Thinking if doing something this fall/ winter as a side hustle. Was wondering if buying tree length and reselling cut/split is worth the time. I'm mainly just looking to stay active and make a few bucks for toys. Tree length here us selling for about$115 a cord and sells about$275 cut and split
Seems to be about volume, volume, volume. jrider has a few posts/threads to check out I can never get the tag function to work he might even throw some numbers at you in a PM
About $100.00 a cord to buy a triaxle load here but then I see it advertised for $180.00 a cord delivered & I ask myself what’s the point? Sounds like you’ve got a little more lead way between your cost & selling price. I would consider doing it looking at your numbers. It could be a nice way to pick up a few extra $ working for yourself. Keep us posted.
firewood CSS is not a particularly good side hustle return wise. But if you like doing it ( and ya you can drop the gym membership) its ok- Kiln dried brings premium dollars around here. I have yet to find out what kind of seasoning is used on the others advertised as seasoned- sure isn't under 20% moisture content wise. ( cut today, split next day, sold day after that- buyer beware). Most profitable is the 1-1.5 cubic ft bundles. Around here that would = apx $ 500/ full cord.
My brother does a little bit of this. Rule of thumb is you need to double your money to make it worthwhile, and then only if you like to do it. It's ok for him, he gets logs at a decent price from a logger buddy, and sometimes trades work for the logs ( my brother is an excavating contractor.) He has the time to do it in the winter, and has his own OWB, so there is firewood cutting going on anyhow. Being an excavator, he has a dump truck for delivery, a CTL to move logs around, and me to help.
A lot of factors to consider. Time, space, market, machinery, how much you enjoy the process. Money can be made though under the right conditions. Only you can determine that. In my market, $115 a cord to buy wouldn’t result in much profit
Around here, this answer as well. ^^^^ If I had to buy to sell, I'd have to buy at $50.00 per cord. Firewood bundles are for certain the most profit if you live in a camping/tourist area. Best I've done is charge for tree cleanup & removal, then sell the processed firewood. That's labor intensive, but brings in money on both ends. I don't sell a bunch yet simply due to time constraints, but have a few customers that will pay a premium for good wood & they get what they pay for. I'm slowly building the firewood business to be my retirement "hobby/job". Gotta keep moving ya know.
Well IMO, after you figure in time, fuel, wear and tear on equipment and your body, there are a lot more ways to make a couple bucks. What is your "trade"? whenever I look at these thing I figure how much can I make doing what I know and it always comes out do what I know and buy the other stuff.
side hustles are often also hobbies and a means to expand one's life experience, not stay constrained within a sphere of knowledge and comfort.
I think if I was to do it, I’d set my purchase price, quality/species requirements, drop location(s) and advertise it. Have cash ready for immediate payment and accept deliveries when convenient for a seller. Nothing worse than having a product on the landing with no one to sell it to immediately with more product being pulled to the landing. Perhaps there are buyers already doing this, but if your location is convenient to a job, you might get the logs for a bit less.. if you have a trailer they can load logs on, you can save on trucking. If you find the purchase price is too low, raise it a bit but don’t exceed your limit..
There would not be enough margin in it for me at $115/cord in log lengths to feel like I was making any kind of money.
I resell most of the wood i scrounge. Never had paid for wood. I do .75 cubic foot bundles and wholesale to a couple gas stations. Tried CL with minimal luck. I have a hand full of regular bulk wood customers, but cant do large quantity with only my F150. Tried CL as well for face and half cords with some success. Lots of competition down here. I enjoy making firewood so the profit is a plus. Overhead is minimal. If i had a large lot id get tree services to drop their wood. Sounds like too much work for not enough profit at those prices IMO, but you dont know til you try.
Do the gas stations pay cash? Do they pay a decent price for the bundles? I thought about doing bundle but I heard there was not much money in them.
That sounds like a good margin to me. You can buy a load and try it. If it doesn't work out or you don't like doing it, you won't be out anything.
gas stations - snow plowing , contacted me for plowing - give them price they say fine then plow and they argue the price- one was such a knob I went out and put the snow right in front of the pumps. from then on it was cash up front or no plow. likely the same with the wood bundles i would not extend credit to them.
Bundles are a pain. At 3/4 cubic feet per bundle i can get 170 +/- bundles per cord. 6-8 logs per. I can over double my money doing bundles vs. cords. PITA with plastic and assembly. All my stations pay cash at time of delivery. It is my experience with Muslim and Hindu owners that haggling is a way of life in their culture. Quote them and they will haggle. One owner has had me do ther work on his house. I will quote him higher and when he haggles ill drop the price. He thinks im giving him a deal. Old retail trick. One time i actually started to leave and the owner agreed then. $3.00-$3.50 is the wholesale price around here. Good luck if you try and let me know if you do.
