There's no money in selling firewood

[dhamblet]

Buy the saw, buy another as backup, repair saw, replace chain and bar, furnish truck to beat the crap outa, repair truck as necessary, gas and oil for truck and saw, buy wedges, mauls, sledges etc etc. Have tractor to drag logs out of the woods. Then furnish a place to stack and store wood while it drys. Then there's the labor, cut the wood, split the wood, haul it in and stack it, and cover it then when dry, load it up, haul it and unload it. Pay for insurance and property taxes. Bear in mind the unemployed guy down the street needs money so he's out cutting and selling firewood, undercutting your prices. Then your supposed to keep track of your sales and pay the state its share of sales taxes and timber taxes. All this and just hope you don't have an accident and get hurt.

I own 20 acres of alder, ash, maple, fir (which I rarely cut), and hemlock right in my backyard. Dry wood around here goes for around $165/cord in the summer to around $200 in the winter. I cut and split (by hand) around 10 cords a year. I sell 4 or 5 cords but I think I'd be better off paying my customers to buy their wood elsewhere.

If I didn't simply like cutting wood and enjoy the exercise (its cheaper than Golds Gym) I wouldn't do it. Unfortunately I'm hard headed. How the heck do you guys make any money cutting and selling firewood???? My hats off to ya.

Denny
'72 Chevy, 4wd 3/4t truck (beater)
stihl 031
stihl 032
Kubota L2900

 

[willt1981]

took a load to a guy today whose son was there to direct me where to put it and pay me at the end. stoner was an understatement for this kid. one of the first things he said was "i bet you make a killing doing this! all you need is a saw and a truck." right...

 

[biggenius29]

If I didn't simply like cutting wood and enjoy the exercise (its cheaper than Golds Gym) I wouldn't do it. Unfortunately I'm hard headed. How the heck do you guys make any money cutting and selling firewood???? My hats off to ya.

Denny
'72 Chevy, 4wd 3/4t truck (beater)
stihl 031
stihl 032
Kubota L2900

How you make money, you sell it for cash. B Hussien Obama takes enough of our money (unless you live in the hood, they get my money)

I am finding alot of people like working for cash, and like paying cash.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Know how to put away $1 million selling firewood?

Start with $2 million.

 

[Nailsbeats]

I always tell people that ask that you won't get rich selling firewood.

 

[rancher2]

Your right this is why I don't sell fire wood any more. If I didn't have pasture to be cleaned up I wouldn't cut wood at all but we do and I always need more excerise the doctor says. It is sure nice to have the house a 75 degrees and the shop a 70 degrees so I keep cutting wood for me.

 

[blackdogon57]

Volume - To make serious money you need to sell hundreds of cords per year if not over a thousand.

 

[Hoover]

Know how to put away $1 million selling firewood?

Start with $2 million.
__________________
Doctor Ed

:agree2:

 

[flotek]

as long as billy down the road cant find work and is selling truck loads of split hardwood for 40 bucks it will forever remain a labor of love and not profit

 

[dhamblet]

Splitting by hand?
Is your truck human powered, too?

FWIW I have looked at power splitters and could afford one if I wanted it but wheres the fun in that. Plus they appear to be almost as much work getting the rounds onto the splitter as simply swinging a maul. I'd bet I could outsplit a power splitter with my splitting maul. after all most of my wood is alder although right now I'm working on some 4 foot daimeter fir rounds between 14" and 20" thick. its all good

 

[Freyboy23]

Dont know about you guys but I am making money on selling Firewood.

 

[dhamblet]

How you make money, you sell it for cash. B Hussien Obama takes enough of our money (unless you live in the hood, they get my money)

I am finding alot of people like working for cash, and like paying cash.

Truth be told, thats the only way I'll sell it. Wife (CPA) is always spazzed out worried that the revenuers will find my ads on Craigslist and catch me.

I'm Joking -- of course I pay all my taxes just in case you're reading this. Fact is I'm getting taxed right into the poorhouse. Last year I cut, limbed, bucked up and decked three log truck loads of Alder and had it hauled to the mill. I thought I had made a little bit of spending money for our snowbird trip to Arizona till my wife (the CPA) figured up the taxes. Crap, I musta been working for about 2 bux an hour playing logger but it was fun. Loggers, my hats off to you too.

 

[Walt41]

Focus on quality and find customers who will pay cash for it. Right now I am working on some red oak and maple for next year, all the perfect 16" no knot pieces go for sale in perfectly stacked lots, all the mongrels go to me for burning. I will be the highest priced guy next season but predict a sellout. Gotta have a "wow factor" if anyone is going to buy your stuff around here IMO

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Volume - To make serious money you need to sell hundreds of cords per year if not over a thousand.

