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Hi, I recently finished my 10 week arboriculture course at New Suffolk College. I live near both Cambridge and Newmarket and am looking for my first job. I have cross-cutting/maintenance, small felling and climbing/ariel rescue with ariel cutting hopefully coming soon. I have a full and clean divers license. Hoping someone here can help point me in the right direction or looking for someone to take on themselves. Looking forward to what comes next!

Hi my name is Ross and I’m looking to get into the Arborist industry. I’m looking for some ground work before I start my first ticket in May. I’ve done work before a few years back and have safety gear. I’m reliable and hardworking and have a good awareness of my environment. Good communicator and enjoy to work in teams. I’m based In the Scottish Borders but happy to travel within about 50 miles. I have a full driving licence and vehicle. Also done forestry first Aid course. Available right away! Thanks for reading and feel free to get in touch. Happy to chat and answer any questions. Ross

Looking for Arb work in or around Perth, Scotland. I have my own transport. I Do not have tickets at this point but wanting to get some time on some jobs before committing to either a college course or paying for tickets. Have fixed shifts at the moment so can work any weekend. Don’t hesitate to get in touch of you need a hand in Perth and I’ll provide further contact details. Regards, Kahl

Hey there, first time poster on this forum. I’m a 21 year old based in Edinburgh, Scotland and looking into becoming a tree surgeon. I have experience with a saw and can run one with decent confidence but don’t have any tickets. My main question is what is the best way to go about getting qualified. I’ve looked into getting nptc and it does seem pricey. would a company usually put a new “apprentice” through there training or do they mostly look for people with previous training/ nptc certified? I would much prefer trying to get on job experience rather than doing the college route however I would consider it if it’s more likely to allow me to break in to the industry. any help here would be appreciated, cheers!

Right, I know very little about the stump grinding business but I am eager to get into it. My boss has said that he is not interested in doing any form of stump grinding so I thought I would capitalise on it! He only does domestic work so a lot of the time it will be narrow access (fitting through garden side gates). I am looking for something that is self-propelled but the deck does spin. I know there is a huge market so I thought I would ask the people in the know who have used these machines before. They are all much the same but their prices obviously vary so does the brand really determine the prices? I am looking for some advice on what I should go for like a Bandit HB20, CARLTON SP2010, FSI B22, Predator 360 and 460 In your opinions what do you like best? What are the running costs like? And if any of you guys are thinking of getting rid of one or know of a great dealer, I am based in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Any advice would be appreciated. Many Thanks,

I am currently a Dairy farmer and looking for a career change into Tree Surgery. I have a background in Outdoor Education so have done plenty of climbing (Rocks), and I’m not scared of physical outdoor work, in all Conditions. I just wanted to ask if anyone had any advice on how to get into the industry? I would love to do a course to get me qualified but understand that I will need to keep learning for a good few years in the Industry. In in particular I need to know, what qualifications would I need before I can start earning money? Do people usually have an employer in mind before committing to a course to gain qualifications ? Thanks in in advance for any advice, Cheers!

Good morning. My first post on the forum, although I have spent a lot of time over past months reading info from knowledgeable people on here. The long & short of it is I’m looking at setting up my own business this year and any advice/guidance from people who have been there and done it would be greatly appreciated. Currently working at a garden in the in the South West. It’s a nice job but but only paying 17k a year and can’t see that going up a great deal in the near future. I’m 30 next week and with kids likely to appear in the not too distant future I think now is the time to pull my finger out and get something of my own set up. I’ve been in estate management for the past 4 years and before that I spent about 6 years in horticulture. Tree/chainsaw work probably makes up 50% of my current job role. Over the past 2/3 years I’ve found that it’s tree work were my true interest and passion lies. I have a varied skill set and am not shy of hard work. I’ve held my cs 30/31 for about 3 years and have just recently got my 38/39. I have lost of chainsaw/chipper/groundwork experience and am looking to improve as a climber throughout this year. So basically (if you’re still listening after all that waffle) towards the end of this year I’m looking at getting a 3.5T tipper and chipper and starting up my own thing. Hoping to do a mix of climbing for myself/other people as well as subbing my self as someone with a chipper and tipper. I’ve got vehicle storage and also room to store logs/chip. Im going to reduce myself down to 3 days a week at my current job and just start with this 2/3 days a week and then hopefully transition fully over a 12/24 month period. I have lads at work who can be grounds men until it’s worth taking someone on and also the more experienced climber I work with is keen to give me a hand when needed. Im hoping to get set up with about 12k (could push this a bit more if needed) and going to slowly buy equipment over the year when things come up at the right price. I’m going to increase my arb knowledge as much as possible by working alongside the more experienced climber at work as well as reading up on principles/practices in my own time. So, am I being realistic here? I know Arboriculture isn’t a get rich quick scheme and it’s hard work. But I enjoy the work and from my research so far I’m confident that once established I should be able to bring home more than my current salary at the end of the month. If anyone has any input that would be great. Is any time of year better/worse to start ab arb business? And if anyone could tell me their 3/4 most valued books on Arboriculture that would be great (esp to do with rigging and tree pruning/reduction). Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I hope over the coming years I can become a valued member of the community. Cheers, Rob

I currently have a 2 year old tw230 just coming out of warranty, machine is great and I have no complaints with mine, however, in people’s experiences is it best to upgrade when you can to a new machine with 3 more years warranty, or the cheaper option of sticking with what you have already got and crossing your fingers? chipper is on 200 hours so low but there is mixed reviews on the longevity of the 230 chassis etc due to cracks and what have you. Thanks

Hey guys, could you check out my youtube channel and videos, here is the link to one