Selling Lumber from my backyard Sawmill

[TimberCat]

I've been operating a hobby side gig sawmill business with my TimberKing bandsaw mill for the last 8 years, and before that with a Harbor Freight sawmill.  I charge customers by the board foot to saw their logs as a mobile sawmill service.  I also saw logs customers drop off to my property as well.  Then I saw my own logs, stack the lumber, and sell some wood green and other wood air dried.  More recently I picked up a Nyle Kiln, and will now be able sell kiln dried wood and also offer kiln drying as a service for other people's green lumber.  I have a molder, and I plan to offer kiln dried, tongue and grooved wood flooring, among other products.  Recently, I was talking about my business with someone, and they asked if I had "the special license" required to sell flooring retail to the public.  I wasn't aware of such a license.  Can anyone expound on any licenses one with a mobile bandsaw mill might need to sell their lumber, outside of standard business licenses (sales&use tax, etc)?  Thanks!   8)

[beenthere]

Doubt can say without knowing your general location. Like what state? With a Nyle kiln, probably in the USA. Softwood as well as hardwood?

[scsmith42]

"Special license"???  That's not a requirement in most, if not all states. 

I think that your acquaintance might have been confusing flooring with structural framing lumber that requires a grade stamp.

[Ianab]

You would need a "permit" to sell Graded Structural Lumber. Well technically it's a course you have to pass and a registered grade stamp. But that doesn't apply to non structural wood, like flooring / trim / furniture wood etc. You can still sell ungraded 4x2's, they just may not be approved by building inspectors. You selling them isn't illegal, you just can't sell them as "Officially Grade Stamped". Exact rules about building and grade stamps vary with location.

[moodnacreek]

In New York state we can sell structural lumber that we saw and sell directly to the user. We must certify it is no. 2 or better and the mill owner is allowed to do that.

[Brad_bb]

I know a guy who specializes in hardwood flooring.  His storage building is spray foamed air tight and he is super careful so as not to let his finished flooring, or kiln dried material get exposed to PPB or any lumber that might have PPB.  He has his own kiln and his wood goes from the kiln to the sealed storage building or right in the shop for machining and then the storage building.  Nothing is allowed to sit outside.  My wood came out of another guy's kiln and he let that in his sealed building.  But I had one bunk of material that had been kiln dried but I had it stored in my shop at home a  few months.  He would not let that in his building.   He had me wait until he was ready and I brought it and it went directly to machining  and I had to pick it up right after.  I've never heard of any license for making flooring.

[fluidpowerpro]

Since I have no control over what the lumber I saw or sell will ultimately be used for, I have a statement on my contract that states that I am not responsible for the suitability of the lumber used in any application.
If you go to a lumberyard and buy boards, they are not responsible for what you do with it.
I would think that as long as you don't misrepresent what your selling, you will be ok. On the other hand though, if I knew someone was going to use something in a place that might be an issue, I would certainly tell them to do some homework ahead of time.

[Don P]

You know those deck blocks they sell at Home dopey... prohibited by code.
The extending basement posts. You could make a long list walking the aisles. I've had building supplies send out wrong species and grade, off grade, ungraded, and bootleg stamps. Doesn't make it right but it is up to the user to verify appropriateness for use.

[SawyerTed]

My insurance agent and I had a long talk about liability and "appropriateness for use".  The laws vary by state.  In NC what DonP is saying is 100 percent correct.  The end user has to ensure the material fits its use.   

I'm thinking the OP ran across someone with enough knowledge to be dangerous.

[beenthere]

Lawyers in any liability case where someone may be injured or killed, can and likely will, muck up the situation.

Only one case in point, a sawmill operator sawed a log into plank-size, green lumber which eventually ended-up used as un-graded scaffold plank. The scaffold member supporting the plank failed due to a small knot that didn't shrink along the grain concentrating all the load on the cross-member.
Long story short, the loser was the sawmill operator who was the most innocent in the chain of responsibility, but didn't have stickers and paperwork at the scene of the scaffold failure.
The injury settlement by the insurance company caused their lawyers to pursue payment by someone else. It's what they do.

[Ianab]

Lawyers in any liability case where someone may be injured or killed, can and likely will, muck up the situation.

Seems to be an issue across the US especially. Liability Insurance is probably necessary. While the protection isn't 100%. if you get sued for a frivolous reason, it's the Insurance Companies money that's on the line, and they 1: Don't want to pay out, and 2: Have lawyers on the payroll. 

So possible outcomes are:
They tell the other party to get bent, see you in court (and we will probably win, and get out fees paid), and the case goes away.
They work out a settlement if there is actually liability, and the insurance Co pays something less than your max cover.
It could even go to court, in which case you have actual lawyers working to save the Insurance Co money, and hence cover your butt. They both know the laws, and can hire expert witnesses etc. If it might cost the Insurance Co $1m, they will fight it for sure.

The only possible worst case is that your REALLY messed up and sold someone an exploding board that you knew had a land mine in it or something. And the case was lost, with damages more than your Insurance cover. That seldom happens, because of all the stages above, and you have some common sense.

[TimberCat]

Thank you all very much.  All great information and reassurance.  I wasn't going to stop selling my lumber regardless.  Just wanted to see if anyone else had heard of such a thing before.  I think a lot of people come up with things based on a faint recollection without really knowing what they're talking about.  That was likely the issue with the gentlemen who mentioned the license to me.  He might have been thinking about grade stamped framing lumber as Ianab mentioned.  A big reason why I even got into sawmilling was for the independence and freedom involved with it, and part of what keeps me addicted are all the great transactions, conversations with customers, and relationships that come from it. I always like to know best practices to protect against modern lawyers taking it away.   usflag