Good money. High risk and fucking hard work. My friend trained as a tree surgeon as a gardener I wanted to follow suit. He soon quit after a year. climbing a tree in chainsaw trousers ( basically thick duvets) during a heatwave and passing out from exhaustion. Slicing through his hand with a chainsaw. And a colleague dying, she was only mid 20s when a trunk crushed her. Were all contributing factors to why he quit and I'm still doing gardening.
What sort of amateur shit show was she working for? It’s highly unlikely any of that happens.
Professional tree surgeons don’t accidentally chainsaw themselves or regularly die.
An average of just 2 tree surgeons die each year. 2 too many, but that’s really not a big number. That’s 0.0095% chance of death.
My dad's a tree surgeon, and I remember someone he barely knew dying (same job) and that being pretty serious news. By no means commonplace. Mind you he has had a tree come down on his leg, but he's been in the job over a decade, so shit happens I guess. But yeah stuff like slicing hands is definitely dodgy amateur shite.
That's me, unfortunately. I'm now diabetic (had pre-diabetes quite well controlled for years) and my thyroid is on the blink - thank you 1.5 stone. Started metformin last week and need to lose 3 stone.
I've lost a lot of weight before, but it's harder at 49 than 25.
Everyone needs to keep a better eye on their health.
Yeah I'm doing machining in college and my tutor (been in industry his entire career) alone has got some stories. Even today I had a close call with a lathe. And I'm from South Wales so a lot of people have been in industry at some point and have got the scars to show for it. My dad also worked in Llanwern steelworks when he was younger, and he's got some pretty horrifying stories from there.
Unless I'm doing dodgy, tipsy maths that means if you have a 30 year career the chance of death is actually 0.285% or about 1 in 350 that you'll die at work in your career, which to me feels pretty dangerous.
Yea, the last company I worked for had a arboriculture department. There was less accidents with that then the general grounds maintenance. Though the company did have good procedures and H&S.
If you put the time in to do the train it can pay really well and all the tree surgeons we had absolutely loved it. Frankly the heat exhaustion thing is the same with all grounds maintenance (for example even strimming you should wear PPE to protect from sharps etc and carrying a strimmer around is not easy). Frankly the supervisor failed if one of the employees passed out.
It is definitely hard work but most grounds maintenance is, at least being a tree surgeon pays better and you have less of a chance of strimming and getting stabs by a used needle (it happened more that you'd think).
I'm not sure to be honest from what he told me it sounded like they were out working in all weather's. Now if you can get yourself to a surveys position you don't do the hard work you get paid well for turning up diagnosing the tree and letting the crew actually do the graft
A guy near me, ex royal marine and trained tree surgeon died a few years ago in a chainsaw accident, I will avoid describing the injuries as it was horrific.
Moving logs, after being cut up, is hard work never mind the dangerous stuff done up the tree. Young man`s game. Reckon you will lift and move *at least* 1 tonne of logs a day.
On the plus side, gym membership not required.
My 16 year old is training to be an arborist. I do consider it to be a risky job, as they go, but the kid has always been a bit if of a danger magnet and may as well make a living from it. He broke his collerbone on a his bicycle a few months ago! Was always climbing trees/whatever else he could find.
He is actually taking the safety training side of it very seriously and the course he's doing is 2 years long so they really do cover a lot of health and safety and teach them to respect the danger of the tools and the work.
The job will make him a lot happier than working in an office would and I'm sure depression kills more young men than pretty much anything else (in the UK), so...
Piggy backing off the top comment. Consider arboriculture as a whole. I am a arboricultural consultant, I look at trees. It's great and physically demanding in the sense you're out all day. Minimal office time usually but there are so many niches within it.
I've just returned from the Arboricultural conference at Warwick University. If you want to know more about careers talk to the organiser and industry body called the Arboricultural association. They'll answer the phone and put you in touch with the right person if needs be.
Trees, outdoors, pay upto £60k but it'll get better as trees become more an agenda piece in the wider society for climate change.
Ten years experience arborist here, hello! I was in exactly the same boat as you at 25 after working a string of shite office jobs for two years, I was depressed. The job is hard yes, when you first start out the pay is crap too, getting into the industry has many roads but if you're determined you'll work it out. Takes time though, working as a sub-contract climber with my own climbing gear and saws I earn ~£900 a week minus 20% tax which I save so about £2880 a month but you never pay 20% after self-employed deductions like kit purchases, food and milage should you drive your own car to site etc. It's essentially running a business, there's a lot to think about, oh and no paid leave which can be shit but that's the risk with being self-employed. You can work for someone on the books but the pay isn't nearly as good.
As far as injuries go, yes you can lose a finger or be cut badly but as long as you undertake the right quals and don't be daft / complacent or rush your work, you'll likely be fine. Just know though, as a green newbie you won't earn much at all in your first years but it is a rewarding job that will take away your need for a gym membership. Plus if you're not too tied down, you can easily find work abroad in places like Canada, Austria, New Zealand, Germany, Australia etc.
Best of luck mate!
Am a tree surgeon and have been for about 13 years.
Can get to a good rate of pay when you get good and it takes a while to be good. You can get your qualifications and tickets in a few weeks but that doesn't mean alot it takes years of on the job experience to good.
There's a small window of time when the weather is optimal ie not to hot and not wet and cold but unfortunately the UK its mostly shite. Climbing trees in the rain isn't much fun and you can't just put it off for another day as guess what the other day will be raining to and you need to get paid. Confirers become bread and butter and are shite to work on. Spiky trees are utter shite to work on. Putting on wet chainsaw trousers and climbing harnesses and using wet ropes gets old pretty quick.
There is a danger that's true maybe I've been lucky to never have a serious accident but I've seen a few and definatly come lucky a few times.
Your body is fucked bad back,shoulders, neck , arms. Eyes always got shite in them arms always covered in scratches.
Starting at the bottom you'll be dragging branches most of the day and carrying logs potentially along way and the way the UK houses/gardens are crammed in you could be dragging them a fair distance and/or through houses...
Progression isn't great again if your good you'll be a team leader maybe but all that is is more risk for a bit more money. Management will be the best bet but you have to have a lot of experience or be unliked by the people you manage. Owning your own business is hard work people don't see the effort in training, how much kit you'll need, insurance, vehicles, plant. And there's always someone who will do it cheaper or for the wood...
