Is this a good deal?

[ohlongarm]

Near where I live they've cleared a lot for the purpose of building a new church.They've got alot of trees cut mostly cherry,beech,some oak,hard maple and a little lodgepole pine.I stopped out of curiosity and asked what they might want for the trees,none of which are over 16 inches in diameter,now I've got easily 3 years wood on hand probably more that's been drying respectively 8 years ,3,2,and 1 year. The foreman said he would fill an 8X6X4 dump trailer with 8 foot pieces and deliver for $40.00 a load,he estimates he has about 10 loads.Now 90% of my wood is for free. If this is a good deal I may squander $400.00 to give me a little something to do,if I can get a little feedback from some with more knowledge than me on this inquiry. PS the place I get my wood for free usually only has massive trees of 36 inches and more for the pickings,then there's the logistics of getting it to your place.I've done it in the past and amassed a chitload ,but now I'm looking at the convenience of this new opportunity.

 

[Dune]

Do it man!
Roughly 1.5 cord felled and delivered for $40? I can't get that much wood to my house for that price in gas alone nevermind wear and tear and time.
If you have the room and the time, you will never regret becoming massively ahead.
The further ahead you get, the easier it becomes to wait for super sweet deals like this to come along.

 

[Pat53]

Absolutely, sounds like a great deal, congrats

 

[Thistle]

GO GO GO

 

[clemsonfor]

Tell him you will take it all for $25 a load and see if you can get him to agree on $30-$35 load for it all. Or offer him $300 cash right then for the 10 loads. Dont say $300 for all of it as you may not get it all, i recommend doing a per load price and try and get him down some, that is not enough wood to sell and not worth thier time, so sounds like you are the only customer.

 

[Jags]

Its worth its weight in gas (or something like that).

Feel free to use one of my favorite sentences..."I'll take them all".

 

[mayhem]

Yup, make room in the yard for 10 dump truck loads now. Great deal.

 

[fespo]

I would go for it and try to get it a little cheaper but don't push to hard.

 

[fossil]

I'd tell the guy to bring me everything he's got at that price. Rick

 

[BobUrban]

Obviously you have your answer but to make it even a little sweeter... if you are as far ahead as you say you can lay two logs down and stack on top keeping most of it out of the dirt and just sit on it until you have the hankerin' to tinker with it now and then. Clean logs delivered that are 1-2 split gems - awesome score.

as a side note - I just spent the last couple hours wrestling some ash that I am getting 12+ splits out of all on my own so I know what your talking about with BIG rounds. Sure makes me appreciate the single and double split gems!!

 

[NH_Wood]

Um......yeah, that's the deal o' the day (week, month.....)! Worse case scenario is you sell the wood later for a profit. Get every last bit! This kind of thing doesn't happen every day, and I'm certain someone else will be asking the same questions! Carpe diem! Cheers!

 

[Butcher]

Just a thought. The job super on that church project may not have any right to be takin money for wood that was tipped over in the demo to clear the lot for the construction of said church. Might be just yankin yer chain for some under the counter beer funds for him and who ever delievers the wood. Might want to go to the church council and see iffn you can go in and swoop it up fer free as they are already payin this guy to get the lot cleared.
But it still sounds like cheap farwood none the less.

 

[fossil]

...swoop it up fer free...

There ya go...just swoop on in there and pick up 15 cords of wood in 8' lengths and take it home. No sweat. %-P Seems to me the felling, limbing, bucking to length, loading and delivering is worth what he's asking for it...so the wood's basically free so far as I'm concerned. Rick

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'd definitely check with the church fathers first. As for the foreman, it never does any harm to see if the price might come down a bit. Some of that will depend upon how far he has to haul the wood. But this one has "good" written all over it. Jump!

 

[Butcher]

...swoop it up fer free...

