You've got it just about right, but in a little bit of a round about way. It costs so much to log, depending on the system (cable skidder/knuckleboom, or FB/Grappleskidder, CTL, or some modified system- whatever) Certain basic stand parameters also effect how much it costs to log- skid distance,, size of timber, type of cut (in this case clearcut, so pretty high up there on productivity). So you cruise the timber, figure volume out, estimate gate wood value per mbf. You negotiate a dollar/mbf rate with the logger, cause it don't matter the value to the logger cause loggers get paid (or should) by volume, not value- cause they didn't (in most cases!) grow and manage the timber, hold the investment over those years, etc. So anyhow, now you know how much value there is out there, what it will cost to get it to the landing, you can right quick figure out your haul bill per mbf. Then, you got to fit yourself in there if you so choose to snatch a percentage, this number all adds up to what you can offer lump sum. And hope it works out for you. Funny thing is, it works out to about 50/50, depending on the timber. There are other ways you can do this honestly and do yourself and the landowner right without putting yourself on the line so much.