going rate for sawing lumber

[muddstopper]

Just thought I would try and get some ideal of what I might expect to be charged if I hire someone with a bandsaw mill to saw a bunch of lumber. I need to put in my driveway and clear a house site and there is some pretty big timber that has to be cut. I havent crusied the timber for quantity, but there are several trees that would saw out over 1000bdft each. Mostly whitepines, all hard woods will be kept for future firewood.

 

[Little Al]

Just thought I would try and get some ideal of what I might expect to be charged if I hire someone with a bandsaw mill to saw a bunch of lumber. I need to put in my driveway and clear a house site and there is some pretty big timber that has to be cut. I havent crusied the timber for quantity, but there are several trees that would saw out over 1000bdft each. Mostly whitepines, all hard woods will be kept for future firewood.

We charge by total time off loading mounting on bandsaw cutting& removing & reloading or stacking

 

[muddstopper]

I know what kind of labor is involved, I am looking for the going rate. I know some charge a flat rate per bdft and some will saw for a percentage of the lumber. I am trying to figure out what is fair to me and the person doing the sawing. Just for a little more info, the logs will be staged and I will have equipment to help load logs on saw bed. Most lumber will be 1x8x8 boards and 2x4's to be used as siding and sheeting. My current house is build from all saw mill lumber. We cut the timber where ever we could find it and took to a circle saw mill and had it sawed, then hauled it home to stack and dry. Took back to another mill with a planer and had it dressed to dimensional lumber and hauled it home to be turned into a house. Only store bought wood in this house is the roof trusses. I plan on doing similar for my new house with the exception being all the timber will be cut and sawn on site, hopefully by a band mill.

 

[Cease232]

Out here in PNW seems like 75-100/hr plus travel time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[muddstopper]

Hourly rates are only good if the mill can turn out quantity. I am sure this would be dependant on the mill as well as the operator, but what kind of production, bdft perhr, should I expect. $5 a hr isnt a bargain if they can only saw a few bdft hr and $100hr is a bargain if they are turning out 1000bdft hr. I dont have any ideal how much lumber per hr can be sawn with a good bandsaw mill and operator.

 

[dmb2613]

The logs I take to a local mill cost me about $120 a thousand I think but that was a few years ago, it also depends on the size lumber if all is 1x6s the cost is more than all being 4x4s ect

 

[rwoods]

Off topic a bit, MS, but be careful about possible building code issues if your county has adopted a code requiring graded lumber. You may need to figure in the cost of grading. Ron

 

[muddstopper]

Off topic a bit, MS, but be careful about possible building code issues if your county has adopted a code requiring graded lumber. You may need to figure in the cost of grading. Ron

Building codes here constantly change just according to which bit of government is in charge at any given time. Pretty much, if I am building my house on my property and the lumber comes from my property. I can use what I have. If I am building a house for sale or for someone else, or the lumber is coming from somewhere else, then graded lumber is required. With that said, I cant see why anyone would want to use subgrade lumber to build a house, unless it was profit motivated, then maybe. My own timber should saw good lumber and there is enough of it, I can cull the worse stuff to use on sheds. Drying the lumber will be my biggest problem.

With that said, There is a saw mill over in Coker Creek Tn, that will take my logs in trade for graded lumber. I havent checked to verify or to check on the exchange rate, but it is a possibility and worth checking out. Of course then you have the haulbill to get the logs there and the lumber back.

 

[rwoods]

Something nice about using wood off the property to build on the property. I suspect most in your position would end up using better lumber than what they could/would purchase. The building inspectors I have talked to here say that they might agree the lumber is better but they aren't qualify to make that call (similar to what they run into in the rehabbing of old commercial buildings that have interior doors of much superior quality than what you can buy, but lack that little sticker certifying a fire rating). They tell me that there are certified lumber graders that you can contract to grade your lumber but I have no idea what they charge. Maybe one from the saw mill you mentioned might agree to do a little moonlighting.

I recall that in 2013 NC went after the Mountain Men realty show character, Eustace Conway, over this same issue. I believe some exemption was proposed for him. A potential drawback to relying on exemptions for a personal residence is down the road when you or your heirs go to sale the property a prospective purchaser might be denied financing by the big lenders.

BTW my late father build his last house in Macon County and I doubt there is a single stick of graded lumber in it (he did use some surplus manufactured wood I-beams to build a carport which has since collapsed). I also doubt he bought a permit.

Ron

 

[muddstopper]

I could probably find someone that could grade my lumber, if I had to, but dont think it will be necessary. I think Conway had problems because he was using his buildings as a type of school, and as I recall, the building where falling down. Banks on the other hand wont lend money if you dont use bought lumber. Permits are getting ridiculous as well. Permit to drill a well, and if you dont hit water, you get to buy another permit to drill another well. Septic permits require a certified soil scentist and now a simple system is around $4grand. All I want is a little cabin in the woods. 1000sqft with lots of decks. Its going to cost me $15 grand for the drive and another $9 grand to get power. With a well and septic, and all the permits, I'll have $40k in the house and havent even started building yet. I want to do this without borrowing and using my own timber and labor might be the only way it can happen.

 

[rwoods]

Little ridiculous isn’t it.

May get worse. Building official warned me the other day that if the newest codes gets adopted the energy savings components are going to add in excess of $10,000 to a small home and will have systems that require yearly maintenance. They are going back to tightly sealed houses (you know the ones that rot to the ground and make some folks sick), put in fresh air exchanges to try to compensate and require heat/cooling transfers to capture the temperature of the exchanged air. All in the name of combating global warming. Makes me mad just thinking about it. I may have to cross the mountain and come help you build for my own ventilation.

Ron

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

$135/hr plus blades

 

[M.R.]

Likely looking in the $250 - 300 per
thousand range.
To have a grader put a stamp on it
$80 - 100 per K

 

[andy]

Varies per region.

"The" guy in our area charges .31bf for 5/4 and goes down to .26bf for 2" plus thickness.
Here is is website.

My neighbor just cleared a few lots and had all his cedars milled... looks great. Not even very loud getting it done... I'm impressed.

 

[muddstopper]

.31bf doesnt sound to bad. I have found a few folks around here that have started advertiseing portable sawmilling. I am going to check a few of them out, may offer to help out a day or two to get a feel for what they can and cant do. I had planned to build a band mill for years, but kept putting it off. Might have to revisit that ideal, and maybe not.

 

[DSW]

You may not like the hourly rate but that's what most of the local guys use. $75 - 100. No idea on production. Found one guy who advertises 40 cents a board foot. Gives you an idea, your market may be different.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Why not buy a band saw mill and cut yourself? Sounds like you would pay for the mill in what it would cost to hire someone to cut it. Used are hard to find so I would imagine you would get 75% of value on resale after completing project.