Firewood Business.....How much to pay for Logs delivered???

[Pruning@trunk]

Ok so to the professional firewood dealers that gets logs delivered to them, what do you pay for oak delivered to you?? Obviously free wood is the best but if you can get a company to deliver wood to you with consistently what would you pay?

I have a tree service willing to deliver all oak logs (10 log cords a truck load) for $100 per cord. Face cords in my area sells for $100-$125 and full cords sells for $275-$350. I would like to sell anywhere between 30-50 cords a year---what do you think? Worth it or what??

I don't have any experience but I am only guessing that log cords is less that C/S/S wood--correct? Any guesses to how much less? 20%?

Thanks for your help!

 

[flotek]

100 a cord is going rate . In my area unless your cutting on your own property on your own logs there isn't much money in it by the time it's all said and done. . There is a reason the old timers always say. " selling firewood is a poor mans business "now on the other hand if your getting 300 a cord then there's some room for good profit if you have the right tools and business sense. If you buy at 100 a cord and sell at say 300 a cord that's 200 profit ( not actually because there's other costs too like wear and tear new chains gas oil) there is a profit sure but not much consider it's labor some work and
Even if you sold all intended 50 cords that's only 10,000$( then subtract taxes) Not much money really for a lot of work danger and liability ..You could work part time at McDonald's and make more than that

 

[polkat]

it is a regional thing but seeing that $100 a loggers cord is the same rate up here in Wisconsin. back quite a few years i was working up firewood on the side and buying direct it was cheaper 50 a cord it made it feasible to sell in firewood quantities

 

[groundup]

$100 a cord log load is going rate here. We get $250 max for all oak delivered cut and split

 

[zogger]

100 for rough logs that still need processing? Dang... 150 cord cut and split and delivered around here. Pickup "loads" 50 bucks, guys selling full cords, 150.

I have no idea what logs sell for around here though. If you can get 3 bills for a cord, then sure, seems some amount of profit potential.

I would actually get less lazy and try to sell some if the market was that good.

A friend of mine out in the boonies in W. virginny gets cords delivered for 90 bucks, just cut to size though, she splits it.

 

[Pruning@trunk]

100% oak is $270-$350 not mixed hardwood--just to clarify.



What would you say log cord is vs C/S/S cord is??

 

[chucker]

here it's going for 90.00 for 100" oak and anywhere from 180.00 to 270.00 for c/s/s/ oak...

 

[chucker]

on a side note .. wanted to buy 20 cds of red oak and 10 cds of pine from a logger cutting 10 miles away. oak was 900.00 for 10 cords and pine was 850.00 for 10 cords delivered of course! but the azz kicker was the logger was delivering it 40 miles one way to a log yard for the same price! now for all logic,? I was closer , savings on fuel , time, and wear/tear ... could have made 3 deliveries to my yard for about the same time as the further delivery! would the logger make a price break ? not hardly!! go figure???

 

[flotek]

Cut split delivered here is 150 oak may bring. 180 though . No firewood selling guru or logger but I can do simple math and to me Buying it off a log truck and doing all the hard work then reselling it is not worth it in my opinion .. I don't see enough profit to be worthwhile unless you had a big operation .. but in the end that is a question only you can answer some guys love to work and cut split stack and load for. 8 bucks an hour while others need 20 an hour to be worth their while

 

[lmbrman]

I keep hearing the term logs, and I wonder if you guys are really buying logs, or maybe stuff that does not make a log. I understand this is a regional thing, so my info is only good near me. A cord of pulpwood/firewood delivered around here is about $90/cord if you buy a full semiload which is around 12 cords. The wood is usually under 9" or a little larger but too crooked for a sawmill. A load of bolts (small logs), low quality 7-10" stuff would bring $160/cord delivered to local sawmills. 10" and up logs would cost higher yet.

Small logs here are 6-10" and are called bolts. The market is strong here, might not exist other places. Heck, some mills here buy 5" bolts.

OP- curious on your location. If I could buy logs delivered for that price I would sell them to a sawmill and not touch them. They would be worth well over double.

Someone made the comment that firewood is a poor mans business and I agree locally. I would get poorer each load I sold. Stinks really. I do like hearing what others are doing and in different places. Be safe-

-dave

 

[blackdogon57]

Ok so to the professional firewood dealers that gets logs delivered to them, what do you pay for oak delivered to you?? Obviously free wood is the best but if you can get a company to deliver wood to you with consistently what would you pay?

I have a tree service willing to deliver all oak logs (10 log cords a truck load) for $100 per cord. Face cords in my area sells for $100-$125 and full cords sells for $275-$350. I would like to sell anywhere between 30-50 cords a year---what do you think? Worth it or what??

I don't have any experience but I am only guessing that log cords is less that C/S/S wood--correct? Any guesses to how much less? 20%?

Thanks for your help!

Yo

Big difference between tree service logs and processor quality firewood logs. Tree services will dump in my yard for free. To me their stuff is worthless as I can't run it through my processor. Going rate around here for firewood logs is 130-150 per cord.

 

[lfnh]

I have a tree service willing to deliver all oak logs (10 log cords a truck load) for $100 per cord. Face cords in my area sells for $100-$125 and full cords sells for $275-$350. I would like to sell anywhere between 30-50 cords a year---what do you think? Worth it or what??

TS "logs" are most likely yard wood or clearance wood. Either way, those logs will stand a good chance of having heavy metals and other hardware embedded. Chain wreckers. Lot of places won;t take blue stain (for good reason). TS drop off loads aren't goin to be scaled for volume casuse the stuff is culls. Free might be ok.

Good lload from logging outfit will be scaled (vol or weight) w/ticket, clean, straight stuff with little to no hollow or soft heart, uniform lengths. 50 cord run, this would be a safer bet and likely a good 4 load price if contracted up front.

