New Shiny Code of Practice

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

Apparently if you take an old Code of Practice and re-write it…inserting your company name ..PEA*…, in every other sentence …PEA …THEN MAGICALLY…it becomes an all singing, all dancing ‘New Code Of Practice’…well at least that’s what some people would have you believe.

Maybe I should write a JKSL code of practice which states that only JKSL surveyors can be used and only JKSL teams can carry out the works, and they can only work to JKSL rules supplied only by JKSL and updated regularly …but only within JKSL…

Duuuh

Are you getting the impression that I’m pissed off – well you would be correct.

I cannot for the life of me ever imagine having the gall to go into an industry that I knew nothing about and then write anything valid about that industry, let alone…produce a Code of Practice.

The people responsible for the writing of a document that is just a copy of a previous document but with a new company name on it should not only be embarrassed, they should shun all human contact for the next 100 years or so and be made to sit in a corner with a dunces hat on.

You may think I’m making this up (*ok I made the name up but only for legal purposes), how could anyone be so stupid, but it’s all true.

I’m wondering if I’m missing a trick with my business model…?….MAYBE I SHOULD START LYING?

I guess my problem is that I like being able to live with myself, I like being able to look people in the eye and know that I’m being honest. …and for the life of me I cannot ever bring myself to copy anything that someone else has already done.

Anybody that knows me will tell you I have an aversion to being seen as ordinary. The way I present my business and even my business card – everything has to be unique, a one off.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, …sometimes I even manage to offend people…it has been said, you will either love Mike Clough… or hate him…

…but through it all –…I DID IT MY WAY…

Hence when somebody copies something and presents it as their own…I get really offended.

So if you wish to view the REAL Code of Practice for the Management and Eradication of Japanese Knotweed – please go to the original and best version written by Trevor Renals of the Environment Agency.

Accept no cheap substitute.

Mike C

NB* Made up name

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Good news - We’re busy

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

I have been trying to find something positive to write in my blog as I’m getting fed up with moaning. It’s very easy to become a grumpy old man given the level of depressing stuff going on in the world.

I was actually thinking at the weekend that I should write a newspaper and call it ‘the Good News’ – there must be a demand given that the daily papers that I read are relentlessly doom and gloom.

So here we are then:

• Japanese Knotweed Solutions (JKSL) are busier than ever.
• JKSL exceeded their targets (again) for 2012 and have had a great start to 2013.
• We currently have knotweed eradication projects on site from the South coast of England to the North of Scotland - and major projects on the horizon in Ireland (both Southern and Northern).
• We have a huge ‘in tray’ of projects to look at and a back catalogue of ‘maybe’ sites totalling over £10 million – these sites can sit dormant and unmanaged for years and then suddenly come to life when clients raise funding
• Our patented technique ‘MeshTech’ is at least beginning to get the attention it deserves and we have major site installations coming up in Wales.
• We have begun to make in-roads into ‘other’ invasive species from a commercial point of view and are successfully treating 10 hectares of rhododendron for a major private client.
• We have 17 new sites for Buddleja eradication and a watching brief to cover another 20 sites in adjacent areas where seed may have established
• We now have over 2500 annual maintenance sites where we are paid to visit and monitor/treat any re-growth of Japanese Knotweed – this is done as part of our ten year aftercare plan that has proved popular with private and commercial clients.
• We have major clients now adopting our pro-active approach to vegetation management carrying out visual inspections of their land on an annual basis checking for newly established species that could prove problematic in the future should they become established.
• We have been working closely with our competitors within the industry to establish a new Trade Body – Invasive Non Native Specialists Association (INNSA) – launch date May 22^nd. This will help all of our clients understand the skillset of a particular contractor that they are employing and bring quality control to the industry.
• The site teams are settled and we have new members of the team who are proving an excellent find. The site lads are the life blood of JKSL without their huge level of experience the promises that I make would be hard to fulfil.

So there we are then – a whole series of positive points ready to fight of the forces of evil that pervade every time I switch on the news or read the paper!

Let’s all be a bit more positive and grateful for what we have.

Mike C.

