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Had my first call!

Started by OlJarhead, October 23, 2012, 01:38:58 PM

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OlJarhead

So I decided to see if I could get some sawyer work while I'm unemployed and I took out some craig's list adds.  Truth is, I'm not ready to drag the mill anywhere since I have to get the trailer built but I figured I could test the waters and if anything promising popped up I could trailer the mill there on my flatbed trailer with my sons to help load and offload or put the job off a month until I get the trailer done.

Either way, I figured it was worth a shot if for no other reason then market research.

Well, I had my first call today!  Exciting as that is, however, the call is for only one slab of redwood that's 3"x24"x70" that has about a 3/4" wow in it and the guy wants the slab milled down flat.

I'm not sure if it's even worth trying but on something like that I figured I would charge a minimum of $50 (1hr) just because it's only one slab and potentially only a couple cuts.

What are your thoughts?
Thanks
Erik
2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

giant splinter

Help that person out, they will let their friends know your dependable and at the ready should a sawyer be needed.
roll with it

Ianab

Yup, go do it, you got to start someplace. Word of mouth is your best advertising. Any other sort you need to pay for.

This way you get experience, you get known, AND you even get paid something for the privilege.

With a smaller mill at the moment, you are likely to pick up a lot of little jobs like this, the single log on the back of a pickup etc.

Ian

Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Nomad

     Great!  Now some food for thought. 

     First, it ain't gonna be much of a slab anymore when you get done with it.  (Figure at least 7/8" off each side.)  And still rough cut too.
     Is it possible for him to bring the slab to you?  Then personally I'd do it for free.  (Good deeds bring dividends.)
     That isn't much of a piece of wood; can you cut it with your mill still on your trailer?  Keeps you from having to set up your mill.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

OlJarhead

Great feedback thanks!

And good point about the advertising.  He's willing to bring it to me so perhaps doing it for free just to give him something to work with -- he wants to make a table top with it -- and to get some word of mouth advertising may well be worth it.

2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

Nomad

     You might want to get (or make) some cheap business cards too, so you won't have to write your phone number down on a sticky note for him to pass along.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

Delawhere Jack

The Joys of Craigslist! ;D I've been using it for nearly five months and I've gotten about half of my jobs from there. Be ready for a lot of inquiries that are more curiosity than seriously interested folks.

+1,000 on the business cards. Buy or make a ton of them and spread them around. I always give customers and interested parties at least 3-4 cards. I scaled down the International board foot scale and printed it on the back of my cards.

Another great way to advertise, take pictures of the mill in action and the wood produced. Get a collage of the photos printed 8" x 10", (Wallgreens will print them for less than $5). Post them along with a dozen cards on the bulletin board at Tractor Supply stores and such. I've got 4 TS's within 50 miles, and each time I check (about monthly), most of my cards have been taken. Not so many calls yet, but it's getting my name out there.


OlJarhead

2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

red oaks lumber

no matter how big or small the job, it's the most important job for the wood owner. do them right they will tell alot of people, or do them wrong and they will tell even more.
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over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

drobertson

Hey jarhead, doing it for free is not a bad idea, but I kinda got into this with a retired police officer, If it were me, I would give it a look over, get it up on the bed, cut what there is to cut, and if and when he asks what he owes you, check your time, and effort, quality of the product and then suggest what seems reasonable,  after all where else would he go to get that kind of stock,  Just saying, time is worth something not counting machines and a service, most folks know that a product will cost something, and expect it as well.  Unless it is a gift,   david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

xlogger

I would not do it for free. Then someone else might want the same. When I first got my first mill I did a job for free about 1/2 hour and he was going to bring me some other work, do me a favor and tell everyone but I never heard from him again. I still hate to this day I did't charge him a fair price.
Timberking 2000, Turbo slabber Mill, 584 Case, Bobcat 773, solar kiln, Nyle L-53 DH kiln

Tree Feller

Don't do it for free but charge him a minimal amount. You will probably get a tip on top of your fee but at the least, you will get some goodwill and priceless advertising.

I can see it now, "Jarhead Sawing." It does have a certain ring to it.   ;D
Cody

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tyb525

Several times I have gotten a big tip on top of what I charged, just goes to show it's a very valuable service to some!
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

Too Big To Fail

I have found putting flyers up at local spots to be a good way to go.  I get a lot of interest from CL but not a lot of work.  Your local lumberyard is a good place to hang a flyer.  Contractors know how they can use your service to get good value and they can pass the cost on to their clients so it's a win-win.

OlJarhead

Once again, thanks all!!!

This is why this forum is so awesome!
2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

valley

I was in home depot a few weeks ago saw I guy I knew loading a cart with 1x6 pine we started talking he ended up unloading the cart and came out the next day what would have cost him 180.00 I sold him for 80.00 now I am cutting a whole 1400 sf cabin for his boss word of mouth best advertisment and the only I've done just took an order for 100000 bf of oak I'd be scared to advertise rt now the lil jobs are very important the big oak order came thru me cutting a 6 ft piece of cedar for a mantle which I did for free
Have a great day unless you have other plans !!!

Chuck White

Quote from: OlJarhead on October 23, 2012, 02:49:15 PM
Great feedback thanks!

And good point about the advertising.  He's willing to bring it to me so perhaps doing it for free just to give him something to work with -- he wants to make a table top with it -- and to get some word of mouth advertising may well be worth it.

