price per cord

[crawfish]

So here's my situation: I have the chance to get unsplit red and white oak rounds 14-15 inches long from a friend of mine I work with but I can't decide what to pay him if I go to his place to pick them up. It is stuff that has been dead for a number of years, no bark at all. He has to go about 10-15 miles to get it. The going rate for split and delivered oak around here is about $140/cord, but I presume mine is cut a little shorter than what you would get for that price. He says for me to think about what I want to give him so what do you think is fair? I was thinking around $100 a cord seeing as he doesn't have to process or deliver it. I've never been in the firewood business, so I have no idea what price to put on processing and delivery. Just looking for opinions here so I can come up with a fair price to pay him, any and all will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your input, Crawfish

 

[DexterDay]

If you do all the work... I would do half the going rate. Or $70 maybe $80.

You just have to, get it in the truck, to your house, unload it, split it, and stack it..... No more than $80. If its already split. Its A LOT easier and is deemed neccasary for the extra cash. IMO

 

[ddddddden]

Around here, folks advertise rounds on CL for free. Most of the value of firewood is in the labor involved in processing it. If you have to haul and split, I don't think it's worth a whole lot, but he's your friend. . .

 

[crawfish]

Thanks for the input! Yea, I guess I am doing pretty much all of the work so $100/cord might be a little high. I think he will take pretty much whatever I offer seeing as he has many other customers off which he will make the bulk of his money. But he does have transportation costs, gas, and labor in sawing it up so that has to cost something right? Thanks for your input! Crawfish

 

[nate379]

Round here cord of wood in round goes for $100-125/cord. Cord spit goes for ~$180-200. I bought 4 cords this weekend in rounds, some in 8ish ft logs for $450.

 

[ddddddden]

Yes, he has something invested in it, but, in our culture, the value is determined by the market. Around here, there doesn't seem to be a large number of folks looking to pay for unsplit undelivered firewood. It seems to fall more into the category of yard waste. I see probably at least 1 ad per week on CL: "Please come and get this wood out of my yard. . .cut to length by tree service/electric co. . .please take all you want." If I were you, I'd start scrounging for stuff like that and let my buddy split and deliver his wood. I also see plenty of ads for split wood @ $40-50 / truckload, cash & carry, so I'd say that *split* firewood goes for ~ half price if not delivered. If not split, well, it's not really considered firewood. Your area might be different, but if you look around, you'll probably find folks giving away wood / felled trees.

 

[Remmy122]

I think if your willing/able to pay $100 for unsplit, give him the extra $40 and have it split and delivered.

I dont pay for my wood, as Ive been very lucky scrounging this year, but IF I was going to pay, Id go all the way for split and delivered to save the time/labor on myself.

Then again I split by hand, so the time of splitting a cord of wood for me is more than most.

 

[billb3]

"He has to go 10-15 miles to get it"

Why can't he deliver it then ?

It's then half processed and worth half of what you would pay for split - delivered.

If you have to go get it then he should pay you to clean his yard.

 

[dafattkidd]

Hey Crawfish,

I would look into the quality of the wood. I am not an expert, but my experience is wood in log form that has been dead for a number of years often has a good amount of punky or rotten wood around the sides (especially when it sits on dirt). I'm not saying that stuff's no good for sure, I'm just saying you may want to take a look at it before making any decisions. Hope that helps. Good luck with it.

 

[crawfish]

Hey DaFattKidd,

I know what you're sayin', it does look like its been dead for awhile (no bark) but its definately NOT punky or rotten, just well seasoned which is hard to find around here from guys that sell it by the truckload. I've got about half of it split already and it is nice wood, he just said give me what you think is fair and that's going to be around $80 a cord once I get it stacked and see how much I have. Thanks for the 2 cents, Crawfish

 

[dafattkidd]

Awesome. I hope that works out for you. Post some pics of the logs and then the finished stacks if possible.

 

[greythorn3]

160$ a cord cut, split, stacked, and delivered, this week.

 

[FrankMA]

160$ a cord cut, split, stacked, and delivered, this week.

That's a good deal. I got 5 cord cut, split and delivered - no stacking though. I just got done racking all but about 1/2 cord but I'll save that pile for the rack that goes on my deck.