I have been thinking about this for awhile. I have this idea about having a small wood removal service that I would be able to offer people who don't want to pay as much for the tree service to remove the wood. I get probably 1 or 2 people a week asking me to come take their wood for free, as if there is no work for me and that they are doing me a huge favor. Its not that I don't appreciate it, it's just that if there was just a little bit of money involved in it, I would prioritize it and offer a decent service, I believe. I already have a truck, a trailer, a log splitter for bug stuff, a chainsaw for breaking down bug logs, and I am considering getting a heavy duty wood chipper for branches and sticks. The chipper would really seal the deal for me to have a pretty full service wood removal. I would be able to haul large chunks with my pickup bed or dump trailer, and chips in the 5×8 trailer. The chippers i am looking at range from $800 to $1600. There is a cub cadet at my local farm supply, but the one i am looking at online is the mighty mack 375. I don't know a whole lot about chippers, but if you guys have any advice or thoughts on my business idea, that'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I do sell firewood by the way. This would just be a service I offer to monetize the front side of the firewood business and to make it a more profitable operation.
Go for it. I do some chain saw work, brush hauling, clean up etc. Mostly referral/repeat customers. Ive tried advertising with minimal success. If you have room a chipper is not a bad idea. I usually bring it right to the dump. Im limited for space and am cheap. If i did it a lot more then id consider upgrades, but more overhead takes away from the money that goes into your pocket. You can advertise firewood making too. Ive done those on occasion too. Best of luck and let us know how you make out.
Thanks. Another idea I had was to figure out a way to subcontract the clean up part of the tree service from other tree service companies. I personally know three of the tree companie's owners around here. I would probably do it for less than the tree service to incentivize the business to use my wood removal service. That way i wouldn't have to compete with them or market for business as much. Just thinking out loud right now.
I've got a woodmax DC-1260 woodchipper. We run stuff up to 5" oak thru it without any issues. Probably would do 6" if we "burped" the limb through it to not bog it down. Get the wheel extensions or its pretty tippy. It goes through softwood like pine as if it weren't even there, especially if its green.
