Anyone ever split wood for people?

[Jules083]

I'm laid off right now and always looking for ways to make a buck or two. I was thinking the other day about loading the splitter and ATV on the 4 wheeler and driving around trying to split wood for people. I sometimes see a pile of rounds next to a house with no splitter in sight, so I'm assuming those people split with a maul or axe.

Has anyone ever done this, or thought about it? I don't know what to charge, I'm not trying to get rich or anything. Just something to keep busy and maybe end up a couple of dollars ahead. I have a supersplit, so I can get a lot done in a short amount of time.

Maybe say a truckload sized pile I can split for $25, stacked for $40? Maybe I'm an idiot for even thinking of this?

 

[REJ2]

Nothing idiotic about honest work. Factor your time, wear and tear on your equipment, fuel for travel.

 

[Jules083]

Nothing idiotic about honest work. Factor your time, wear and tear on your equipment, fuel for travel.

Fuel shouldn't be too bad, I'm hoping to stay within a 20 mile radius. 40 mile round trip=$10 in diesel. Splitter is good on gas, ATV would tow the splitter if needed but it doesn't burn much. Superspliters seem to last a long time, so not a whole lot of wear and tear. If I could have an hours worth of work within 20 miles and end up with $30 or $40 I think I'd be doing alright. Maybe I'll drive around in the car tonight and try to find a few jobs after people get off work.

 

[1grnlwn]

As a business owner, my only advise is Know your costs and charge accordingly. A stopwatch, tape measure and a calculator, can go a long way when estimating time to complete a job. Oh, not to forget keeping some records for your first couple jobs. Lets just say, the common round is 14" in dia. and produces 9 pieces of fire wood. It takes 4 min to split that round. You can cal the min /piece. If you then cal the same for a 24" round, the min/piece may be the same or different. With that info you can roll up to a pile and count the rounds and spit out an apox time of completion. I'm sure there are plenty of good ole boys out there that will hold out their arm with thumb pointed up and with one eye closed and spit out a price. But fact is if you are low you just did the work for free, and if you are high you don't get the job or a repeat job later. If you work out a priced properly it should be easy to find out if people will pay for this service. Ya never know.

 

[Somesawguy]

It all helps. If you have a saw, it might be easier to find some blowdowns and sell the wood.

I wish you the best of luck, and there is nothing wrong with honest work.

 

[ponyexpress976]

If I could have an hours worth of work within 20 miles and end up with $30 or $40 I think I'd be doing alright. Maybe I'll drive around in the car tonight and try to find a few jobs after people get off work.

That last sentence is where you're gonna run into problems. The $ you might end up ahead will quickly go out the tailpipe of the car. You're better off spending an hour at home designing a flyer to hang up at gas stations, church, family practice doc, etc. Also check craigslist and see what others in your area are doing it for. It's been said here a thousand times and probably done 10x's more...the easiest way to make a million dollars in firewood is to start with 2 million.

 

[branchbuzzer]

I'm laid off right now and always looking for ways to make a buck or two. I was thinking the other day about loading the splitter and ATV on the 4 wheeler and driving around trying to split wood for people. I sometimes see a pile of rounds next to a house with no splitter in sight, so I'm assuming those people split with a maul or axe.

Has anyone ever done this, or thought about it? I don't know what to charge, I'm not trying to get rich or anything. Just something to keep busy and maybe end up a couple of dollars ahead. I have a supersplit, so I can get a lot done in a short amount of time.

Maybe say a truckload sized pile I can split for $25, stacked for $40? Maybe I'm an idiot for even thinking of this?

Don't drive around looking for splitting work. You'll probably spend more in gas than you ever make. If you're driving around looking for work it has to be something quite profitable ( like robbing a bank ).

Now, in my area, a "truckload" of seasoned, stacked wood sells for $50-75 ( pending size of "load", average is $130-150 for a full cord ). So your finished stack better be a whole lot cheaper than that, or there wouldn't be much point in it. Factor in your costs and your "profits" are going to be disappointing I expect. If I was doing it myself I'd just do it manually to keep my costs low, since time really isn't the issue.

But all is not lost, as long as your expectations are grounded. You can do it, but probably just as a sideline to another job such as a tree trimming job or doing the whole process from standing to stacked. Remember, your pricing power is dictated by the going rate for delivered, stacked firewood. In my area, that means for the entire process I could only charge about $75-100 per full cord ( retail $150+ ). You may get an opportunity to just split once in a while, but don't bank the family farm on it. Most people with already cut wood have a plan to do it themselves either manually or renting/borrowing a splitter.

 

[1grnlwn]

Since I became a Woodwhore ( i will do anything for good wood but pay for it) I see stacks of rounds all around. Sometime I think people grab that stuff because it is " highly valuable" LOL and then it rots. Rental price of a splitter should be a factor in whether it would be an advantage to have someone split it for you.

 

[Jules083]

I know this is definately not a 'get rich quick sceme' or anything of the sort. I'm just thinking that if I can maybe end a day with money in my pocket, that's money I didn't have before. I'm getting by pretty good on unemployment and expecting a call back to work within a month. This is more an idea to get a few bucks in my pocket and have something productive to do.

Next year I'm hoping to have a small amount of wood to sell, but right now it's so muddy I can't even get in the woods to cut anything. I probably have 10 to 12 truckloads of rounds sitting beside logging roads at my place and I can't get the truck to them.

Good call though on not driving around, I think I'll throw a CL ad up at first just to see if anyone bites, and if I'm going somewhere anyways I can always stop by and ask if I see a potential job.

