Trying to get into the wood splitting business

[Steve NW WI]

Lots of good advice here. I suggest you give up on the stubborn for a bit and listen to the voices of experience.

The best advice is just above, bid by the job. Check out the wood to be split in advance, and give em a total price. 5 cords of tree service elm crotches is gonna take longer to split than nice straight oak.

Secondly, get some paint worn off that splitter and see what you can actually do. If 2 guys can only do a cord an hour, those are two guys that ain't working very hard. Guys that aren't working hard for themselves go broke fast.

Yeah, I'm a little cranky today. Your comments about not being worth getting out of bed for $50 per hour didn't help that.

The only ways to make good money in most any production business is to do it faster and cheaper (your costs, not necessarily the price), or to find a corner of the market no one else is in.

 

[D&B Mack]

I have a bundled firewood business, I send out our Iron & Oak vertical/horizontal and DR Rapid Fire on splitting when they are not being used in the lot. I used to send out the TW-7, but it really wasn't worth it.

Here is what I have learned:

1. Bid the job as lump sum. Many people are afraid of hourly rates since it is an unknown cost. We usually make more money on lump sum as well.

2. Your rate will be set by two things, the bottom will by set by your costs and desired profit margin. The ceiling will be set by the market.

3. Referral work tends to bring higher dollar amounts than classified work does. Get in with the Tree Cos. Their professional reference will harvest a higher rate than you can get by competing on Craigslist.

4. Our flywheel splitter is faster than our I&O. And it is much cheaper to operate than the TW7.

5. If your main purchase was for your own use, then take the replacement cost out of your rate. Doesn't mean you can't charge 80 or 100; but it will lower your floor allowing you more flexibility in your rate.

6. Know what your production is on your bad days. You don't want to assume your good days when pricing, only to let a bad day cost you a ton of money.

7. Be flexible in the services you offer. Ever customer may be different. Clean-up, stacking, etc.

8. Be a salesman, explain why someone should pay your (higher) rate than over someone else.

 

[blackdogon57]

I don't care how you slice it. Nobody in their right mind will pay anywhere near $100 per hour to have a cord of wood split.

 

[cantoo]

blackdogon57, they might do it once but they sure won't do it twice. Local place here sells log length maple or ash for $300 per load (small truck) you end up with about 10 face cord at 16" long. I've bought 5 or 6 loads off him and they were all pretty close. My buddy sells it for $80 a face cord, not doing so well with selling though. Local Amish sell for $55 a facex 16", they deliver and stack, well 2 boys about 10 show up with a hay wagon full of wood and they unload and pile it. I think they expect a tip? My niee gets her wood from them. Don't think anybody is making much money. You don't want to know how much I have invested in wood equipment and only burn 6 or 7 full cord a year.

 

[blackdogon57]

Wish I could buy logs that cheap. Log length cost in this area (Oshawa) is now around $150-190 per cord plus 13% tax.

 

[owbguy]

Log length cost in this area (Oshawa) is now around $150-190 per cord plus 13% tax.

:jawdrop: Holy cow, that is really high compared to here in southwest Michigan where $135 gets you a cord of seasoned oak delivered and stacked (at least that's what the CL ads state). Firewood logs cost about $90 per cord. We don't have a good market for firewood sales, unless you are the buyer. It seems like everything here except firewood costs more than anywhere else. Two weeks ago I paid $3.69 for gas when I fueled up for a trip. 9 hours later in Virginia I paid $3.05 then saw it for $2.99 just down the street.

 

[D&B Mack]

I don't care how you slice it. Nobody in their right mind will pay anywhere near $100 per hour to have a cord of wood split.

I would have to disagree here. Some of the yuppies around here will. They get a tree taken down by a tree service, they want wood for the outdoor fireplace/pit/chiminea, they will pay $100 for someone to come and split the wood. Usually stacking is involved as well, but there is not even a cord of wood there.

I did a splitting job for a lady about a month ago, it ended up costing her at least that much per cord. But her entire property was inaccessible for equipment. For the past two years, she had trees remove and the logs left in place. Had to hand carry each log to the driveway. But she got firewood out of it and the place was cleaned up.

 

[jrider]

And then you have to deal with guys like this....I certainly hope he doesn't think or try to convince anyone he can split 1-2 cords an hour with the splitter he shows in his ad.

MOBILE Log Splitting $40 in hour.

Just one more reason to bid the job and not give an hourly rate. Someone who doesn't know any better will wonder why there is such a difference between your amount and someone like this.

 

[wndwlkr]

If some of you guys that gave advice think I 'm arrogant, sorry about that. But I'm stubborn. I think I should make more then some guy with a vertical splitter that will take a week to split the same amount of wood that I can split in a day. What does everyone think about $80 an hour?

Livin in a dream world, I think there was a song about that.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

And then you have to deal with guys like this....I certainly hope he doesn't think or try to convince anyone he can split 1-2 cords an hour with the splitter he shows in his ad.

MOBILE Log Splitting $40 in hour.

Just one more reason to bid the job and not give an hourly rate. Someone who doesn't know any better will wonder why there is such a difference between your amount and someone like this.

I can split around a cord a hour with a spliter like that! I split right around 4 cord today in 5 hrs.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

I can buy a pretience load of logs (about 6 cords) of nice hard wood for about $300.

 

[damato333]

I can buy a pretience load of logs (about 6 cords) of nice hard wood for about $300.

Who do you get it from?

 

[jrider]

I can split around a cord a hour with a spliter like that! I split right around 4 cord today in 5 hrs.

They would have to be the perfect size logs with little to no knots or y's. And 4 cords in 5 hours is an hour and 15 minutes per cord....no where near approaching 2 cords an hour. What size splits are you doing? That has a huge impact on how much you can split in an hour.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

Who do you get it from?

A local logging company.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

They would have to be the perfect size logs with little to no knots or y's. And 4 cords in 5 hours is an hour and 15 minutes per cord....no where near approaching 2 cords an hour. What size splits are you doing? That has a huge impact on how much you can split in an hour.

Mostly all nice wood. I split pretty big pieces. I lost about 45 mins today fixxing the conveyer. Some of the drive chain links are getting weak, and broke.

 

[zogger]

They would have to be the perfect size logs with little to no knots or y's. And 4 cords in 5 hours is an hour and 15 minutes per cord....no where near approaching 2 cords an hour. What size splits are you doing? That has a huge impact on how much you can split in an hour.

That ad says a team, I guess meaning two guys.

I know with my boss's home made splitter I could do and have done a cord and change an hour, splitting and throwing into a pile. His was nice as the stroke was so long I could load up two 16" long pieces at a whack. Log lift with it as well, that speeds it up with those huge rounds.

 

[lmbrman]

I can buy a pretience load of logs (about 6 cords) of nice hard wood for about $300.

about half what the mills here pay for hardwood pulp -

6" diameter straight 8' sticks bring $175/cord easy

 

[jrider]

Any update on this thread? I am curious if the op has had any luck with this.

 

[damato333]

Any update on this thread? I am curious if the op has had any luck with this.

I'm doing ok. I probably made a little over a thousand on wood splitting jobs. I'm definately not getting rich like some people thought I was trying to do at $80 an hour. The demand for mobile log splitting is not high enough where you can get rich.

 

[jrider]

Glad to hear you are having some success