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P******l Land R********n

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

Quote : “Please note that under no circumstances should the above company be used for any works/surveys/quoting etc. This includes dealing with any other companies associated with P**** D****

If you need an expert or guidance on Japanese Knotweed please contact alex.dayes@sltd.co.uk”

I didn’t write the above, one of our clients did – then copied us in on the circulated e-mail!

How bad does a company’s service need to be to generate this type of comment..?

There are some crooks in the world but the guy that is referred to within this paragraph is well known within the Japanese Knotweed industry as a liar and a con-man to be avoided at all costs – (…and yet we still occasionally lose work to him).

Unfortunately most of us are hard wired to believe what people tell us. We are brought up to be honest and to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. So when somebody lies to us we don’t immediately go… ‘you lying bastard’ …we believe what they are saying and go along with their advice.

One or two individuals have cottoned on to this and are happy to lie and cheat their way through life, basically not giving a flying f**k about the damage they cause and the problems they leave behind.

There is a word for this – ‘sociopath’ – ‘a person with a glibness and superficial charm, with a psychopathic personality whose behaviour is antisocial and often criminal and who lacks a sense of moral or social responsibility.’

They will tell you that black is white, they could sell ice to Eskimos…and they are quite likely to tell you that Sycamore roots are Knotweed rhizomes, or that it is ‘illegal’ to have Japanese Knotweed on your land…

The problem is that they are difficult to spot.

I have come across them occasionally and been totally taken in…I’ve lunched with them, had dinner with them, worked for them, worked with them …and even driven to Scotland to meet one of them.

All exhibit the ‘glib superficial charm’ …then they f**k you over without a second thought…

However, there is good news ahead.

With the formation of the new trade body INNSA – the Invasive Non Native Specialist Association – we will at least have some guidance for our clients.

There will in the near future be two ‘trade bodies’ covering the treatment of invasive species. One will have members from the damp proofing industry and one will have members qualified and experienced in dealing with invasive plants.

We will leave it to your intelligence and perception as to which is the correct trade body to use…and which are a bunch of sociopaths…

Mike C

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Penny Pinching

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

My sister in law is a real penny pincher, I can safely say this in the confident knowledge that she will never read this - otherwise I would be in trouble. She recently bought a carpet from a named company familiar to us all from endless TV adverts. This piece of carpet was an end of roll section advertised in the ‘sale’ section of the already cheap and nasty section of the shop…

The carpet was fitted, and initially appeared to be… ok.

However, after a very short period of time (a matter of weeks), the carpet appeared worn and was showing signs of wear and tear. My sister in law immediately rang the carpet supplier and said how unhappy she was and could the company come and replace the carpet with a new one…

The carpet company immediately pointed out that the item was in ‘sale’ and as such was not covered under any type of warranty, so basically: tough sh*t.

The sister in law immediately went ballistic; ‘you cannot tell me you aren’t going to do anything about this, I’m covered under the sales of goods act, call your selves a carpet company?! I’m going to sue you for every penny you’ve got… blah blah blah’.

She then contacted her solicitor who explained that she hadn’t got a leg to stand on.

She continues to moan and witter on, and came round to our house venting her spleen over tea and biscuits, so I added my six-penneth.

Does it not occur to you dear sister in law that when you are paying pennies for a product they cannot possible allow any type of warrant or any type of claim? They have no margin for including any ‘extra’ type of service. Where do you think the service levels are covered when you’ve only paid £30? Do you really think they are making enough money within that sale to cover for any unforeseen problems? Use some common sense!

She contra-argues that: ’well they shouldn’t have sold it to me then.’

Well unfortunately, with people who are so bloody tight that they see only the cheapest possible product as being the best then they are never going to understand…

I am always upset when I hear people say: ’oooh great a closing down sale – lots of bargains!’ – Whenever I hear closing down sale, I don’t think ‘bargains’, I think ‘there goes another business down the pan because people want everything so bloody cheap that it’s unsustainable’.

