As a relative newcomer to professional hedge laying practice, I’ve encountered the rather tedious necessity of setting up a business. I’d much rather be pleaching. But since I spent the first half of my working life as a financial journalist (with ‘The Times’, among other titles) I like to think I have some idea of how to go about it.

As I write here, it occurs to me that there’s crossover between the way one goes about good hedge laying and operating a sound business. It’s not rocket science but you need aptitude, some tools, attention to detail, and timing. You need a ‘safety first’ approach and the patience to generate healthy and sustainable growth.

It would be silly to suggest what follows is a universal template. Everyone’s personal and professional circumstances, and preferences, mean the best way is the one best suited to individual circumstances. But I give a few observations here gleaned from my experience in the hope it may inform decisions others take in the context of their own situations.

1. AVOID DEBT. If an individual or a company gets into financial trouble, debt is very often the cause. Incompetence usually has something to do with it, but debt is a killer.Sure, sometimes there is no alternative to debt, but my firm preference is to fund everything from cash made as I go along. This means I started small, and slowly. I worked as a jobbing gardener to raise the money I needed to buy training, hand tools, working boots and clothes. Later I earned enough to buy a small electric chainsaw.

   Many – perhaps most – will need a vehicle. Many – perhaps most –­ will need to borrow to buy one. But there are alternatives. Might it make more sense to hire, at least at first? Or make do with a beaten-up run around? Can you get the client to pay for stakes and binders, and transport, directly?

   I live and usually work in and around London, which probably makes my position pretty unusual. But it means I don’t have a vehicle. I have a bike, and manage to fit a perfectly decent toolkit into a rucksack. Parking isn’t an issue. Nor are road tolls and charges. And if I do need a van – which I do sometimes ­– there are plenty of near-by places to hire from.

   A final point on debt, in certain cases there are tax advantages: interest on debt may be tax deductible. And if the value of the asset is likely to rise faster that the cost of the debt, borrowing makes sense. Borrowing to buy my house, for instance, has worked well for me. Borrow to buy a flash car though? The value of such an asset depreciates. The debt, meanwhile? It gets bigger. Bad idea.

2. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Easy answers are the ones I like best! If things look like they are getting complicated, I re-think the approach. Pricing? I use the SEHLS tariff, as published most recently last April in this newsletter. If that’s the going rate, that is a fair price and I should be able to make my living. It gives valuable assurance to clients too.I subtract, or add, to an estimate if circumstances demand. If so, however, I am transparent with the client. If there’s loads of old barbed wire in the hedge, for example, I will specify the cost of removing it. If the hedge needs less preparation, or there are savings to be had making stakes and binders from material extracted from the hedge, I’ll reduce the price.

   Keeping it simple, for me, means being a sole trader not running a company. I trade as ‘Septimus Works’ but it’s really only me.

   If there comes a pressing and clear reason to change, I will. But I don’t see the sense as yet. VAT? It’s compulsory if you scoop up £85,000 a year. The chance would be a fine thing. At present, it makes more sense for me to be outside VAT because it keeps the price lower for non-VAT customers and makes no different to clients who are VAT registered.

   If my business grows to the point I need to employ people other than casual labourers, the VAT question may change. It might then also make sense to establish a limited company. Therein is a lesson: things change and one’s business practices need to be re-assessed from time to time.

3. DO IT BY THE BOOK. I have a separate bank account (with an online offshoot of NatWest called ‘mettle’. I get a very handy accounting software package called FreeAgent thrown in.) I have an accountant too: mostly to check that everything is done by the book. It has a cost I don’t like paying but I conclude that the ongoing outlay will be less costly than getting into trouble with the tax authorities. Book keeping also bores me and, as any hedge layer will tell you, mistakes are made if you don’t concentrate.The accounting software, and my accountant, help me on timing. They help to keep me accurate and up to date with the paperwork and well prepared for tax and other scary official deadlines.

   Ps I think it is essential to keep hard copy records, or copies downloaded to your own computer. My experience of the “paperless” route is unhappy. Finding bills held on line? It’s often fiddly. One time, I could not get the information I wanted because the company had gone bust or been taken over, and the website ceased to exist.

4. INSURANCE. Clearly, some insurance is compulsory or very sensible: public liability, legal cover and vehicle insurance, for example.Some insurance is necessary but may not be readily seen as insurance. Thorough risk assessment, for instance, reduces risk and that’s insurance. Ditto taking a good course in First Aid. Properly competent First Aiders may avoid costly income losses – and, even better, reduce incidences of personal injury.

   I’m aware that it’s tricky to get insurance for tools kept in a lockup garage or shed. My instinct is to ask why it is so hard and expensive, and assume that the reason is risk. For tools, my approach is to ‘self-insure.’ That is about being careful and organised (note to self: ‘practice what you preach’); keeping tools to portable minimum I can store in a corner at home; and avoiding stock storage.  If I get careless or unlucky, I replace at my own cost knowing that I have saved money on insurance premiums.

   As for lockups, it may well save money in the long run if you get a more expensive secure lockup. As soon as you make a claim, the premiums rise – insurance companies hate paying out and penalise those who dare to cross this line.

In SUMMARY, I’ll go back to the hedge laying approach to business. Put safety first. Look for practical, easy, common sense answers. Face the future with patience.

This article first appeared in the Southeast England Hedge Laying Society newsletter