couple of newbie questions

[twoodward15]

Hello everyone.  I am new here, and thought I'd ask some questions.  Here goes:   Is there anyone running a mill in the south eastern PA area (near philly) or in southern Jersey, that has wood for sale (preferably dried)???
  Number two:  Is it possible to make a living running a sawmill, and what do you charge in your area to mill lumber for people??

[Tom]

Number two: yep! and 200 a thousand.  

Northeast Florida and Southeast Ga. will provide a salary in custom sawing and definitely in retail of specialty wood.  This is a booming area.

[Bibbyman]

Welcome twoodard15,

You can probably connect with a number of mills in your area who can answer your first question.

As for question #2,  many of the members of this Forum are engaged in some way earning money with mills.  Making a living is a relative thing.  How well do you want to live?  Some saw part time to add to farm, retirement, or family income (i.e. spouse still has day job).  Some saw for their own use as a hobby so the money is not important.  Still there are some that make a substantial income from the sawmill business.  But most didn't start flat-footed and leap to that status in one jump.  It usually takes a couple of years to gain experience and build a business that can provide a substantial income. You'll need equipment, business savvy, and be willing to put in a lot of effort and time.

I've told people (tongue in cheek) that the biggest value in running a sawmill is not in the money you make but in the money you save from not having time to go play golf,  fishing, hunting or shopping.

People have tried to collect the rates charged by forum members before.  Most will not post them here because it varies with region, types of wood, service rendered, etc.  Some charge by the BF, others by the hour,  others by some other formula depending on each job.  

My advice is to canvass your local area and see what other mill operators are charging and what they do for the service.  Then set a high but fair price and give the best possible service and quality you can.

[biziedizie]

twoodard15
 Hand out cards and always tell everyone that you bump into that you have a mill.

  Sit back and wait........cut lumber, have fun and before you know it the phone doesn't stop ringing.

  I've spent nothing on advertising and I've been amazed at the amount of people that drop by to see what I do.
  
  I have a construction company that keeps me going so the mill is a sideline thing but it's very cool to see how it builds with out me putting any effort into it.

  The more I mill the more I think about doing it full time but I'm doing it one step at a time so I don't get over my head.

  If you start off thinking you will get rich you won't, you will get a sore back but that's the fun part of it.

   I have no regrets about buying a mill and I'm doing some thinking about getting a bigger one.

   Steve

[hydeoutman]

I've told people (tongue in cheek) that the biggest value in running a sawmill is not in the money you make but in the money you save from not having time to go play golf,  fishing, hunting or shopping.

Thanks Bibbyman 8)
I have now finally found a way to purchase my mill :D
After all this time I never thought of that one!

[twoodward15]

unfortunately I don't have a mill or know anyone that does, so I can't ask.  I'm basically looking for cheap lumber now too, which is why I'm looking for a mill!

[BBTom]

Welcome,

To find a mill near you, call Woodmizer at 1.800.553.0182 and ask.  They and most other mill manufacturers keep a list of mill owners and will give you the name and number of one near you.

I am in Ohio and charge $.30/ BDFT for sawing. $25 for setup. I have been doing this for about 18 months and am starting to keep busy at it.  There seems to be quite a few mills in this area, most charge a little less than I do.  But then they probably know what their service is worth. :  I know what mine is!  8)

[woodmills1]

toowood, look at the numbers on the post titled dunnage that is here on this page.  the customer who buys the dunnage is a repeat doing so 3 or 4 times a year.  I have found that by getting a few good repeat customers I can squeeze a fair living out of my sawing.

[Fla._Deadheader]

We just got started. We built an automatic type mill. We wanted to saw logs that we get from the Rivers. We got a few logs from a tree service to practice on. We sawed a large Pecky Cypress log and sold it to a local Lumber Yard. They will take all we can get.
  One of the owners told us to call a guy that was looking for someone to saw. We got in touch and haven't left there yet!!
  We THOUGHT we were starting to catch up, but, today, a VERY large load of Cedar logs came in. There must be 10,000 bdft of logs that are from 10" dia to 40+" in dia.
  We still have about 30,000 bdft of TOUGH logs to saw, IF we can get them sawn at all !!
  This is not to mention the 10,000 bdft of SYP that we are getting a REAL edimakashun sawing on. That pile just keeps getting resupplied.
  The owner was supposed to have someone help us. He decided to pay us for the extra labor.
  We are still learning to saw correctly and IF I can quit sawing the DanG log stops, we SHOULD get some decent footage every day.
  SOOOOOO, Ya wanna be a Sawyer, HUH  : :D :D :D :D :D