Whenever I hear that stupid supermarket saying ‘driving down costs every day’ I think ‘…and where the f**k does that end you dummies?’, if you drive the costs down every day, somebody somewhere must be struggling. Whether it’s the dairy farmer whose milk makes him less money than twenty years ago, or the sub-contractors working for supermarkets who pay on 120 day terms – SOMEBODY IS BEING SQUEEZED!

So why don’t we all stop looking for the cheapest prices and start looking for service quality and aftercare. Why don’t we stop looking to save money on everything that we do and look for value for money?

And why doesn’t my sister in law get a life.

And why don’t my clients realise that JKSL offer the best service and aftercare package in the market. Pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Mike C

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Interview Techniques… advice to candidates

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

I’m sure this will get a few peoples backs up, but I’m sorry; it has to be said…

We recently placed an advert for two new surveyor roles that have been created, due to high demand for our services. We placed the advert in prominent positions and also Tweeted and Facebooked the role. The position had a clear job description and clear statement about what the role entailed – degree level/invasive plant identification/CAD experience/travelling/overnight stays etc. etc.

We had a great response with over 2400 people viewing the page on the job site. We had over 250 CV’s submitted from which we narrowed it down to 20 interviews. We had applicants from all over the world (yes seriously… as far away as Indonesia).

So, to the point of the blog;

If you are going for an interview with a company, PLEASE - do some research, find out what they do, at least be able to talk coherently with some knowledge of the subject.

• Make an effort; put some clean clothes on, perhaps a suit? Maybe a shirt and tie - at least try and look like you can smarten up.
• Perhaps try and make a good first impression, it’s the only chance you will get.
• At interview DON’T ask about what car/holiday/bonus you will get – it creates the wrong impression
• Be positive not negative, don’t point out your dislike of driving when the jobs basic requirement is driving throughout the UK
• Don’t say how you like to play in a band and thus need to finish early on a Friday and are never available at weekends.
• Don’t turn up stinking of alcohol…

We did have some great applicants and we have offered the junior role to what appears to be a really nice young man – a recent university graduate.

There were several oddball applicants with great CV’s but no understanding of the basic elements in presenting yourself to a possible employer. I ended the interview process feeling that some of the people that I met were highly qualified, but totally unemployable.

Am I alone in thinking that many ‘young’ people today don’t understand what ‘work’ is all about? They want a nice car, phone, i-pad, holidays, bonus etc. etc……but they don’t have the foggiest idea of what you need to do to be able to get these things…?

Are our universities missing something from their curriculum? Or maybe is it that the lecturers and administrators at these higher learning centres haven’t got a clue themselves because they have never had a real job?

Hmmm controversial.

Mike C

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Does anybody actually want to work?

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

I find myself asking this question on a fairly regular basis. The only people that seem fully committed to coming in and actually working are all over the age of thirty*. Anybody under that age seem either lazy or just plain don’t understand how business works.

The reason that I employ people is to make the company money. If you don’t make the company any money then you are worthless and should not be employed.

I’m sorry if that sounds a bit harsh… but perhaps if more young people understood this basic principle they would be a little less surprised when they get their P45 sent to them in the post.

Most people below the age of thirty seem to think they have a right to a nice car, a right to an i-phone and an i-pad….and that they should have a decent foreign holiday twice a year…

Now I’m not saying that this is not achievable, what I am saying is that maybe they should put all this into perspective.

If your car/phone/tablet/holiday costs you ‘x’ then you need to be earning ‘xx’….to be earning ’xx’ you need to be making your employer ‘xxxx’.

Pretty simple really…If you are only bringing in ‘x’ and you are earning ‘xx’ then your employer will quickly say ‘xxxx off’.

So to all the people out there confused by their jobs and feeling unloved or unappreciated by their boss….maybe they are a little stressed (poor baby)….

Get out there, get some work done, make some f**king sales, make some bloody money for the company and maybe your sh*tty little world will improve.

The power is in your hands.

Set that alarm clock a little earlier.

Don’t tell your partner you will be at home for 5.30 – tell them you will be home when you’ve smashed your target.

Work weekends.

What you put in, you will get out.

Mike C

(*nb. there are exceptions to this rule)

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How will history see me?

