Charging PBF on my LT30

[Russ]

I use to be able to charge $30 a hour on my LT 40 Hydraulic and be able to justify it with my production. I realize I'm the weak link in this but the production can't touch what I was doing before. I'm now charging .25 pbf softwood .30 hardwood.  What is a fair price? Seems the Box store gets from .50 to .60 pbf for dried and planed lumber.

2cd Question, how much faster can I puch this mill if I upgrade from the 18HP to a larger motor ?

3rd, can I adapt a mud saw to this ?

[Jemclimber]

$30/hour??  What year is it that you are working with $30K machine and providing labor for that price? Fastfood workers are at a minimum $11/hr.  I wouldn't pull the machine out of the driveway for that price. No offense intended.

Box stores in my area are over $5/bf for dried and planed hardwood, quite a bit over...

[Revival Sawmill]

I'm charging $0.50/bf, don't care if it's hard or softwood, as it's still time-on-saw
how big of a motor? gas/diesel/electric?
probably - but you could probably just order one by part-number from WM and bolt it on?

[47sawdust]

Russ,Wood Mizer will give you the best info on questions 2 and 3.Your conscience will answer question 1.

[SawyerTed]

I calculated my costs including my labor and profit margin.  It took a spreadsheet with about 25 lines to arrive at what I thought was reasonable.  My rate is $0.36 a board foot for most sawing, $0.40 for quarter sawing.  When doing certain jobs I use an hourly rate of $75.  Off bearer cost is in addition to my rate.  

If I provide the logs, softwood starts at $0.61 a board foot, hardwood starts at $1.10 a board foot.  I have a list of orders for various lumber and a waiting list of 4 or 5 mobile jobs on a regular basis. 

I couldn't operate at $30 per hour it costs me at least that to operate. 

My LT 35 Hydraulic has a 25 hp gas engine.  200 board feet per hour is my regular operating goal when sawing mobile.  The per board foot math supports my hourly rate.  I'm just now meeting that with some consistency.  The saw is easily capable of that.

[WV Sawmiller]

Ted,

   I think that is a reasonable and conservative estimate. I just checked my sawing rate with the same mill for the year and looks like I am averaging about 185 bf/hr. I mostly saw alone and a lot of special projects around my house and am pretty anal about recording every bf cut. It would be easy to saw more if  I were mostly sawing framing lumber and/or if I were using a helper.

   I use $.30/bf with the customer proving the off-bearer. If sawing quarter sawing or small stuff I use my hourly rate of $60/hr. Many around me saw for less but I refuse to play that game. Also if I provide the logs nothing goes for less than $.75/bf for poplar or pine. More for other species. 

[Darrel]

I charge 35¢ / BF.

[Russ]

Thanks for your advise. All good.

Seems I have to debark my logs for the preservation of the blades, I remember using the blades till they broke when I had 10 more hp. Anytime I cut in and out of the bark the cut wanders. Debarking the logs has stopped this . I try to push harder in the Knots to reduce wave. I also added a electric winch to the manual loader. I've been getting some 34" by 16 ft cherry logs, killer to roll or handle the cants by myself. My production goes up with medium (20") sized logs. I don't think I have enough HP (18HP) for the big logs. I agree most of the sawing I've done feels like charity.  My previous mill had better production but I was working for the payments, this one is payed for.  

[YellowHammer]

I charge 50 cents per bdft.

I don't saw portable, so I saw at my own place, with all my support equipment to keep my bdft rate up.  Since I mill at my own place, I don't let customers offbear, I don't even mill with them around or want them around, getting in my way, slowing me down.  They bring their logs, I find out what they want, and tell them I'll call when they are done, usually within a week or two at most.  

So I add priority costs to the price.  One of the biggest complaints around here is the huge delay in getting boards back from other mills, sometimes many months.  I have my own kilns to feed and business to run so I could easily push customers back behind my needs.  When I run my mill for myself, cranking out boards, I'm generating $100 top $150 per hour.  So if I mill someone else logs, I need to maintain that pace or I'm loosing money and motivation. 

I don't saw all day, I have other things to do.  However, I won't turn the key on the mill unless its making me $100 per hour.

The going rate around here for milling is 30 cents per bdft.  I'm significantly higher than that, and being higher filters out a lot of jobs where people want cheaper.  I also filter out a lot of jobs where I reject the job.  However, I end up sawing less, producing higher quality wood, delivering to the customer with a fast turnaround, and make enough money to keep me custom sawing from a business case.  I haver a lot of return customers who won't go to somewhere else.  I have customers who leave because I'm expensive, then come back after having their logs butchered somewhere else.  I have customer who leave and never come back.  As my skills increased, my prices increased.

Lots to think about when setting price, including all costs, insurance, and salary and what will keep you motivated.  The is how I set my prices, everybody is different.