COST OF YOUR FIREWOOD

[mountaineer79]

I've been burning wood all of my life. I've never even thought about the cost of firewood. I was talking to a friend the other day, and he was complaining about buying firewood for $180/cord. I thought that sounded cheap! With all the work and wear and tear on my body I put into my firewood, I wouldn't sell it for less than $500/cord!!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Locally it's often $350 or more seasoned/delivered. $180 would be a bahhgin. I pay for gas, walk out back, and pay with sweat/blood.

 

[mountaineer79]

Well I guess my price just went up to $800/cord.

 

[jbrown56]

Hi,

When I started heating with wood 27 years ago, I would buy grapple loads and cut split/split/stack myself. After a few years, I switched to four footers. Easier to handle. About fifteen years ago, I decided to buy my wood cut and split. In that time, the cost has gone from about $140 to $200 a cord. Three years ago, I hired a kid to stack my wood as I,m no longer physically able to do it. This cost $40 to $50 per two cord load. I burn four cord a year, so I heat my 2100 sq. ft. home for about $900 a year. And, it's always nice and toasty. Even if you have to buy your wood, it's still a bargain.

Jim

 

[woodconvert]

Locally it's often $350 or more seasoned/delivered. $180 would be a bahhgin.

WOW. $195 is the upper end around here. If you do some snoopin' you'll find quite a few people selling it for $135..of course prices vary if you buy on quantity.

A trend i've noticed is Churches splitting/selling firewood as of late. A buddy of mine just bought 10 face cord of ash from a local church for $450.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Well I guess my price just went up to $800/cord.

I can't blame you. It's about a lot more than the heat value!

 

[mountaineer79]

If you sell for $180/cord and process 2 cords in an 8 hr day plus 1 hr delivery per cord, then you're netting $36/hr. Not bad. By day three, I'd be in bed recovering for a week, so that's $360 per week. I like doing firewood, but I couldn't imagine doing it for a living. All the labor that goes into it really makes anything under $300 seem cheap to me, but I guess the bottom line is people will only pay market value. If the price goes to high, they'll just switch to the heat pump, furnace, baseboards, or whatever. Talk about a hard way to make a living.

 

[isuphipsi1052]

I paid $65 per FACE CORD. Is that a good deal?

 

[SteveT]

I paid $65 per FACE CORD. Is that a good deal?

If the length of the wood is 16" you got 1/3rd of a cord. So you paid $195 a cord. That would be a great deal for seasoned hardwood here is eastern Massachusetts. But you have to consider your location and type/dryness of wood to decide if it was a good deal or not.

 

[Como]

$150 for mixed pine aspen.

But the usual going rate around here is $200 plus.

From a diy perspective you have the equipment cost, gas etc.

 

[isuphipsi1052]

The average length is about 18", and I'm located in Upstate New York. I buy my wood from a brother firefighter, so I'm pretty sure he's giving me a good deal. I usually buy 10 face cords a year, but I had a feeling that this winter is going to be a little harsher and ordered 12 from him. I got the wood in May or June of this year and have been "babying" the wood all summer. Uncovered 99% of the time until I saw longer periods of rain then covered.

 

[BurningIsLove]

I've had two neighbors ask me if I had any spare wood to sell them for this year. As it turns out, I have just enough for this year, and even my unseasoned/future supply is just barely cutting it close. I could not get ahead as I had wanted to as as there was just no raw materials (grapples) available with the downturn in the economy/housing market.

That said, Im wondering what I would charge if I had surplus to sell. Going rate around here is $275 and up (average well in the $300+ range) for seasoned & delivered. These are the same neighbors who frequently mocked me the last few years for sweating in chaps/helmet bucking & splitting up my own wood, so there's gotta be some kind of vengeance markup for that. Although should be careful, they could just steal what they want.

 

[SlyFerret]

I have 4 cords ready to go for this year. Some of it was purchased from a firewood dealer, some of it was scrounged. If I were to estimate the coast of the wood that I purchased and the fuel for the saw and splitter, I would guess that I have about $300 invested in my fuel for this winter.

-SF

 

[gpcollen1]

I purchased 2 cords of red oak for $200 per and scrounged 4 cords. My cost for the cords I processed I'll set at $25 - for fuel and misc. There is no way I can charge for my wear and tear - either I do it or not - not going to bill my time as it is way too valuable with small children and all the other stuff I could be doing. So we will call this winter - $500 for 6 cords that is ready to burn. I do have about 2-3 cords that I need to split for next year.

