Pictures from a skid steer mowing contractor

[paulsharvey]

There are some other things, technically any fence other than an agricultural fence, technically requires a permit, so either the homeowner or the "contractor" would need to get that permit, and require a license, But, there isn't a "fencing" license, so a General Contractor (residential, building, or general) could pull the permit, but thats pretty ridiculous.

There also is a pretty vague line between light clearing, grading, fence work, even driveways, that boarder between "contracting" and "custom agricultural work for hire"

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Our contractor laws are general, yes, you need to be registered or certified for almost everything. There is a catch, or a no-mans land, on basically site work, that can be confusing. Anything (at one point, the numbers might have moved) contracted at more than $1000 must be a contractor, but which one? CUC, Certified Utility Contractor, that's for underground, but not necessarily for grading. "CGC", certified general contractor, is the catch all, and can do almost everything, including unlimited height, value, and occupancy, but is really a license for building a building...

Certified state licenses, every single one requires a background check, an ethics and financial tests, and then a skill/knowledge test on the license you are getting. With that, you must have insurance based based on the license.

Registered, that's a local city/county thing, at least at one point, some counties made you come to a county commission meeting, and stand up there, and for a lack of better terms "kiss the ring", tell them about yourself, and request permission from the "crown" to work in their fiefdom... and pay a small amount for the privilege

This customer is an elderly man who takes care of his brother and wouldn't have been able to afford this if he jumped thru all of the hoops that the county wants people to jump thru permits, inspections, etc, they have gone as far as requiring a homeowner to purchase a permit to change out a hot water heater in their home, I personally stood in line the other day to write my County a check for about $7k in property taxes and said to myself then that I can't believe that we have conditioned ourselves to do this, but there is some legislation being discussed about doing away or at least reducing property taxes and our fine Governor is in full support of these measures. I am a licensed business in the State of Florida and carry a 1 million dollar liability policy and I don't feel bad a bit about doing these types of jobs for people.

 

[paulsharvey]

Without taking over Mr Linemans thread, from what I have seen, the shady folks keep on keeping on, and the big guys are helped by strict permitting/licensing requirements. It's the small guy trying to do things right that is typically hurt, both on the consumer side and the contractor side.

On a mild different path, our worst jobs are the small scale commercial jobs. The kind that either hire a residential guy, or contract each trade out individually... It's still commercial, so it falls into a more stringent category, but without the expertise/skill that normally comes with true commercial contractors.

Think of it like this, trying to explain an ADA sidewalk ramp, to Joe, who is Bob's cousin, and does block. It's not really his Fault, but cross slopes, ramp slopes, ect, and there is Zero forgiveness for not meeting ADA

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Yesterday I burnt some brush piles for a customer where I had cleaned out a fence row last year and a little storm debris that was leftover, was finally able to get a burn permit and by 4PM only a few of the bigger logs were left that I bunched up before I loaded up and headed home and completed a little pasture dragging. Hope everyone has a good week and God bless. Charlie.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Today started mowing hay fields, mostly wild flowers and what we call red sorrel and a few weeds, won't be long it will be time to spray and ferilize.

 

[EddieWalker]

That sure looks nice were you mowed it!!!!

 

[Lineman North Florida]

That sure looks nice were you mowed it!!!!

Thanks Eddie.

 

[Rustyiron]

Very pretty and not my (wrongly stereotypical) vision of FL!
But it's still too hot there for too long.
Where's the new mulcher pictures.
Nice work Charlie!

 

[paulsharvey]

Very pretty and not my (wrongly stereotypical) vision of FL!
But it's still too hot there for too long.
Where's the new mulcher pictures.
Nice work Charlie!

FLa is a big place. It's about the same drive time from Miami to Pensacola, as it is from Houston to El Paso. Key West to Pensacola is more like Chicago to New Orleans

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Very pretty and not my (wrongly stereotypical) vision of FL!
But it's still too hot there for too long.
Where's the new mulcher pictures.
Nice work Charlie!

I haven't had as much time to mess with it as I would like but I am pretty impressed with a few things about it, 1. There are only 3 grease fittings on it and 2 of the 3 have grease lines attached and are accessible without having to take covers off, the third one does not but will before long as I will add it for ease of greasing before every use. 2. I sent an email to the manufacturer with some questions and within 24 hours they responded and answered my questions and sent me a owners manual and part's diagram with an email and phone number for me to contact them for part's should I need any. The only thing that really didn't suit me was that the SSQA plate bottom holes were to large and made it fit sloppy instead of secure but I think I got that fixed this afternoon by adding a couple of 5/16th's pieces of flat stock to help fill the gap, the pictures are when they were just tacked for test fit not the finished product, time will tell if it's any good but I was able to purchase it brand new for $6k, 500 hundred less than what I thought. I will try to keep you posted. Charlie.