One of my regulars i have to back in a tight yard to the rack. They usually get a half cord around this time of the year. Few years back i decided to deliver on new years day. Got stuck when i went to leave as i didnt thik the yard was that muddy! The 85 year old homeowner (at that time) offered to help push me out. I declined of course. In the Spring i went back and filled it in. We wait for frozen ground now. Lesson learned.
Just received an order from a repeat customer. He still has a small amount remaining and is fine with a delivery this coming week. So booked him for Tuesday morning. Now I have a few days to schedule more on Tuesday. Historically, the first few weeks of January is a slow time for me. I am guessing most people already have purchased their firewood for the holidays and have other bills to pay from Christmas gifts and traveling. Even wealthy people have cash flow issues. Jan-March is my prime time for building my woodyard back up again. If not delivering, I am cutting, splitting, and stacking.
Todays haul of white oak and hickory. Estimate about $425 of Nashville gold per load. This was my 7th for the week.
As previously mentioned, location plays a large part in deciding the price of a cord of seasoned hardwood. I live in a more rural area. Couple guys within a couple miles of me have firewood split and stacked out by the road and getting around $60/face last I looked. Of course this is a you haul program. I however was getting at the least $300 per cord, and more often closer to $350 per cord. It’s no Nashville price, EODDiver , but it’s a lot better than the $180/cord the neighbors are getting. Some of the difference is obviously delivery, but I also feel that when I have repeats call me each fall wanting their seasons firewood, I can always account for an increase to cover expenses and what not without even one complaint. They know what they’re getting and there’s a relationship established that’s worth the additional cost to them. Also, few people around me care about species. I don’t separate species. Sell as mixed hardwood, and it all gets the same price.
I add $120 a face cord for delivery on top of what I want to make per face cord. Typically takes me a little over four hours a delivery: 1/2 hour to load, 3/4 to unload, wheelbarrow and stack, and three hours of driving roundtrip. And it typically takes me five hours total to produce a stacked face cord: driving to where I cut, cutting, splitting big rounds to halves or quarters, loading, driving home, unloading, splitting and stacking. Add another hour if I am cutting in a rough post logging area that requires wheelbarrowing and carrying rounds a long distances to my truck. I can't get my head around selling face cords for $60. I have $30-40 in fuel costs in total from cutting to delivery. They are making less than $10 a hour after fuel and not to mention wear and tear on equipment and maintenance. Must be all about the love of producing firewood. In addition, I usually spend 30 minutes after each cutting performing maintenance and sharping my chains. I only sell 100% of a type of firewood. Have found customers only want red or white oak and hickory. "Mixed firewood" for sale in Nashville usually means lower BTU firewood procured from tree trimming services with high moisture levels. Customers learn this right away and I become their regular supplier. Sure, I could produce firewood faster and easier with more expensive equipment, but I am not going down that rabbit hole. I make the big bucks only when I have multiple deliveries or large orders on one trip to the Nashville area with 3-4 face cords. Fuel expense and time are minimal with each additional face cord.
Sounds like you’ve found your sweet spot! Scaling up and getting more expensive equipment doesn’t always equal more profit.
Are you speaking from experience? I know a wood seller like that. Ill tell him about a new saw ive purchased and he goes on to tell me about the third splitter he bought (timber wolf i think) and his "new" dump truck and trailer. Says he sold 85 cords this season. I then ask how hes doing profit wise and is barely breaking even. I think he has a mini bobcat too. I know i do it the hard way, but the bottom line is the bottom line. If i had an ideal set up for wooding id make the jump to better equipment.
Still definitely small time here buddy I just always think back to what a friend of mine shared with me who has a pretty decent sized tree business. He’s got bucket trucks, chip trucks, loaders, chippers, etc, and runs about 4 or 5 different crews per day most days. He said the best profit he made was early on when it was him, his business partner, and their chip truck and chipper. They climbed everything. And he only buys equipment that the company can purchase outright, so it’s not like he has everything on a note like a lot of people do. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to add more stress to my life. Then it wouldn’t be fun, even if you did have more of the “toys”
Bagged my fourteenth score of 1/2 cord loads this month as of yesterday. I am paying $20 per load to cut this 16 month seasoned wood. What a deal! More than the logger could get for railroad ties. The wedging and sledging is a killer on my body trying to split 20-22" rounds. I am embarrassed to say I can no longer lift 150lb rounds into my 4X4 truck. The beech is the worst trying to split into quarters. Weird though since it goes through my hydraulic splitter without hesitation. Delivered three face cords with my trailer today to two customers. My trailer was out of commission for almost a month after hitting a deep pot hole with a full cord loaded. Blew out a tire and bent the axle. So $750 worth of total damage. Raised my prices a touch to help pay for the expense. After accounting for all firewood expenses, believe you should add another 10% for the unknown costs that will surely arise. Like the rock you hit with your fresh chain.
