sold firewood for the first time this weekend

[twd000]

I processed a grapple load of logs two years ago and it's been stacked on racks in my yard since. Only problem is some of the pieces were cut to fit in my Dutchwest, before I installed the Blaze King insert on the main floor. Getting tired of cutting 2-4" off the long pieces, and thought about trading wood with someone...

Then last week I noticed people on our Town Facebook page that they are trying to buy seasoned firewood, and the pros are sold out - as in "can't buy it at any price". It's not even December yet, how is that possible? Also amazed at the number of wood-burners who don't think about securing that year's supply until the first freeze.

So anyways I told them $300 a cord if they picked it up themselves. Nice family, they jumped on the offer and picked up a cord last weekend.

I have 5 more cords of partially-too-long wood sitting there, and thinking about selling off the rest (and only being a year ahead as a result)

That is the story of how I entered the firewood business

 

[weatherguy]

You're gonna be RICH!

 

[twd000]

You're gonna be RICH!

dang right! gonna retire from my engineering job and bust my tail for $25/hour!

 

[JimBear]

dang right! gonna retire from my engineering job and bust my tail for $25/hour!

I had a cousin that worked at Sears installing car batteries, he used to tell people he was an electrical engineer...

 

[bholler]

dang right! gonna retire from my engineering job and bust my tail for $25/hour!

25 an hour is really good for selling firewood. Most guys arent making that.

 

[peakbagger]

Nevertheless if you sold them good wood I bet they greatly appreciated it. Not sure about you folks down south of the notches but I have gone through a half a cord more then last year already. With full employment not as many folks cutting and seasoning wood so the market is tight. Last year was dol winter so I expect a lot of dealers never got caught up. Plenty of green stuff for sale in North Conway. Maybe you should set up a wood exchange, someone buys a green cord, stacks it and then they walk away minus a few bucks and a cord of dry well seasoned wood.

 

[woodhog73]

dang right! gonna retire from my engineering job and bust my tail for $25/hour!

Sounds a little sarcastic but I’m gonna assume all in good humor.

That said I know more than a few friends with higher level jobs working for “ someone else “ making $125,000 or so a year or more. They always have stress, fear of proving and justifying their salary, and fear of lay off. And lots of ass kissing.

I also know a friend who started a tree service in the cities. Ive known him for years. He now has 3 crews, roughly 15 employees, over 1 million in fixed assets and equipment, and last year grossed close to 4 million in sales. Don’t know what his profit margins are. No idea what he pays himself. I drink beer and watch football with him. Don’t ask him how much he makes. But he has a very nice life, a very nice newer house that’s an easy 3,000 sq feet, a very nice personal 65k HD diesel truck, and a wife that doesn’t work. And answers to know one but his customers.

Owning a business is the American dream isn’t it ?

I’m sorry but your post just came off as rude and condensending. I’m not going to suger coat nothing. Hope you enjoy your high level job working for someone else. Just don’t give out all your engineering secrets cause corporate America will suck that dry and then find someone else to hire for half the price.

Meanwhile when you need that 4 story tall cotton wood tree hanging over your house removed, that you can not do so on your own, you will call a friend like mine with a successful tree business and spend lots of your very hard earned money. And the owner of the tree service just might be sitting easy just counting his money.

Don’t piss on excitement. It’s just rude

 

[twd000]

25 an hour is really good for selling firewood. Most guys arent making that.

that was based on tracking my time to cut, split and stack the grapple load of logs, compared to buying C/S/S delivered. Of course it didn't include any equipment, capital, or overhead costs.

 

[twd000]

Nevertheless if you sold them good wood I bet they greatly appreciated it. Not sure about you folks down south of the notches but I have gone through a half a cord more then last year already. With full employment not as many folks cutting and seasoning wood so the market is tight. Last year was dol winter so I expect a lot of dealers never got caught up. Plenty of green stuff for sale in North Conway. Maybe you should set up a wood exchange, someone buys a green cord, stacks it and then they walk away minus a few bucks and a cord of dry well seasoned wood.

yeah he was remarking on how gray (seasoned) the splits looked, so I think he'll be happy with the quality. That's not a bad idea about the exhange - I'd have to think about what a year worth of seasoning time is worth to me...

