Have you ever sold firewood, good idea?

[michaelthomas]

Hello,
I am 2/3 the way through bucking my load of log length firewood and I started to think...It has taken me 8 tanks of gas or about 4 hours to buck about 5 of 8 cord of wood, a-lot of the wood is 4-6" diameter that doesn't need to be split, what if I purchased another load...cut it all up and sold 4 cord of it? The going rate around here is 185- 210 cord delivered. If I sold 4 cord of the 4-6" stuff, I would only have to cut it and stack it and advertise next fall that it is a "load and haul it yourself" deal. The processing time is pretty minimal and I could have it stacked in true cord measurements as to let the buyer know exactly how much they are buying. When the truck dumps it at your house you are not quite sure how much you got until you stack it.
The main purposes for wanting to do this is:
1. I want another truck load of wood to cut up because I love it and I will finally be able to get 2 years ahead.
2. I don't have a free wood supply that is going to feed me the 6 cord I am going to need every year.
3. I got an 8 cord load for $750, I could sell half of it and make pretty near what I paid for all of it, in essence getting 4 cord of wood for free minus my labor. If you have a source of free wood it takes a-lot of time to harvest the wood and haul it out of the woods yourself. I am skipping that step by having the grapple truck drag it from the woods for me.
4. I really just want more wood, and I want to get myself down to about $50 a cord for all wood I use.

Anybody else sold wood before? Good experience? Bad? Advice? Want to buy some wood from me next fall???

 

[whphel]

Sounds like to me you found your way to get wood for less money. I say go for it. Hell get two or three more truck loads.

 

[struggle]

I have sold a few truck loads of it over the years to neighbors around me, however I do not have to buy the wood in the first place or store it at my house so for me if I sell only one load of wood it covers some fuel and a chainsaw blade or two. It works for me that way.

I did one year advertise in the paper to sell firewood and ended up getting one call from a lady wanting less than a truck load that lived something like 10 miles away from me and I said no as it was not worth it for me to delivery a small amount of wood.

Not sure how the buy and pick up method would work as many people that want to buy it do not want to do anymore work than nessecary to get it into the fireplace.

Sounds good though. You will only know next year how well it works out.

 

[webbie]

Many potheads have worked by the same calculation - if they get a load, and sell some of it, the rest is theirs to keep.
At least in this case, you don't have to worry about the cops!
:coolgrin:

 

[RedRanger]

Mikey: if you really think that is easy money -- think again. Hard back-breaking work,and some customer`s are going to want you to stack it away for them. If you insist on punishing yourself, at least get yourself a splitter. That`s what most of the older guys that I buy my wood from have .

:coolsmile: Also I have noticed that the older the wood person doing the delivering is, the more "swampers" he or she has.

 

[Lignums]

I have for the past 3 years, and only sell around 15 cords a year. It is NOT a huge money making deal. I sell enough to keep me up to date with the new toys like chainsaws and my splitter. It is good for odds and ends and make a little to take the old lady out to eat now and again. Think about it. For one cord: One solid afternoon just in cutting. Another in splitting. Another in stacking. All for what $150.00 to $250.00 depending on your area. It is much easier to work a Saturday of overtime and make twice that. Unless you have a proclivity towards working stupidly hard, it is not worth it. I do it for exercise...

 

[Woodrat]

I have for the past 3 years, and only sell around 15 cords a year. It is NOT a huge money making deal. I sell enough to keep me up to date with the new toys like chainsaws and my splitter. It is good for odds and ends and make a little to take the old lady out to eat now and again. Think about it. For one cord: One solid afternoon just in cutting. Another in splitting. Another in stacking. All for what $150.00 to $250.00 depending on your area. It is much easier to work a Saturday of overtime and make twice that. Unless you have a proclivity towards working stupidly hard, it is not worth it. I do it for exercise...

-- Most of the people who sell wood wood like what they do-- but you're right, they're not getting "filthy rich" at it- it's a hard, often dangerous way to make a living. If "Joe consumer" ever actually handled a true cord of firewood from start to finish (and could be honest about it) he/she wouldn't complain about the price!
-- When I was buying grapple loads of logs & selling firewood, my "$yardstick" was that whatever I was paying for the wood, if I couldn't make $100 over that, I was just getting exercise, not making money. Never had any problem selling as much wood as I wanted to. Figuring in curent fuel costs, the markup would have to be higher.
-- BTW, I concluded long ago that if you "paid" yourself a reasonable wage & accounted for the cutting & transporting costs involved in getting that "free" wood--- you couldn't really save anything over buying it from a reputable logger/tree removal company.

Best wishes--Woodrat

 

[TMonter]

I've been considering selling a few cords this year to finance a Dolmar 7900.

Know anyone who wants some nice 1 year seasoned Red Fir? :cheese:

 

[Lignums]

I have for the past 3 years, and only sell around 15 cords a year. It is NOT a huge money making deal. I sell enough to keep me up to date with the new toys like chainsaws and my splitter. It is good for odds and ends and make a little to take the old lady out to eat now and again. Think about it. For one cord: One solid afternoon just in cutting. Another in splitting. Another in stacking. All for what $150.00 to $250.00 depending on your area. It is much easier to work a Saturday of overtime and make twice that. Unless you have a proclivity towards working stupidly hard, it is not worth it. I do it for exercise...

