Roughcut Pine Pricing Question

[Privacyleech]

There is a gentleman who uses local lumber to make furnature and he wants to know how much I would charge (bdft) to furnish him with rough cut pine and deliver it to him. I have some pine logs and expect to get more in the near future for free. He will take it green because he has a kiln. I want to be fair and give him an honest price but seeing as i am new to this I dont want to undercut myself for labor and time. I am thinking in the ballpark of .60/bdft delivered and will probably want to take him 1000 bdft at a time. . . does this seem reasonable/low/high?  ???

[backwoods sawyer]

Seems reasonable but a bit low. All though you do get a steady customer and that has merit based on the volume that he uses.

$.30 bft for milling and same for the logs, free delivery, but would add in, he takes mill run and price may fluctuate based on log cost. If he wants choice boards only, the price would need to go up. Better quality logs will also cost more but yeild better lumber.

Talk it all over to make sure you both are talking the same product and volume, and confim the price based on that. but leave the price veriable based on the veriables. He will not want to be locked into a specific volume do to veriables on his end as well.

[Magicman]

I would be inclined to separate the lumber and delivery cost.  A price per board foot for the lumber and then a per mile delivery charge.  Any other charges would be hourly rate.

[drobertson]

I have to wonder what he is paying now for the stock he is using?  If you would like the job order you might have to match or beat it, especially if he is satisfied with his current supplier.  This said, you're suggestion is probably pretty close.  Also, the fact your logs are free really shouldn't play into you're pricing I wouldn't think, unless the lumber is a gift ;D

[4x4American]

Try and get some pricelists from other local sawmills to see what they are charging.

[blade69001]

I would be inclined to separate the lumber and delivery cost.  A price per board foot for the lumber and then a per mile delivery charge.  Any other charges would be hourly rate.

  Good advice, delivery should always be a separate charge because it involves separate work.  For bdft we do a lot of things to get that board then we stack or sticker whatever our intended use requires. It ends there, delivery requires us to handle the material again to get it unstacked and loaded or move it with equipment which requires the use of more equipment then a delivery vehicle. These should all be profit centers.

$.60 BDFT may be a number that includes all that as I am currently paying $.52bdft for dried s4s pine boards in my area.

[Joe Hillmann]

Is that price for everything that comes out of the log even if it is so full of knots he can't use it or will he be cherry picking the pile and only picking out the best boards?  If he will take everything that is probably a bit on the low side but not too far off.  If he is only taking the best boards and leaving you with the rest to get rid of somewhere else that is way too low.  I would charge as if you payed for the logs it shouldn't matter to him you got them free.

[Joe Hillmann]

I would be inclined to separate the lumber and delivery cost.  A price per board foot for the lumber and then a per mile delivery charge.  Any other charges would be hourly rate.

  Good advice, delivery should always be a separate charge because it involves separate work.  For bdft we do a lot of things to get that board then we stack or sticker whatever our intended use requires. It ends there, delivery requires us to handle the material again to get it unstacked and loaded or move it with equipment which requires the use of more equipment then a delivery vehicle. These should all be profit centers.

$.60 BDFT may be a number that includes all that as I am currently paying $.52bdft for dried s4s pine boards in my area.

Can I ask what you are paying $.52/bdft on?  At the local sawmill the cheapest lowest grade roughsawn pine is $.80/bdft once it is kiln dried.

[drobertson]

I've seen and heard of so many varying prices in regards to SYP, any pine when done in a custom smaller volume, that the selling price has to meet the going rate in that area.  A few exceptions might be, and this is for green lumber sold off the tail of the mill,  quality, timeliness, and flexibility when special orders come.  It's hard to envision a newby going high volume without lots of overhead and some form of material handling.  Finally, products in the finished dry form, sawn, and finished to specs are paramount for this market.  Match the going price, go the extra step, and build from there.   

[blade69001]

Can I ask what you are paying $.52/bdft on?  At the local sawmill the cheapest lowest grade roughsawn pine is $.80/bdft once it is kiln dried.

Joe, I buy my 2x material in #3 and #4 from the local Kapstone mill from anywhere between 245/M for 2x12 up to 345/M for 2x4  1x4 and 1x6 are the 520/M we get from  board mills that are close by. All of these are mill prices and standard lengths we then provide transportation from the mil to our shop. Personally I would love to get 600/m for pine as I have it just about coming out of my ears. A large portion of the land around Charleston is owned by timber and paper companies who all seem to grow pine. Long straight and tall, hardwood is much harder to find and more expensive to get here.
Sean P.

