If they're se I just went to check on one local seller of one year seasoned wood and it's $153 a face cord. $57 to deliver it. A 4'x4'x8' cord by me is generally $200-$250 delivered. I'd gotten a full cord seasoned for $225 a cord last year, delivered.
Lots of info in the last few days here, Thank you all a lot. I still want to get into this as a small business to start off and most likely part time and see where it goes. Client list that comes with the business buy a lot of the green wood because its cheaper so I can probably handle that, and the property I'm looking at has loads of seasoned wood. A couple tree companys come with it as well and deliver free green wood cut to length. Also here on the island there are a lot of tree companies willing to cut to length and deliver free so they don't have to pay to dump it. Supply I don't see being a problem, bringing in the customers and keeping them will be the hard part.
That's the part that I don't think people are processing. If tree companies are selling firewood for $125 per cord green and $200 per cord seasoned, you can add to that the savings they have from not paying to dump it to get the total value. Tipping fees for could very reasonably be $50-100 per ton to dispose of "waste wood" One cord of green Oak weighs 2.5 tons or more. So selling green wood for $125 per cord also nets a savings of $125-250 in savings from not paying the landfill for a total "value" of $250-375 per green cord. That is likely the reason that the tree companies are happy to cut the wood to a specified length to drop it for free. If you're not realizing the same savings that tree companies do in selling wood, it might make it a bit challenging to make a lot of money given the competitive price environment but as long as the recurring costs are kept low (land rental $0.. Raw material $0) if it doesn't work out, you can probably just sell the equipment for what you paid for it.. being able to split right into the truck and deliver right away to a customer who wasn't on a timeline would be the way that I'd want to operate. Again.. Good luck and welcome..
Not sure if I don't get your post or you don't get mine but the tree companies here on LI give the logs away for free, I would pay nothing for them already cut to length. A lot of tree companies here for some reason don't run a firewood business..
I completely understand your post and understand that you're not paying.. But I'm sure there are tree companies that don't have a place to drop logs for free so rather than paying to dispose of them, they just process them for firewood and sell the cords cheaper than places where the economics are different like up here in NH.. In NH if I wanted to do a business and needed to buy wood, I'd have to get tree length loads for $100 per cord and then sell them for about $225 green... So the margin is about the same as it'll be for you.. The math is just a little different..
Pluke, welcome to FHC from a fellow LI'er. Not only am I on LI, but I'm only a few miles down the path from you. ;-) Personally, I think you should think l-o-n-g and hard about this before you drop the beans on it. Firewood on LI is not a big biz as you know because there's a lot of "free" raw wood (as you spoke about) from tree services..., so lots of us get there wood free, split there own, and burn their own. Sure, lots of folks buy a cord here or there, but most of those folks buy a cord once every 2 or 3 years. They go to Craigs list, buy a truck load for $125 or $150, and they are good to go. As somebody posted, at a premium price of $250, 100 cords, or 100 deliveries is $25k gross, less fuel, maintenance, insurance, keeping lights on..... hmmmmm, I wonder if there is anything left, to call "profit"? 100 cords delivered would be a cord a day sold/delivered, 7 days a week, for the entire winter (Dec, Jan, Feb). Just seems like a tough biz to me. But if you do go for it, Best of luck to you! PS- If you need an F150 Lariat Supercrew (2002) with 123k on it to help in the biz? I'm selling my truck. Going to post over in the Classifieds section now.
Sorry I didn't answer sooner I was away. That was a screen shot from LI craigs list. and it WAS for a full true cord 4x4x8 Seasoned wood on LI from a dealer usually means he had the logs for 6 month to a year before he split them. WE all know this doesn't really season wood After a hurricane or major storm there are so many oak trees down the tree companies have trouble getting rid of the wood. Many towns charge by the ton or truckload and it isn't cheap to dispose of. Sometimes it also means a long ride in the truck too. The guy I get my logs from would have to drive 30 min each way to pay to get rid of the wood and its the same for chips. I'll be going by Harned Road sawmill in Cormack and they split and sell a LOT of wood I'll try to get some pics for all heres their web site :: Gotwoodli - Long's Island's Seasoned Firewood Specialists
Have you looked at the sellers books? The equipment does have a tangible value but the customer base? Thats blue sky area there. You might as well be paying him for a phone book if you know what I mean. If as you say you want to start off part time are you sure you wont lose some of the customers if you cant fill their demand? No real answers from me just questions. Trust me, small business ventures are not all wine and roses if you dont do your home work first. Especially it you have a big out put of capitol to get started.
I do realize I am not getting all of the customers ( for now ) but can't hurt to make a call to all of them who they sold to before. I should be able to sell to some right away because some of them liked to buy it green to save $. I have time to split the wood and make calls for now part time but if it gets big and I start getting busy, I have no problem going part time with my full time job and eventually leaving it.
Honestly, no. There are a few around here that sell kiln dried but these prices look out of hand. I've seen kiln dried a lot cheaper in my area of Suffolk county. Most people I know don't spend that much on wood,
Thanks to everybody who responded to my first post, I am taking the plunge this weekend and purchasing the equipment and going to start a small local firewood business. If it works out good for me, if it doesn't well good for me because I tried.
Good luck! My wife and I dreamed of owning our own farm for along time. She said to me one day that she was scared to buy a farm and fail (not like her at all). I said I was scared to not try. If we try and fail at least we would know we tried instead of wondering what could have been. We bought our small farm over a year ago and couldn't be happier. There isn't anything wrong with trying and it not working out. If you never try something your life will never change. Hope this works out as well for you as it has for us.
Bingo!! Give it a shot! No harm in failing, the richest most successful people in the world all tried and failed at thing many times before making it big! Good Luck!
These are the prices at Prianti in Huntington. They are one of the larger dealers in the area. As you can see it is $185 for a face cord of "seasoned" firewood. It is a mix of hard wood & soft. Seasoned is less that 6 months, split and piled in their yard, well over 25% moisture. If you pick it up it is a little cheaper. Last person I know that picked up a load said it was $139 for 220 splits. They claim that count is the equivalent of a face cord stacked. Wood from landscapers is hit or miss. Most of the services in western Suffolk don't have enough property to split & store wood so they have to get rid of it. First they satisfy their own needs, wood chips for landscaping or a few cash firewood customers. When they get overwhelmed they look for a free place to dump it. Some years they dump more than I'll use. It is usually a mix of good wood and soft but for free I have to take what they dump. Other years I have to go scrounge my own. If you have regular customers you cannot count on the tree services. You have to have a back-up supply and build that supply into your price. Good luck with your venture... KaptJaq
The worst part, ALL those adds say "Delivered and Stacked". All the years I had wood delivered, every single time they dumped it in my yard, the guy would then get out of the truck very gingerly and hunched over and say "Sorry, I can't stack it I threw my back out yesterday...". LOL. I really didn't care if they stacked or not, but always pizzed me off the BS they pulled.
