value of undesirable wood

[out on a linb]

Hello,
I have a small part time tree service do to the fact i am addicted to climbing. I trim and remove a lot of poplar, willow, spruce, box elder, silver maple, etc.. The good wood i keep for the garage and next year the house. I have a neighbor that has an out door boiler.
The house and garage are both uninsulated so he needs as much wood as he can get. I dumped about 40 face cords the first year, 60 face cords the second year and this year i am selling the wood. I really do not have a good price in mind, but he was paying $3,000 in heating just the house before.
I was thinking $35 per load to make it easy. I have a 14 foot utility dump trailer that can carry 5 or so face cords ( over weight) but a couple of weeks ago i dropped of two half loads and he did not want to pay $70. I told him I would make it up with the big loads that I normally dump. The load had 6 big spongy pieces and a stump (spruce) but the rest was easy to pop in the stove pieces. Both loads about 6 face cords. I am not trying to make a mint on the wood but gas and equipment are expensive...

 

[out on a linb]

Another thing that works out good for me it that when some of the load is good hard wood and i do not feel like putting it back in the trailer. He piles it in a separate pile and we sell it for $60 a cord. He gets 30 for cutting and splitting and i get 30 for material and bringing it to him. He thinks it should be 20 for me and 40 to him. I told him that i will put it back into my trailer and sell it myself than adjust the prices. This is the first year of selling.

 

[Husky137]

Undesirable wood is worth nothing. I would be happy that you have a free dump site for all of this junk. What are your alternatives?

 

[treeman82]

That wood is pretty much ALL junk. IMO you should be happy that you don't have to dump it on your own property.. or worse pay to get rid of it. Also, $60 per cord is VERY low.

 

[out on a linb]

The $ 60 per face cord is many silver maple and ash.

Don't you think i should get some thing for the wood. He has had the out door burner for two years and picks up wood on the side of the road ( storm wood) and his 2001 truck is getting trashed. The whole box is dented and the tail gate is in rough shape. I would be happy for 5-10 a face cord to cover the gas and wear and tear.. It is not the point that i get payed to remove. It is the point that it is a fuel source to him and it is delivered.

 

[TreeBot]

I would give it to him or, at most, ask for donations to cover fuel. Also, I would have to agree with him on the 20/40, thing. If he is doing all of the cutting, splitting, and delivering, he should get at least 1/3 of the money, if not all of it.

 

[treeman82]

If I had somebody who would let me dump truckload after truckload of willow, spruce, pine, and other junk woods for FREE... without having to worry about going out of my way, or doing anything special... I'd be VERY happy and keep my mouth shut. Around here to get rid of that crap you'd be paying $150+ per trailer load to get rid of it, and there's not many places to go for that price... so you're going out of your way to get rid of it. Also, it's like you said... YOU'RE being PAID to REMOVE the WOOD. Be happy you don't have to pay to get rid of it.

As for selling wood... I'd say either give it to your neighbor for a couple of bucks a cord and let him deal with all the processing... or sell it yourself.

 

[Canyonbc]

In the getting ride of the crappy would...i think you should look at this way.

He is neighbor correct? So near your home i assume as he is your neighbor. This saves a trip from running it to the dump.

The wood is non desirable to many any where...so in most instances you would be dumping the wood at the dump. Here you are dumping it for free.

Its a neighborly nice thing for you to do...he is taking all wood for you and your close to home.

I surely wouldn't complain with a situation like that.

I have solved my problem...by putting a ad on Craigslist explaining i am a small tree service business will drop off wood to your home with excessable drive way or some access for my truck...wood is cut 16''-20'' all different types, not split, no stacked, but free...please email your information...

did the same thing with chips...

now i am set for years all over the county...with getting wood and chips.

Its free to you...i still always bid the job with me going to the dump if they want chips and wood gone.

 

[Husky137]

The $ 60 per face cord is many silver maple and ash.

