As many of you know in here, not only do I burn but I also sell as much as I can produce. This past year, for the first time ever, I kept track of all money in and out as well as total wood delivered and miles driven. So here is the season by numbers: 115 cords delivered 7 weekends out of 8 spent delivering 1,550 miles put on my dump truck delivering 61% of all money taken in was profit In the off season I bought a newer faster splitter with a 6 way wedge and log lift. I also hired out a little more help splitting than in previous years and spent more time with my family. I'm planning on keeping track again this year and I believe it will be more profitable as I hope to spend less on purchasing wood than last season. And because I know you all love pictures so much here is a before and after of one of my piles of splits.
Around my house, a cord can go for $330. Not bad math at 61% profit. Hope your tax person is good enough to ensure you can capitalize some of the new tools !
This is just work on the side. It's all cash. No tax person needed. I get what I consider a fair price for a cord but it's not as high as $330.
Yes, keep it on the down low. I have a firewood business in order to depreciate my equipment. Legit tax guy takes care of the paperwork. I do not sell a lot, but it’s all above board.
That is a really nice splitter with the optional table grate and optional wedge. I bet that puppy really kicks out the splits. If I had thought about opening my own firewood side business. I would like to sell pellets along with bio-bricks as well. The closest in the area for the pellets/bio-bricks is 30 miles away. He does deliver down to our area, but charges a premium for it. The area is saturated with firewood delivery. Prices are all over the place. My experience with the ones I've dealt with is that they call seasoned wood, logs that have sat for a length of time. They deliver yellow splits to the homeowners. The homeowners don't know any different, and pay a premium for what most call seasoned wood. There are a few in the area that charge a hefty price for actual seasoned wood. Those businesses are established and have been in the business for some time now. A close friend of mine owns a landscaping/tree service and also does firewood delivery. I'd love to buy the firewood delivery from him. He's talked about scaling his operations back, but I don't think he'd selloff pieces as it's important to him to keep his employees busy year round. The guy is literally on the go until 10pm at night work on quotes for 3-4 mounts ahead of time to ensure that his teams have constant work. I work 60+ hours a week in IT, but I am starting to look at work that would allow me to take a local job for less money and fewer hours. A side business I could take into retirement would be well worth it in my opinion.