Bingo.

I did the math on this a few years ago. It's beer money at best, unless you go big time.

 

[wkpoor]

My neigbhor says (before he retired) he would rather work a couple of hours overtime and buy his wood than go after it himself. Now he does it for exercise and maybe a little extra in the pocket.

 

[l2edneck]

We are F'N slammin!!!!!! im sellin assloads by the truck load for 20$ a fat wheel barrell....!!!!!In central Florida!!!!!!

We load the F800 with almost a 20yard box a day and sell out right at dark.
Screw deliverin.My boss got a hunny hole at a church where the pastor said Yes please id appreciate it on a HEAVILY traveled road.And wont let anybody else park there.Granted we aint makin a killin but im workin 7 days a week since week b4 christmas.

Runnin a hydro and a super splitter....

Takes me all day with big saws and a bobcat to fill the truck!!!!We had to do some tree work for 3 days and now i been behind still slingin'........!

Boss' woodpile took a lick boy....95% oak very little junk but all WELL seasoned.Was 25' high 25' wide by atleast 80' long!!!!! GONE 2 WEEKS!!!!!

^^^^^^junk to the left,pile o slash pine to the right,whats left of the oak in the middle. Seasoned all of it!!!!!Keeps cold here we will have to change the signs to PINE fire wood 20$ a wheelbarrel and that s*it splits quick and straight....Prolly 10 trucks of oak and 30 of pine left as of today.

Yes sir I'd have to say been a stellar firewood season.....

TRUCKLOAD

Greatest Woman in the world bringin my crew lunch,drinks,cigs....whatever they need,then preparing em all plates....

So yea,there aint no money in firewood,lotta work,touch it 100 times,bend over all day etcetcetc.....

But ya know what?

Its money when my phone is dead...better learn how to do it better so you can enjoy it.

-Nick

 

[BuddhaKat]

The only way to make money selling firewood is volume. It's all about volume. When you go out in the woods to cut, you have to bring back a bunch of wood each day.

When you're splitting you need to be able to split a bunch of wood per day.

When you sell, you need to sell a bunch of wood every day.

You need to decide just how much a bunch is.

I have a small operation. Two saws, a 16' flatbed dump truck, and two helpers @ $7.50 hr. I do 100% of the cutting. Where I cut is about a 180 mi. round trip from my yard and the truck only gets 5 mpg. Gas is currently setting me back about $100 per day. I don't pay for travel time. The rule is 4 cords per day. We don't leave till there's 4 cords on the truck, period. Some days we're done in 5 or 6 hours, some days we're working 8 or 10.

It takes the two guys all day to split the bounty. On average, I've got about 32 man hours to put 4 split cords on the ground. Loading takes them about ½ hr per cord. So, I've got an average of 34 man hours @ $7.50 hr.= $255 in wages. + $100 for fuel and $60 for the USFS permits. Then gas and oil for the saw, I figure about $20. Grand total costs = $435. On average, I sell a cord for $180 × 4 = $720. Leaving me $285. Not bad for a day, but it sucks for a week.

 

[blackdiesel]

im by no means in it big time. just a couple hundred cords a year. if i could be in standing timber that i could cut at the stump instead of having to push with a dozer i could make good time and fall, cut, load, and deliver a cord in 2.5 hours. 170 a cord so thats $68 bucks an hour.

take out 8 gallons of diesel fuel (~$20) equipment payment ($600 a month) wear and tear/repair bills, insurance (have to have over a million dollars of coverage to drive on BCL's property, ~$2000 a year), price of logs (anywhere from $15-$90 bucks a cord, depending on how its purchased)

so that comes out to roughly either $100 a cord if the wood is bought on the stump, or $10 a cord if the wood is bought and trucked in on bunk trailers. Which is either $40 an hour or $4 an hour respectivly

Which brings me to my current dilemma... i cannot find standing timber close to purchase. which means in order to cut wood, ill need to buy land. i average around 10 cords per acre, and land around here sells for 1000-2000 dollars an acre. Of course, in theory, you should be able to resell the land and re coupe your investment.... but that will require you to either push the timber with a bulldozer or buy a large stump grinder and make a day of it. (more like months of it)


Your right, there is zero money in cutting firewood. even in large quantities. This is ridiculous.... anyone need to buy a processor????

 

[forcedintoit]

I have a guy down the road here that cuts wood to sell, the real kicker is he only sells enough to buy propane for his heat!!!!:bang:

 

[des170stihl]

Just Business

The business of selling firewood is like any other business. It,s the way you run it. I sell the wood that I can,t use. And I make very good money doing so.