In my case it's chainsaws, generator and wife. I think it's unrealistic to expect sellers to provide dry firewood at less than a premium price. The space required to dry large quantities of firewood is huge, not to mention the additional handling. Claiming that the wood being sold is "seasoned" is puffery and must be taken as such. The only exception is in areas where standing dead & dry (i.e. lodgepole) is available. Considering the costs of fuel (truck and saw), oil, chains and permits (if required), I'd be surprised if you could make more than $10/hr with the absolute minimum of handling and no drying at all. I choose to heat with cord wood for many reasons. High on the list is the fact that it is, by far, the most economical method. Even if I can no long cut my own supply, there is always somebody who is hungry with a truck, splitter and saw. I have a friend who has sold cords of lodgepole rounds in the $140 price range. He gets the order first, goes out, cuts and delivers directly to the customer.
Nice. Haven't heard that term in a while. Most are unaware of the idea of actual dry firewood, as are most buyers. IMHO, of course.
Around here, a face cord actually called a rick. Seems that’s the only term people are familiar with, so that is the way it’s advertised and sold.
A few years ago wood prices started going up around here. Got to $65 and a few at $70. I think it was in response to the media who claimed it was going up, so it did. Now understand that in this area the idiots sell by the so-called cord. That is simply a stack of wood that measures 8' long and 4' high. In other works, it takes 3 of those to make a cord but few seem to understand that around here. Well, it did not take long and people weren't selling much. One could drive down almost any road and there would be a stack of wood for sale. By the end of the winter though, their wood piles were still setting there, so the price started coming back down. It came back to the more normal $50 - $55 and has stayed there. We have one party a mile from us who sells some every winter for $45. I think that is perhaps because of who lives across the road and he seems to sell quite a lot of wood but for a higher price. Both seem to sell out every year. I used to sell some wood but never did advertise. Just sold a few each year and that was okay with me because as most will state, it is darned hard work for a little money. Now it seems I give more away than sell for sure. And now if I sell, they have to come and get it so some years I sell none and I'm okay with that for sure. I also most times at Christmas will take some wood to a neighbor as a gift and they seem to appreciate it; especially those who don't know that you need to give wood time to dry before burning it.
Speaking of little pay for hard work and all the chances one has to take with firewood. Consider loggers. Most loggers today get very little money for their work unless they own the business. We had 3 woods partially logged off near us this year. All the workers were paid minimum wages. One perk though was they usually get to take firewood home with them... And I'm sure the wood they took this summer is being burned now. Imagine it; all was red and white oak.
I would say cords in my area run $180-300+ . I would say 80% of sellers have green wood and offered it as seasoned Some include delivery. Ive never seen stacking offered. I paid $200/ cord for seasoned split wood delivered. The guy has a tree service, so I imagine that wood is paying him twice. More power to him, capitalism at its best.
Minimum wage? Was this old style logging (ie) chainsaws and choker setting? Or mechanized timbco's and processer's? Either way that's insane that it pays minimum wage. I guess every state is a little different, supply and demand etc. In the inland pnw mechanized logging operators make 19-26$ per hour
No processors. Not much mechanization around these parts. But I had a friend who was employed for many years with a large logger and all he did was skidding. Got paid quite well there.
Here's an interesting ad Note how fresh that oak looks, and yet he claims 10% MC. My black oak is definitely black in color by the time it's been C&S two years, at least the outside of the stacks. I don't have a MM, but 10% would be very close to equilibrium moisture content.
I sell a between 1 and 2 cords each year to help off set saw fuel and maintenance costs. Around here most everyone sells 2 or 3 month cut and split wood for $50-55 a face cord. They will try and pass it off as "seasoned". No one uses a moisture meter. I have a customer that has bought from me the last 3 years and I sell him a cord for $120. He picks it up, so no delivery for me. Based off the work evolved I don't see how anyone can make money selling firewood.
You can’t worry about the low ballers. If you have a quality product, it will sell itself. I get $240 for mixed hardwood and $260 for oak. No stacking but if they ask I may do it if it’s easy enough and I don’t charge less than $40. What I’ve found is that I can make more per hour stacking than I can cutting and splitting.
I think his user name is Woodshax . I do bundles as well but only wholesale to a few gas stations. Tried CL for a bit last Winter for retail, with minimal success.
That’s like the book I’m thinking about selling on eBay. “How to make $1 million selling books on eBay”. Price: $1 million. It just takes one sale! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A. The big sellers are not doing all that work. They're using processors. B. I bet most of the "cords" sold don't measure out to a real cord. A guy I work with lives 10 minutes away and will buy a 1/2 cord load of ROUNDS from me for $100. Seems like a good deal for me if I can get the wood close to home. Only sold him 1 load so far.
I often think of this topic when Im working up wood... No way shape or form would I sell wood, it appears to be a great way to loose $$... I see the tree service companies with processors around here, and they are making $ from a by product which makes sense. If I had to use a chainsaw and my splitter or worse yet, hand split, and deliver for anything less than $500/cord id be sad.
That would be me. We gross $1200 for a true cord and sell 24/7 at state parks throughout Texas. We sell by the 2 Cuft by volume mesh bag. My wood costs are artificially high because I buy hardwood already cut and split by local guys and tree services but I carry a MM with me all the times. I can't afford to let it sit around and season, so it has to be less than 20% after a fresh split. With the cut to the parks, transportation, bags, swipe fees etc we are right at $600 profit for a cord