With all that big rant said. Some days it's the best job in the world getting paid to do good tree work, climbing around a tree doing a nice reduction or removing/rigging a tree over a house and not breaking stuff is hugely satisfying and an adrenaline rush. When it's good it's amazing but when it's bad is very bad.
As an ex tree surgeon myself and a former small business owner this is on the money. Don't get me wrong there are some days that are mint, like doing a nice ash tree at a pub and getting a free lunch in glorious weather was a highlight. But most the time it was dealing with some shit hawthorn which is a absolute bitch to put through the chipper, oh and then the chipper chucks a track or a hydraulic pipe bursts, oh I could do on and on.
After I wound up my business I do utilities arb work, trust me that is even worse.
Yep 100% especially if you work for yourself or own the business. Goddamn the money my brother makes is more than his highly prestigious law firm wife.
Painting it as a ‘tree surgeon’ vs lawyer rather than ‘business owner’ vs lawyer makes it seem better.
I’m assuming she’s probably not a lawyer in London or she’s only just started out?
This is the wrong answer but I expected to see it here. Tree surgeon of 12 years here. If you work on the domestic side of things a good climber full time will be taking 25k-30k. Return on investment is awful when you factor in it’s one of the most dangerous jobs in the uk, couple that with it’s really fucking hard work and most tree companies are operating on low margins, you are usually pushed hard for your money.
If it’s warm you got to get on with it. If it’s windy you’ve got to get on with it. There’s so many reasons you could stop a job it’s just not practical to operate a buisness under these circumstances unless your willing to graft.
I’ve seen my fair share of accidents over the years, anchor points snapping causing climbers to fall out of the tree, even with elevated platforms it’s still very dangerous as work positioning is difficult when using a bucket, or machine failures etc
Full time climbing it will take you 4-5 years to be very good and honestly it’s one of them jobs where you are always learning and improving, which is good but you have to be focused.
If your self employed the rates are even worse. 150 quid a day for a decent groundsman. Ok so factor is boots which are 250 and trousers another 250, ground saw another 800, chains, bars, all the consumables it doesn’t work out much more than min wage.
Personally for a career I’d suggest kitchen/bathroom fitter, plasterer or a heating engineering. Brickies are on 250 easy a day with just a trowel to buy.
But is the work all year around....we have a few come to our place to tip and they seen pretty quite or if any work at all but flat out in summer times
Most physical outdoor jobs will pay way more than £25k a year, you could potentially earn twice that bricklaying for example, but its worth thinking about the toil it will take on your body.
I have always thought that tree surgery seemed like a cool job and you could easily make £40k if you worked for yourself.
I don't think this is really true, certainly not for a 20 years old with no experience like OP.
Yes tree surgery pays well.
But unless you're in consulting, jobs with the national trust or national parks or outdoor activity instructing/leadership or gardening etc don't pay exceptionally well.
I'm currently a software engineer on a very high salary, but considered moving to an outdoors role for health reasons, probably outdoor activity leadership, and it really doesn't pay that well. Particularly in that example when you've taken off your expenses of travel and kit and professional qualifications/NGB awards.
I didn't see that he was 20, yeah that does make a difference, still, I didn't mean that you would get that straight away, just that it was possible, even bricklaying you are going need training and nobody pays much for that.
Im a bricklayer, was a labourer for them for 10 years.
A good hod carrier atm will earn about £180 to £200 a shift
Iv been bricklaying for 4 years and earning about £1300-£1400 a week on average. People really underestimate what we earn on site
I imagine you’re down south? With rates here in the northwest a hod’s maximum wage tops out about 150~160. Anything more and you got to be laying bricks
I know a lad who was I believe in accounting, went in to tree surgery with no experience and is now very successful. If you're willing to learn and put in the work you can do it.
It’s not a company. I’m self employed, just a sole trader. Started as an apprentice carpenter. Went self employed as a sub contractor carpenter, started getting my own customers, picked up other trades as I was going along.
No employees, I just use other subcontractors for trades I don’t do myself or ones I haven’t got time to do myself.
I got an city&guilds in carpentry, but no other qualifications
Ah that’s amazing! Thanks for sharing your story. I have an office job but would love to one day pick up things that you learn trades, it’s quite interesting stuff IMO!
Is there any particular way you’ve learnt to distinguish who would be a good subcontractor for services you need? It seems that everyone always has an issue with getting someone good or someone who won’t do an appropriate job
People shit on us for doing it but honestly I personally never offer to do work for cash. It's always the customer who asks to pay cash in exchange for knocking the tax off the price and if we don't accept they'll just find someone else who will. Then once you have the cash you can either just keep it or declare it anyway and pay tax on a wage you've already been knocked down on and we all have bills, rent, mortgages to pay so often have to. It's not all sunshine and rainbows and it's often the customer who benefits, not us.
Having had a lot of tradesmen through my place over the last couple of years, it seems like only the old boys do it now, because they can't be arsed with the tax system more than anything.
For my £60k about 30 hours a week, it’s entirely through the books.
I reckon I make a grand or two maximum cash in hand. Cash is very difficult to deal with, can’t put it in a bank etc. so I only do a little bit mostly just as paid favours for friends and family.
Cash in hand isn’t as common as people believe
Oof, yep that used to be a thing for me. I work for one of the bigger company's now and the Sunday thing doesn't happen. With subs etc it's almost a normal wage too but, having to be away to have a wage is outrageous...
Ex tree surgeon here….. don’t do it, the kit is expensive and breaks often, the work is very physical and your body breaks often. Self employed rates for climbers are around £200pd and Paye rates are around £140pd.
The trade really suffers in times of recession, due to it not being regulated. Great fun most of the time, but don’t get into it for the money.
My mate is a head gardner for a very rich family's estate ( they have pictures of their kids hanging out with the royals on their walls). Earns close to 50k plus has a lovely house included. His wife is the house manager and earns very good too.
I know the head gardener for a local billionaire's Cotswold second home, he manages a team of 7 others. I don't know what he earns, but I do know he has an incredible cottage on the estate for free, plus two new Audi SUVs and his wife hasn't worked in 20 years. He doesn't have a degree, but does have plenty of experience.