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

For the last few years I have been making an effort not to upset people. I had previously gained a reputation in my youth as being a man quick in temper and not to be crossed. This is fine when you are full of testosterone and hard as nails, but as you get older and the anger fades one begins to realise that perhaps one is not always right in everything that one does or says… and just maybe other people should be listened too as well.

So it came as a bit of a shock to me last week to hear myself ranting and raging in my old egotistical manner, full of vitriol and venom.

What brought this on you may be asking?

Well, it turns out that another company had been using our name without permission and gaining kudos from our established reputation.

Japanese Knotweed Solutions were the FIRST company to recognise the market for this invasive plant – they were the first company to deal SOLELY with Japanese Knotweed, the FIRST company to offer a Ten Year Warranty.

We have been copied, repeatedly - and have had to turn a blind eye to companies claiming to be the biggest and best knotweed company in the UK. We have had our website plagiarised and have had photographs cut and pasted from our site into ‘others’ portfolio of works.

We have even been followed. Competitors trying to find which jobs we are looking at by shadowing our vans!

This sort of thing would drive a lesser man to drink (ok – I may have been driven to the odd glass of single malt) – but there is no point getting over-excited. Other companies were always going to come into the market and it is a natural part of the business world for competition to arrive and try and copy our business model.

This I can live with.

BUT… when someone who I actively dislike tries to claim that we are a member of their ‘group’ – to encourage other companies to join their little band of intrepid damp proofers – this just pushed me too far.

Legal letters sent and retractions made – but no apology, no sense that they in any way regretted their actions. If anything all we got was aggression and vitriol and a suggestion that we should have contacted them privately and pointed out to them that they had ‘accidentally’ made an error.

Duuuh.

For the genuine article, and a real answer to your Knotweed problem, contact Japanese Knotweed Solutions.

For a real trade Body, dealing with the issues involved with Invasive Plant control (not damp proofing), contact INNSA.

Mike C

Posted in Invasive Weeds Info, JKSL | 1 Comment »

I want to be rich…

Wednesday, March 6th, 2013

I was recently criticized by a competitor as being too commercial. The phrase used was … ‘ Mike Clough, all he wants to do is make money…paaah’. Well this was from a man with his head so far up own arse it’s a little difficult for him to see, but the future for businesses that don’t make any money is pretty limited…

I flag this up again as we continue to lose projects to companies willing to work for less than margin.

Why would anyone do this?

Please let me be clear, at Japanese Knotweed Solutions we provide a quality service based on our customer requirements. We charge a rate which covers our costs, pays our wages and provides a profit margin which enables the company to pay its director a dividend.

I’m sorry if some people find that offensive but yes, I do draw a dividend and I do have a nice car and a nice lifestyle.

I also have my phone on 24 hours a day for seven days a week. I do cash flows constantly and am forever trying to improve margins on every element of our works. I never stop thinking and adapting what we do and how we do it to ensure our clients get the best service available in the market today.

I always work weekends and am in constant contact with the office when I am away on holiday (which only happens rarely).

For those companies out there that are working for peanuts and not covering their costs. Note, you have no future; you are simply muddying the waters for the respectable companies trading profitably.

A £100,000.00 job is not ‘fantastic’ if it costs £101,000.00

A £5 million turnover is not ‘great’ if you are making a loss…..

Business is not about turnover it is about profit.

If you are working for nothing, please just stop.

If you are employing somebody to carry out work for you and they are ridiculously cheap, think it through? When you have a problem, are they still going to be around?

Let someone who knows what they are doing price the job properly and make a living.

Mike C

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Killing Japanese Knotweed Is The Easy Part

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013

I bet you haven’t heard anyone say that before? OK, killing Japanese Knotweed may actually be hard, but it’s easy compared with trying to get someone to pay you to do it.

I often get grief from the site teams at Japanese Knotweed Solutions telling me that I have an “easy life” swanning around in a nice car, lunches out with clients, hotel visits around the country - perhaps interspersed with the odd trip to America… Paah! Easy!