 

[Stihl working hard]

100 a cord is going rate . In my area unless your cutting on your own property on your own logs there isn't much money in it by the time it's all said and done. . There is a reason the old timers always say. " selling firewood is a poor mans business "now on the other hand if your getting 300 a cord then there's some room for good profit if you have the right tools and business sense. If you buy at 100 a cord and sell at say 300 a cord that's 200 profit ( not actually because there's other costs too like wear and tear new chains gas oil) there is a profit sure but not much consider it's labor some work and
Even if you sold all intended 50 cords that's only 10,000$( then subtract taxes) Not much money really for a lot of work danger and liability ..You could work part time at McDonald's and make more than that

Yeh but working inMcDonald's wouldn't be half as much fun

 

[c5rulz]

I keep hearing the term logs, and I wonder if you guys are really buying logs, or maybe stuff that does not make a log. I understand this is a regional thing, so my info is only good near me. A cord of pulpwood/firewood delivered around here is about $90/cord if you buy a full semiload which is around 12 cords. The wood is usually under 9" or a little larger but too crooked for a sawmill. A load of bolts (small logs), low quality 7-10" stuff would bring $160/cord delivered to local sawmills. 10" and up logs would cost higher yet.

Small logs here are 6-10" and are called bolts. The market is strong here, might not exist other places. Heck, some mills here buy 5" bolts.

OP- curious on your location. If I could buy logs delivered for that price I would sell them to a sawmill and not touch them. They would be worth well over double.

Someone made the comment that firewood is a poor mans business and I agree locally. I would get poorer each load I sold. Stinks really. I do like hearing what others are doing and in different places. Be safe-

-dave

I agree.

 

[david310]

Get out there man. Just start looking in peoples backyard jobsite friends and asking people for there wood. If all u buy is the gas for your saws it's almost 100% profit. The wood is there if u want it. A lot of tree companys will bring it for free u just have to ask. Good luck

 

[Pruning@trunk]

I have a tree service already providing me with wood. The problem with that is the wood varies, yes it is free but hard to sell X amount of wood if it isn't there. If one wants to only sell oak I don't think I can get enough of it.

The seller of the logs told me the diameter of the oak is anywhere between 10"-20".

Again a log cord is less than a cord of C/S/S correct?? Anyone has a guess by how much?

 

[lmbrman]

I have a tree service already providing me with wood. The problem with that is the wood varies, yes it is free but hard to sell X amount of wood if it isn't there. If one wants to only sell oak I don't think I can get enough of it.

The seller of the logs told me the diameter of the oak is anywhere between 10"-20".

Again a log cord is less than a cord of C/S/S correct?? Anyone has a guess by how much?

I would guess a cord of 8' sticks will not quite make 3 face cords CSS. Face cord is the way stuff is sold here, again, local thing. Friend of mine does a good job treating people right in his seasonal firewood business, both on the acquisition and sales sides. He does as well as you can around here, but it is not a living wage. Still, more money than sitting around or going to the bars.

Going price for a face cord here is $50.

 

[jrider]

I am looking at buying oak logs this year for the 1st time ever. Logs will be $80 a cord. I sell at $210 a cord. Not counting expenses, I am looking at $130 a cord profit. I have processed logs before that I cut on my own and once they are on the farm and I'm just dealing with logs and not the rest of the mess, I can cut and split a cord of wood in about 3.5 -4 hours. When I include expenses, I throw out another $20-$25 per cord. I am now looking at $105-$110 profit per cord which puts me around $25-$30 an hour for doing something I love. I'd like to see someone at McDonald's make that kind of money. Oh and all the scrap pieces - longs, shorts, uglies, big nasty knots, partially rotten, get thrown into my wood boiler and heat my house.

Now some of you may call it cheating but part of what makes this possible is our little JD 1070 with forks. This allows me to pick up a log and cut it where ever I want and have it waist high so I'm not bending over at all. I usually bring the log to the splitter and cut enough until my work area is filling up. I then split (Iron and Oak w/ 4way) until those cuts are gone and repeat. It's amazing how much you can get done when you aren't picking up everything by hand multiple times.

I sometimes hire a kid to split for me and while he doesn't split as fast as me, it increases my $ per hour but it does eat into the total profit a little more.

 

[blackdogon57]

I am looking at buying oak logs this year for the 1st time ever. Logs will be $80 a cord. I sell at $210 a cord. Not counting expenses, I am looking at $130 a cord profit. I have processed logs before that I cut on my own and once they are on the farm and I'm just dealing with logs and not the rest of the mess, I can cut and split a cord of wood in about 3.5 -4 hours. When I include expenses, I throw out another $20-$25 per cord. I am now looking at $105-$110 profit per cord which puts me around $25-$30 an hour for doing something I love. I'd like to see someone at McDonald's make that kind of money. Oh and all the scrap pieces - longs, shorts, uglies, big nasty knots, partially rotten, get thrown into my wood boiler and heat my house.

Now some of you may call it cheating but part of what makes this available is our little JD 1070 with forks. This allows me to pick up a log and cut it where ever I want and have it waist high so I'm not bending over at all. I usually bring the log to the splitter and cut enough until my work area is filling up. I then split (Iron and Oak w/ 4way) until those cuts are gone and repeat. It's amazing how much you can get done when you aren't picking up everything by hand multiple times.

I sometimes hire a kid to split for me and while he doesn't split as fast as me, it increases my $ per hour but it does eat into the total profit a little more.

Using equipment to process logs is definitely not cheating - it's working smart. The less time and effort you put into production per cord the more money in your pocket.

 

[Pruning@trunk]

Well you might not get rich selling wood but there is always money to be made--if there wasn't, people wouldn't be doing it.