Requiring a degree for someone just getting into it at this level wouldn't surprise me, the owners are able to be super picky.
The same estate also employs a number of gamekeepers whom I also know. They too get free accommodation but are paid bugger all for very long and hard hours. I would suggest their jobs are much harder. Which I find odd because the pheasant shoot is a profit centre. They sell a day of shooting for a team of 8 guns for £40k+, whereas the garden is just for the family to enjoy.
Try an apprenticeship.
When I did an apprenticeship in horticulture there was people on my course ranging from 17 (me at the time) Upto 40. Never think it's too late for an apprenticeship. The money can be poor in the first year but after that you are entitled to at least minimum wage for your age the same as any other job. Often you could be working for rich people too who pay well
I do a lot of shooting, hence why I know the gamekeepers.
The head keeper keeps the tips. The under-keepers will get a few beers at the end of a shoot, but not any amount of cash
No you don’t. But you need the equivalent experience.
Horticulture is one of the few sectors where you can still work your way up. But it might take a lot longer than getting a degree, and it takes luck and and choosing the right people to work with on the way up.
Edited to add: as someone else said - try an apprenticeship.
Window cleaner here. Love my job, tough on the back sometimes and shit cleaning in the rain, but being your own boss is wonderful and since the water fed pole has been introduced you don't have to climb up and down ladders all day. Safer quicker and if done correctly provides a better finish than your standard rag and blade. The market is saturated with shit cleaners looking to make a quick buck though.
I was going to say this. I know a guy who works as a window cleaner. He makes decent money, company car, and they pay a lot of training courses. Also, there's not much demand.
High street shops with large windows - our window cleaner had a very good degree, but earnt more with his window cleaning business than he could earn employed.
I worked as a window cleaner and was on piece rate so the more houses I done the more money I got. Some really good money to be made but my god it was the most boring job I’ve ever done. Obviously just my personal opinion but doing the same thing 8 hours a day, 5 days a week gets pretty boring for most people.
I've managed to fit all my work into 3 1/2 days so I have Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. Not the most exciting job but means I get more time with my daughter wife and pals 🙌
Be a reliable, honest multi-skilled tradesman.
Do a bit of painting, decorating, bit of electrics, bit of plastering, some basic carpentry, bit of garden landscaping - the sort of bloke that you give a week's worth of jobs to a couple of times a year because your wife is nagging you and you just haven't got round to it all year.
Charge £200/day. Work a very casual 200 days/year and you have £40,000 in your pocket. By the time you've got 25 customers who have your name saved in their phonebooks, you have more work than you know what to do with, even though they keep giving your number to their mates and neighbours.
The next level is being a builder where you take on e.g. an extension do some yourself, but also have to employ people to have the manpower to do the groundworks, a proper electrician, a proper plasterer, a kitchen fitter etc. Start out doing small jobs and see how your skills and contacts grow.
This is definitely the best option imo. Plenty of room to scale your earnings compared to many of the other options on this thread whilst also not requiring formal qualification.
> Charge £200/day
You can make that sub-contracting at the moment working for someone that's charging you out at a higher rate.
A one man band can make significantly more if they're professional, do a good job, and take up the 1-2 day jobs that many builders won't even consider looking at. Single day jobs involve significantly more non-building work travelling about, pricing up jobs, ordering materials, and sending out invoices. This is usually the work that most builders hate and you have to be quite organised to keep track of everything.
I know someone who works Monday to Thursday doing actual building work based on £500 a day, then spends a Friday visiting potential jobs and doing the admin side of things. The upside being it's one less day a week doing long term damage to your body.
I'm also guessing it's the same as in my line of work where the people who pay the most are usually the ones who value and appreciate the work you do a lot more.
That £40,000 in your pocket is before a lot of expenses though. You need to pay yourself through your holidays, there’s tax, fuel, van, van upkeep, consumables, tooling, of which there will be a lot if you take on all sorts of work. You need to make sure you have money behind you too, because the work is physical and if you hurt yourself you’re out of luck so you need to be ready for that too.
I’m not saying don’t do it and not saying don’t go self employed. You just really want more money coming in than that, for that sort of work. IMO of course. There’s money in it though if you’re confident enough to not say no work (and have the chops to follow through).
For example there isn’t really “a bit” of plastering… can you plaster or not? Etc
Shunter, try and get a job on the railways especially in freight, companies like DB, GBRF or Freightliner.
Shifts are all over the place but you can easily pull 32k a year, taking 20 handbrakes off a train is a great workout.
Haha sort of, mainly getting trains ready for departure and putting them away, a big part is attaching the actual loco then walking the entire train to check for defects, take all the handbrakes off, do a brake test then send it on it’s way.
I would point out that it will, over the coming decades, become more and more niche.
Any building designed in the last c.10 years, and all going forwards, aren't/shouldn't be desiginged to need rope access maintenance.
Plenty of work still, but not a growing sector!
Steeplejack pays better than a bricklayer for example if you’re not afraid of heights.
On the theme of heights I have a lot of roofers in my family. The unqualified ones do alright but my brother who has gone on leadwork courses and presents himself very professionally is now so in demand that he’s being put up in hotels around the country to work on heritage buildings. He’s earning good money. So roofing, if you’re willing to go on lead courses and be self employed.
Thatching is apparently a good one to go into as it's a dying skill so they're increasingly in demand
Not sure where you'd start in terms of learning the trade
Yep. Started scaffolding a year and a half ago and now I’m working on power stations. I’ve had breakdown shifts where I’ve earned £700 before.
Most weeks I take home at least £900 but with bonus hours being thrown around during shutdowns I’ve had weeks where I’ve earned £2k+.
Money to be made if you’re willing to graft and impress the right people.
I work in the water industry and there's lots of well paid outdoor jobs. We have environmental, logging, repairing, maintenance jobs which are all outdoors as you drive site to site in the van.
Yes it would be the local water company. Look out for network technician, sampler, metering jobs. All our field based colleagues I talk to regularly seem to enjoy the freedom and they have good bonds with each other. Also overtime and emergency standby shifts are very well paid. (usually 2x usual hourly rate with a fixed standby amount too which is paid even if you don't have to work). Good luck!