Let me tell you all: I would love to be working outside with the lads. Put me on a machine to dig a big hole and I would be in my element. Give me a chainsaw and leave me out in the hills clearing rhododendron for 12 weeks - absolute heaven. Providing my wages were paid every week and I didn’t need to worry about whether those wages were going to dry up in the near future I would be happy as Larry (whoever Larry is*).

The life of a business owner nowadays is just one big STRESS:

When the business is quiet you can’t relax because you need to be getting work in.

When the business is busy you can’t relax because you need to be firing on all cylinders to get the work done.

Aaaaarrrrgghhh!

Cash flows, credit checks, payment terms, main contractors, late payments, cheques bouncing, suppliers shouting, weather conditions etc. etc. etc. and don’t even start me on the HR issues!

Talk about needing a crystal ball…

I also find at the moment that we are between a rock and a hard place. We go out chasing work, up against unscrupulous competitors not averse to lying to get a job – “yes – we do have a ten year insurance backed warranty and can provide this… FREE”.

If you do get a look in and eventually get a chance to give your best price to the main contractor/client they then say – ‘we want to work with you but the “other guys” are 10/15% cheaper – can you match their price?’

So we have already sharpened our pencils and had 15% knocked of our price, then our suppliers say “sorry, you will have to pay us up front or we cannot supply you…”

So we go to the bank and explain the situation and the bank says “Hmmm… That’s difficult; what are you going to do?”

Don’t you just love it?

Despite all this JKSL have managed to exceed our targets for 2012 and have improved on margin.

I’d still rather be sat in a machine though.

Mike C

* there is some sugestion that the original “Larry” was Larry Foley, a boxer who retired undefeated, having netter a purse of £1000 for his final fight in the late 1800s, when the phrase originated - Ed

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Undercut

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

We started the New Year enthusiastically chasing up projects that we been discussing with clients at the back end of 2012 and following up leads from articles or tips from our contacts. We had been talking to a client about a project in Blackburn and had been to various meetings including one that was called a ‘pre-start’ and had hoped that this was going to be the scheme that would keep us busy in January…

However on speaking to client he advised us that he had gone with a ‘cheaper’ price after being hounded by one of our ‘competitors’.

This happens.

It’s business and we all know that you can’t win every project.

However in this particular instance we were a little surprised that not only had we had lost the works on price (although again, it happens) – but we were also more than twice the cost of the successful contractor? Really?

The job was local to our offices and could be done easily without any overnight accommodation issues. We had a contact at a local tip which was giving us its best rates for removal of the material and the volume of material to be removed was fixed. The infestation was well-established, we had dug trial holes to establish to extent of the infestation and were certain that we could keep the material removed to an absolute minimum for our client.

We had priced on minimal margins and had used a very sharp pencil on all of our rates.

So how could we be so far out on the costs of the work?

Well to be honest – we couldn’t have been that far out.

The ONLY way that we could possibly have lost out so badly was if the ‘winning’ contractor was NOT doing the job that they were being contracted to do. They could NOT have been taking the correct amount of material off site, it simply couldn’t be done.

Our initial feeling? THEY WERE LYING.

This would be difficult to prove but it’s a simple matter of a mathematical calculation. X amount of surface cover multiplied by Y amount of depth gives Z amount of contaminated material to go off-site.

Nothing we can do about it; the job has gone. We know who the offending company is and we also know that the person involved has been sued and kicked out of almost every previous job he has ever had.

But surely this should be pointed out to the client?

Well, you cannot do anything without coming over as a sore loser… Everyone says:  ‘he will get his come-uppance at some point’ but he never seems to and he just keeps messing up the market for decent, professional companies like the rest of us.

So I suppose this is what setting up a Trade Body is all about.

We started to get the ball rolling in 2012 and are looking to launch a professional body to oversee works within the Invasive Non Native Species market within the next six months or so.

It may be too late for the project we have just lost (and the client who will be likely see re-growth of Japanese Knotweed within the next six months or so), but maybe in the near future we will see tender prices that can be compared for works to an agreed specification all covered by a ten year insurance-backed warranty.

Maybe…

Mike C

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