Around me there are a few small machines . Prices are all over the place but one thing I see is they start out low to get work . Real soon they figure out that you can't make it at $ 35 or 40 and furnish a skid steer to load it . I started out at a fair price went up real quick on 16 in. wood . I just can't see how you can spend 10 grand and up on a machine and work it for 35 or 40 a cord and load the machine to . I think we will see machines for sale in the next few years . The salesman make it sound easy then you need a brand new $70000 diesel to pull it and you are going to go broke on $400 days . Enough of my rant you guys with processers know what I mean .
Those numbers never made sense to me, Gearbox. I figure I'm easily making more money per hour sitting in the seat of my nice forwarder than these guys are. Even if you were hitting 2 cords per hour, if there is a 12 cord load sitting there, you roll in and set up (at least an hour) takes 6 hours to process it, and another hour to get out of there if your lucky. And you made about $80 per hour for 2 expensive machines? No way.
If it was all nice straight wood up to 14 inches like Tamarak . The loggers take the bolts out and your left with pulp wood size or crooked and forks . I will keep logging and running it through for firewood .
I got a deal this year. I have 50 cords of wood cut in 8 foot lengths and I saw an add for someone wanting to cut wood so I called. I had 12 cords cut for 25.00 a cord. 2 guys came with a chainsaw and cut it up in about 3 hours. Worked their tails off . I had to split what needed split but that was no problem. I do not know how they could make anything for 25.00 cord 4x4x8. I would have had that much in fuel and time if I would have did it. Around here the processor guys get 50.00 a cord and you furnish the loader
My machines make $$$ at home. I did a ten pulp cord job for friends who own and heat the local auto repair shop with an OWB. Bruce supplied himself and his tractor to load the machine. Payment is to be in auto repairs and it's only six miles from home base. Had a client this season that paid for the pulp and had it delivered to me for processing and delivery to his shop and residence. That worked out well. We'd talked about doing the processing at his shop but I figured by the time I hauled the equipment there and back and drove there for a few days, 30 pulp cord, to do the job it was better for me to have the wood at my place. It's nice to be home close to the shop for repairs 8)
Quote from: barbender on November 09, 2017, 09:00:34 PM
Those numbers never made sense to me, Gearbox. I figure I'm easily making more money per hour sitting in the seat of my nice forwarder than these guys are. Even if you were hitting 2 cords per hour, if there is a 12 cord load sitting there, you roll in and set up (at least an hour) takes 6 hours to process it, and another hour to get out of there if your lucky. And you made about $80 per hour for 2 expensive machines? No way.
this is what I said about guys getting paid by the hour skidding logs 80-90 per hour for a skidder and a man
I wonder if they listened to the sales guy tell them they could make 3 cord an hour . 3 X 40 = 120 wow I can make a killing .
$80/ hr sounds pretty good to me :o Am I missing something? Still after fuel and expenses I'd think a guy could do OK. But maybe that's why I'm barely paying bills myself :-\ Barbender, if you're running a decent forwarder that puts out, and doing better than those numbers, my hat's off to ya man ;)
Pclem that's my point they aren't doing $ 80 an hour . That still isn't enough for 2 machines and a operator . I can do a cord stacked in my 3/4 ton with 2 guys 40 min. that's picking my wood . One 20 inch log and I may spend 5 min. or more getting it through with re-splits . Add in some dirt from skidding and time for sharpening I once sharpened 3 times in one log with frozen dirt on it . If they are smart they will look at the pile and site befor they move [ an hour or more if you don't get invited in for coffee ] .