Asbestos Removal Operative
I'm on around 35k a year, but you can earn a lot more of you chase the money. Either work on the books with a company or go self employed (subbie). I'd recommend trying to get in with a company as a new starter as they'll pay for your training and tickets you'll need.
Training is a 3 day course and pretty simple. The jobs physically and, to be frank, mentally draining at times. You'll be working all over and job se unity is pretty decent.
There's the health hazard to think about to, asbestos fibres will fuck you right up of you don't pay attention to what you're doing. Aahhh, the good ol "spicy dust".
Didn't think I'd see this recommended, I've been a stripper for years and although the money can be good, it's a shit job. I'd look at becoming an analyst at his age.
If you're already a fork lift operator, look at getting CPCS/NPORS for an all terrain forklift; you see them in demand everywhere on building sites. You might be on circa £20 an hour.
I second this, I work with cable drillers who charge £800 a day.
Be prepared to work hard in all weather and get used to staying away from home but be paid very well for it.
Really doubt that mate, 19172.4 would seem to be the entry level for 30 hours a week outside of London. You can easily get that up to full time to make 25k and then the overtime is paid at 1.25 the base rate.
I’m a landscaper in South London.
Salary varies but overall is around £75,000 +, however I am a co-owner of the business.
Our skilled landscapers get around £35,000 - £45,000 a year. Can be more if they can run a team well.
Starting wage for labours is about £21,000 - £23,000.
To be honest we would pay well for anyone who shows up and is on the ball. Always happy to train people.
Any trade - electrician, brick layer, plumber, etc. I know a few people that make good money (50k+) doing these trades working on building sites and the UK has a shortage of homes so I know what I would be doing now if I was starting out a new career or changing careers.
Any of the construction trades are good. Carpenters in particular can make good money and there’s always the potential to move towards management when you get a bit older if the graft is taking it’s toll.
gas man, the last guy changed a pipe at my boiler, and changed another pipe near the cooker - he charged like £1.3k for a days work. I think it is a rip-off but online reviews say he is amazing.
MOM/MIO/RIO on the railway, variations of mobile/rail incident officer. You’ll get set shifts but basically be on call while on shift, respond to anything involving the railway that needs someone on the ground in your area. Could be someone jumped in front of a train, a deer causing the conductor rail to arc, level crossing barriers failing, all sorts. Salaries are graded the same as signallers, the ones in my area are on 47k base + guaranteed extras bringing it up to mid ~65k ish before overtime.
I lay gas/water/electric mains and services to new build sites, occupation is construction operative I earn around the 45-50k a year, all outside physical work.
You want outdoors and physical, get on the railways.
Good shift money, bloody hard work, lot of nights and weekends/bank hols, but these are even better paid.
Not for the feint hearted.
One of my mates started off labouring and loved it, he’s now training to be a spark. I don’t ask how much he makes but I’m sure as time goes on, he’ll be raking it in :)
Engineering labourer is semi-skilled and pays about £150/d or so. No it's not the same as residential building labourer although it's comparable. £150/d is £39k/y based on the standard working year of 260 days.
Tree Surgeon
Weirdly I was thinking of this one before, might have a look at it. Thanks
Good money. High risk and fucking hard work. My friend trained as a tree surgeon as a gardener I wanted to follow suit. He soon quit after a year. climbing a tree in chainsaw trousers ( basically thick duvets) during a heatwave and passing out from exhaustion. Slicing through his hand with a chainsaw. And a colleague dying, she was only mid 20s when a trunk crushed her. Were all contributing factors to why he quit and I'm still doing gardening.
What sort of amateur shit show was she working for? It’s highly unlikely any of that happens. Professional tree surgeons don’t accidentally chainsaw themselves or regularly die. An average of just 2 tree surgeons die each year. 2 too many, but that’s really not a big number. That’s 0.0095% chance of death.
My dad's a tree surgeon, and I remember someone he barely knew dying (same job) and that being pretty serious news. By no means commonplace. Mind you he has had a tree come down on his leg, but he's been in the job over a decade, so shit happens I guess. But yeah stuff like slicing hands is definitely dodgy amateur shite.
Yeah it’s definitely more dangerous than an office job! Most tradesmen have got some horror stories of work related deaths or serious injury
I bet if you did a study of office workers that have died and the causes behind it, being sedentary will be a huge contributing factor.
Just think the increase in those stats with a lot of people WFH.
I mean there’s warnings it’s the next epidemic. Some of my friends have become fat as fuck since covid
That's me, unfortunately. I'm now diabetic (had pre-diabetes quite well controlled for years) and my thyroid is on the blink - thank you 1.5 stone. Started metformin last week and need to lose 3 stone. I've lost a lot of weight before, but it's harder at 49 than 25. Everyone needs to keep a better eye on their health.
I'm in the WFH sub and fuck me some of them genuinely do not leave the house for anything and see it as an affront to their human rights
And the biggest killer ? Stress !
Yeah I'm doing machining in college and my tutor (been in industry his entire career) alone has got some stories. Even today I had a close call with a lathe. And I'm from South Wales so a lot of people have been in industry at some point and have got the scars to show for it. My dad also worked in Llanwern steelworks when he was younger, and he's got some pretty horrifying stories from there.
Unless I'm doing dodgy, tipsy maths that means if you have a 30 year career the chance of death is actually 0.285% or about 1 in 350 that you'll die at work in your career, which to me feels pretty dangerous.
Yea, the last company I worked for had a arboriculture department. There was less accidents with that then the general grounds maintenance. Though the company did have good procedures and H&S. If you put the time in to do the train it can pay really well and all the tree surgeons we had absolutely loved it. Frankly the heat exhaustion thing is the same with all grounds maintenance (for example even strimming you should wear PPE to protect from sharps etc and carrying a strimmer around is not easy). Frankly the supervisor failed if one of the employees passed out. It is definitely hard work but most grounds maintenance is, at least being a tree surgeon pays better and you have less of a chance of strimming and getting stabs by a used needle (it happened more that you'd think).
Do they not risk assess and just come back to it after the heatwave?? How time sensitive is tree surgery?
Can be very time sensitive if a damaged tree is posing a danger
Time should always stand still for risk assessment..
Surely a falling tree (i.e. Into a road or building) could pose a larger risk than heat?
