Tim Harris: Henchman Lifting Harness- Game Changer | Case Study

Name: Tim Harris
Business: Green Seasons 
Socials: @greenseasonsuk - www.green-seasons.co.uk

Gardening As Part of His DNA

Tim Harris, business owner of Green Seasons, has been in or around the garden since he was a very young boy. His mother has been a professional gardener from when he was two years of age. One of his most treasured memories is of him eating strawberries and chewing on stringy rhubarb whilst his mother was potting plants at their allotment. Although he denied it as a teenager, Tim feels that gardening is in his blood. When he finished school, he moved away from gardening and started a role in sales. However, after ten years, his passion was calling him back to the outdoors. Tim decided to become an independent sole trader. 

After growing his business, he started offering larger grounds maintenance services for commercial sites and housing developments. He now offers well-rounded services to complex sites that need someone with the larger ride-on-mowers- as well as your professional planting.

Cold Winter Weather vs. The Pleasure of Being Outside

Knowing the above, it does not come as a surprise that Tim has always been an outdoors person. He has worked inside for many years, before he decided to take up gardening as his profession. Although some days can be hard, especially when it gets colder outside- he could not go back to an office-based role. ''As long as you’ve got the right clothing on and if you keep busy, you are fine’’ Tim explains. When it comes to pleasure; seeing changes in the outside environment such as seasonal changes- or seeing the developments of one of his garden designs- gives him great joy.

Mower Stripes on a Fresh Green Lawn

Rather than one favourite aspect of his job, Tim has a couple worth sharing. He loves planting a garden from scratch. When he can take ownership of the design, looking at it coming to life, he feels most proud. However, when it is a lovely sunny day, he also enjoys getting back onto his big ride-on-mower to create those satisfying stripes onto the fresh green grass. 

The best part of it all? Seeing the positive reactions from his customers when he’s done a great job. ‘‘And I think that's what drives me to work for myself, the reward at the end.’’ 

A Good Mix Between Residential and Commercial Gardens

As Tim offers a wide variety of services, his customer base exists out of large residential private gardens and commercial sites like housing developments and office grounds. It almost is a fifty-fifty split between the private and commercial jobs. 

Adding a Henchman Harness to the Henchman Toolkit

Tim has been working with Henchman tripod ladders for years. During some browsing on Henchman’s website, he found the Henchman Lifting Harness.

‘‘I have some very big hedges that have regular yearly cuts. One of them being a 250m long- 5m high leylandii hedge. Last year, I hurt my shoulder cutting this particular hedge from overreaching with heavy equipment. It took me six weeks to fully recover, so when I saw the harness, I thought that had to be worth a go.’’ Tim shares. After looking at the design, and knowing the high product quality of the tripods, Tim felt confident that the harness would do what it needs to do- take the weight off the tools and help maintaining overall physical health.

Crisp and Precise Hedge Cutting with a Henchman Harness

After using the harness a couple of times, Tim started experimenting with a variety of jobs he could use the harness for. From big, 250m long hedges, to the smaller pieces; ‘‘Because it reduces the weight of the machine so much. It means you have a lot more control and finesse over the cutting machinery, so it actually makes it easier for a crisp precise finish’’ thus Tim.

Henchman Lifting Harness- Game Changer

Hedges need cutting, with or without a Henchman Lifting Harness. From the moment Tim purchased his, he will always choose to cut with his harness. Beforehand, he knew it would be a hard job even before he started. ‘‘Honestly with some of the hedges I do, I just struggled. With the large jobs, you're fighting fatigue. When you're 6 or 7 hours into solid cutting and you know you still got a couple hours to go- it becomes not just a physical challenge but a mental one as well.’’

Tim was excited to test his new harness on this one particular job: ‘‘I've recently completed the big monster leylandii hedge job. It was a night and day difference, using the harness. Of course you're still tired at the end of it, it's 8 hours of hard cutting. Physically I felt a lot better, and I was able to go to work the next day without any problems unlike previous years. The gastro system is very clever. Being able to easily customise the harness for different weight machines has been very useful.’’

Health And Safety- Preventing Overuse Injuries

For Tim, being healthy and safe throughout his jobs is very important. As a sole trader, you need to be fit and healthy to keep your business going. ‘‘From a health and safety point, it definitely helps the user from overuse injuries. It's also helped me with efficiency because I'm not getting as fatigued. I can cut faster than I would be able to without it- for longer. And it really comes down to how it drastically reduces the weight of a machinery while not restricting movement.’’ 

Tim also noticed a difference in his work, since he started using the harness. ‘‘I've noticed that I can just be that little bit more detailed on the really fine stuff, like finishing edges, especially in a scenario where normally you would be extending machinery out quite far and struggling to keep the weight up on your own. Now I can really concentrate on moving the cutting blades exactly where I want them.’’

Not only does he like the harness, his customers are interested too: ‘‘I've had numerous customers being very intrigued over the harness system and noting how they can see it makes a difference for me.’’ 

Free Advice from a Professional Gardener for New Starters

Although Tim has gardening is his DNA, he once was a starter to the industry himself. Some words of advice for starting gardeners would be:

‘‘Advice for people new to the industry. Good communication and follow through on what you say you're going to do and you're already halfway there. Investing in the right equipment for the right job makes a massive difference on productivity and keeping you on your feet. Down time due to injuries loses you money and has a negative impact on your clients. If a customer asks you a question and you're not sure. Be honest and tell them that you're not sure but leave it with me and I can find out for you. Honesty is the best policy’’ thus Tim. 

A Real Henchman Fan

Finally, Tim shares his view of Henchman; ‘‘I'd 100% recommend Henchman to other professionals and amateurs. The quality of the equipment is second to none, as well as the customer care. Products are built to last, and I've noticed they retain good value.’’ 
If you would like to experience the benefits of a Henchmen lifting harness, like Tim, you can follow this link.