new prospects...............maybe.

[two saw]

I got in touch with a local concrete precast company and asked about sawing for them.
Fellow told me what he uses and to give him a quote.
He wants mostly 4" X 4" X 4' long. he also wants 4" X 4" X 4" (cubes).
he wants only oak and not poplar as he states the precast parts sometimes set around for up to a year, stacked 4 or 5 high, and the poplar eventually gives out.
I have to buy logs from a log yard and pay around .35 a bdft., for tie logs, little high I guess but I have no problem getting logs when I need them.
Haul them back myself.
To make it worth my time I would have to charge .70 bdft.
Think this is too high. What are some of y'all charging for this kind of stuff?
Also contacted a local CAT dealer close to me and they want deck boards for thier trailers.
These guys are into giant equipment as in mining equipment. You know the kind of equipment that takes 2 or 3 TT to move one unit.
Thay want 2" X 10" X 12' or 16' in lenght. only oak and very sound boards with no major knots. He asked about having one side planed and I said I had no planer yet. did not ask if they wanted it dried or not. He wants a quote for this as well. What would one charge for
2" X 10" lumber dried and planed 1 side?
All opinions welcome.
Thanks.

[Ron Wenrich]

Here's some of the industrial rates we have gotten recently:  5 1/2 x 6 x 8' for putting under houses during moving.  They have to be cut exact and only oak.  We're getting 55¢/bf for those.

We sold some 8 x 10 stock for shoring on a highway project at 85¢.  We also sold some 2" poplar at the same price.

We sell 3x4s to a concrete plant in poplar.  He said oak was good, but left a black mark where the oak was placed.  Poplar or any other white wood doesn't.  We get 50¢ from him.  Same from the metal shop that uses them for skids on their loads.

I think the 4x4x4" stuff would be OK at 70¢ due to the extra work.  It might be too much for the 4' stuff. 

As for the boards, a lot would depend on how much volume you're talking.  We get that for a 2" random width mixed hardwood board that is green and planed down to 1 7/8".  We also deliver it to New York City. 

Red oak logs should be a lot cheaper.  The markets have shut down, and they have dropped tie prices.  White oak is still holding its own.  I've been cutting 8/4 white oak FAS @ $2/bf.  So, I would think your 70¢ on the planking might be a little low, considering planing and drying. 

The biggest problem you're going to get with air drying is that some of the planks will probably end up twisting, unless you have real straight logs.  That is something you'll have to eat.  I think I just talked myself into charging $1 minimum for the planking.   :D

[Brad_S.]

I make trailer decking out of white oak and charge $1 per bdft green, rough and there are others nearby who charge more. Your client has high quality demands, so you will have to buy higher grade logs and even then there will be alot of material from those logs that you may not be able to sell to them, so I would go higher still. There's not enough money in it to let them sit around as inventory and dry. I plane FAS lumber for 35¢ per bdft. but green lumber is a pain to plane and the planks are stupidly heavy, so I personally would either charge 60¢ for planing or beg off altogether.
I charge 60-80¢ a bdft for dunnage lumber. I can see where Ron gets less and is OK with it because he generates a lot of cants from hearts and is happy to have any market that pays better than pallets, but I (and I suspect you) have to buy logs expressly for the purpose of making products like this. I can't buy logs any cheaper than 35¢ either, so selling lumber for 55¢ means I only make 20¢ for sawing. I charge 30¢ to custom saw customers logs and I don't have to worry about losing money if the logs turn out punky. If I have to cut lumber to specific lengths that need to be more exact than swiping a chainsaw through a stack of cants, the price goes way up from there.
IMO, a portable bandmill cannot generate low grade lumber cost effectively. You'll go broke chasing after those markets. They are nice markets to have to be able to dump junk wood into, but strive to find higher value markets so you don't need to generate huge amounts of lumber just to make a small amount of money. Don't ask me how I know this. :

[customsawyer]

Brad is hitting the nail on the head. If I could make money on pallet wood or other lower grade wood then I would cut all day long right here at the house and never have to worry about working to hard. But if I could make money on those lower grade products then so could every one else and there would be one of these mills on every corner. But it is not easy and that is why you see so many people buy one of these mills and then it will cut for about 200 -500 hours depending on how much money they can afford to lose then they will park the mill and try something else. It is real easy to put a price on these products and think you can make money at it but when you factor in your waste from the logs bad boards that you can't sell or some that the customer might refuse and you end up having to eat it can turn into a losing deal real fast and you don't have to lose much for it to start tasting real bad real fast. If you start losing $5.00 on every other log how much does that eat into your profit margin on the other logs in between?