[Alligator]

If he is going to be a long term customer, price your lumber as if you were paying for your logs. You may not always have a supply of free logs. Any way the logs were free to you, not to him. There probably some work in getting them or some good will you provided along the way. If you charge like you paid for the logs, when you have to pay for some, there will not be so much explaining to do.

[FarmingSawyer]

And then there's the other end of the scale...I just had a tree service guy try to sell me a clients' "select grade" pine 48" x 16ft butt log for $475.....Good thing I wasn't having my afternoon tea then, I might need a new phone..... I politely told him I don't buy yard trees....I remove them for free to save the homeowners from paying a tree service for cutting them into chunks...... Still, if that log is truly grade and big, and straight, and yields close to 2000bf...that would be .24/bf to buy...not the worst price when pine is usually selling for 280/M. But still sounds a bit like Ax Men thinking to me.......

Around here mill run rough sawn, air dried, pine goes for between $.86 and $1.42 a LINEAL foot!!! Random length..... so figure that knotty 1 x12 is selling for $1.42 a board foot!!

[Peter Drouin]

[quote author=FarmingSawyer link=topic=79845.msg1213523#msg1213523 date=1418684990

so figure that knotty 1 x12 is selling for $1.42 a board foot!!
[/quo



Wow  That's good money for that stuff.

[WDH]

To my way of thinking, $.60/BF is right at the bottom of the barrel.

[drobertson]

Off the mill? don't get stuck with it,,

[Peter Drouin]

To my way of thinking, $.60/BF is right at the bottom of the barrel.

For knotty #4 pine air dried outside. :D

I think you have been spoiled with hard wood $$$$$$$$  :D :D :D

[WDH]

I think that you are right  :. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Don't call Danny to talk about Pine......he'll hang up on you!  :D

[WDH]

4/4 Pine is $1.00/BF air dried.  No haggle or I will hang up  ;D.

[drobertson]

There is a gentleman who uses local lumber to make furnature and he wants to know how much I would charge (bdft) to furnish him with rough cut pine and deliver it to him. I have some pine logs and expect to get more in the near future for free. He will take it green because he has a kiln. I want to be fair and give him an honest price but seeing as i am new to this I dont want to undercut myself for labor and time. I am thinking in the ballpark of .60/bdft delivered and will probably want to take him 1000 bdft at a time. . . does this seem reasonable/low/high?  ???

Not much said about air drying, or sitting on it, just selling it off the mill, nor was any mention of  any specific size or dimension.  But If one can make over a buck a board foot from green pine off the mill I would be the first in line for sure!

[Peter Drouin]

4/4 Pine is $1.00/BF air dried.  No haggle or I will hang up  ;D.

If you can get that for #4 pine I'm happy for you. No way up here, Maybe #2 pine 12" + wide. I have a shipping outfit in the next town over can buy #3 red pine KD and planned for .60 a BF . You have to remember we have a Canandain market. They can come here and pay more for logs hall it back and hall back lumber and sell for less than me. :D :D

[WDH]

I understand what you guys are saying.  I only sell a little, and it is mostly clear, cut at 1 1/8", and air dried. Mainly to people for woodworking projects.  I could not sell green pine off the saw for that, for sure. 

[chopperdr47]

Glad to see this thread up today. I haven't been here in a while and I came to find what Sticky Yellow Pine was selling for. I have been cutting a lot of oak and hickory since I got my old Frick circle mill cutting well. I haven't had any trouble selling it to several wood workers in the area as well as using it for myself.

I had a maker of bee hives ask me if I could supply him with 1x12 SYP. I had a few logs on hand so I cut him 500 bf at $.97 per. He took the first 200 bf straight to his DH kiln. after nearly 3 weeks and many gallons of water later, he planed it and loves it. It is more dense and had a straighter grain that the big box stores. The remainder has been air drying and is now down to 18% so there won't be near the kiln time.

I may be supplying him about a thousand bf a month for the next few months. It sounds like if he wants to keep paying that off the mill, I need to smile and saw.

[Magicman]

There should always be a market for 1" SYP lumber, but trying to compete with "box stores" for selling framing lumber would be much more of a challenge. 

I saw many thousands of bf of framing lumber each year, but it is usually for landowners that have removed trees for various reasons.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

There should always be a market for 1" SYP lumber,

and there is where I live.