Is this normal? - craigslist ad

[Jaugust124]

Standing firewood - $500 (Rhinebeck)
Date: 2011-02-07, 10:07PM EST
Reply to: [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]

We have roughly 1-acres of standing trees that need to be cleared from the property. They are a mix of maple, cherry and some other stuff thrown in. Most of the trees are around 18-24 inches in diameter. You cut and remove the trees but the branches need to be piled so that they can be chipped. $500 for the trees, estimated to be around 20-30. Call Jim at 518-929-5263 for details


I see these ads quite often and I am always left wondering if people are truly willing to pay a landowner to cut down there trees just for firewood? I understand if there is real value as timber, but simply for firewood? I don't know how many cords would come from the 20-30 trees they want taken down, maybe its a good investment for someone who either wants the wood for themselves or for someone who plans to resell the wood even just in log length.

To me it sounds like this homeowner wants someone to pay them to clear their property for them. Can someone enlighten me please?

Edit: I am not interested in the least in this, I was just wondering. I don't have the knowledge or experience to go hacking trees down off of someone's property.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Tell him to pass the pipe. At least he isn't demanding that you chip the brush and remove the stumps.

 

[DonNC]

he is smoking sale- zcrak [email protected]
from the looks of that email he might be selling too

 

[dpgoalie]

Although I have never paid anyone to cut down their trees, I do clear lots in exchange for wood.

The last lot I cleared was an acre and covered with 10 foot brush. I did it in exchange for two HUGE white oaks.

I don't have any special equipment, just a saw, pickup and a trailer.

If you were to do this and you got 5 cords out of it, do the math for your area. At 200/cord, the wood you got would be worth $1000. Minus the 500 you would walk away with 5 cords for 500 plus your time and energy.

If all you have to do is be responsible for the trees you want, that's not bad. But try to work it so you get the trees free in exchange for your labor.

Also create a release of liability for the owner to sign. Make it fair. Write it so that your not responsible for damage that you do and he's not responsible for damage that you do to yourself or equipment. This often makes owners more willing to work with you. Put into writing the terms of your agreement. Have it typed and present it at the start of the job, this way he is less apt to back out and he should respect your preparedness.

Hope this helps.

 

[heatwise]

im yet to see the add that says free ashes for your garden, must remove from wood stove and clean glass. getting back to the pay and cut. i wouldnt dream cutting down anything on someones property i dont know personaly. i like people who trust me to dice up a downed tree on their turf. id wait for a wind storm and genuinly help someone remove an unwanted tree safely resting on their beuatyfull lawn. keep in mind im not the hard core tree climber type either. 500 is a lot of money for wood thats stacked verticaly in one piece still. just my angle here. pete

 

[shawneyboy]

I would NEVER pay a property owner to remove the trees. I have removed trees at no cost to the property owner for the wood. I have seen these types of ads that even say that INSURANCE is a requirement ! So they want a tree company to come in and pay them for something that anyone else would pay to have done FOR them. These ads crack me up. Thats like telling the mechanic that you will allow him to pay you to work on your car.

 

[Jaugust124]

Thanks for the replies. I thought there was something strange about these ads that I see popping up every once in a while. Seems like people think firewood is like gold or something.

I also just want to reiterate that I am not interested in getting involved in this deal. It was just out of curiosity. I always wonder though if anyone actually takes them up on these kinds of offers.

 

[gzecc]

Standing firewood - $500 (Rhinebeck)
Date: 2011-02-07, 10:07PM EST
Reply to: [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]

We have roughly 1-acres of standing trees that need to be cleared from the property. They are a mix of maple, cherry and some other stuff thrown in. Most of the trees are around 18-24 inches in diameter. You cut and remove the trees but the branches need to be piled so that they can be chipped. $500 for the trees, estimated to be around 20-30. Call Jim at 518-929-5263 for details


I see these ads quite often and I am always left wondering if people are truly willing to pay a landowner to cut down there trees just for firewood? I understand if there is real value as timber, but simply for firewood? I don't know how many cords would come from the 20-30 trees they want taken down, maybe its a good investment for someone who either wants the wood for themselves or for someone who plans to resell the wood even just in log length.

To me it sounds like this homeowner wants someone to pay them to clear their property for them. Can someone enlighten me please?

Edit: I am not interested in the least in this, I was just wondering. I don't have the knowledge or experience to go hacking trees down off of someone's property.

Its also standing furniture, (as much as its firewood) he should be charging $1000!

