Customer wants boards 25 feet long

[Brucer]

For every foot of length over 20', I add $.06 per BF to the entire board. If the board/timber is longer than 26', I add an additional charge of $.50 per BF to the entire board.

I have convinced the odd customer that a 30' 8x12 supported on 3 posts might look impressive, but it will 50% more than two 16' timbers spliced. Some folks like the "wow" factor and will pay.

For one or two timbers, I will "cheat", pushing beyond the theoretical limit of my mill. Beyond that, I will crunch the numbers on adding an extension.

When I added my first 6' extension, my overlength charges didn't quite pay for the extension. On the other hand, I would have lost the entire job if I couldn't provide all the timbers. I made $20,000 clear on that job -- less the cost of the extension.

Looking at the individual pieces, it wasn't worth it to buy an extension. Looking at the whole job, it definitely was worth it.

[prittgers]

The longest beam I have cut on an LT40 is 40 foot with no extension.   Beams - YES!  Boards, with no extension - NO!

[smokeatrr]

Thanks again for all the input. The customer would supply all his own trees, wants to use the lumber for siding.