Neighbor wants me to pay him to clear recently felled maple

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So my mother in law's neighbor just had a sizeable silver maple limbed and dropped. I ask him what he's doing with the wood and he tells me that he's gonna try to sell it (unsplit green rounds). I offer to buck it up and haul it away (probably 1.5 - 2 cord)

Now this is a big tree, main trunk is in 10' sections and 30" plus and he's trying to cut it up with an electric chainsaw. I figure I'll let him struggle for a couple of weeks and check back on his progress and see if he realizes that my offer was better than his.

Has anyone else ran into a budding entrepreneur like this?
 
Michael B said:
So my mother in law's neighbor just had a sizeable silver maple limbed and dropped. I ask him what he's doing with the wood and he tells me that he's gonna try to sell it (unsplit green rounds). I offer to buck it up and haul it away (probably 1.5 - 2 cord)

Now this is a big tree, main trunk is in 10' sections and 30" plus and he's trying to cut it up with an electric chainsaw. I figure I'll let him struggle for a couple of weeks and check back on his progress and see if he realizes that my offer was better than his.

Has anyone else ran into a budding entrepreneur like this?
Click to expand...

I hope it's a good electric chainsaw.

Zap
 
Walk away. Sounds like a bad "Craigs list" add to me.

Around my part of the world, he would have to pay YOU to take away silver maple.
 
I bucked up two cords of logs about 30 in diameter with an electric. It can be done with enough whiskey in the evenings to take the pain away and re convince you it wasnt such a bad idea.

todd
 
Jags said:
Walk away. Sounds like a bad "Craigs list" add to me.

Around my part of the world, he would have to pay YOU to take away silver maple.
Click to expand...


Yeah I hear ya - unfortunately I live in the Chicago burbs
 
Michael B said:
Jags said:
Walk away. Sounds like a bad "Craigs list" add to me.

Around my part of the world, he would have to pay YOU to take away silver maple.
Click to expand...


Yeah I hear ya - unfortunately I live in the Chicago burbs
Click to expand...

Well, he can pay a pro a few hundred clams to take it away, or he can let you do it for free.

Come on out of the burbs, I will put you on more black walnut and other hard woods than you can stand.
 
I was in pretty much this same situation 1 year ago at this time - sans the HO electric saw.

2 big silvers, about 24" DBH that an arborist took down. They elected no to pay for disposal and everything except what was taken by the chipper was left.

Neighbors wife came by and asked if we'd like to buy the wood off from them. They're not wood heaters, so the wood was worthless to them. The price she stated was $400 because "this kind of maple is some of the best firewood out there."

While this might have been a teachable moment whereby I could have expounded at length about the variability of btu content among various maple species, I politely declined. $400 for a cut your own pile of about 1.5 cords of silver maple just didn't seem like a good deal.

And by not very good, I do mean bad. As said earlier, the stuff of a bad CL listing.
 
Michael B said:
So my mother in law's neighbor just had a sizeable silver maple limbed and dropped. I ask him what he's doing with the wood and he tells me that he's gonna try to sell it (unsplit green rounds). I offer to buck it up and haul it away (probably 1.5 - 2 cord)

Now this is a big tree, main trunk is in 10' sections and 30" plus and he's trying to cut it up with an electric chainsaw. I figure I'll let him struggle for a couple of weeks and check back on his progress and see if he realizes that my offer was better than his.

Has anyone else ran into a budding entrepreneur like this?
Click to expand...
I did the same as you and in less then 2 weeks they decide that it would take atleast a 600.00 chainsaw to cut this 45in. oak and before I was done I told them it would take more like a 1000.00 chainsaw all good just happen to have one..lol
 
Until you actually do the work yourself you never really appreciate that it is work. True, I enjoy it but it is still work now isn't it? Compound the job by not having the right tools and... well... it won't be any better eh?

I imagine that if you give that 'neighbor' some time they will at a minimum gain a new appreciation of just how much work it is to process firewood. Whether or not you will ever hear back from them is hard to tell, I just hope they don't go getting themselves hurt in the process of learning.
 
smokinjay said:
Michael B said:
So my mother in law's neighbor just had a sizeable silver maple limbed and dropped. I ask him what he's doing with the wood and he tells me that he's gonna try to sell it (unsplit green rounds). I offer to buck it up and haul it away (probably 1.5 - 2 cord)

Now this is a big tree, main trunk is in 10' sections and 30" plus and he's trying to cut it up with an electric chainsaw. I figure I'll let him struggle for a couple of weeks and check back on his progress and see if he realizes that my offer was better than his.

