I was just on the verge of winding down for Xmas when i get an offer i can't refuse of an urgent substantial heavy duty strimming job .
I gave up heavy duty strimming but still do plenty of light grass trimming and have a couple of light cordless strimmers which are perfect for that job but wont touch the big job .
Looking at my arsenal of old petrol strimmers i have Five including a Stihl , Efco , Two Titan and a mountfield , Also a Stihl Combi on its last legs but would have to buy a strimmer unit and blade .
Apart from the Stihl Combi on its last legs none of my other strimmers work and a couple are discontunued but they have all earned their keep so owe me nothing .
I am hoping to buy a cordless Stihl lightweight strimmer in the new year just to trim grass and edges I dont need a heavy duty cordless strimmer so no point investing in one now it would be over the top for my use and possibly not up the job i have in mind now .
No point in buying an expensive petrol strimmer / brushcutter either for this one off Job it wont get any use afterwards and anything over £300 will reduce the profit margin so it will most likely be a cheap strimmer from screwfix with no resale value .
Question 1 Is there another way of looking at this ?
Qustion 2 When we go cordless what do we do with the surplus petrol machinery ?
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Replies
If you haven't got the right equipment to take on a job then I would wouldn't take it on.
I definitely wouldn't use a cheap strimmer - likely to have high vibes as well as being slow and cumbersome. If only buying for one job and discarding then also terrible for the environment.
With regards to question 2 we are only replacing petrol tools with battery when they are no longer economical to run. I also think that many battery tools aren't up to the same standard / run time as petrol yet, with strimmers and blowers being way behind for heavy duty work.
Thanks Nick I respect your advice , I know you are right , I have had hit and miss results with budget machinery . Its only a small area but challenging and a right old mess , A quality finish is out of the question it will be enough to just achieve some definition in many ways a rewarding job which is also an incentive .
I want to come out of this also with a healthy profit so its about striking the right balance , There are also other tasks to do for which i am fully equipped and waste removal is all taken care of .
Tried to look at this from many angles but keep coming to the same conclusion .
Thanks H.B I have looked into Hire but its too costly , possibly 5 days work it needs to be staggered owing to unknown dangers lurking under the long tangled grass and this time of year if it rained for 2 days i will have to pay for something i cant use .
The hire strimmers i have looked at are well battered and look abused , i dont want the hassle of returning them while work is in progress .
Shame about John.
If you we're down south I'd happily lend you a strimmer.
Thanks H.B top man .
Its due to my own disorganisation i have no escuse with the stihl one its very old a customer gave it to me when he moved , i should have taken it to my repair guy but attempted a repair myself and ordered the wrong parts , left it in bits and not had the time to sort it if i can even remember how it fits back together .
Made me realise how much we accumulate in the way of machinery over the years , i know it has a hard life possibly because its not up to the task and we always need to upgrade to a different machine with wider blade spacing or more powerful engine in our job which we may only use a couple of times and its not cheap .
I dont know about you but realised i can tailor my work load to make a living effortlessly with cordless kit but realise its difficult for those employing staff who have to take on bigger jobs , as Nick says its just not there yet .
I can probably fix the Titans up my only concern is 25 cc may be a bit under powered for strimming this growth but going to give it it a go .
Could be i am being unreasonably tight fisted when running a business lol
I'm happy to lend my gear to competent people.
When i repair tools I often take pictures or put back together even not repaired. Worked ok so far.
I can never have enough tools.
I love my battery kit but it does have its limitations. I would have thought if you run multiple team it would be a logistical nightmare to charge all the batteries needed, plus members of staff don't treat tools with the same respect as a sole trader.
Surely the Titan would be ok with a metal blade.
Hoping so , only bought the titans for the pole cutter accessory which are excellent ,never used the strimmer attachments .
Have to check I think I killed them off by accidently doing a 40 to 1 mix , I am certain it's 25 to 1 .
I had put the right mix into the machines it is 40 to 1 but been stood idle for Two seasons .
Replaced the fuel pipe on one machine and replaced the fuel using the fuel / oil mix calculator to dispense smaller amounts for more accurate results and now running as well as can be expected which is a result .
Repairing to recycle but thinking how did gardeners manage before machines ?
try a sythe?
A good idea Tim , I had forgotten about those . To be expected though search engine immediately comes up with a self propelled petrol driven one .
It was said a sythe could take the user's feet off if used incorrectly .
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