Where I live, hard to find reliable help. Poor work ethics, bad health, drugs, and will kill my profit margin. And I never again want to manage people after a long career in the Navy or want anyone on my property but wildlife and the package man. Absolutely crushed last year, have sold just under 11k this month and have about 40k of inventory built up for this year's demand. Think I would have a better work to leisure ratio just meeting my 1 cord a month restaurant hickory demand.
That's how I've been doing it all along. Now I need a trailer so I can deliver multiple totes! Sent from my motorola edge plus 5G UW (2022) using Tapatalk
After my delivery tomorrow morning, picking up my Lopi Endeavor Nexgen-Hybrid stove from a shop in Nashville. Was going to purchase it in Kentucky to save on sales tax, but got a great price from a shop I frequently pass within two miles of when delivering in Nashville. My neighbor who will be doing most of the carpentry/install is a master carpenter and also had a side business delivering and installing gun safes. He has ramps and the required dolly to get the 448lb stove inside my house. He recently installed a three-story elevator in his house, so have zero concerns about getting this done right. I have watched way too many YouTubes about installing wood stoves and piping and have read the Lopi owners manual twice. Should be a straight shot up through the ceiling joists and roof rafters. I pretty much have all the stove and piping clearances and chimney height requirements memorized. I have shopped all the additional items required at Lowes, HomeDepot, and NorthLine Express. The shop said they would try to be competitive with all the online prices. I am willing to pay a few hundred more for everything to be able to get it all at once without all the delivery and possible return hassle. I have delivered a lot of firewood to stove burners and want the warmth in my house that they enjoy. The 2k tax credit seals the deal.
My wife and I love the look and specs of the Lopi Endeavor and I did a FHC search on the stove and all the FHC owners had nothing but great reviews. Any product or way of producing firewood approved by FHCers is my final seal of approval.
Lopi is in the house. Hard day. Delivered a rick of white oak, test drover a Ram 1500, picked up my stove and got it into my house without a scratch to my floors or walls. Stove dealer wanted about $1,500 more for the piping and pieces that I can order online. About 20 deliveries pays for all of this.
Deliveries have been slow the past three days, but have a cord for Friday and two ricks Saturday. Ended up ordering all my piping and parts from Amazon today. Spent roughly 20 hours researching and talking to wood stove places about what I needed. Saved about $1,100 buying from Amazon. Think fireplace/wood stove stores make auto dealerships look respectable in their markups. Visiting a sheet metal fabricator tomorrow to get a custom hearth pad made. Oh, and loading a cord tomorrow for Friday’s delivery.
Should have checked with these guys, very knowledgeable and have 1st class supplies...Wood Stove Pipe Kits | Chimney Pipe Kits & Parts
Spent about :15 this morning pricing out everything on the site you provided. About $350 more than what I paid on Amazon. I did like the site, very well organized for ordering what you need for a wood stove from A to Z. I did pay a little more for a few things on Amazon to get free returns. Not really concerned about warranties on all the DuraVent piping and accessories. Made sure I ordered all the exact SKUs that I had triple checked and the place I purchased the Lopi from printed me out an exact invoice of what I required and it matched what I had built. I am having a local metal fabricator create the exact hearth pad we want. 1/8" steel/10 guage black powder coated. Thought firewood sales would slow down going into February, but no. Three face cords tomorrow, three Saturday, and two Sunday. About equals what I did the entirety of last February.
The place I referenced, when we were installing our stove ourselves, we called them because we had to move the stove from the original position. The guy asked me the measurements from ceiling and wall, he figured out exactly what was needed and changed our order. One reason I like them.
About 2/3s of my Amazon piping and items ordered arrived today for my Lopi stove. All the stuff arrived in great shape. My one cord delivery today to two locations for the same customer was very challenging. Took me six hours to deliver and stack. Too many details, but this band manager is a cheap skate. Another three ricks tomorrow, three Sunday, and two Monday. Cold weather brought in a lot of orders, but the 70 degree weather today brought in a lot of Solo stove customer orders. Still averaging 10k a month since August of last year.
Three face cords delivered today all to past customers. Moved all my orders to today and Tuesday. Like having Mondays off. Sunday mornings are great for delivering firewood in the Nashville area. Little traffic and no school zones and buses to deal with. Absolutely killing firewood going into the new year. And about 80% of my deliveries so far are to repeats. A lot of wheelbarrowing, but was great exercise on a nice temperate day.
My first repeat customer today pulled out his moisture meter to check the firewood. I grabbed mine and asked to compare readings. We both measured 12-14%. He was satisfied and so was I. I check all my firewood before loading to ensure it is good to go. I notice a few percentages lower in readings after driving 65 miles at 55 mph.
Two ricks of hickory loaded for my restaurant and one white oak in the truck for a repeat customer. Will have doubled sales to date over last year after tomorrow. Starting my Lopi install Saturday. Only have about 40 cords of seasoned hickory and white oak remaining for personal burning.