Has anyone else ran into a budding entrepreneur like this?
Click to expand...
I did the same as you and in less then 2 weeks they decide that it would take atleast a 600.00 chainsaw to cut this 45in. oak and before I was done I told them it would take more like a 1000.00 chainsaw all good just happen to have one..lol
Click to expand...
Doesn't that feel good? :cheese:
 
Jags said:
Michael B said:
Jags said:
Walk away. Sounds like a bad "Craigs list" add to me.

Around my part of the world, he would have to pay YOU to take away silver maple.
Click to expand...


Yeah I hear ya - unfortunately I live in the Chicago burbs
Click to expand...

Well, he can pay a pro a few hundred clams to take it away, or he can let you do it for free.

Come on out of the burbs, I will put you on more black walnut and other hard woods than you can stand.
Click to expand...

the burbs is where the monster trees are at, black walnut btu's not that good imo give it to the wood workers. (know what your saying but man there some trees that are flicking huge!)
 
smokinjay said:
Jags said:
Michael B said:
Jags said:
Walk away. Sounds like a bad "Craigs list" add to me.

Around my part of the world, he would have to pay YOU to take away silver maple.
Click to expand...


Yeah I hear ya - unfortunately I live in the Chicago burbs
Click to expand...

Well, he can pay a pro a few hundred clams to take it away, or he can let you do it for free.

Come on out of the burbs, I will put you on more black walnut and other hard woods than you can stand.
Click to expand...

the burbs is where the monster trees are at, black walnut btu's not that good imo give it to the wood workers. (know what your saying but man there some trees that are flicking huge!)
Click to expand...

We have lots of those big ol trees around here. The black walnut I am referring to was the tops left after a logging session. There are several virgin stands of the old growth around my parts. Heck my sister just had two monsters milled up (anybody need a big fireplace mantle?). I'm not a big fan of burning BW either. Arm load in, bucket of ash out. Thats why the tops are still there. :)
 
i just love some of those CL ad's just yesterday came across a couple great tool deals.

one guy was selling an 8# Mall and another one was selling a 12" banned saw

Yes that's the exact spelling ...reminds me I have to call seems I don't have either of those tools yet.
 
Tony H said:
i just love some of those CL ad's just yesterday came across a couple great tool deals.

one guy was selling an 8# Mall and another one was selling a 12" banned saw

Yes that's the exact spelling ...reminds me I have to call seems I don't have either of those tools yet.
Click to expand...

I would be wondering why the saw was banned . . . was it too powerful or running an illegal chain or something? ;) :)
 
Tony H said:
i just love some of those CL ad's just yesterday came across a couple great tool deals.

one guy was selling an 8# Mall and another one was selling a 12" banned saw

Yes that's the exact spelling ...reminds me I have to call seems I don't have either of those tools yet.
Click to expand...

I would guess both of those items are being marketed to teenagers...
 
CrawfordCentury said:
I was in pretty much this same situation 1 year ago at this time - sans the HO electric saw.

2 big silvers, about 24" DBH that an arborist took down. They elected no to pay for disposal and everything except what was taken by the chipper was left.

Neighbors wife came by and asked if we'd like to buy the wood off from them. They're not wood heaters, so the wood was worthless to them. The price she stated was $400 because "this kind of maple is some of the best firewood out there."

While this might have been a teachable moment whereby I could have expounded at length about the variability of btu content among various maple species, I politely declined. $400 for a cut your own pile of about 1.5 cords of silver maple just didn't seem like a good deal.

And by not very good, I do mean bad. As said earlier, the stuff of a bad CL listing.
Click to expand...

i had a similar stuation....after some patience i scored some wood that was left over from the lot clearing of my buddy's neighbors house. nice score, i logged it up and hauled it a whopping 1000 feet to my house. i had to pass by my other neighbors house in the process. he recently had a bunch of trees taken down, and, i am guessing was also too cheap to have the wood hauled away, or thought he would start his own firewood distribution business. in time, he came to me and asked if i wanted to buy his firewood. i politely declined, but i did also inform him that what he had wasnt firewood. it was logs. logs that are stacked along the back of his manicured lawn, that i am sure he wont be letting any vehicles trespass on.

why do people think a fallen tree, or some logs they cut up are "firewood"? to me firewood is a piece of wood that is ready to go into a fire.
 
Jags said:
Michael B said:
Jags said:
Walk away. Sounds like a bad "Craigs list" add to me.

Around my part of the world, he would have to pay YOU to take away silver maple.
Click to expand...


Yeah I hear ya - unfortunately I live in the Chicago burbs
Click to expand...

Well, he can pay a pro a few hundred clams to take it away, or he can let you do it for free.

