It took me 3 days of work to get 4 cords for wood here, figure 6 hours of labor a day or 4.5 hours per cord. Add to that splitting and stacking, for another 3.5 hours per cord, for a total of 8 hours per cord. At $12 an hour that is $96 a cord, gathered, hauled, split and stacked. 3.5 cords a year burned here on average, 28 hours labor for a grand total of $336.
However, there are deductions from the labor cost. If I was being paid $12 an hour, I would get syphoned off for taxes to the tune of a $1 an hour for SS/MC, and $1.25 an hour for state income taxes, and about 2.50 an hour for federal income taxes. So deduct $4.75 an hour for taxes, meaning the 'cost' of equivalent labor would be reduced to $203. Another deduction is the cost of gas and rent. I average $40 in gas and $7 in trailer rental per cord of wood, for $47 per cord. So the cost increases by $164 for gas and trailer to $367 for 3.5 cords of wood. Which is why I am considering paying $300 for a 3 cord dumptruck load of doug fir log ends, as all I would have to do is buck, split and stack them here, reducing my gas, trailer rental and time/labor substantially.
And there are hidden costs involved here, like the overhead of a computer and internet access, costs and insurance for the PU truck, and the cost of my chainsaws. But for comparison, I am saving $30/million BTU by not having to buy heat here (electricity is the only option). A cord of Doug fir (average density firewood for me here) has ~26 million BTU per cord, for a 'value' equivalent of $780 in electricity per cord of wood. 3.5 cords equals $2,730 a year saved in heating bills, which is why I heat with wood here. To make $2,730 to pay the bills, I would have to earn $4,518 a year to do that and pay the taxes on the income. I believe that more than pays for the hidden costs, my chainsaw collection, and all the rest. To think of it another way, I would have to work 376 hours, or 9.4 weeks a year, at $12 an hour to earn enough to heat my house with electricity for a year.
