New Year trying to keep better track finances. So trying to calculate how much it costs me per cord. I was wondering how you guys calculate the wear on equipment. Right now I have a 27 ton Yardmax splitter new on black Friday, Stihl ms250 new in September, a homemade trailer that I might have put $200 into most that was tires and rims and a 05 Yukon that I pull the trailer with. The Yukon was the family car until 2 yrs ago new its my beater.
Well, the splitter came with the house back in '06 (and I think was about 10 years old at that point), bought the chainsaw about the same time. GT and utility trailer just a few months after. 13 years later and all I've done is replace a couple spark plugs and oil....oh, and greased a wheel bearing on the splitter. I wouldn't sweat it too much. Any of it could break tomorrow, or.........20 years from now. Go cut wood.
Seems kind of tough to calculate wear factors for the guy who is only doing 3-10 cords a year. I guess anytime you spend $ on something besides fuel, bar oil, and chains, then keep track. It could be much more complex for the guy who is selling firewood ie(50+ cords) a year.
Very difficult to calculate. Most have no problem getting 20+ years out of a saw. Same for splitters (ours is 30+). Trailers? Lord only knows but they can last many, many moons. Vehicles used for hauling? Difficult as most are used for other things too. So add up what you spend on gas, oil, chains, sharpening, etc then take maybe 5% or less of the cost of other equipment? Might get you close but lots of room for error.
Fixed costs, or price of unit divided by years of life. Then add fuel, oil, maintenance expenses for each year. Divide those by cords burnt each year. You can help by subtracting cost of oil, propane or electric you think you would spend if not burning wood couple of calculators on here for that!
That's a tough question to answer as a lot depends on how you personally treat your equipment and the quality of equipment you purchase. Also can you do the maintenance/repairs or will it be sent out. I much prefer to try and take a payback approach. Buying this ....will take this long to basically be free. Or will save this much time and I valve my time as....
I had a spreadsheet for a while until I determined I broke even on savings of heating with wood vs oil. Probably took 5-6 years. Now it's gravy so I don't care. Might even have paid for the little tractor by now. Shoot, maybe I should resurrect that spreadsheet so I can upgrade
I'm finding as I age a bit, that sometimes it's less about the money and more about the comfort value. Chainsaw, tractor, trailer makes my life easier. If I can save money AND be more comfy......bonus.
Gas oil bars and chains will probably be your biggest expense. People often forget there is a final sale value on equipment. Many times I’ve bought equipment for the business , run it several years and resold for more than original cost .Wear will be minimal unless your an abusive operator. Sell a premium dry cord for top dollar every year in January at peak demand to offset costs. Don’t overthink it because your return vs. fossil is huge. As mentioned = convenience/comfort
