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Regarding your waste your step dad will need a Waste Transfere Licence as you are moving waste and storing waste to be disposed off. In theory you need one if you have a skip on your property to put clients waste in.
In the real world the EA wants you to give each client a ticket to say you are disposing waste in a responsable manner and your step dad would need to keep records.
I also used a farm and he said that he had all the tickets but the EA came in as he was abusing the system and shut the place down and never let him reopen
It is EXTREMELY rare that a general farm has legitimate framework in place to accept on site any waste that isnt generated by their own activities.
There are a few but the EA will be door knocking very quickly if they suspect anything untoward going on.
Hi Gary - Not saying this is the right route, but it served me well.
I bought everything mechanical off Ebay and FB marketplace the first time - more or less as I needed it. Then when I had an idea of what I needed to do the gardens I ended up with,(a complete unknown when I started out), I bought stuff suited to those gardens. You proably don't know if your first clients are going to be wee modern housing estate lawns (where a small battery set up will do you proud), or if you are going to land a 2 acre monster lawn (and need a 21" Honda or similar)- so its difficult to get it right. My first client cut their own grass, but needed me to do the borders and strimming - the 2nd one liked me to use his mower, the 3rd was 2 acres with lots of tall hedges - so a 8' Henchman ladder was bought - and very well used.
The first thing I bought was a Stihl hand held blower (Ebay £100) - someone was downsizing their house and garden - that was with me, and used every day for the 6 years I had the business. I bought various mowers over the years - some lasted and served very well, others died in a season (hey ho, none cost me much, none required an annual service at the supplier to keep the warranty valid)
THe first new kit I bought was a battery Stihl FSA56 (now looks to be a FSA57) - I found it far easier to use than the FSA86 - that IMO was just too powerful when there were patio windows all over the place - again I still have that.
I got into using one dealership, and I still go there today for supplies - that allows me to get clients that mention my name a discount on getting their kit serviced, - and they normally undercut all the online shops when I buy stuff for myself.
Whereabout in the country are you?
Good luck :)
I have been trading since 1991 and I have almost never taken green waste away from site. I would advise against it. I would never do garden clearances where there is a mountain of brash. They are a huge amount of work and the returns are far less than mowing, which is easier work.
The majority of my work is larger scale ride on work and I always mulch, so no grass clippings to remove any way. With the three domestic hand mowing jobs that I do, then the grass clippings go in the client’s own green bin. There is usually room in the client’s green bin for hedge cuttings also.
As you are only starting out with a hand mower, you will likely be doing smaller scale sites, mainly domestic, where there is a green bin on site.
With commercial clients they generally have bins/skips on site for any hedge cuttings. Although on larger scale sites I usually mulch the hedge cuttings with the ride on mower and then blow them back under the hedge. I can mulch most things down to virtually nothing in any case, even before blowing.
If you operate like this it will be very rare that you will ever need to take green waste away in any case. So if it’s only a very rare event, I would not worry too much about visits from any officials. Don’t be put off by those who just love to quote rules and regulations at you with such glee.
Best of luck with the business.
I'm with you, we do exactly the same with prunings either with a ride on or our HRX'S. Like you say next to nothing left. And yes a friendly farmer who likes a drink always comes in handy !
2k is a tiny budget so your definitely going to have to buy old gear. No point looking at commercial work unless you have a much bigger budget.
Mower worth buying £1800+
Strimmer £500+
Hedge cutter £600+
Blower worth having £500+
Then you can't just have 1 of each because when you have a breakdown your stuck so double all of the above. I currently have around 30k of machinery to give you an idea of what you need to spend.
eBay is probably the best way forward.
Etesia mowers are solid £2300 new but 2nd hand around £500 for an older thing.
Started with 2 second hand mowers a Hayter 41 and 48. New blades and belts, changed oil etc total cost £300. Husqvarna 525 blower £300 and 122 hedgetrimmer £300 Hyundai Multi tool - very heavy (but you get stronger!) but it still runs 5 years later, rarely used but starts every time £180. The hyundai stuff is ok for starting out and you get 1 year commercial warranty. You can upgrade as your business grows. Some change to start your Makita battery kit which is very good DUX 60 with longreach trimmers £600 with charger and 2x18v batteries and you stihl have £300 to spare for more batteries, and edger and strimmer. So you have reserves of machinery etc
Start it up!
If 2k is your budget I'd go 2nd hand 2k is a very small budget. I'd look for 2x 21 inch roller mower, 2x hs87r stihl hedge cutters. 1x br800 backpack blower 1x stihl hand blower, tripod ladder.
A good new roller mower will be about £1500 each now the blower £800 hedge trimmers £700 hence me going 2nd hand and you need 2 of everything to equate breakdowns
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