How do u charge for spliiting wood

[treebutler]

I dropped two oaks 20" in diameter approximatly 50' length. Already been paid for that, now customer wants me to split it and is supplying the splitter.. I cut it into 18" lengths. not sure how to charge. He might not want all of it so I think I need to charge by the man hour. Not sure what the going rate for something like that is. This is in Chattanooga, TN. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[76mark]

I do $50/hr with my splitter. I've also seen rates of $75-100/hr for 2 workers and splitter. I always charge hourly for splitting with a 2 hour minimum.

 

[zogger]

I dropped two oaks 20" in diameter approximatly 50' length. Already been paid for that, now customer wants me to split it and is supplying the splitter.. I cut it into 18" lengths. not sure how to charge. He might not want all of it so I think I need to charge by the man hour. Not sure what the going rate for something like that is. This is in Chattanooga, TN. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

That isn't that much wood, shouldn't take you very long with a power splitter. Maybe like $20 bucks or something like that, whatever. Don't know what you need to make to make it worth your time, but I know if it was close by, a short drive I mean, under a gallon fuel both ways, I'd bust it up for someone for 20 bucks.

If you lived in one of the more completely ridiculous expensive places to live in this nation, it would be five times that or something, so it just depends. I live not that far from you and know for a fact I could hire that much wood split for 20 dollars. Heck, I was checking out more on the craigslist ads and found cut split and stacked down to a hundred a cord even!

The economy is not doing real well, not around here it ain't, another big factory shut down a few weeks ago, or will, another thousand dudes out on the street looking for *any* income they can scrounge up.

I know there are any number of guys here who would say something like "I ain't even gettin outta bed for less than blah blah many hundreds of dollars a day"..well, that ain't everyplace and once you don't have a job that tune changes fast, as soon as the savings run out and you pass the one hundreth resume submission with not even a tire kicker second interview.

I have a crap job. I am keeping it. It is better than having no job. Guys stop here all the time asking me if my boss is hiring, happens almost daily, and all he has is crap paying jobs. Other guys stop by want "free" scrap steel or anything made from metal. I see families, I am not kidding, families, with like mom driving some vehicle, and dad and kids spread out on the sides of the road scrounging cans.

A recession is when you are reading about the economy and going "tsk tsk", a depression is when you are living in this economy with no income.

Take what you can get and be happy with it, if you got the spare time and energy.

 

[Wood Doctor]

$50 an Hour?

For splitting firewood? Are you kidding me? $50 an hour?

I'm in shock.

 

[Tazfreak]

I dropped two oaks 20" in diameter approximatly 50' length. Already been paid for that, now customer wants me to split it and is supplying the splitter.. I cut it into 18" lengths. not sure how to charge. He might not want all of it so I think I need to charge by the man hour. Not sure what the going rate for something like that is. This is in Chattanooga, TN. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

here in aus, 35$ /hour to cut, 50$ per hour to split ,stacking 35$ per hour.min charge 2 hours plus travel.split ironbark,. a premium hardwood sells for around 185$ per m3 delivered.common hardwood sells for 100$ per m3, min 2 m3 delivered.20kg bags w/sale 6$,retail15$ min 20. there are woodcutters and then there,s real woodcutters,don,t sell yourself short.

 

[SierraWoodsman]

Log Splitting Charge.

We'll since he's supplying the equipment I think I would do it for $25.00-30.00/Hr. It's a Different story when it is your splitter, and your responsible for the Maintenence on the machine. I Charge $50.00/first hour-(cover your fuel costs), and $40.00 each additional hour after that Up to 3-hours. That about as low as I would ever go, and at that rate there is not much profit in it. Don't know about you guys, but after 4 hours of busting hump on a fast splitter, I am pretty much wore-out!. In fact thats what I did today! Whew!... Mabye I am just getting old.

 

[Circle B MN]

For splitting firewood? Are you kidding me? $50 an hour?

I'm in shock.

For man and machine..? I was gonna say $40. You have to take in account wear on the machine, wear on the man, transport of the machine. Zogger, if you want to haul a splitter up here and run it on my pile for $20 an hour, you're hired....

 

[shane438]

That isn't that much wood, shouldn't take you very long with a power splitter. Maybe like $20 bucks or something like that, whatever. Don't know what you need to make to make it worth your time, but I know if it was close by, a short drive I mean, under a gallon fuel both ways, I'd bust it up for someone for 20 bucks.

