How much to pay a tree service for wood? delivered

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johnsopi

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Nov 1, 2006
696
MD near DE&PA;
What is fair amount to give a tree crew per load (1-2 cords a load) of top self wood oak,ash,hickory? to deliver wood to ypur house
On my way home Monday I saw a tree crew taking down a couple of vary large ash trees about 4 mile from my house. Stopped talked to the head guy, they dropped the wood at my house for 140$ 3 man crew so that 45$ each Around 4-5 cords. 3 full F650 truck loads. There a lot of wood there.
I think I over paid by 50$ but the workers don't make much so it's a lot to them,Now gas is 50$ a tank 50 bucks seems less.It sure beats moving the wood my self. So what a fair? I know that the tree company pays to dump the wood, but the workers are not saving any money and maybe risking getting in trouble by delivering it. Next time I would offer 30 a load with a min. of 2 loads, or 50 for a real nice load. I think that makes it worth their time.
 
A "FEW" tree services in my area will give you the wood free if you meet them at the work site. They will help you load it! The catch is you can't be picky. If they are removing a maple, oak and some pine, and you don't want the pine, too bad, it's all or nothing!
 
I'm not sure why the crew size matters. $140 for X cords of wood is just the price. If it doesn't go to you, presumably they'll sell it in some form to someone else, whether or not there were 3 guys there. I don't think they'd pay someone to dump the wood nowadays. Everything I hear says that downed trees attract a lot of interest.

Are you telling me that an F650 can hold 1.5 cords of wood? That seems a wee bit high.. maybe I'm not thinking of the right truck. But if that's the right amount, you really think $30/cord for hardwood is overpaying, enough that you're worried about it? Even at log-length that seems like a fantastic deal.
 
4-5 cords of hardwoods for $140 sounds like a good deal. Especially since they dropped it off at your house so you didn't have to gas your own truck or spend hours moving it. If you were to cut and split it and sell it at $250 a cord, that's a handsome profit. Heck, sell one cord and you've paid off the investment, pocketed a cool hundred and have lots of wood to burn.
 
if i could get 4-5cords for 140 bucks I wouldnt ever cut again!!!!!!!!!
 
A cord of cut and split delivered, here, is averaging $225.00 this year.
Dumped. Not stacked. Supposedly "seasoned" .

To pay a crew to come cut down atree is between $400 and $1100
$400 was for three guys to come cut down a half dozen trees with ropes and saws. Leave the wood in a pile.
$1100.00 was to remove three trees with heavy equipment (one of those bucket forks on a front end loader that holds the tree while cutting and slowly places it on the ground, and haul the wood away. Stump grind was extra.

Pine and pine stumps have to get ground into mulch here, no more dumping / burning / burying.

Based on prices here, you got a deal.

I don't care if the wood was handled by Mexicans or green aliens, it has a value.
Based on prices here, you got a deal.

A F650 dump should hold a cord and a half.
 
I looked up F650s and there are a whole lot of different configurations.. I guess one of them has a big enough cargo area to hold 200 cuft :)

Anyway, $30/cord for just about anything delivered to your house is a great deal.
 
i would be all over 30 bux a cord delivered like white on rice. i would probably never cut another tree down again(yeah right). i would find out where they are cutting give them a hand loading it if time permitted and have a thirty pack of beer for them when they delivered!!!! you got an outstanding deal. right now a cord of TREE LENGTH firewood in maine is $130 dollars
 
I agree with the others, $30 a cord makes it silly to even consider dropping trees for yourself. I get as many cords as I could get my paws on at that price.

Most tree services charge a lot more than this...
 
What I'm saying is to the tree crew wood is work. Getting rid of the wood is work. The wood is going to the dump so the company is not losing out. It make no differants to the guys in the field were that wood goes,so if taking care of the crew 30-50 per worker every one wins. I have wood they have cash.
 
johnsopi said:
What I'm saying is to the tree crew wood is work. Getting rid of the wood is work. The wood is going to the dump so the company is not losing out. It make no differants to the guys in the field were that wood goes,so if taking care of the crew 30-50 per worker every one wins. I have wood they have cash.
Well, if they're dumb enough to pay to dump perfectly good logs somewhere, then you're definitely doing them a huge favor anyway (and certainly doing the boss a favor). At that point, probably $20/hour/person for whatever they're doing for you is a pretty good tip.
 
You <know> the wood goes to the dump, or pure speculation ?

Tree service won't give an exact quote over the phone here.
If it's pine they have to pay to get rid of it (If they have thier own chipper then they make mulch). It still costs money to turn it into mulch to sell.
If it's oak they may be selling it, they may not.

Price of removing a tree depends on what the tree is, and where it is.


You can't assume the cut down wood is "free". It has value. It may be a positive value, it may be a negative value.
(unless your tree guy is an absolute idiot)
 
I wish I could get pine for that price. You got yourself a bargain there, plus you get to feel good that the workers got a little extra coin (you said they were not paid well).
 
johnsopi said:
What I'm saying is to the tree crew wood is work. Getting rid of the wood is work. The wood is going to the dump so the company is not losing out. It make no differants to the guys in the field were that wood goes,so if taking care of the crew 30-50 per worker every one wins. I have wood they have cash.

i understand what your saying. its a win win situation. your getting a hell of a deal, and they don't have to pay either and get to make a few extra dollars at the same time. Are you sure they are having to pay to dispose? i'm sorry, reassure me here becasue that sounds like a shame to have good wood laying around at a dump : (
i'm starting to feel bad for the wood : p LOL
 
Wood in this area really does go to a recyling dump that the tree service pay to dump. It is a shame that good wood is wasted. This is the
first time I've ever asked a tree servise to bring me the wood, and I thought i had to make it worth their time.
 
The tree guys around here take trees to a tree dump. The brush is piled up and the usable wood is spread out for us burners to cut and take as we wish. Every so often it is burned off and the whole process starts over. Everybody wins. If you talk to the crews, sometimes they will dump it off at your house, but mostly it goes to the tree dump. I got some great honey locust there and there is always lots of hack-berry and cotton wood. Truth be known allot of the stuff there is just to big to handle with a 20 inch bar. I take the smaller stuff, up to about 36 inches across. I have seen trees there four feet across the cut. If I can roll it over to complete the cut, I deem it usable. The splitter has yet to be really challenged. :cheese:
 
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