firewood buisness

[dinomay]

Posted this in the buisness section and didnt get many replies, figured i would try it here...

this has been posted SEVERAL times on the site, i am more of a reader than an active poster. for the last ten years i have always sold a few loads of wood for a little extra fun money, well this year was different. since May, i have cut split and sold 43 cords of wood and i think buy the end of November i will have 50. Doing the math, i have made an extra $1,000 dollars per month for the last 6 months after all my costs (fuel, new saw, new front end for the truck.) I have done this working 1-2 days a week outside of my regular job, the money has been EASY. I practicaly have a part-time firewood buisness already, but i want some feedback on what i would need to transition into a full blown small buisness. there are a few reasons why i think a legit buisness would do well...

1) i am in Eastern Oregon, comercial wood tickets are $10 per cord and you can buy as many as you want to cut on forest service land.

2) a local logging outfit can sell me dry logs (Tamarack, red/white fir, spruce, and pine) for $900 per load, 10-11ish cords per load.

3) and i have acsess to the land to process large quantities of logs once they are delivered.

4) there is only one outfit in the area where i am that does large-scale firewood. I know the market for it is good, i got all my orders from a one month ad in the classifides for $24. The last month or so, i have been turning down orders for more wood.

so there you have it, there are all the reasons why i want to start a legit buisness, it really does seem like it is too good to be true. what are your opinions, am i better off doing what i am doing with my truck, saw and maul?

what are some key pieces of equipment to invest in?

firewood seems very easy to sell here where i live and the market is solid, i would like to here from some guys that are in the firewood buisness, what are the biggest draw-backs and expences?

i have thought of all the positives... having a hard time with the negatives, lay em' on me!

fyi, i sell my wood delivered and split for $190, and in the round for $170 with a delivery fee for out of town drop off's.

 

[haveawoody]

Well one thing I would do is contact all the tree services in your area and let them know you sell firewood.
Tell them your interested in logs and wood from jobs they do and they are more than welcome to drop wood to you should they need to, you are also available to haul wood from jobs if needed.
That should set you into and endless supply of nearly free wood the tree service companies in general have little to no use for.
If they drop in crud wood then it's camp firewood, good wood and it's regular sales wood.

Print up info sheets that go with every load of wood sold.
Contact info on how to re order, cost etc.
Never short anyone and sales will grow, give some free kindle with each order and sales grow faster.

Make face cords of specialty wood, apple, hickory, mulberry etc.
Cooking and smoking wood sells at 1.5 - 2.5 X regular.

Get some general liability insurance.
Accidents happen very fast, and lawyers move very slow.

 

[PLAYINWOOD]

Great advice haveawoody, but to add, dump trailer and wood processor in that order, or hire folks to get it done, you will find all the money is with the customer not in the woods.
Include stacking for 25 more dollars and if you have the traffic, cottagers are great money at 6 or 7 bucks a bundle.

 

[R Walter]

I would add.... first, don't quit your day job! Also, firewood demand is, to a large degree, driven by the cost of fuel for heating, whether it is natural gas, fuel oil, propane or other. Right now in New Mexico natural gas is a very inexpensive source of energy for heating and the price has declined significantly over the last 3 - 4 years. I've seen a corresponding decreased in demand for firewood as a heat source. Of course for many homeowners its all about the esthetics. So it helps to have a well-off clientele.

Don't jump in and start buying a lot of expensive equipment. A new $50,000 dually diesel isn't necessary to cut and sell firewood. And a $40,000 (and up) firewood processor isn't necessary IMO until you start moving 300+ cords. Again, my $0.02.

 

[Circle B MN]

I've been down this road. For a good while I was making bank, perhaps more than my full time job. Then word got out there was money in wood and everybody piled on. After that there was a warm winter then a stormy spring with lots of downed trees. While market conditions do change, please keep in mind that while it is good today it may not be tomorrow. If you enjoy making firewood and can make some money, keep doing it. But the as soon as the mortgage depends on woods sales, the fun stops.

 

[blackdogon57]

If I were you I would try and raise your prices. Right now I'm getting $75 per cord more than the big volume guy in my area. Customers appreciate quality and service and many will pay a premium price. If you really made $6000 profit on $9200 worth of sales you are doing well.

 

[dinomay]

nice, thanks for the input. honestly, up until this year i had no clue people made a living selling firewood. i just really needed the money this year with the second kid being born. as of now, this spring i am going to aim more at the bundles for the local gas stations and grocery stores, there is a guy in town that owns a deli he sold my bundles for me and the return was awesome, lot of work though. anybody do a lot of bundle buisness?

 

[Circle B MN]

Bundles are nice, but every time you touch the product you are losing money. I'd go for bulk sales with minimal handling myself.......your mileage may vary....

 

[Locust Cutter]

Time is the biggest killer financially as there's only 6-10 good hours in a day for productive wood work. A few good saws, a decent/capable vehicle and trailer (dump would be best) and a darn good splitter would be tops on my list. I'm working on upgrading the truck/trailer aspect of my operation currently. The it will be a Super Split and a Skid-steer with a grapple bucket and a tree-shear.