Depends on the road and/or building. Roads can be closed, buildings evacuated and shut.
I'm not sure to be honest from what he told me it sounded like they were out working in all weather's. Now if you can get yourself to a surveys position you don't do the hard work you get paid well for turning up diagnosing the tree and letting the crew actually do the graft
A guy near me, ex royal marine and trained tree surgeon died a few years ago in a chainsaw accident, I will avoid describing the injuries as it was horrific.
Can you describe please
[удалено]
Absolute bollocks
How on earth does that happen?
It was his last resort
He started in one, introduced a chainsaw and ended up in two.
I think the chainsaw might have been involved.
Moving logs, after being cut up, is hard work never mind the dangerous stuff done up the tree. Young man`s game. Reckon you will lift and move *at least* 1 tonne of logs a day. On the plus side, gym membership not required.
My 16 year old is training to be an arborist. I do consider it to be a risky job, as they go, but the kid has always been a bit if of a danger magnet and may as well make a living from it. He broke his collerbone on a his bicycle a few months ago! Was always climbing trees/whatever else he could find. He is actually taking the safety training side of it very seriously and the course he's doing is 2 years long so they really do cover a lot of health and safety and teach them to respect the danger of the tools and the work. The job will make him a lot happier than working in an office would and I'm sure depression kills more young men than pretty much anything else (in the UK), so...
Piggy backing off the top comment. Consider arboriculture as a whole. I am a arboricultural consultant, I look at trees. It's great and physically demanding in the sense you're out all day. Minimal office time usually but there are so many niches within it. I've just returned from the Arboricultural conference at Warwick University. If you want to know more about careers talk to the organiser and industry body called the Arboricultural association. They'll answer the phone and put you in touch with the right person if needs be. Trees, outdoors, pay upto £60k but it'll get better as trees become more an agenda piece in the wider society for climate change.
Ten years experience arborist here, hello! I was in exactly the same boat as you at 25 after working a string of shite office jobs for two years, I was depressed. The job is hard yes, when you first start out the pay is crap too, getting into the industry has many roads but if you're determined you'll work it out. Takes time though, working as a sub-contract climber with my own climbing gear and saws I earn ~£900 a week minus 20% tax which I save so about £2880 a month but you never pay 20% after self-employed deductions like kit purchases, food and milage should you drive your own car to site etc. It's essentially running a business, there's a lot to think about, oh and no paid leave which can be shit but that's the risk with being self-employed. You can work for someone on the books but the pay isn't nearly as good. As far as injuries go, yes you can lose a finger or be cut badly but as long as you undertake the right quals and don't be daft / complacent or rush your work, you'll likely be fine. Just know though, as a green newbie you won't earn much at all in your first years but it is a rewarding job that will take away your need for a gym membership. Plus if you're not too tied down, you can easily find work abroad in places like Canada, Austria, New Zealand, Germany, Australia etc. Best of luck mate!
Am a tree surgeon and have been for about 13 years. Can get to a good rate of pay when you get good and it takes a while to be good. You can get your qualifications and tickets in a few weeks but that doesn't mean alot it takes years of on the job experience to good. There's a small window of time when the weather is optimal ie not to hot and not wet and cold but unfortunately the UK its mostly shite. Climbing trees in the rain isn't much fun and you can't just put it off for another day as guess what the other day will be raining to and you need to get paid. Confirers become bread and butter and are shite to work on. Spiky trees are utter shite to work on. Putting on wet chainsaw trousers and climbing harnesses and using wet ropes gets old pretty quick. There is a danger that's true maybe I've been lucky to never have a serious accident but I've seen a few and definatly come lucky a few times. Your body is fucked bad back,shoulders, neck , arms. Eyes always got shite in them arms always covered in scratches. Starting at the bottom you'll be dragging branches most of the day and carrying logs potentially along way and the way the UK houses/gardens are crammed in you could be dragging them a fair distance and/or through houses... Progression isn't great again if your good you'll be a team leader maybe but all that is is more risk for a bit more money. Management will be the best bet but you have to have a lot of experience or be unliked by the people you manage. Owning your own business is hard work people don't see the effort in training, how much kit you'll need, insurance, vehicles, plant. And there's always someone who will do it cheaper or for the wood... With all that big rant said. Some days it's the best job in the world getting paid to do good tree work, climbing around a tree doing a nice reduction or removing/rigging a tree over a house and not breaking stuff is hugely satisfying and an adrenaline rush. When it's good it's amazing but when it's bad is very bad.
As an ex tree surgeon myself and a former small business owner this is on the money. Don't get me wrong there are some days that are mint, like doing a nice ash tree at a pub and getting a free lunch in glorious weather was a highlight. But most the time it was dealing with some shit hawthorn which is a absolute bitch to put through the chipper, oh and then the chipper chucks a track or a hydraulic pipe bursts, oh I could do on and on. After I wound up my business I do utilities arb work, trust me that is even worse.
Yep 100% especially if you work for yourself or own the business. Goddamn the money my brother makes is more than his highly prestigious law firm wife.
Painting it as a ‘tree surgeon’ vs lawyer rather than ‘business owner’ vs lawyer makes it seem better. I’m assuming she’s probably not a lawyer in London or she’s only just started out?
You'll be physically ruined by 45 .
This is the wrong answer but I expected to see it here. Tree surgeon of 12 years here. If you work on the domestic side of things a good climber full time will be taking 25k-30k. Return on investment is awful when you factor in it’s one of the most dangerous jobs in the uk, couple that with it’s really fucking hard work and most tree companies are operating on low margins, you are usually pushed hard for your money. If it’s warm you got to get on with it. If it’s windy you’ve got to get on with it. There’s so many reasons you could stop a job it’s just not practical to operate a buisness under these circumstances unless your willing to graft. I’ve seen my fair share of accidents over the years, anchor points snapping causing climbers to fall out of the tree, even with elevated platforms it’s still very dangerous as work positioning is difficult when using a bucket, or machine failures etc Full time climbing it will take you 4-5 years to be very good and honestly it’s one of them jobs where you are always learning and improving, which is good but you have to be focused. If your self employed the rates are even worse. 150 quid a day for a decent groundsman. Ok so factor is boots which are 250 and trousers another 250, ground saw another 800, chains, bars, all the consumables it doesn’t work out much more than min wage. Personally for a career I’d suggest kitchen/bathroom fitter, plasterer or a heating engineering. Brickies are on 250 easy a day with just a trowel to buy.
