any update on how you are progressing with this? I had a very small run at this a few years ago. Sold maybe 5 or 10 cords each year at most. I found my tax guy to be the biggest help. I depreciated a new truck, a trailer and some equipment, plus some of my home bills. I keep having urge to expand this, but I just do not have the time and my day job pays well. I'm always thinking though
My mind is still in the business sense, but just as "MURPHY" would have it, little things have gotten in the way. My next purchase was supposed to be a 7x12 dump trailer but that is on hold till next spring at the earliest. I'm itching to get this going
I ran some numbers,rough numbers, and I would need to sell close to 1,000 cords to bank enough on the profit side. That would mean buying a real processor and a dump trailer. That pushes me off till I pay off some loans. Good luck and keep us updated
For the time being I have a small lot that I can process about 15-20 cords on right now. But that will most likely change at some point once things take off and the need for more revenue comes into play.
If you are looking to do 15 cords a year you current saws and splitter will do the job. If you are going to doing more you will want a faster splitter. Wood here goes for $180-200 a cord. I would not pay more than $80 a cord for it in log length. If you are buying to from a tree company it will probably be in random lenghts long enough to make 2 1/2 pieces of wood. There will be a lot of waste so you can't pay as much. I just got a mingo marker to help minimize waste. There is not much money in delivering the wood. You are better off with them coming and picking it up. A dump trailer works and as you probably know it can be tough getting into someplace. I stack all my wood on teh trailer so there is no confusion on how much they are getting. It is fair for them and me that way. I sell wood for a price plus delivery. I get their address and look it up on good maps to see how accessible the place and ask if a truck and trailer can get in. If you would buy wood in log lengths do you have a way to handle it? Cutting of the pile is slllllooooooowwww. I have heard the box wedges make a mess and waste a lot of wood. They also splinter the wood making it tough to handle.
I will give you some free advice on how to make money selling wood. Have tree guys start dumping for free....I even get them to buck it to 16"-18" or I don't allow it. Run an ad on craigslist as a tree dump and homeowners will come to you too. Same rules apply 16"-18" pieces for them too. Forget about paying for wood until you get really big and need to feed a processor. 15 cords is not too hard to build up with a regular low end splitter and a saw. Get the dump trailer and a 1 ton truck but not a dually, that will be your bread and butter. You can haul a descent amount in and out with that. Think out of the box, you will only have so much time and energy to work wood, make it count.
Wood Boss I like the way you think. I have a similar deal with a tree service that parks their equipment on my land.
Here is my $.02 Keep splitting wood for yourself and sell off a few cords when you have extra. Keep it a hobby. I just don't see it being profitable unless you are getting your wood for free and you have a couple of guys you need to keep busy between more profitable work. Your dump trailer alone will take 70ish sold cords to pay for itself. Sit down and do an honest analysis of how much it will cost you to get a cord out the door and delivered. Cost of material, machinery, their estimated useful lifespan, maintenance, everything and how much time you will have invested in each cord. I bet you will find out you can do a lot less work for the same money and zero risk other ways.
Just remember there is always more than one way to skin a cat. You don't need to buy a brand new dump trailer, less than 10 cords delivered paid for mine. Maybe in the Hudson Valley that is the way you have to do it, but then again that is why I left there. I'll still say the dump trailer next to your truck is one of the most important pieces of equipment you can have, it more than doubles your capacity to haul and deliver your firewood.
I know, I have a 14k load trail dump. But he is talking about buying the wood he is going to sell and buying a 7x14 dump not a 6x10. Selling 10 cords would net ~$1000 and that ignores any other expenses. Around here a no name 7x14 will be at least 7k. A used one that isn't a rolling pile of crap will run $4500 plus. The smaller, lighter duty ones are much cheaper.
I have a 1ok trailer. I don't net $100 a cord far more, but to each their own. It has taken me a couple of years to develop my business model, you really have to move a large quantity of firewood fast.
And that is the only way to make a profit in my opinion. The OP is planning on buying log length. Around here log length runs 100ish a cord and split wood sells for 200 or so a cord delivered. It sold for more a few years ago before oil plummeted but not now.
Seems like a lot of work and investment in machinery for a small profit. If any of you are near North Texas I would take as much as you could dump at $200 a cord of split oak or other hardwood. We only go through about 2 to 3 cords of wood a week but our net profit is at least $700 a cord. Selling by the bag at state parks is a lot easier.
We are currently moving about 10 cords a week, bagging may an option sometime but some place required the wood in bags to be kiln dried.
I always wonder how folks live selling wood. If you need at least 24k a year to survive at 200 a cord you need to spit out 120 cords a year? And that is if it is pure profit and if you can survive on 24k a year....
With those numbers ($120/cord) it would be too much work with little profit. We get quite a bit more than that per cord.
So that we all have the same reference point...... Are we talking full cords (128 Cu Ft) or face cords.....We have exceeded our ability source all own own wood and have been supplementing with local firewood sellers and none of there prices are for a full cord and every ones face cord is different.....Hard to figure out an average price for our area when they do not know what a cord really is
