What is considered the going rate in your area for bucked and delivered/dumped wood? Basically tree service wood. No splitting, or stacking. I'm considering going this route to get a few years ahead.
Don't really know much on this topic but I have had tree services dump at my house for free. Sometimes it's cheaper for them to drop it at your house then pay to dump it somewhere. But if your talking buying rounds cut to size and not split normally the price is closer to half of what split and seasoned wood goes for. With a tree service though you will likely get many odd sized pieces.
My wood is delivered for free from tree guys. I get it from more than one company. Either in log length or cut rounds. Log length is better IMHO. You will always need to recut the odd sized rounds/chunks so it winds up being almost the same amount of work as logs. And you wind up with a pile of shorts that won't stack neatly as opposed to one odd piece per log. The economics of it all are really in my favor.
I've got a tiny yard so log length isnt going to work. Not to mention, there are not too many logging trucks running around Suburban Indianapolis. Another problem is that we have FREE tree dumps around here-so basically the only tree guy that would come to my house is going to want $ unless I am closer than the dump. Anyway, I put an Ad up on CL offering to pay $...I just failed to mention how much $. Hoping my phone blows up tonight.
I pay around $100/cord green, tree length plus fuel costs. Never had any bucked logs delivered, not sure anyone offers that around my way. 6-8 cord minimum on the delivery.
Beer / Gas money???? Maybe... I either go get it or they deliver to my driveway. Good luck in your adventures with it. Just make sure they dont deliver brush or trash wood unless your prepared for it...
I got my first load of tree service wood delivered to my house this week. It was soft maple and bucked in various lengths. I really can't complain, since it was free. It will all be burnt.
I can see the economics being different if there are free places to dump. That doesn't exist here. They pay to get rid of chips, they pay to get rid of logs. But like you say, even with free dumps they should give it to you if you are closer. Watch who is working your neighborbood and ask. Be patient. The best deal will probably be if you can find someone who stores his equipment close to you. That way he can swing by and drop on you at the end of the day, even with less than full loads that he doesn't want to pay one of his guys to go dump. You get a long term relationship going for a couple of cords a year. You shouldn't be paying him. If he dumps garbage on you he doesn't get to dump wood in your yard again, he loses in the long run.
Do you have a way to transport it yourself? Offer to go right to the job site and pick it up. Until I made the switch to full time wood heat, I had three different fellows that would come and take the wood saving me the cost of cutting and loading it. I would rotate so each one had a little time to process their haul before it was their turn again. If you are able and choose to go this route, make sure you get there when they call or they won't call you again.
Hard to say...depends a lot on the situation...but I wouldn't pay cash for tree service wood...ever. Better to build a relationship with the crews. If they deliver usually a case of cold beer in a Styrofoam cooler (end of the day) goes a long way toward getting another load dropped off. If you see them working stop by and if they're looking to get rid of the wood they'll usually help you load the wood on your truck. Stop by the job around lunch time with a pizza or sack of burgers. Most of those guys each lunchmeat sandwiches out of a cooler and something hot to eat goes a long way too.
Around here if it's firewood they think they hit a gold mine. Tree services charge $25-$35 a pickup load and you have to go to their place and pick it up.
Update! I've had 2 responses so far. One was 2 hours away one way so he obviously is looney tunes. Second guy only lives ten minutes away and has "a few acres" that he had cut last year. His brother was supposed to split it and sell it last fall and hasn't so much as shown up once. All wood is down and bucked and best of all free. We meet Thursday. ..weatherman says rain looks like the goretex suit will be the tool of choice.
Sweet, I have cut places like that and you can't beat it. All the wood you want just need to go after it.
And here is an update! It is worthy of it's own thread. http://www.firewoodhoardersclub.com...-years-of-wood-in-1-scrounge.3524/#post-82656
All the tree companies I know pile it on their lot and turn it into firewood in between jobs or sell it for firewood in log form. Same with wood chips. I can't see how it would make sense to pay to throw it out when its a source of income.
Depends on where you are. In some places there is almost no demand for log length wood. Rent on a lot can be high. Do you want to park a truck or have a pile of firewood. You can make a lot more off a bucket truck or a crane than a pile of firewood. Making mulch out of wood chips/or tub grinding gets you into the realm of industrial manufacturing and storing of a product on your lot. In places that like to have lots of rules there are zoning and environmental regulations and permits and the BS associated with them. The tree guys I get wood from are very happy pulling out of my yard with an empty truck.
By "lot" I mean a several acre lot. Payments on the land... Well it costs the same whether you have nothing there or have it full. Wood chips come from the chipper behind the truck that branches are run through. I was just explaining how it worked in places I have lived.