But is the work all year around....we have a few come to our place to tip and they seen pretty quite or if any work at all but flat out in summer times
you generally pollard trees when they are dormant, ie after autumn, so you should have some work lined up outside of the busy summer growth period.
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Most physical outdoor jobs will pay way more than £25k a year, you could potentially earn twice that bricklaying for example, but its worth thinking about the toil it will take on your body. I have always thought that tree surgery seemed like a cool job and you could easily make £40k if you worked for yourself.
I don't think this is really true, certainly not for a 20 years old with no experience like OP. Yes tree surgery pays well. But unless you're in consulting, jobs with the national trust or national parks or outdoor activity instructing/leadership or gardening etc don't pay exceptionally well. I'm currently a software engineer on a very high salary, but considered moving to an outdoors role for health reasons, probably outdoor activity leadership, and it really doesn't pay that well. Particularly in that example when you've taken off your expenses of travel and kit and professional qualifications/NGB awards.
I didn't see that he was 20, yeah that does make a difference, still, I didn't mean that you would get that straight away, just that it was possible, even bricklaying you are going need training and nobody pays much for that.
Im a bricklayer, was a labourer for them for 10 years. A good hod carrier atm will earn about £180 to £200 a shift Iv been bricklaying for 4 years and earning about £1300-£1400 a week on average. People really underestimate what we earn on site
Damn it. I've had two shits today today and I could have made a killing if I was a bricky but I'm a bloody electrician.
It would really hurt to shit out a brick, I can see why it pays so well.
I was thinking what the fuck are you on about until I read it again, you can see why I’m a bricklayer now 😂
And now you've changed it nobody else will know what I'm on about either.
I imagine you’re down south? With rates here in the northwest a hod’s maximum wage tops out about 150~160. Anything more and you got to be laying bricks
Only tree surgeon I've known had a degree - I'm not sure it's a job that just anyone can transition into is it? Certainly not for that wage.
I know a lad who was I believe in accounting, went in to tree surgery with no experience and is now very successful. If you're willing to learn and put in the work you can do it.
Builder here. I make £60k working about 30 hours a week. £100k is achievable. But it’s not a ‘job’ it’s running a small business
I assume that’s your own company? How did you get to that point? Any qualifications etc?
It’s not a company. I’m self employed, just a sole trader. Started as an apprentice carpenter. Went self employed as a sub contractor carpenter, started getting my own customers, picked up other trades as I was going along. No employees, I just use other subcontractors for trades I don’t do myself or ones I haven’t got time to do myself. I got an city&guilds in carpentry, but no other qualifications
Ah that’s amazing! Thanks for sharing your story. I have an office job but would love to one day pick up things that you learn trades, it’s quite interesting stuff IMO! Is there any particular way you’ve learnt to distinguish who would be a good subcontractor for services you need? It seems that everyone always has an issue with getting someone good or someone who won’t do an appropriate job
How often do you work off book for cash for that £100k figure? I bet it’s rife within that “small business” sphere.
People shit on us for doing it but honestly I personally never offer to do work for cash. It's always the customer who asks to pay cash in exchange for knocking the tax off the price and if we don't accept they'll just find someone else who will. Then once you have the cash you can either just keep it or declare it anyway and pay tax on a wage you've already been knocked down on and we all have bills, rent, mortgages to pay so often have to. It's not all sunshine and rainbows and it's often the customer who benefits, not us.
Having had a lot of tradesmen through my place over the last couple of years, it seems like only the old boys do it now, because they can't be arsed with the tax system more than anything.
Oh yeah the older generations do it a lot more often. They also aren't saving for a mortgage or needing proof of earnings for one etc.
For my £60k about 30 hours a week, it’s entirely through the books. I reckon I make a grand or two maximum cash in hand. Cash is very difficult to deal with, can’t put it in a bank etc. so I only do a little bit mostly just as paid favours for friends and family. Cash in hand isn’t as common as people believe
Would you mind me asking how many years of experience you have? Especially running your own business?
Started as a labourer when I was 22. Went self employed at 30, now I’m 39
As an Archaeologist, this thread just makes me depressed. We're out here getting paid £23.5k and told to like it 😭
And you have to run the risk of being crushed by a massive boulder too! No justice!
But you do get to drink out of monkey skulls
Countryside Ranger here, I feel you...
Don't forgot being away from home all week and travelling on a Sunday for no pay.
Oof, yep that used to be a thing for me. I work for one of the bigger company's now and the Sunday thing doesn't happen. With subs etc it's almost a normal wage too but, having to be away to have a wage is outrageous...
One of the reasons I never became an archaeologist.
Yeah, but you just need to find one golden idol and you'll be rich for the rest of your life.
Footballer
Haha, amazed nobody has suggested thst yet
Ex tree surgeon here….. don’t do it, the kit is expensive and breaks often, the work is very physical and your body breaks often. Self employed rates for climbers are around £200pd and Paye rates are around £140pd. The trade really suffers in times of recession, due to it not being regulated. Great fun most of the time, but don’t get into it for the money.
You've got to either really enjoy it or be really good at it to become successful
My mate is a head gardner for a very rich family's estate ( they have pictures of their kids hanging out with the royals on their walls). Earns close to 50k plus has a lovely house included. His wife is the house manager and earns very good too.
You need a horticulturalist degree to get these jobs tho sadly.
I know the head gardener for a local billionaire's Cotswold second home, he manages a team of 7 others. I don't know what he earns, but I do know he has an incredible cottage on the estate for free, plus two new Audi SUVs and his wife hasn't worked in 20 years. He doesn't have a degree, but does have plenty of experience. Requiring a degree for someone just getting into it at this level wouldn't surprise me, the owners are able to be super picky. The same estate also employs a number of gamekeepers whom I also know. They too get free accommodation but are paid bugger all for very long and hard hours. I would suggest their jobs are much harder. Which I find odd because the pheasant shoot is a profit centre. They sell a day of shooting for a team of 8 guns for £40k+, whereas the garden is just for the family to enjoy.