Come on out of the burbs, I will put you on more black walnut and other hard woods than you can stand.[/quote]


Where are you? I'm about 75 miles south of the Chicago near the IN border.
Click to expand...
 
countrybois said:
Jags said:
Michael B said:
Jags said:
Walk away. Sounds like a bad "Craigs list" add to me.

Around my part of the world, he would have to pay YOU to take away silver maple.
Click to expand...


Yeah I hear ya - unfortunately I live in the Chicago burbs
Click to expand...

Well, he can pay a pro a few hundred clams to take it away, or he can let you do it for free.

Come on out of the burbs, I will put you on more black walnut and other hard woods than you can stand.
Click to expand...



Where are you? I'm about 75 miles south of the Chicago near the IN border.
Click to expand...

That would be a trip for you then. I would be more than 2 hours away.
 
I've decided that soft maple is my favorite wood. It's not that heavy when wet, it splits if you look at it sideways, it dries fast and lights fast, heats up the stove fast. No good for an overnight burn, but great for everything else.

This wood is by your MIL's house, how far is that from your house? I would pay a little money for soft maple that I didn't have to move, and far less for stuff that I would have to move myself. Of course, if your other option is buying wood, factor that into what you're willing to pay.

I agree it's a good idea to let the neighbor experience the work involved in cutting up the tree, and then renegotiating with him. If he has a fireplace, you could just offer to give him some of the split firewood. Just like some people have to buy their firewood but you don't want to, some people have to pay for downed tree removal, but he doesn't want to. You may each be thinking the other is an unreasonable cheapo :)

To get "firewood" (cut-up trees) in the Chicago suburbs, you could contact or stop and talk to tree removal companies in your area; my ex stopped and asked them to drop wood off at his place a few times. One time they dropped off different wood than what they were cutting that day, but it was still free wood, delivered. (Yes, they went to the trouble of loading up a truck with different wood, some of it huge willow rounds.)

Howdy, all you Illinois neighbors. I'm about 20 miles from the Illinois border.
 
annette said:
I've decided that soft maple is my favorite wood. It's not that heavy when wet, it splits if you look at it sideways, it dries fast and lights fast, heats up the stove fast. No good for an overnight burn, but great for everything else.

This wood is by your MIL's house, how far is that from your house? I would pay a little money for soft maple that I didn't have to move, and far less for stuff that I would have to move myself. Of course, if your other option is buying wood, factor that into what you're willing to pay.

I agree it's a good idea to let the neighbor experience the work involved in cutting up the tree, and then renegotiating with him. If he has a fireplace, you could just offer to give him some of the split firewood. Just like some people have to buy their firewood but you don't want to, some people have to pay for downed tree removal, but he doesn't want to. You may each be thinking the other is an unreasonable cheapo :)

To get "firewood" (cut-up trees) in the Chicago suburbs, you could contact or stop and talk to tree removal companies in your area; my ex stopped and asked them to drop wood off at his place a few times. One time they dropped off different wood than what they were cutting that day, but it was still free wood, delivered. (Yes, they went to the trouble of loading up a truck with different wood, some of it huge willow rounds.)

Howdy, all you Illinois neighbors. I'm about 20 miles from the Illinois border.
Click to expand...

The guy lives about 2 blocks from my house (yes I live that close to my MIL) and would be fairly easy to get it over to my house. He has no fireplace and yeah we're both cheap. I've tried the tree removal companies, no luck yet, but haven't worked too hard at it either. I really want to hear how his electric saw handled the trunk. But I would love to show him what a good Stihl can do!!

At any rate, I'll keep ya posted
 
I had a similar experience last spring with a guy up the street. He had a huge sugar maple dropped, the tree company chipped the top and left the trunk, it was about 20' and 36" round. He also tried to sell it to me for 300$ I politely declined. After laying in his front yard most of the summer he told me I could have it. The look on his face was priceless when I pulled out the 394 and buzzed it up in a half hour. Hang in there he'll come around.
 
I had a similiar experience. My parents neighbors had a tree come down. They wanted me to pay them 300 and take the wood AND the brush. I politely declined. They told me that I am an idiot that he can get twice that much! I told him then I just created a windfall for him and that he can pay me a 10% commision...call me when your are ready to do your own brush and you are tired of looking at the logs...BTW I will need to drive TO the tree so mid to late summer is best... 2 months later the phone rang, err, ummm, no body called to buy his wood ;~)
 
Let the guy have a chance to make a few bucks. I'd do the same thing if I was him (but, with a good chainsaw). Give him advice and be a friend. If he can't handle it, you'll be the guy he turns to to give the wood, or at least a part of it.
 
My favorite was about a month ago, some craigslist knuckleheads were trying to sell pine rounds for $50.00 apiece....."perfect for a furniture maker".....bwahahahahahahahaha.......
 
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