If a cut, delivered, and stacked truckload is going for $60, that would probably dictate my max price to around $20, considering the hard work is already done. (cut and hauled in)

 

[1grnlwn]

Hey, I make my living ( if you want to call it that) mowing and fertilizing yards. Almost every one of my customers has a lawn mower. ???

 

[Jules083]

Since I became a Woodwhore ( i will do anything for good wood but pay for it) I see stacks of rounds all around. Sometime I think people grab that stuff because it is " highly valuable" LOL and then it rots. Rental price of a splitter should be a factor in whether it would be an advantage to have someone split it for you.

The local rental place charges $45 for 8 hours for a cheapo hydraulic splitter.

 

[ponyexpress976]

Hey, I make my living ( if you want to call it that) mowing and fertilizing yards. Almost every one of my customers has a lawn mower. ???

Same here!

 

[lone wolf]

I'm laid off right now and always looking for ways to make a buck or two. I was thinking the other day about loading the splitter and ATV on the 4 wheeler and driving around trying to split wood for people. I sometimes see a pile of rounds next to a house with no splitter in sight, so I'm assuming those people split with a maul or axe.

Has anyone ever done this, or thought about it? I don't know what to charge, I'm not trying to get rich or anything. Just something to keep busy and maybe end up a couple of dollars ahead. I have a supersplit, so I can get a lot done in a short amount of time.

Maybe say a truckload sized pile I can split for $25, stacked for $40? Maybe I'm an idiot for even thinking of this?

your price is about right I wish you were closer.

 

[borat]

The value of one's time is often impacted by how desperately the person needs money. If it's a matter of putting food on the table, a person's time becomes less valuable. That is, I'll work for $10.00 to buy groceries if I'm desperate but will work for $20.00/hr if it's just to put a few bucks in my pocket.

Chasing work isn't really viable. If a person is in the vicinity and sees wood to be split, check it out. Might be a work opportunity. On the other hand, driving around looking for work would incur unnecessary expense. Put the word out that you do that kind of work, buy a magnetic sign for the pickup door, list your service in Craig's List or Kijiji, maybe spend a few bucks on business cards. Might be slow to start but once the word is out, things might pick up.

OK, now for the hole shot......

If you have young children, take one with you. Dress them in some tattered clothes and give them a little lunch pail to hold and take them with you. Guaranteed work and likely a good tip!

 

[sunfish]

I did it in the late 70s'-early 80s'. Charged $25 per hour for me and a small hydro ,that was good money back then. Was also gettin $50 per half cord and selling 50 cords a year. I was in a larger city with a lot of fireplaces, in the south.

Advertise, do not drive around lookin for work.

 

[Jules083]

I did it in the late 70s'-early 80s'. Charged $25 per hour for me and a small hydro ,that was good money back then. Was also gettin $50 per half cord and selling 50 cords a year. I was in a larger city with a lot of fireplaces, in the south.

Advertise, do not drive around lookin for work.

That sounds promising. I think I'd rather be able to quote a price per job rather than by hour. A Supersplit makes quick work of a pile, I think if I quoted a price per hour I would either not get the job because it would sound too high, or work for free because I'd get the pile split very quickly at a low price.

I used to have a Tractor Supply kinetic until the ram decided it didn't like to have teeth, it always amazed people that saw it. My neighbor cut up enough wood to keep us busy splitting for a 'few hours', then called and asked me to come over. We were done in 15 minutes.

 

[4seasons]

I would think you would be better off quoting a price for the stack of wood they have. If they know you will split all their wood pile for $50 then they know what the cost is. If you qoute them $25 an hour they may think you might stretch the work out for 4 hours. I have never liked hourly work as a rule. Much better to earn money and pay people for the amount of work done rather than the time it takes to do it. Sure your time is worth something but if you are payed by the job rather than by the hour you can work faster and make more money.

 

[sunfish]

I did it in the late 70s'-early 80s'. Charged $25 per hour for me and a small hydro ,that was good money back then. Was also gettin $50 per half cord and selling 50 cords a year. I was in a larger city with a lot of fireplaces, in the south.

Advertise, do not drive around lookin for work.

That sounds promising. I think I'd rather be able to quote a price per job rather than by hour. A Supersplit makes quick work of a pile, I think if I quoted a price per hour I would either not get the job because it would sound too high, or work for free because I'd get the pile split very quickly at a low price.

I used to have a Tractor Supply kinetic until the ram decided it didn't like to have teeth, it always amazed people that saw it. My neighbor cut up enough wood to keep us busy splitting for a 'few hours', then called and asked me to come over. We were done in 15 minutes.

I used to guarantee 1/2 cord per hour, so they kind of knew what they were gettin. I was also in high school when I started, had a pickup, saw, splitter and $$. My buds had empty beer cans and were broke.

BTW, I love my SS now and would have to recalculate price for splitting. LOL

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

A while back I had a friend who started the driving around thing. You guys claim it would be a waste but it wasn't for him. He would approach them with the "split for hire" thing. He did do it when they agreed but he averaged about a 1/4 of the people saying he could have the wood. Granted these were in town people and he would stop in when it was laying in the yard or after the tree service left a week or so later. A lot of times people don't want to fool with the 2ft or bigger stuff. He still does it to this day but has gotten pickier on what type of wood he asks on. You never know till you ask!

 

[zogger]

Just remember, this is right after Christmas and a lot of folks are broke, or will be real broke once their credit card bills come in.

With that said, if you are driving by peoples houses with large rounds hanging out anyway, sure, stop and ask, leave a flyer (or three) with them if they bite or not. No flyer and no phone number they might think you are casing the joint. Just the times we live in.

Hey, good luck! In this economy, anything legit to make a buck is fair game!
Heck, anything legit to make fifty cents is fair game!