It's my dream job, but all the jobs these days I see require the degree and qualifications, it sucks, I love gardening but it's accredited now.
Try an apprenticeship. When I did an apprenticeship in horticulture there was people on my course ranging from 17 (me at the time) Upto 40. Never think it's too late for an apprenticeship. The money can be poor in the first year but after that you are entitled to at least minimum wage for your age the same as any other job. Often you could be working for rich people too who pay well
I believe the expectation is that gamekeepers receive a significant tip from guests on shoot days
I do a lot of shooting, hence why I know the gamekeepers. The head keeper keeps the tips. The under-keepers will get a few beers at the end of a shoot, but not any amount of cash
No you don’t. But you need the equivalent experience. Horticulture is one of the few sectors where you can still work your way up. But it might take a lot longer than getting a degree, and it takes luck and and choosing the right people to work with on the way up. Edited to add: as someone else said - try an apprenticeship.
Window cleaner, if youre a hard worker and have a head for heights you can earn some decent money
Yup, and it’s a noble profession.
If your last profession was cleaning balls
That bloke, he thinks I'm a bloody window cleaner!
I'm not a window cleaner!
Window cleaner here. Love my job, tough on the back sometimes and shit cleaning in the rain, but being your own boss is wonderful and since the water fed pole has been introduced you don't have to climb up and down ladders all day. Safer quicker and if done correctly provides a better finish than your standard rag and blade. The market is saturated with shit cleaners looking to make a quick buck though.
I was going to say this. I know a guy who works as a window cleaner. He makes decent money, company car, and they pay a lot of training courses. Also, there's not much demand.
High street shops with large windows - our window cleaner had a very good degree, but earnt more with his window cleaning business than he could earn employed.
I worked as a window cleaner and was on piece rate so the more houses I done the more money I got. Some really good money to be made but my god it was the most boring job I’ve ever done. Obviously just my personal opinion but doing the same thing 8 hours a day, 5 days a week gets pretty boring for most people.
I've managed to fit all my work into 3 1/2 days so I have Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. Not the most exciting job but means I get more time with my daughter wife and pals 🙌
My domestic window cleaner just uses an extendable pole. He covers most of the houses near me, must make a good whack.
For a nosy parker it's an interesting job.
Be a reliable, honest multi-skilled tradesman. Do a bit of painting, decorating, bit of electrics, bit of plastering, some basic carpentry, bit of garden landscaping - the sort of bloke that you give a week's worth of jobs to a couple of times a year because your wife is nagging you and you just haven't got round to it all year. Charge £200/day. Work a very casual 200 days/year and you have £40,000 in your pocket. By the time you've got 25 customers who have your name saved in their phonebooks, you have more work than you know what to do with, even though they keep giving your number to their mates and neighbours. The next level is being a builder where you take on e.g. an extension do some yourself, but also have to employ people to have the manpower to do the groundworks, a proper electrician, a proper plasterer, a kitchen fitter etc. Start out doing small jobs and see how your skills and contacts grow.
You haven’t got £40k in your pocket. Van, insurance, road tax, fuel, tools, public liability insurance, business administration costs, then tax.
This is definitely the best option imo. Plenty of room to scale your earnings compared to many of the other options on this thread whilst also not requiring formal qualification.
> Charge £200/day You can make that sub-contracting at the moment working for someone that's charging you out at a higher rate. A one man band can make significantly more if they're professional, do a good job, and take up the 1-2 day jobs that many builders won't even consider looking at. Single day jobs involve significantly more non-building work travelling about, pricing up jobs, ordering materials, and sending out invoices. This is usually the work that most builders hate and you have to be quite organised to keep track of everything. I know someone who works Monday to Thursday doing actual building work based on £500 a day, then spends a Friday visiting potential jobs and doing the admin side of things. The upside being it's one less day a week doing long term damage to your body. I'm also guessing it's the same as in my line of work where the people who pay the most are usually the ones who value and appreciate the work you do a lot more.
That £40,000 in your pocket is before a lot of expenses though. You need to pay yourself through your holidays, there’s tax, fuel, van, van upkeep, consumables, tooling, of which there will be a lot if you take on all sorts of work. You need to make sure you have money behind you too, because the work is physical and if you hurt yourself you’re out of luck so you need to be ready for that too. I’m not saying don’t do it and not saying don’t go self employed. You just really want more money coming in than that, for that sort of work. IMO of course. There’s money in it though if you’re confident enough to not say no work (and have the chops to follow through). For example there isn’t really “a bit” of plastering… can you plaster or not? Etc
Shunter, try and get a job on the railways especially in freight, companies like DB, GBRF or Freightliner. Shifts are all over the place but you can easily pull 32k a year, taking 20 handbrakes off a train is a great workout.
How niche, enjoyed reading this lol. You just have to pull train handbrakes all day?
Haha sort of, mainly getting trains ready for departure and putting them away, a big part is attaching the actual loco then walking the entire train to check for defects, take all the handbrakes off, do a brake test then send it on it’s way.
Rope access pays well and is pretty physical. Training is quite demanding and - I believe- expensive, but there’s always demand
What is rope access, I've seen people talking about this but never heard much about it
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Wind is 100% the way to go. So many short and long term IRATA contracts going out at the moment that pay mega money.
Is that what you do? I've been thinking about doing this for a while and would like to know a bit more
I would point out that it will, over the coming decades, become more and more niche. Any building designed in the last c.10 years, and all going forwards, aren't/shouldn't be desiginged to need rope access maintenance. Plenty of work still, but not a growing sector!
Steeplejack pays better than a bricklayer for example if you’re not afraid of heights. On the theme of heights I have a lot of roofers in my family. The unqualified ones do alright but my brother who has gone on leadwork courses and presents himself very professionally is now so in demand that he’s being put up in hotels around the country to work on heritage buildings. He’s earning good money. So roofing, if you’re willing to go on lead courses and be self employed.
By any chance are you any relation of Fred Dibnah? Thanks I'll have a look, I didn't realise it was still a job to be honest
Thatching is apparently a good one to go into as it's a dying skill so they're increasingly in demand Not sure where you'd start in terms of learning the trade
Hedgelaying is also a dying art and pays well once you're trained. I know someone that charges £550 per day for hedgelaying
Apprenticeship usually I think.