If you lived in one of the more completely ridiculous expensive places to live in this nation, it would be five times that or something, so it just depends. I live not that far from you and know for a fact I could hire that much wood split for 20 dollars. Heck, I was checking out more on the craigslist ads and found cut split and stacked down to a hundred a cord even!

The economy is not doing real well, not around here it ain't, another big factory shut down a few weeks ago, or will, another thousand dudes out on the street looking for *any* income they can scrounge up.

I know there are any number of guys here who would say something like "I ain't even gettin outta bed for less than blah blah many hundreds of dollars a day"..well, that ain't everyplace and once you don't have a job that tune changes fast, as soon as the savings run out and you pass the one hundreth resume submission with not even a tire kicker second interview.

I have a crap job. I am keeping it. It is better than having no job. Guys stop here all the time asking me if my boss is hiring, happens almost daily, and all he has is crap paying jobs. Other guys stop by want "free" scrap steel or anything made from metal. I see families, I am not kidding, families, with like mom driving some vehicle, and dad and kids spread out on the sides of the road scrounging cans.

A recession is when you are reading about the economy and going "tsk tsk", a depression is when you are living in this economy with no income.

Take what you can get and be happy with it, if you got the spare time and energy.

Under a gallon of fuel means $3.25 out of your pocket which make it $16.25 in your pocket. Two 50' logs that are 20" diameter and cut to 18" means you are gonna be bustin approx 67 chunks which is a bunch of wood. I say since Zogger is so cheap, you charge the guy a flat $75 and sub it to Zogger for the $20 bucks he'd do it for. Hell I'd even give him an extra $10 for gas and you both are happy then.

 

[zogger]

For man and machine..? I was gonna say $40. You have to take in account wear on the machine, wear on the man, transport of the machine. Zogger, if you want to haul a splitter up here and run it on my pile for $20 an hour, you're hired....

He was saying the *homeowner* would supply the splitter, not that he had to provide his own splitter, BIG diff there. And, by my math, at the most, that's 67 chunks to bust up, just ain't gonna take that long, two hours maybe? Hour and a half?

Around here, if it was your splitter, you would have no problem getting guys to run it for ten an hour, let alone 20. Their splitter, don't know, your splitter just show up with your hands and go to work....line out the door folks looking for a paycheck.

Different areas of the nation are having different economic realities, one size does not fit all situations or areas. Heck, look on the market report threads, what firewood goes for in different areas, there's a fair "split" there, pun intended. Some areas are relatively unaffected by the economic downturn-yet-other areas are getting to great depression levels of unemployment, folks on food stamps now, etc, homeless people, all of that. If that isn't the case in anyone "you"s area, swell, nice to still have old fashioned healthy middle class mericka, other areas are being strangled, wiped out slow and steady. Wages drop then, and more dudes looking for work at any level.

Got some friends of mine forced by health and age issues to buy their wood this year..they live way out in teh boonies in WV..they got cut/split/delivered/stacked for 90 a cord! Not no about face half a pulp load truck ricked and ranked loggers cord, a full cord. Why? They live in an economically distressed area, tons of guys desperate to make a buck, so they got wood, they sell wood, at whatever they can get. How much they making an hour?? Irrelevant in their situation, they are making *something*.

Coming soon to the rest of the nation around you, just give it some more time, you'll see.

 

[Circle B MN]

He was saying the *homeowner* would supply the splitter, not that he had to provide his own splitter, BIG diff there. And, by my math, at the most, that's 67 chunks to bust up, just ain't gonna take that long, two hours maybe? Hour and a half?

Around here, if it was your splitter, you would have no problem getting guys to run it for ten an hour, let alone 20. Their splitter, don't know, your splitter just show up with your hands and go to work....line out the door folks looking for a paycheck.

Different areas of the nation are having different economic realities, one size does not fit all situations or areas. Heck, look on the market report threads, what firewood goes for in different areas, there's a fair "split" there, pun intended. Some areas are relatively unaffected by the economic downturn-yet-other areas are getting to great depression levels of unemployment, folks on food stamps now, etc, homeless people, all of that. If that isn't the case in anyone "you"s area, swell, nice to still have old fashioned healthy middle class mericka, other areas are being strangled, wiped out slow and steady. Wages drop then, and more dudes looking for work at any level.