-- Most of the people who sell wood wood like what they do-- but you're right, they're not getting "filthy rich" at it- it's a hard, often dangerous way to make a living. If "Joe consumer" ever actually handled a true cord of firewood from start to finish (and could be honest about it) he/she wouldn't complain about the price!
-- When I was buying grapple loads of logs & selling firewood, my "$yardstick" was that whatever I was paying for the wood, if I couldn't make $100 over that, I was just getting exercise, not making money. Never had any problem selling as much wood as I wanted to. Figuring in curent fuel costs, the markup would have to be higher.
-- BTW, I concluded long ago that if you "paid" yourself a reasonable wage & accounted for the cutting & transporting costs involved in getting that "free" wood--- you couldn't really save anything over buying it from a reputable logger/tree removal company.

Best wishes--Woodrat

I joked with the wife earlier that when it came down do it, I made somewhere around $2.00 an hour for all my busted shins and lost afternoons that I could be spending with the family. What kills is the delivery part, people want it delivered 20 miles away, and for nothing. I'm not that hard up for money, so I charge extra for the fuel if they don't want to pick it up. When my son is complaining about stacking, and unstacking, I just tell him, "It builds character...some people have it, some people don't, and you will soon see why."

 

[jebatty]

Thot and still think about it, and probably will sell some to neighbors, mainly because I have lots of birch that soon will be dying on the stump if I don't get it out of the woods. But, and a very big but, one slip of the chain saw, possibly even with good protection, brought on by fatigue or just inattention, and an injury or worse could make all the firewood in the world the most expensive endeavor a person ever entered into.

I already cut about 10-15 cords per year for my own use, plus log out about 5000 bd ft of timber per year, which I saw into lumber, dry, use and sell, so I'm preaching safety for the sake of living to a reasonable old age.

Go for it -- so long as it remains fun. I would hate to think of doing it to make a living unless I had all the fancy equipment, and then I still can think of better things to do.

 

[johnsopi]

It may be hard to sell unsplit firewood that must be hauled by buyer. If I could buy a cord of split delivered wood for 200$.
A cord of unsplit pick up your self wood would be worth a lot less.

 

[MALogger]

You also have liability issues with someone coming onto your property to purchase wood. What if they get hurt while loading their pickup?

Craig

 

[Woodrat]

But, and a very big but, one slip of the chain saw, possibly even with good protection, brought on by fatigue or just inattention, and an injury or worse could make all the firewood in the world the most expensive endeavor a person ever entered into.
-- So I'm preaching safety for the sake of living to a reasonable old age.
-- Go for it -- so long as it remains fun. I would hate to think of doing it to make a living unless I had all the fancy equipment, and then I still can think of better things to do.

-- AMEN to what jebatty says! I spent 40 years working with saws from 10" to 5' bars-- 5 yrs ago, on a day when I KNEW I shouldn't be working with a saw because I was too tired and "beat-up" (but a friend neeeded help with a land-clearing job) I took out the artery,tendons,nerves and a piece of bone in my left wrist. All the experience in the world will notautomatically grant you immunity from a chainsaw's "bite".(neither will strength)
-- Too many people don't realize how much kickback force saws like the 357XP with 24-30" bars are capable of delivering. A chainsaw is probably the single most potentially dangerous power tool the average person will ever encounter. My wife wanted to help-- I made her take a saw use/safety course being offered be the county AG school before I let her touch one!

--Best wishes--Woodrat

 

[swestall]

Everything is relative. For some time is more important, some don't have the money so they have to give up their time to get what they want by "doing"; you just have to figure out what is worth what to you and act upon that.

I used to cut 5-9 cords a year, but never sold it. As I've grown older it is definately harder to cut and I can spend my time earning money to have others cut for me; and still have time left over to enjoy my family. In the end that is what is important to me.

BUT, I would never trade off those days I spent in the woods cutting with my son when he was young. We both learned a lot and can share those memories; who knows someday we may both share them with his son....

You have to figure out what's important to you now and just do it.

 

[Beanscoot]

Webmaster wrote: "At least in this case, you don’t have to worry about the cops!"

Well it depends where you live. In some jurisdictions you might need a business license. Also there might be zoning restrictions on running this business at your location, your truck is now a commercial vehicle, if you are in a crash will your insurance cover it, etc. etc. Don't forget to declare the income on your income tax.
I used to do a small amount of car repair at home and became aware of these things.

Luckily you live in the land of the free so hopefully don't have the restrictions we do here. Sometimes it seems that when one works hard to make a bit of cash there are those who expect you to share that money with the state.

I have some distant neighbours who used to "patrol" the neighbourhood almost nightly to look for bylaw infractions among the neighbours. They were old widows and had copies of the bylaws. If you have some of these that spot you, it can make for a lot of hassle. Even one bad customer can be a "whistle blower" and cause you a lot of grief.

The other members have mentioned the other incidental costs, to which I might add wear and tear on your truck, including one piece of wood hitting the back window...there goes a few days wages.

My apologies for being negative, but it's good to consider all the pros and cons before acting.