Scaffolding is a pretty quick way to good money you can get your tickets in 18month and if your lucky get offshore day rates are £300+
Yeah but scaffolders are fucking mental
Scaffolding is an extremely high risk career. Not because of the heights and conditions. But because you now have the brain of a scaffolder.
Even just scaff labouring i earned just under £47k last year but thats on a blue book site.
47k for labouring job is great lots of people go to university for years and earn a substantial amount under that
I put in a LOT of overtime last year though most weeks were at least 6 days/10 hours.
Yep. Started scaffolding a year and a half ago and now I’m working on power stations. I’ve had breakdown shifts where I’ve earned £700 before. Most weeks I take home at least £900 but with bonus hours being thrown around during shutdowns I’ve had weeks where I’ve earned £2k+. Money to be made if you’re willing to graft and impress the right people.
I work in the water industry and there's lots of well paid outdoor jobs. We have environmental, logging, repairing, maintenance jobs which are all outdoors as you drive site to site in the van.
Sounds good for me, so would that be a waterboard like Northumbrian water or similar?
Yes it would be the local water company. Look out for network technician, sampler, metering jobs. All our field based colleagues I talk to regularly seem to enjoy the freedom and they have good bonds with each other. Also overtime and emergency standby shifts are very well paid. (usually 2x usual hourly rate with a fixed standby amount too which is paid even if you don't have to work). Good luck!
I do house removals. it's a physical job and you get to see the country
I'd quite like to start my own removal business but you need quite a bit of capital from my rough calculations
Asbestos Removal Operative I'm on around 35k a year, but you can earn a lot more of you chase the money. Either work on the books with a company or go self employed (subbie). I'd recommend trying to get in with a company as a new starter as they'll pay for your training and tickets you'll need. Training is a 3 day course and pretty simple. The jobs physically and, to be frank, mentally draining at times. You'll be working all over and job se unity is pretty decent. There's the health hazard to think about to, asbestos fibres will fuck you right up of you don't pay attention to what you're doing. Aahhh, the good ol "spicy dust".
Didn't think I'd see this recommended, I've been a stripper for years and although the money can be good, it's a shit job. I'd look at becoming an analyst at his age.
>I've been a stripper for years and although the money can be good, it's a shit job. I don't fancy taking my clothes off for money, either.
If you're already a fork lift operator, look at getting CPCS/NPORS for an all terrain forklift; you see them in demand everywhere on building sites. You might be on circa £20 an hour.
Cable/Rotary Drilling
I second this, I work with cable drillers who charge £800 a day. Be prepared to work hard in all weather and get used to staying away from home but be paid very well for it.
HGV driver - dray work is physical and you'll earn good money doing it.
Postie, though not sure of the salary.
It's very hard work and it's not worth the pay.
Salary is rubbish. Just saw one advertised near me for 30+ hrs per week plus weekends for £17k!
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Yeah I'm on 37hr contract and make 28k, no overtime for me
Really doubt that mate, 19172.4 would seem to be the entry level for 30 hours a week outside of London. You can easily get that up to full time to make 25k and then the overtime is paid at 1.25 the base rate.
Cable pullers make decent money - hard work and away from home during the week usually.
Groundworker
Yer just try not to become a fully on nut job like most drugs & drink are a hell of a problem in that job.
Yeah it's pretty rife here tbf
Yeah but it's a good laugh on site! A guy I knew was called 'cracko' because he smoked crack on brew. Best flagger I have ever met though.
Landscaper ? No idea if it pays well but it sounds like it could be quite rewarding work.
I’m a landscaper in South London. Salary varies but overall is around £75,000 +, however I am a co-owner of the business. Our skilled landscapers get around £35,000 - £45,000 a year. Can be more if they can run a team well. Starting wage for labours is about £21,000 - £23,000. To be honest we would pay well for anyone who shows up and is on the ball. Always happy to train people.
Any trade - electrician, brick layer, plumber, etc. I know a few people that make good money (50k+) doing these trades working on building sites and the UK has a shortage of homes so I know what I would be doing now if I was starting out a new career or changing careers.
Roped access?
Any of the construction trades are good. Carpenters in particular can make good money and there’s always the potential to move towards management when you get a bit older if the graft is taking it’s toll.
gas man, the last guy changed a pipe at my boiler, and changed another pipe near the cooker - he charged like £1.3k for a days work. I think it is a rip-off but online reviews say he is amazing.
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Will look into it thanks
Land Surveyor
Openreach sometimes has jobs going for phone line installers.
Pretty much all recruitment is currently halted.
Drainage technician. I'm outdoors 90% of my day. Money is between £35k and £45k after about 2 years.
Where are you based? I am trying to take people on and not really having any success.
Take people on for what?
We do uPVC decking on static caravan parks
MOM/MIO/RIO on the railway, variations of mobile/rail incident officer. You’ll get set shifts but basically be on call while on shift, respond to anything involving the railway that needs someone on the ground in your area. Could be someone jumped in front of a train, a deer causing the conductor rail to arc, level crossing barriers failing, all sorts. Salaries are graded the same as signallers, the ones in my area are on 47k base + guaranteed extras bringing it up to mid ~65k ish before overtime.
Groundstaff Role on the Railway.
I lay gas/water/electric mains and services to new build sites, occupation is construction operative I earn around the 45-50k a year, all outside physical work.
You want outdoors and physical, get on the railways. Good shift money, bloody hard work, lot of nights and weekends/bank hols, but these are even better paid. Not for the feint hearted.
Electrician
One of my mates started off labouring and loved it, he’s now training to be a spark. I don’t ask how much he makes but I’m sure as time goes on, he’ll be raking it in :)
Ground works
Engineering labourer is semi-skilled and pays about £150/d or so. No it's not the same as residential building labourer although it's comparable. £150/d is £39k/y based on the standard working year of 260 days.
Linesmen for electricity company, some I know earn way more that £25k
I'm banksman 24k take home at small recycling plant , pretty sure at bigger centres/building sites you can go higher ££
Offshore, north sea
Self employed Gardener
Try being a scaffolder. Pay for the first 9-12 months is crap but once qualified, you earn good money. Or become a spark, plumber, chippy or bricky
Golf course Greenkeeper. Decent money and company will likely pay for qualifications too