Cord prices around here seem to be between $200 and $350, depending on what town you are in. I do not think there is much seasoned wood left around here anyway. most folks i talked to only had relatively fresh stuff left.

 

[M1sterM]

If you're going to buy cut and split around here it's averaging $180/cord ($60/ 16" face). But more often than not, the supplier will short you 10-20% if you're not paying attention, but that's another story.

I pay $100 for ten cords via a cutting permit, plus another $100 for my gas, oil, chains, etc. each season, so figure my wood costs me $20/full cord. I do have a tendency to short myself 10% or so, so I can't complain about the suppliers too much!

 

[Shipper50]

I just thought if I figured the cost of, my saws at around $1000 for both, splitter at say $1000, 4 wheeler at say $6000, gas at say $100 for the season. Then the cost of my chaps, say $65, hearing protection at $25, glasses at $15, boots free since I got them from work when I retired. So lets say at $8200 how many cords do I need to cut to get it down to say $200 a cord?


Shipper

 

[M1sterM]

I just thought if I figured the cost of, my saws at around $1000 for both, splitter at say $1000, 4 wheeler at say $6000, gas at say $100 for the season. Then the cost of my chaps, say $65, hearing protection at $25, glasses at $15, boots free since I got them from work when I retired. So lets say at $8200 how many cords to I need to cut to get it down to say $200 a cord?


Shipper

41

 

[mayhem]

Locally a "cord" of "seasoned", split wood (because its never really a cord, nor is it ever seasoned) is running about $200 last time I looked. I had to buy a dump truck load last winter to get me through, it was $175 and that was the cheapest guy around.

 

[Shipper50]

I just thought if I figured the cost of, my saws at around $1000 for both, splitter at say $1000, 4 wheeler at say $6000, gas at say $100 for the season. Then the cost of my chaps, say $65, hearing protection at $25, glasses at $15, boots free since I got them from work when I retired. So lets say at $8200 how many cords to I need to cut to get it down to say $200 a cord?


Shipper

41

Them calculators come in handy huh? ;-P

Shipper

 

[M1sterM]

I just thought if I figured the cost of, my saws at around $1000 for both, splitter at say $1000, 4 wheeler at say $6000, gas at say $100 for the season. Then the cost of my chaps, say $65, hearing protection at $25, glasses at $15, boots free since I got them from work when I retired. So lets say at $8200 how many cords to I need to cut to get it down to say $200 a cord?


Shipper

41

Them calculators come in handy huh? ;-P

Shipper

You do what you gotta do

 

[oak194]

Let's see here in Bradford county, highest price I paid wa $150 for all hard maple,and lots of oak. That was c,s,d. And that was a true full cord. p.s. this guys does it for a hobby, and he already has stackers set up to know how much your getting.
One the other side of the coin a tractor trailer load with the grapple in the center price is $850, which you might get alot of oak or just alot of maple, depending on what he is logging that week. So to put it into cords we normally get around 10 cords a trailer load, and 6-7 out of a tri-axle. All depending on how well the truck or trailer is loaded!
Oh and a tri-axle load is around 600-675.

But hopefully with the price of diesel going down so will the price of logs!

 

[chad3]

Process my own from tree to stack and I figure I pay about 40 bucks per cord, not including the prices of saws and splitter. This comes up by figuring that the place I was cutting was about 30 miles away and the truck gets 13 per gallon (figure about 10 bucks per load, about 2.5-3 loads) plus about a gallon of gas and oil for the saw (5 bucks). Add about a gallon of gas for the splitter (5) and that is what you get. My thinking is that mine time is free, I enjoy doing it and like the savings. Cousin is exactly the opposite, he feels that he works so he can just turn a dial.
I'm betting I'm still warmer.
Chad

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Only suckers pay for firewood.

 

[Gark]

Around here, local papers have 'mixed hardwood' ads for about $150/full cord. Some need
extra $$ for delivery over about 30 miles or so. Got 2 face cords for $45 each (mostly oak
with some wild cherry mixed in) this summer but I usually find free wood for the labor and
hauling by word of mouth. Free wood/BTU's are like manna from heaven.

 

[Gehl Family]

In the buffalo ny area, you are looking at a price of about $75 to $100 per face cord. Plus extra for delivery. No one advertises a full cord.

A local tree guy will drop off a load of logs for $250. there are 10-15 cords in a load.

I have started advertising on criagslist to help split people wood for them. They provide the wood and i will split it at $25 a face cord. In two weeks i have almost paid for the log splitter. Works out pretty well.