There ya go...just swoop on in there and pick up 15 cords of wood in 8' lengths and take it home. No sweat. %-P Seems to me the felling, limbing, bucking to length, loading and delivering is worth what he's asking for it...so the wood's basically free so far as I'm concerned. Rick

Well, I wasnt tryin to be a wise guy but i guess in my backwards midwestern way I was just tryin to say that maybe instead of payin 400 bucks to a guy that maybe didnt have any right to sell the wood in the first place he could maybe go through the channels and get it all fer free sept for his time cutting it into loadable pieces which he is going to have to do anyways unless he has a wood stove that take 8 foot pieces of unsplit timber at a time. As a landscape supervisor when I tear out stuff at a residence or a bussiness if someone comes along and wants something and saves me and my men the time and trouble of having to deal with it and handle said refuse more than we have to they can have at it as long as it is done in a decent amount of time and not interfearing with the jobsite or its day to day functuning.
I was just puttin an idea out there. Not tryin to offend.

 

[DexterDay]

Sounds like a great deal!!

I would jump on it ASAP..


Wish deals like that were around here. Most Tree Co. still want $80-$100 a cord (delivered in log form)

 

[BobUrban]

The only issue with going to the elders, pastor, etc... is taking the chance that someone else is burning wood and giving them an idea??? At the price and delivered I would just jump all over it and get it ALL in your yard asap. Posession is 9/10 of the law.

My day job is church insurance - I actually spend my days in and out of churches working with them and insuring their property and liability. I will tell you that decissions are often hard to get from a church because the board of trustees is made up of volunteers and not business execs. Amazing how long a simple decision can take even when it makes perfect sense. As soon as you start poking around and asking questions you open a can of worms and 3 months later the board is still trying to make a decission as to how they can make some money from the wood or one board member has a cousin who burns that may want it, or..... Believe me when I tell you - if the price fits your budget just take it while it is available. Nothing wrong with the contractor making a little side money for his effort. They are limbing, loading and delivering it to your house.

 

[Locust Post]

I have to agree with Bob on this. I am involved in a lot of things at our church. I understand the thinking of checking with the church pastor,church board,etc. but if the church had wanted it they would likely have discussed that with the company they had clearing the site. I would mention the concern to the gentleman that you spoke to and just ask if the church had made mention of anything to do with disposing of the wood or better yet does his agreement or contract state anything.

 

[Wood Duck]

Of course I don't know what deals have been made between the church and the guys doing the work, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the chruch paid the guy to clear the lot and get rid of the wood. Now he has found a way to make some moeny on the disposal side of the deal. I think the $40 price is a nice deal and like others have said probably worth the money. however, since the foreman is probably getting paid to remove the wood maybe there is room to negociate the price. If you are interested in the whole pile maybe discuss a price for the whole amount that is less than $40 per load.

I bet when you collect your own wood you end up spending close to $40 for 1.5 cord just on gas and wear and tear, so this is the same price as free wood.

 

[ohlongarm]

Just an update,some people just won't keep their word after making the deal and getting ready for them to deliver a mere 3 miles from the work site. The foreman makes a deal with somebody who came there with a huge dump and said he's take it all at one time and there's be no need to deliver to me in his dump trailer.So that's what happened,not bothered though my neighbor said last night just call him anytime I need wood hauled and he's send one of his drivers with a Mack dump and haul it for free.Now since my brother in law is part owner of Davey tree one of the worlds largest commercial tree cutting companies and his wood is free to me that's what I'll do, it would be a 14 mile round trip to get a Mack load of hand selected whatever I want wood delivered.My neighbor said bring him a cord of split oak every couple years as repayment,NOT a problem since he's across the street and only burns a fireplace in his 12000 sq foot home around the holidays.Just irks me that people can't keep their word,not bothered though at least 3 + years on hand and more on the way,things have a way of working out.PS I'll use that $400 and put it down on a Glock 27 for off duty carry tomorrow.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Sucks but thems the breaks in this game. Until its on your property, its not a done deal. The further away time and geographically from your property, the more likely it is to fall through.