Quote from: Pclem on November 10, 2017, 09:07:58 AM
$80/ hr sounds pretty good to me :o Am I missing something? Still after fuel and expenses I'd think a guy could do OK. But maybe that's why I'm barely paying bills myself :-\ Barbender, if you're running a decent forwarder that puts out, and doing better than those numbers, my hat's off to ya man ;)
Pclem, my $80/he figure is with 2 machines running- a skid steer and the processor. Unless you are also paying another hand to run one of the machines, you get to do all of that yourself. I've been running a processor and loading the deck myself, about 1 cord/he is about all I can do. Now try these numbers, say you have a mid sized processor you just payed $25k+ for. The one I'm renting right now, the owner is charging me $25/hr (which I think is cheap). My older Case skid steer, I figure I should have at least $35/hr just for costs, but let's say $25 for that, too. Then you need a hired hand that is least semi-skilled. If your legit and paying comp and all, you'll be approaching $20/hr if you're paying them $15/hr. We haven't even got an insurance policy yet, and I'm pocketing $10/hr at this point. Oh yeah, I had to pull all this around with my Diesel pickup and equipment trailer. Usually, I have an unlimited amount of hours I can put in at my real job in the forwarder, so I'd be making overtime at over $30 an hour. Needless to say, I haven't bought a firewood processor😊
Ah, I must have skimmed over the 2 machines part. I was figuring just for operating the processor. On that note, there is a guy an hour away from me that has been custom processing for a few years now with a dyna sc16. He claims on craigslist he can process up to 4 PULP cords an hour. I'm sure its all dependent on material. He charges $50/pulp cord if you load him, and more if he brings his skidsteer [not sure how much more]. He processed for me a few years back when I was between processors and averaged 3 cords/ hour with me loading him. And he charged extra for drive time. The beauty with his gig is he doesn't have to deduct for loss and shrinkage off a pulp cord like we do when we deliver dry split wood to homeowners. Well, he sure seems to stay plenty busy from the way it sounds
So, I was out unloading kiln, and realized I was wrong.[My wife tells me that alot lately] :-\ The guy who processed for me charged $35/pulp cord. Not sure where the 50 came from. Maybe THAT'S why I'm barely paying bills, I can't get my numbers straight ::)
the guy that processes my wood charges $85/hour. that covers him and a helper to load him and throw resplits back in. he loads with my bobcat. he charges 150 bucks to bring the machine the first time (about 2.25 hour drive and usually works for a couple days to a week at a time). he gets about 2.5 cord/hour done on average. he clocks out during repair time obviously. and is reliable and does a great job in my opinion.
A few years ago I processed some wood for 3 days for a guy at $75/hr for processor only. I did another job with processor and loader for $100/hr. Neither time I did custom processing did it seem really profitable. I always charged by the hour because if their logs are junk they are paying me to fool with them.
I've done a couple "traveling" jobs. Not too far away, but not at home either. Need to have at least 10 cord to move my stuff. We did $65 a cord, that included me setting up the landing ( I made it so we could easily roll logs onto processor lift - Hakkie 1x37), processing into trailer(s) and delivering about 5 miles. It worked out ok, anything ugly got left on the landing (as per our deal). In all did 22 cord over 2 weekends, somehow no breakdowns too! Nobody got rich, but I didn't go broke either, it was nice not to have to buy the logs for once, just make big pieces of wood into little ones! I also have "volunteer" help, they help and I offset the price of their wood. Same couple helpers every week, we make a pretty good team.
I've done that with two different parties on a barter basis.
One account brought the logs to my yard in small batches, and left his dump truck to catch the product. I moved my machine 10 miles away to the other account, and had the use of his Kobelco shovel for loading/sorting.
Worked out fine, but I'm not going to make a habit of it, as the logistics can be annoying.
Looks like most have tried and like me the money just isn't there . I have almost nothing in my BT6870 processer home built and a 500 Bobcat with a water cooled briggs engine [ Somewhere north of $2000 ] . I can average a cord or more an hour and use about 1 1/2 gal. per hour in the 2 machines and the conveyer .
As North River Energy said, I've done the barter thing too. Have them drop them at your yard, and sort them. If they are coming 1 or 2 one tons at a time, just pile em separate and charge extra " handling "... Oh and always let them know you want CLEAN wood! I had a guy with a ten wheeler dump bring indecent stuff in. I kept the first cord, he got the rest. Everybody was happy
I think I posted this a while back, but we had a young guy in our area purchase a gas firewood processor, put an ad on craiglist and charges $400 a day if you have a machine to load logs. Most people wanted him to do 20 pulp cords instead of 10 so he eventually purchased a diesel to do 20 pulp cords a day and his price went up accordingly. He told me he did $60,000 dollars in mobile processing last year. He also sells firewood and was selling outdoor wood boilers at one time. Other guys in the area charge $750.00 per 8 hour day including drive time. When I was doing mobile processing my first gas machine was $55 per hour and the brute force gas machine is $75 per hour and customer has to have a machine and person to load the log deck. I only do a select few customers now and I won't do wood that is dirty or not piled up on runners to keep the bottom layer out of the dirt. Several guys around here are doing some mobile, some firewood and some bundles.