Got some friends of mine forced by health and age issues to buy their wood this year..they live way out in teh boonies in WV..they got cut/split/delivered/stacked for 90 a cord! Not no about face half a pulp load truck ricked and ranked loggers cord, a full cord. Why? They live in an economically distressed area, tons of guys desperate to make a buck, so they got wood, they sell wood, at whatever they can get. How much they making an hour?? Irrelevant in their situation, they are making *something*.

Coming soon to the rest of the nation around you, just give it some more time, you'll see.

I was raised in Virginia and have lived in the Carolinas, and know well the difference in wage between there and here. At the same time, the machine costs the same, the fuel is similiar, and making *something* and just passing dollars sounds a whole lot a like. Markets are definetly getting better regardless of what you may see on the evening news. Seems to me as if the only people in trouble are the ones that put themselves in a bad place to begin with.

 

[JRepairsK70e]

with their equipment and gas i would charge 25.00 an hour for the 1st man 15.00 an hour for a helper and a 2 hour min if it looks like more than a cord yield and would schedule the work on a day when we arent doing full pay work

 

[treebutler]

We'll since he's supplying the equipment I think I would do it for $25.00-30.00/Hr. It's a Different story when it is your splitter, and your responsible for the Maintenence on the machine. I Charge $50.00/first hour-(cover your fuel costs), and $40.00 each additional hour after that Up to 3-hours. That about as low as I would ever go, and at that rate there is not much profit in it. Don't know about you guys, but after 4 hours of busting hump on a fast splitter, I am pretty much wore-out!. In fact thats what I did today! Whew!... Mabye I am just getting old.

THANKS TO ALL WHO REPLIED.....VERY HELPFUL
We're all getting old. )) Thanks for the input. This site is great. BTW, now customer is saying he might not want it all, and I'll have to haul away whatever he doesnt want. Even though our contract was to leave all logs haul all brush. His pockets are deep so he's always right, I just have to charge accordingly. :msp_unsure: Just glad to be workin........

 

[76mark]

For splitting firewood? Are you kidding me? $50 an hour?

I'm in shock.

Dead serious. They'll pay $50/hr and I have plenty of work to keep me busy between tree jobs. I average a between 1/2 & full cord of split wood from a down tree in 2 hours, so worst case they're paying my normal price for split wood delivered. Typically they get much more wood and they get that tree that's laying in their yard cut up.

 

[woodguy105]

Wow not willing to work for $25-$30 an hour?

Surprised that so many are not willing to make some easy cash using someonelses splitter and fuel. I'd be happy to split for a few hours for $25 bucks an hour...do it @ home and enjoy it...get paid to do it, no problem. JMHO

 

[BrokenToys]

Keep in mind too that using someone elses' equipment when you're all done the person doesn't come up with "hey the rod is bent what happened to my splitter" or "it didn't run like that before why is it leaking"...
Around where I live - I rarely touch anyone elses' machinery..had friends with some really crappy stories where their "100 bucks a day-just use my equipment" ended up cosing them 5x that if not more using "questionable" machinery.
Don't trust anyone or anything. Have the homeowner go over, run, show you how to operate the machine, let him/her process one or two to see the machine running..than go from there.

Back on topic; I charge $40 dollars an hour to split/stack wood though for people. With my equipment and if people have their own I offer to help them but will not take sole responsibility for the machine whatsoever. Plus; if that machine injures you while working...well, than what? They going to pay your doctor bills and recoup your loss of work the next few months and (hopefully never happen) loss of this kind of work the rest of your life?

Seriously. Using other people's tools is sketchy. You know how you keep your own equipment. Are they up to your standards?

 

[woodguy105]

They live in an economically distressed area, tons of guys desperate to make a buck, so they got wood, they sell wood, at whatever they can get. How much they making an hour?? Irrelevant in their situation, they are making *something*.

Coming soon to the rest of the nation around you, just give it some more time, you'll see.

+1

 

[zogger]

I was raised in Virginia and have lived in the Carolinas, and know well the difference in wage between there and here. At the same time, the machine costs the same, the fuel is similiar, and making *something* and just passing dollars sounds a whole lot a like. Markets are definetly getting better regardless of what you may see on the evening news. Seems to me as if the only people in trouble are the ones that put themselves in a bad place to begin with.

