How much to charge for a cord?

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

NCPT

Love my saws
Joined
Jan 31, 2018
Messages
522
Reaction score
931
Location
NC
I've got so much wood split that I'm thinking of selling to a few people who have asked me about it.

My ton truck will haul a full cord with my sideboards attached (I checked the dimensions with an online firewood calculator to be sure).

It is 100% oak and I will deliver and stack it. I'm curious what others are paying or charging and what is your location?

Thanks

This is my woodlot at the moment. Those pine logs are just for burning in the burn pile....I like to keep a little fire burning while I'm home, seems to help with the horse flies and skeeters.
20190630_140410.jpg
 
Be sure to detail exactly what is involved in "stacking". Have seen some pretty lofty expectations from some buyers..."stack it around back under the deck down the hill, feel free to use the stairs in the garage."
This.^^^^^

Save your back,dont stack. I gave up delivery years ago. All the wood I sell is customer pickup. Charging $200-240 per cord. Must work because i sell out most years. Like lonewolf said it sells better when it gets colder so if you don't have to sell wait till later in the winter when it is colder and people need dry wood. you will be able to get top dollar. Good luck.
 
This.^^^^^

Save your back,dont stack. I gave up delivery years ago. All the wood I sell is customer pickup. Charging $200-240 per cord. Must work because i sell out most years. Like lonewolf said it sells better when it gets colder so if you don't have to sell wait till later in the winter when it is colder and people need dry wood. you will be able to get top dollar. Good luck.
Yes save your back at any cost. Ask me how I know?
 
Dunno about NC, but here in OR it depends on wood species, if and how long its been seasoned, split size and time of year. For high quality oak, madrone and apple hardwood, they get up to $400 a cord delivered. Then for good larch and doug fir, they get up to $300 a cord delivered. This time of year they give discounts. Right now you can get a good cord of well seasoned split wood delivered for between $200-250. Or you can pay the gougers $400. I get mine free from arborists, but I haul, split and season it myself.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was planning to sale during the fall/winter. I got a hickory down about 2 miles away, landowner said I could have it all if I wanted but mid 90's all week!
 
You didn't say if it was seasoned or not. I sell full cords of seasoned oak for $350 delivered. Face cords for $150 delivered. I'd probably go down to $300 for friends, but not less than that. Also, I have no interest in stacking it. I just toss it into a pile.

A cord fits nicely in an 8' bed with sideboards. I stack a row in the front against the cab and one against the tailgate. The rest is tossed on. I put about as much as I can physically fit in there and it's just about right at a cord. Better have good springs and tires though for oak!
 
Nice looking pile of NCPT. You should understand that that every area is different with their own sets of challenges. I would love to have the amount of flat space that you have. A number of years ago I hauled wood to a guy in Newport Beach that stacked his wood an easy 50' high to utilize every square foot he had. We however do not have lush green foliage that is pictured no we have California which is quite different. By my self it would be no problem to blow through your pile of wood in a few days. I would easily have 200 to 300 cords piled in your area quick. Most important for any body is to get paid for the work one does. Otherwise there will not be money for replacing chains and buying fuel etc. Generally people will pay more for a product that they need and want when it is literally freezing outside. So when you sell it must be when it is for your advantage not the customer. Bargain hunters usually call in the summer when they think they can get a steal. My plan has always been to call the regular customers during the summer before stacking and putting the wood away. My thinking was get as many people taken care of before winter hits so I have time for those who call the last minute. Many times people act like they do not want to be bothered or so many times folks will tell me that have no place to put the wood. There are those who say they do not want to see the wood until November and the most amount of space they have is for a half a cord. All of those issues are false. For most part I can more easily get an extra $50 out of each load before winter is over. As far as pricing that depends on the area just like the previous AS people have stated. Here we have anything but consistency. Last winter we did not have one for 17-18, but 18-19 we had an especially cold. For many people with a hand full of cords to get an excess of a $1000 a cord was not aproblem. There were people coming out of the wood work piling a pick up bed with a loose pile of wood selling it for $250 day in day out. In most cases a loose pickup is less than 1/4 cords. The sellers could not care less if there were complaints or not as long as they got paid before they unloaded their wood. The sellers were not full time suppliers as they would be considered fly by night operators. There was a day when I worried about reputation, but not any more because people here only own a house for an average of 7 years. For other areas where as people might own a house for 20 or 30 years a different set of issues exist. A while back I went through my records and yes discovered most customers lasted five years and no more. So yes planning and strategies are important. Thanks
 
You didn't say if it was seasoned or not. I sell full cords of seasoned oak for $350 delivered. Face cords for $150 delivered. I'd probably go down to $300 for friends, but not less than that. Also, I have no interest in stacking it. I just toss it into a pile.

A cord fits nicely in an 8' bed with sideboards. I stack a row in the front against the cab and one against the tailgate. The rest is tossed on. I put about as much as I can physically fit in there and it's just about right at a cord. Better have good springs and tires though for oak!
Just curious.
How tall are the side boards? 18"? 24" ?Just curious. A friend (Long gone) would hand split and stack a full size (Long Wide) pickup box leveled and guaranteed it to be a half cord of wood. He was one of an OCD nature so I always believed him.
 
Just curious.
How tall are the side boards? 18"? 24" ?Just curious. A friend (Long gone) would hand split and stack a full size (Long Wide) pickup box leveled and guaranteed it to be a half cord of wood. He was one of an OCD nature so I always believed him.

I'm not exactly sure, but this is what a cord looked like in my F250. I helped stack this load because it was for my sister. Came out to 132 cubic feet once stacked. rps20190701_103744_838.jpg
 
I'm not exactly sure, but this is what a cord looked like in my F250. I helped stack this load because it was for my sister. Came out to 132 cubic feet once stacked. View attachment 744315
That's awesome. I really need to do something like that with my truck. Would be so much nicer hauling a cord in the truck versus needing to drag the trailer along.
 
I'm not exactly sure, but this is what a cord looked like in my F250. I helped stack this load because it was for my sister. Came out to 132 cubic feet once stacked. View attachment 744315
LOOSELY saying Level to the top of the cab and sloping down after the back axle. Thanks for the picture it really helps.
I built a processor for a guy and he cut and split huge piles of wood and let them sit to lightly season and had a ?14ft? 9r ?16ft? dump trailer he would haul his wood in. He had side boards at ? 2 foot and parked his skidsteer in front of the wood pile then threw wood in the bucket by hand to be sure of selling clean seasoned wood. Dumped into the trailer loose and leveled to the top of the sides was 2 cords of wood,, no stacking just open tailgate and dump Most of it went to one person that wrapped it in
"city slicker bundles" saved himself a lot of work.
 
Back
Top