Buying trees for firewood

[pafire]

Hey guys I have a question for the pro’s. I have a neighbor that has some dead and standing trees that he wants to sell for firewood. I was wondering how I should go about buying them from him. I will be cutting them for firewood for myself. I was leaning more towards cutting on the half. If he supplies the trees I do all the cutting to which he gets half and I get half. We both burn wood to heat our homes.

 

[chucker]

on them there thoughts, you just lost!! your neighbor has nothing to lose with you doing all the work and haveing all the tools to do the work !! he has all the reasons to let you do this and its a win/win situation for him!! if i were to do this it would be 3 for 1 ratio and maybe the neighbor buying the mix/gas and chain/s...

 

[zogger]

I'd look around more

Half and half is too good a deal for him, unless it is so darn close you don't mind. Firewood is essentially free, it is your labor and wear and tear on materials expense that makes it valuable.


There are BILLIONS of standing dead trees out there you can get for free or darn close to it, heck, you can get paid to clean them out and haul them away. I know I have gotten paid to do clearing, and I also had the tree service guys just come and drop off logs and branches, sometimes they just want someplace to dispose of wood. Or contact the city maintenance guys see where they are clearing, maybe you can get free there.

I'd look around for free for the cutting and hauling first, or offer some token five or ten bucks a cord if it is real close by and you think that makes it worthwhile. Half and half..no way, too much work to give away. Unless he helps with all the work, so he gets his wood and you get yours, and uses all his own gear and truck, or unless he is real elderly/invalid, etc and you are just being neighborly and you want to do it "just because".

Been a long time since I drove through PA, but what I remember is wall to wall mountains and *trees*, so there's got to be a better deal than that near you someplace.

 

[mga]

Hey guys I have a question for the pro’s. I have a neighbor that has some dead and standing trees that he wants to sell for firewood. I was wondering how I should go about buying them from him. I will be cutting them for firewood for myself. I was leaning more towards cutting on the half. If he supplies the trees I do all the cutting to which he gets half and I get half. We both burn wood to heat our homes.

doesn't sound like a good deal either way.

dropping and cutting trees, even dead ones, is hard work and dead trees are more dangerous.

you're going to pay him to break your balls for a day? or, you're going to work all day then give him half?

look around..there is plenty of free wood available.

 

[TMFARM 2009]

he's taking ya man!
there is no dollar value in dead standing trees..its the end product that gives value....
i wouldn't buy them,a three to one split is pushing it.. it is very dangerous dropping dead trees, be careful, you can lose a lot of money on free wood...then its not free anymore!
good luck on what ever you decide...

 

[Gologit]

75/25 is a better deal...since you're providing the tools and the labor. If he's a landowner who knows anything at all he'll probably see that as fair.

Either that or ask him exactly how many cords he wants, figure whats left, and take all the rest for yourself if it pencils out.

 

[indiansprings]

All the posters are dead on, I would not touch it for 50/50. I would not touch it for less than 5 cords for me 1 cord for him. The piece of property we are on currently we are getting all the wood we can get on a one ton flatbed for five dollars, it prolly averages 1.5 cords per load. We pile all the limbs.

 

[lfnh]

Maybe think about writing down on paper for both you and the neighbor which trees are take trees and marking paint color.
Stripe at dbh and spot on root wad.

Knowing property boundaries is a good thing also.


fwiw

 

[AIM]

1/2 and 1/2 is way to generous. 1-4 or 1-5 would be the best I'd do unless wood is scarce in your parts.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

First question

Who handles the brush and clean up? Piling and chipping brush and raking up the debris can add at least 50% to the time required to do the job. Do not even consider starting this job until this issue is clearly agreed upon by both of you.

Stumpage rates vary by area, around here $30 per cord is an average going price. If it were me, and I wanted the wood, I'd offer him $25 per cord. Since you don't have to transport it to him charge him $125 per cord or as others have said a 5 to 1 ratio.

Take Care

 

[Streblerm]

the only way I would pay for firewood is if it was delivered and dumped right in my yard. As others have said, the "cost" of firewood is mostly in the labor and tools to process it and season it.

If your friend were to pay somebody to take the trees down, that cost would far outweigh the value of the firewood. I have a relationship with a local tree service where they drop wood off at my house rather than paying to drop it at the dump. If time allows I will go to the site and pick it up I make sure to give them a few bucks and a cold beer when they bring wood to me

I paid for some slabwood recently, $25 for a 1/2-2/3cord bundle dumped right next to my woodpile. All it needs is cut, not split.

None of these arrangements require me to cut trees down (sometimes I do cut them into smaller pieces), deal with any brush, or have any real danger of personal or property damage.

The only way I would split wood half and half is if somebody was working with me and doing half the work. Dead standing trees are a liability not an asset. unprocessed firewood is worth less than $50 a cord to me and that is only if I don't have to go and fetch it.

 

[Mike PA]

If you are buying from him, consider $10/ cord, at least as a start point. Probably wouldn't go over $20/ cord. Not a lot of money in it for the landowner who isn't willing to do the work.

If you split the wood with him, don't worry too much what everyone here says. If you think it is fair and you are happy with it, then do 50/50. For me, I would not split it 50/50 with someone who is not helping. If you can drive onto his property from yours and you simply have to throw the wood off at his place, then a 2:1 ratio seems fair, for the convenience and access. Having access to wood close by is very convenient and saves a lot of wear on a vehicle and your time.

 

[Pulp Friction]

Hey guys I have a question for the pro’s. I have a neighbor that has some dead and standing trees that he wants to sell for firewood. I was wondering how I should go about buying them from him. I will be cutting them for firewood for myself. I was leaning more towards cutting on the half. If he supplies the trees I do all the cutting to which he gets half and I get half. We both burn wood to heat our homes.

I have on rare occassion given one third of what I cut to the landowner and that is still way too much. Imagine your 50/50 arrangement and you've worked for 2 solid days for your share, and then you have to work for two full days for him with nothing coming home with you. It's like paying with hard work to just wear out equipment. Even your share will be too much work with the limbs that a homeowner will most likely want removed or just moved from the felling location. Trust me, you will quickly grow to regret the arrangement, especially if you start cutting up your share of the dead trees and find that you got into a lot of rot and you left him better stuff. Live trees puts a slightly different spin on things, but not much. At least work out that he moves all of the brush for your wear and tear on the equipment.

 

[Dalmatian90]

Other posters have said it pretty well.

If standing trees are going for around $30/cord like they are here, it might be worth $50/cord since the neighbor is a) close and b) you'd like to keep him happy.

Figure my area you can buy green, split wood for $185 if you spin a dead cat...maybe you start with you figure green, split is worth $185 in your area, rounding it off a bit you're willing to either pay $50 cash per cord, or give him 1 cord split for every three you take? (Again, that's the good neighbor price, not the generic someone has wood to cut price).

There is a small premium that it's worth paying more for trees next door then less and have to drive 10 miles every time you want to cut wood.

The 50/50 deal would be OK if it's just dropped and blocked. But if he's looking to sell, he might not be interested in doing the brush, haul, and split himself.

 

[Junkrunner]

If they ain't close to a house or powerlines. Tell him to pay you, a hundred bucks a tree. Drop, pile the brush and remove the tree!!

Then sell it back to him!:hmm3grin2orange: