Buying Eastern Red Cedar in S.C.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I had a guy stop by the mill today and ask me if I'd like to buy standing Eastern Red Cedar from his farm. I would have to go and cut the trees myself. Load them and bring them home. The trees are only 2 miles from my mill. I saw stationary in my shed and do not travel.

My question is, what is a fair price to offer? He does not know how to sell and I don't know how to buy. We have no way to measure weight, so that's not an option.

Please tell me a fair way to give him a price per tree.

Thanks, David

[beenthere]

Calculate what you might saw out of a "tree" and what you would sell it for, or what it would be worth to you in lumber form. Subtract your costs and come up with a price per tree (knowing what minimum quality of tree you would accept and what minimum size you would pay for. That would be a rough guess for "how" IMO  But bottom line, they may not be worth anything to you if you have no use for the sawn material.

Use the calculator in the tool box to estimate recovery for a particular size log/tree.