fussed about the loss of work itself!

Whilst I would agree, its based off what the doctors put on the death cert so unless they have shares in an electrical company or a tree insurance company or something I think they should be relatively reliable 😂

I've got one, And yes, milling is spelt like that so you can't fake the licence

I completely agree, but a badly done tree inspection or work that creates an unstable tree could quite easily take your house down and pin you under the rubble. There's more than enough videos of people sending 80ft trees through peoples houses on the interwebs and I've been to jobs where an 80+ ft beech has come down in the night and it was only the fact it fell in a good direction that no-one was killed. I just looked up some statistics and roughly 6 people a year are killed by falling trees/branches in 2017 (the most up to date year I can get info on from ons.gov and not some bs website) says 13 people were killed by exposure to unspecified electrical current (which also includes utilities by the look of it). I wouldn't say that the numbers are far higher for electricity. All I am saying is prices keep getting driven down by "man with a van" services (usually a unspecified highway maintenance van...) but the price of doing the job keeps going up, kit costs more to buy and maintain, fuel costs more, man hours cost more etc), something has to change eventually or we will just hit a stop.

Maybe I read "house wall" and thought "garden wall"... Not really going to get anywhere with the council with a leaf issue. A light thin and a small reduction if you're lucky. My point still stands though, getting the council to do anything about it will take a good amount reason, so many posts on here about the council saying no. I've tried to get permission to work on a 40ft council owned tree (accessing from their side) in a AONB area and they did everything to stop it, all the client wanted was one small >6" branch removed as it was colliding with the acer she had in her garden and smashing it up in the wind and I got on well with that TO. Didn't help that the client had already tried to get it removed and they said no mind. You need a good reason for the work to be done.

well yes, but my question is, why? We don't prune trees for the sake of pruning them. The person wants a 50% reduction?! You will be lucky to get a 2m reduction, but, What's the reason? 😂

That's not my point, I mean people expect low prices because tree surgeons/arborists aren't looked at in the same way as a plumber/electrician. Whilst the training course isn't as long the initial outlay is a lot more and the costs going forward are a lot more too. An electrician for example is one of the highest paid building trades yet all you need is basic construction tooling like drills, drivers, chaser, vacuum etc and a decent electrical installation tester and your away, you can easily buy a small van or run it out of a car. When I was doing a little bit of building working for a company as a gap filler between jobs most of prep work was done by us and the sparky put in the cables. To be a tree surgeon and take on domestic jobs you need multiple saws, climbing kit, rigging kit, a van, a chipper etc. Suddenly moving forward you start looking at skid steers and bigger kit to get the job done. Even if you don't buy and instead rent you won't be competitively priced if you're hiring in a chipper at £150 a day and a skid steer at £180. Aside from training, the actual cost of being a tree surgeon is a lot more than any other trade except maybe groundworks and other big kit companies and the overheads are a lot more unless you are stocking loads of gear in the van as a sparky. Given all that, people expect to pay good money for a sparky but want a tree surgeon at almost minimal wage

Not at all, but your clients might have questions about the bill...

Sadly, short of making people aware of using Arb approved contractors or some sort of milestone scheme which shows that you have knowledge of the biology of trees etc that will never change. There's a reason why tree surgeons are often seen as a gardener who can climb...

+1, You definitely do see when it's mixed vs plain in those stihl combi cans. I would say operator error.

So why prune it again? Is it overhanging something or is the base in some way compromised or? Just playing devils advocate more than anything. If I was an LA TO I would ask why I should spend £400 or whatever it costs them to get this tree pruned. It doesn't benefit me as a TO, it doesn't benefit the tree, why should I do it?

One of the local tree surgeons posted up on my village facebook recently offering topping services with a picture of hat rack tree... That's what people want. I could do a beautiful 1-2m reduction and leave them with a reduced, slightly thinned tree but they will see better value for money from the hat rack POS some bandit with a top handle will give them for £130

Just don't become Rolf Harris 😂😂

Can't wait to buy one when they are in stock again 😂

+1 for why? Trees hate being pruned. You could just get it inspected (or as its owned by the LA get them to inspect it) and suggest that they get it dead limbed but apart from that leave it alone?

Well that is true, it is cheap but then I look at plumbing, electrics and decorating. There's what feels like 2000 companies near me offering those services! All very well and good but you would be doing well to make enough money to live as a start up with £1000 a month going out Thinking about it, it's only the speed of training which makes this an easier industry. I think being an electrician, plumber, decorator, etc etc is a cheaper industry to start up in. Only stopper is training.

Be interesting to see how that works out. I can imagine a lot of fresh new guys but unsure about all the new companies knowing how much financial investment there is in kit and training. Not being elitist or something here but I would be surprised if someone who's been made redundant from a lower income job could afford the set up costs. I wonder if it will be a delayed reaction, new blood this year, new companies in 3 years 🤨