 

[woodhog73]

Sounds a little sarcastic but I’m gonna assume all in good humor.

That said I know more than a few friends with higher level jobs working for “ someone else “ making $125,000 or so a year or more. They always have stress, fear of proving and justifying their salary, and fear of lay off. And lots of ass kissing.

I also know a friend who started a tree service in the cities. Ive known him for years. He now has 3 crews, roughly 15 employees, over 1 million in fixed assets and equipment, and last year grossed close to 4 million in sales. Don’t know what his profit margins are. No idea what he pays himself. I drink beer and watch football with him. Don’t ask him how much he makes. But he has a very nice life, a very nice newer house that’s an easy 3,000 sq feet, a very nice personal 65k HD diesel truck, and a wife that doesn’t work. And answers to know one but his customers.

Owning a business is the American dream isn’t it ?

I’m sorry but your post just came off as rude and condensending. I’m not going to suger coat nothing. Hope you enjoy your high level job working for someone else. Just don’t give out all your engineering secrets cause corporate America will suck that dry and then find someone else to hire for half the price.

Meanwhile when you need that 4 story tall cotton wood tree hanging over your house removed, that you can not do so on your own, you will call a friend like mine with a successful tree business and spend lots of your very hard earned money. And the owner of the tree service just might be sitting easy just counting his money.

Don’t piss on excitement. It’s just rude

Ok ignore my post above. It was OP talking about himself. I thought some other guy making fun.

If your averaging $25 hr processing and selling wood your doing ok.

 

[twd000]

Sounds a little sarcastic but I’m gonna assume all in good humor.

That said I know more than a few friends with higher level jobs working for “ someone else “ making $125,000 or so a year or more. They always have stress, fear of proving and justifying their salary, and fear of lay off. And lots of ass kissing.

I also know a friend who started a tree service in the cities. Ive known him for years. He now has 3 crews, roughly 15 employees, over 1 million in fixed assets and equipment, and last year grossed close to 4 million in sales. Don’t know what his profit margins are. No idea what he pays himself. I drink beer and watch football with him. Don’t ask him how much he makes. But he has a very nice life, a very nice newer house that’s an easy 3,000 sq feet, a very nice personal 65k HD diesel truck, and a wife that doesn’t work. And answers to know one but his customers.

Owning a business is the American dream isn’t it ?

I’m sorry but your post just came off as rude and condensending. I’m not going to suger coat nothing. Hope you enjoy your high level job working for someone else. Just don’t give out all your engineering secrets cause corporate America will suck that dry and then find someone else to hire for half the price.

Meanwhile when you need that 4 story tall cotton wood tree hanging over your house removed, that you can not do so on your own, you will call a friend like mine with a successful tree business and spend lots of your very hard earned money. And the owner of the tree service just might be sitting easy just counting his money.

Don’t piss on excitement. It’s just rude

no disrespect intended, and I hear you loud and clear. I did enough tough manual labor in my youth to appreciate my desk job. I'm happy to do some firewood processing on the weekends, and have written plenty of checks to the pros for larger jobs that I'm not willing to tackle myself. I'm getting some quotes to have several trees removed so my wife (who doesn't work outside the house) can put in some apple trees and berry bushes. Fully expect to cut a check for $3-4k for a guy like your buddy and be glad to do so.

 

[Mich woodcutter]

I suck
I think it costs me 25 per hour to cut wood.
By the time i sharpen the saw..haul the logs...split it...haul it ...stack it...
Holy smokes...

 

[coutufr]

To each their own but I have stopped evaluating the value of my time in terms of money per hour. I chop and cut wood for the pleasure of it. If it was not the case I would do other stuff. Life is too short!