Don't you think i should get some thing for the wood. He has had the out door burner for two years and picks up wood on the side of the road ( storm wood) and his 2001 truck is getting trashed. The whole box is dented and the tail gate is in rough shape. I would be happy for 5-10 a face cord to cover the gas and wear and tear.. It is not the point that i get payed to remove. It is the point that it is a fuel source to him and it is delivered.

You are being greedy.

 

[frashdog]

We have a few contacts that own outdoor wood boilers. One is a contractors that throws us jobs. Hook a brother up.

We are going to put adds for free wood and chips in the papers. Get a network of "dump" sites through out our area. Include our travel time and hauling costs in the customer's bid, as one would do if they had to pay a fee to dispose of too.

 

[NORTREE]

Heres how I look at it...
1)Most "Part Time" tree services aren't paying for the proper liability and workers compensation insurance(if any insurance) and only seem to be interested in the money they can make.
2)Most "Part Time" tree services operate out of areas zoned for"residential" purposes because they don't want to spend money for "commercial" property because they could then not compete or under bid legitimate tree services.
3)You can buy your own splitter,split it yourself,buy your own outdoor boiler,burn what you can, and pay to dispose of the rest of it.
4)Buy($50,000+) or (as we are doing) build your own LARGE wood splitter, split your large wood,chip it,pay the extra truck insurance and haul it to a chip plant.
If I were you I would give your neighbor ALL the wood and be happy he is taking care of it for you...good neighbors willing to put up with you operating a business next door are VERY hard to find!!

 

[out on a linb]

I have earned everything that i have.

The point is i have a lot of my personal money invested into this part time tree service. The insurances, equipment, payments, and operating costs are extremely high for only working 1 to 2 days a week. I have a great neighbor that is willing to pay his fair share and buy the wood from me. I do not want to rip him off so I asked for advice. I have given him wood free of charge for two years.. He has a big uninsulated house that was costing him $3000 a year in natural gas. I worked hard for everything that I have so why should I just dump it? He should at lease donate the money for the gas in the V10 truck that brings the wood to his front door. His wife cuts my hair. I never asked for a free hair cut in exchange for the wood nor has she ever offered me one. That's another reason why I think I should get something for the wood. Lets face it, with the number of trees that have been falling down around here, people are not going to want to cut down more trees.. We need to start planting them and in big numbers (Ozone)....
It is BTU buck.

 

[treeman82]

I'm going to try to reverse things here a little bit.

Your neighbor KNOWS that he is getting willow, spruce, pine, poplar, etc. etc. and doesn't complain about it, or tell you that you can only dump so much there.

You're kind of demanding money for giving him junk.

IF he were to go and post somewhere... let's say on this very site, or on another arborist website, on Craigslist, or wherever... that he'll take any junk wood from a tree service that they are willing to drop off... for FREE... do you think that you'd still be getting paid to drop it off? Let alone be allowed to drop it off???

 

[arbor pro]

Out-on-a-limb, you're crazy. That's all there is to it.

Like you, I'm also part-time working only a couple days a week. I also have a lot of personal money tied up into my business just as you say you do. The one advantage you have going for you over my business is that you have a saving grace - a neighbor who will take your junk wood. I spend around $2000 a year in dump disposal fees because I cannot find someone to take my waste wood and I cannot find a small acreage to buy or rent so that I can dump and burn my waste.

I would not only give my neighbor all the wastewood he would be willing to take for free BUT, I would also give him all of the good hardwood for free also just to say THANK YOU!!! for helping me out in taking the junk wood. I would then ask him to bend over so I could kiss his *ss for helping me out.

If you can't make ends meet without giving him the wood for free, maybe you need to look instead at how much you charge your customers for tree work. Don't you charge a disposal fee to help cover your fuel and hauling costs???

Sorry, I don't mean to be so 'in-your-face' blunt with you but, as I said earlier, you are just plain crazy to not appreciate the ability to 'just give the wood away'!

 

[Mikecutstrees]

The local wood recycling place takes softwood for $15 a yard. So if I can find a place to dump it free that means more profit for me. I work the $15 a yard into estimates. For hardwood I keep it or sell it for $40 a dump truck load (about a cord)unsplit and cut to length. Anyone who takes softwood is my new best friend!