 

[Jaugust124]

Its also standing furniture, (as much as its firewood) he should be charging $1000!

gzecc,
Not sure that I agree with you on that one. Not all wood is furniture quality. If that were the case there would be a lot less wood left over for firewood. Just because it may be cherry or maple, doesn't mean mills will buy it for manufacturing. If this were the case, why do so many tree services just dump wood or sell it for firewood? With the labor involved producing firewood it would certainly be much easier to send it to the mill for processing. Many tree services pay to dump lots of maple and other good hardwoods as well. Sure, the big straight stuff gets sold to mills, but that doesn't mean all wood has that same value.

 

[gzecc]

Its also standing furniture, (as much as its firewood) he should be charging $1000!

gzecc,
Not sure that I agree with you on that one. Not all wood is furniture quality. If that were the case there would be a lot less wood left over for firewood. Just because it may be cherry or maple, doesn't mean mills will buy it for manufacturing. If this were the case, why do so many tree services just dump wood or sell it for firewood? With the labor involved producing firewood it would certainly be much easier to send it to the mill for processing. Many tree services pay to dump lots of maple and other good hardwoods as well. Sure, the big straight stuff gets sold to mills, but that doesn't mean all wood has that same value.

Thats true, some has very little wood (maple, oak, poplar) in it, like particle board!

 

[Jaugust124]

You could be right about what its worth. I really have no idea. Maybe its worth $2000.

You know, this kind of reminds me of a mistake I made a few years ago. Before we had our insert, we simply had an open fireplace that we used maybe 10-15 times per year. Well, I had about 25 trees of various sizes taken down off my 1/2 acre. Lots of small stuff, but some other stuff that was good hardwood. I kept enough to last me what I thought would be at least 5-6 years use of the fireplace and gave the rest away. I really don't know how many cords it was, but I would guess 6-7. Well, wouldn't you know I decided to install an insert the next year. At the time I had no inclinations whatsoever to heat with wood. If i'd have kept it I would have been a couple years ahead. Oh well. Live and learn.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I sold trees to a wood seller. This guy goes all over the place buying wood that he can cut and sell as firewood. Prices vary. He cut a lot of tree tops on a place near ours and it was all oak. I found out he paid very little for them so he made out really well. I ended up kicking them off before they were finished because the ground did not freeze that year in December and the skidder they used had no tread on the tires so he was really tearing up the woods.

 

[Kenster]

The wood is worth nothing as long as it is standing. It can't be valued as firewood until it is cut down and at least bucked, if not also split. He may have $500 worth of firewood there only ONCE IT IS CUT DOWN and bucked. The seller should bear the cost of the labor, then retail the wood for whatever the market will bear. He'll find out soon enough just what it's going to cost him to clear that property when (hopefully) no one is foolish enough to take him up his deal.

 

[gzecc]

I was being sarcastic about the $1000 value. Some people really don't have a clue (CL poster).

 

[dpgoalie]

Everybody posting in this thread has a valid point. They may even be worth some cash at a mill.

However, if you have weekends free to yourself, and you don't mind the work, I find it well worth clearing a lot for 20-30 good trees. And if the trees are great, even better.

I would hate to pay $500, and Kenster your correct, the owner should bear the cost and he would pay much more to have it done professionally. But if you need the wood, have weekends free and don't mind working, paying $500 for 5-10 cords of good wood is a nice bargain. Especially if you don't have to remove the brush.

Some owners will pile the brush themselves, which is a huge reduction in labor.

 

[Jaugust124]

Good point dpgoalie. That 5-10 cords of wood c/c and delivered around here would go for about $200 per cord. I guess its all about the math. Even if it was already down, I don't think I'd pay $500 having to go get it. Delivered and dropped in my yard, it might be worth considering.

As a side note, there was a guy advertising locally in the fall that had a lot of oak from a property clearing as well. This wood was already down (log length) and he would even load it in your truck for you with a machine. I can't recall the price exactly, but I think it was $50-$75 per pickup truck load. I wondered then if that was a deal or not. What do you all think?

 

[Prosecond]

I used to buy standing timber for a forest products company and everything that wasn't a saw log the landowner was paid $2 per ton for.

 

[KTLM]

If someone would like to cut my grass this summer, you can do it for 50 bucks and you can even have half the cuttings.

 

[richg]

If someone would like to cut my grass this summer, you can do it for 50 bucks and you can even have half the cuttings.

Now that there's funny :lol:

 

[Huskyforlife]

I would never pay to cut down trees on someone else's land. I have cut and removed fallen trees for neighbors, but that was as much doing them a service as me getting free wood. For $500 I would expect to have that wood in log lengths in my yard.