Don't know for sure...

[HiTech]

but had a guy tell me it was cheaper to buy hardwood logs and have them sawn and  kiln dried and processed into flooring than it was to buy flooring at a store. Anyone ever do this?

[bill m]

I have never done this but am a little skeptical of that claim and these are just my opinions. Not every board sawn  from a log will make good flooring so you need enough logs to get enough good flooring quality boards. Not every board that comes out of the kiln will make good flooring. There will be some waste after processing into flooring and there will be additional waste when installing your flooring. I don't know what the percentages of waste/rejects are that is generated along the way but maybe someone here can help out. Of course there is also the time factor. You can go to the lumber yard and buy flooring today but having your own made could take a couple of months or longer.

[Grizzly]

I have neighbor's that have milled poplar into flooring but it was their own logs, not purchased. They milled to dimensional lumber, air dried for some time, and then got the final milling done. They said cost was lower than purchased flooring but I don't know how much. I sold flooring for a couple of years and I know that store markup alone should make it worth doing it yourself.  ;)  Just make sure that moisture is closely observed. When we installed flooring from the lower end manufactures we found that moisture content was more variable than what we installed from a higher end manufacture. We found a very large quality difference between the 4 different manufactures we sold for. As in one of our cheaper brands (public buys lots based on price. that is why we stocked it) would have as much as an 1/8" of variance in board width on less than 48" of length. The good ones had less than a 1/32" of variance.

[Ianab]

It might be. Just depends on so many variables.

How much you are paying for the logs, sawing, drying and machining processes?

A large commercial operation will have economies of scale, so their production costs are going to be lower, and they can sort the wood from each log by grade to get the maximum return.  If you buy logs just to make flooring, you will have some FAS boards, that are better, and worth more than flooring grade, a large mill will sell those for top $$.  You will have some rejects as well, and those might go to a pallet maker, technically below cost, but it better to make some return on that wood, then nothing.  The mill totals up all the different grades produced from that log in their pricing. Some boards can go out the gate at or even below cost, as long as the is enough high value to products to average things out in the black.

But on the other hand you avoid several steps in the chain, with transport, wholesale and retail markups etc.

Then, what are your log costs? Maybe you can find deal on some logs that are less desirable? If there is a glut of borer killed Ash for example. Part loads? Oddball species. Neighbour just wants some trees cleared?
Next how much work can you do yourself? Sawing? Your own solar kiln? Machining? If you have to pay full commercial rates for all of those, chances are you wont be ahead.

But if you can do several of the steps yourself, you can certainly come out ahead.

[Ed_K]

Here's how I did it. Cut 8 hard maple trees to get 600bf.If you bought the logs app.$406. I traded 1/2 of that to have it kiln dried.So that cost $303.$125. to have 300bf planed to flooring.All to get my 100 sq ft office floor w/ tap hole  ;D.
So $40.6+$30.0+125=$195.60 for my floor, I THINK?

[HiTech]

Never getting into the sawing and drying and finishing process I was just wondering. He claims the savings is "Substantial" as he puts it. lol He will buy 5,000 to 6,000 ft of logs at a time.

[Grizzly]

Only thinking out loud, but Ed K put his floor down for $1.96 per sq ft and that was hard maple. I sold that retail for about $6.50 per sq ft. I didn't realize the gap would be that large. That's just one example though.....

[bill m]

I had the floor in my tv room done in hickory. Installed, sanded, and 2 coats of poly for $2.50 a square foot.

[jdtuttle]

I'm in the middle of a job for a customer making flooring. He had the logs cut on his property & stacked. I sawed 1500 BF at .30 per BF, $450. Dryed first 750 BF at .30 per BF + loading fee = $250. Then sized into blanks & ran 1515 lin ft through PH 260 @ .40 lin. ft. = $606. He has about 540 sq. ft. of flooring. 
His cost per sq. ft. is $2.41. This does not include his logging cost. The other 750 BF is in the kiln now.