Ten million plus jobs poofed away in the last decade or so. How is that someone putting themselves in a bad place?

And yes you are correct, equipment and fuel costs are the same all over, just if you get increasing competition locally for the same work it tends to drive wages down, that's stock capitalism at work. Less competition and demand rises, wages go up.

Adjusted for inflation, very broadly speaking, the US middle class has flatlined since the 70s. No real gains to speak of, just more debt. And if you go back to the 60s or 50s, it has dropped. What used to take one normal middle class wage to support, say a small family, now takes both parents working in a lot of cases to hit some sort of equivalent.

You can't wipe out huge swathes of a nation's wealth producing manufacturing jobs by offshoring, with adding an additional wage dropping influx of millions of people who will compete for what remains of service jobs, and not have a severe negative overall economic impact. They can try and make it look rosier with accounting tricks, but down where the rubber meets the road, it has gotten worse overall, very generally speaking.

 

[treebutler]

Forgot to mention...

The homeowner is renting the splitter from the Home Depot. Also I carry a $1,000,000 insurance policy on myself. I hear what your sayin though. Now is that $40/hr just you or does that include you and a helper?

Keep in mind too that using someone elses' equipment when you're all done the person doesn't come up with "hey the rod is bent what happened to my splitter" or "it didn't run like that before why is it leaking"...
Around where I live - I rarely touch anyone elses' machinery..had friends with some really crappy stories where their "100 bucks a day-just use my equipment" ended up cosing them 5x that if not more using "questionable" machinery.
Don't trust anyone or anything. Have the homeowner go over, run, show you how to operate the machine, let him/her process one or two to see the machine running..than go from there.

Back on topic; I charge $40 dollars an hour to split/stack wood though for people. With my equipment and if people have their own I offer to help them but will not take sole responsibility for the machine whatsoever. Plus; if that machine injures you while working...well, than what? They going to pay your doctor bills and recoup your loss of work the next few months and (hopefully never happen) loss of this kind of work the rest of your life?

Seriously. Using other people's tools is sketchy. You know how you keep your own equipment. Are they up to your standards?

 

[Hddnis]

Running a machine he rented makes it a whole different game, I'd do that. If it was a machine he owned I would have to be paid as an employee, as in all the proper forms, payroll tax withheld, etc.

I worked for an old lady once that had plenty of money. Owned a huge farm turning a good profit on some of the biggest money crops of the day. She wanted a huge hedge ripped out and I gave her a price that included our machines being hauled in. She didn't want to pay it and said "You can use my tractors, I have a whole shed full of them." So I said "Ok, I'll use the tractor with the tooth bucket on it." We set up what day I'd show up. When I got there the tractor had a wimpy brush carrier set up on it. I told her that it would not hold up, but she insisted that her foreman said that was what we needed and she wouldn't let us change back to the bucket. Needles to say, it took us longer than it should have because we were being careful and we still bent one of the points. She told me it was no problem and "You told me that could happen, I'll just have my guy fix it." A few days later I get a call from the metal shop saying "Mrs. X said you were going to pay for this repair we just did."

Now the metal shop was one I used and he was in a tough spot, having been told I would pay for the work, so I just paid for the repair and tried to collect from the lady. She refused, saying her foreman said we had abused the equipment. I told her that her foreman was not a party to our contract, that she had signed, that said we were not liable for damage to her equipment. She still refused. I ate it on that job and have refused to run another persons machine since then, just not worth the potential trouble. After that she would bad mouth us to people saying we were not honest, even though I didn't make a dime on her job, and it didn't cost her a cent over the contract amount, and the metal shop had rebuilt the whole brush carrier better than it was when we used it, on my dime. Everyone around told me privately that they didn't believe her because she was just that way, but that didn't make me any money on the job.

Sorry to vent a little maybe, I hope it illustrates the potential pitfalls. But in the end I guess it was more than lady involved that made it a bad situation.



Mr. HE

 

[Wood Doctor]

Do the math:

$50/hr x 2080 hr/yr = $104,000 annual wage

To me, that's good business, even if I have to spend $2,000 for the splitter, $2,000 for fluids to run it, and another $2,000 for gas to get to the worksite and back home. Of course, if I only work 20 hours a week and sleep the rest, I may have to reconsider.