Good strategy!

You may be suprised when you're finished and tell the customer "no charge", you'll most likely get a bigger tip than the price you might have charged!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Meadows Miller

Gday

Look what I done started Mate  :) ;) ;D ;D 8) You will be fine just charge them your rate per hour and you will have others for sure bringing you other stuff to mill as there are plenty of people out there that are willing to bring logs to get sawn Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8)

Reminds me of when I first got the little band mill in my teens had a couple ole boys that had salvaged two container loads of Huon Pine out of a lake in Tassie and brought it back to the mainland to make furniture boxes,clocks and the like out of stuff ranged from 2' to 8' long and 4" to  18" dia and just wanted it slabbed to 1 1.5 and 2" thick so they could rip it on their table saw like clockwork every month they would rock up with a 10x5' tandem loaded to the hilt i would mill it for them while having a good chat as well in about half a day and i would get $300 for that  :) and they where stoked with what they got  ;) ;D as before they meet me and they had been told i would most likely mill it for them by another wood worker  they had been tying to build a little band to mill it on   ;)


As others have said you never know how things will work out I have one of my customers the fella with the recycled timber looking at buying me a a BIG Portable Mill atm  just so i can saw his 8x8s through to 12x12" hardwood quick enough for him as its all pretty much sold  ;) when i have sawn this stuff the same style of mill I was doing 8 to 12000bft per day easy with me sawing and another bloke feeding and removing timber and when the first run is done the mill is mine we will see how that one pans out but things are lookin good  :) :) ;) ;D ;D ;D 8)

Like I said to dad and him the other day worst case is we start doing it on the lill Varteg  ;) :D ;D ;D 8)

From Little Things Big Things Can Grow !! Just keep moving forward Mate  ;) ;D ;D ;D 8)

Regards Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

thecfarm

Do it good and do it well. If you saw it,they will come.  :D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Busy Beaver Lumber

I have always been a big believer of when you do good deeds for others, good things happen to you in return, and time and time again it has happened to us that our good deeds did not go un-noticed. Some of our most loyal customers came to us a result of an item we donated to one cause or another or because we did some small task for them for free.

Case in point, we donated some T shirts with the team name to a local youth group for free. One of the fathers saw our work and was on the local fire department who just happened to be looking to get some very nice carhartt coats embroidered for each of the 30 plus members. Next thing you know, that donation of $80 in printed T-Shirts winds up getting us close to $4500 in embroidered coats from someone we had never met before and never would have met if not for the T-shirt donation
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two tired

A man moved into the wnen neighborhood recently needed a few 2X4s 10 ft. long,[ I hate cutting 2X4s,] when the job was done I charged him 1 dollar a peice and said "welcom to the neighborhood", before he left I got the job to cut a fence around 10 acres plus crossfences, at the regular price. You never know where a little kindness will take you.
when wondering about weather conditions call the dog in and see if he is wet

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: two tired on October 24, 2012, 08:50:05 PM
A man moved into the wnen neighborhood recently needed a few 2X4s 10 ft. long,[ I hate cutting 2X4s,] when the job was done I charged him 1 dollar a peice and said "welcom to the neighborhood", before he left I got the job to cut a fence around 10 acres plus crossfences, at the regular price. You never know where a little kindness will take you.

Great story and I have to agree with you.  :)
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Brucer

When it comes to resawing customers' beams, the most common request is to true up something that is twisted or bowed. It's very small part of my production but I've become very good at it.

For a twisted beam I shim the two "high" corners so they are the same distance off the bed of the mill. That gives the thickest flat piece and keeps it stable while cutting.

When the beam has a lot of bow in it, I put it cupped side down and position it so the ends overhang the supporting bed rails by the same amount. That also gives the thickest flat piece.

When one face is flat, I flip it 180 degrees and flatten the other side. Then, if the customer wants the edges squared up, I can clamp it against the side stops to clean up the edges.

Normally I charge $75 per hour, based on the hour meter. That reflects the cost of my mill. Sometimes if the job is interesting and the customer accommodating, I trim my costs a little (or a lot).

If I screw up, I apologize and don't charge anything. No reason the customer should pay for my mistakes or the shortcomings of my mill.

I always tell the customer in advance that they will have to pay for a new blade every time I hit metal (and I tell them what a new blade costs).

I never offer to do a job for free, but if a small job goes really well I will often say, "No charge for that." Usually I get paid more than I would have charged.

Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

OlJarhead

Also have another possible job.  I've been contacted about possibly milling some D logs for a guys cabin.  Would be about 100 logs milled into D's (3 cuts minimum, possibly more depending on how much has to be done to get the depth right).

I figure I can possibly do 5 in an our -- wild guess since I've never rolled a log on, milled it 3 or 4 times and then rolled it off -- maybe 6 but also possibly only a couple.

Luckily I have a lot of time since the guy wouldn't be ready until the spring but it's certainly a good sign!

Any thoughts on milling long straight pines into D logs?  I have a simple diagram of what he wants and it looks pretty basic, mill the top, flip, mill the bottom, rotate 90 degrees and mill through the center and then roll off the mill.

Only issue I can see is that it would require a forklift to remove and stack the logs probably.

2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

Nomad

     Jarhead, are you talking about splitting the logs down the center to get two "Ds" out of each log?  I'm not sure that's such a good idea.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

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