When the going gets tough, it’s going to be tempting to cut a few corners.

Costs are going up, the bills keep coming through the door, the taxman is chasing his share and all your staff want a pay rise…what are you going to do?

Well, why not cheat? We have had reports that increasingly within our industry, some companies will simply not bother to do all the things that they’ve said they will do.

Health and safety courses, they all cost money? Surely you can do without them?

Insurances seem like an easy corner to cut; you hold ‘x’ million pounds of public liability cover, but the premium has gone up … why not reduce your level of cover?

Trade body affiliation? Why bother with that – that’ll save a few quid.

Why not win some big works to generate capital in the short term? Submit a below-cost price and use the money to support your bottom line today; worry about the long-term works sometime in the future. You might not have taken enough money to cover the works you’re obligated to do under the proposal you have submitted, but you’re almost guaranteed to win the works, because nobody else will provide such a low price! Forget that you’re undermining your long-term future, and forget about delivering the multi-year programmes you have promised to their clients.

And while we’re on the subject, every time you re-visit a site, it costs you money … why not skip the visits you’ve promised, hope nobody notices and just back when the client shouts about it? Squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that…

If you’re excavating Japanese knotweed rhizome and you’ve accepted liability for a full removal, why not try to get away with simply not removing all the plant material from the ground?

Dig a hole, remove some rhizome, then backfill without ensuring that complete removal has been achieved. If you’ve agreed a lump-sum-fixed-fee with your client, you can save some money on the volumes taken out, too…

It will be some time before any regrowth appears, by which time you will be long gone (or may even have ceased trading, if you’ve consistently underpriced your works, taken the money and run!).

Obviously, we don’t suggest doing any of the above… What I’m saying here is – if a price appears too good to be true, the works probably aren’t being done to the correct standards.

This is why you need an INNSA member.

You may not get the cheapest price, but you will get costs from a company with a proven track record of delivering invasive weed programmes and insurance-backed guarantees over the long term… and you will get the job done properly – all INNSA contractors’ works are done in line with the INNSA Standards.

INNSA members are audited.

INNSA members must abide by the code of practice.

INNSA members are accountable.

Choose to safeguard the long-term viability of your works; choose an INNSA member.