What's the selling price for a cord (128 cubic feet) in your area of seasoned firewood?
Just checked CL fast, I saw prices from $180-$280
$270 hard maple, beech, yellow birch not for swamp hardwoods (red maple, elm, black ash).
Firewood around here is sold by the face cord, or rick, and not a true measure, but it figures out to about $133.33 a full cord, picked up by the buyer. I know one man who will deliver a dump bed at $50.00 a rick (18" length), but requires a minimum of five ricks, which is a full bed. Wood is mostly white and red oak, with a smattering of other oaks, ash, walnut, and maple.
I'm selling June split cord for $200. I never see firewood in this area go for more than $250, mostly $225 when people get desperate.
That's pushing a button and dumping, never wanna and never will stack.
It's all over the board here. I see it advertised for $55.00 to $90.00 per 16" face cord. That's 165 to 270.00 dollars per 128 cubic foot cord. Quite a range this season. We'll see where it settles as people begin to realize that winter IS coming.
We've had a few 46°F mornings here, winter is round the corner.
WE sell only softwood here in our area, given the only preferred hardwood is white/paper birch and it is very limited in growing site and less than 1 percent of our forest. [sells for about $350 a cord if you can find it]
Generally 3 choices [Note prices in Candian dollars]
- Western Larch [tamarac] is $275 per cord
- Douglas fir $250 per cord
- mixed white wood [lodgepole pine and white spruce] $175 per cord
Wood is cut 16 inch and split - free local delivery, $1.00 per mile one way out of town.
Tom
So I often wonder, how often do you westerners who primarily burn softwood clean your chimney pipes? Most of us easterners are hardwood snobs and wont burn any softwood, because we have the choice.
120 to150
Sold a face cord of red oak last week for 70.00 but I did haul it a mile round trip.
I'm selling full cords of green mixed hardwood for 230 a cord here in Southern VT.
From $225 before January 1, to $250 after January 1, per cord - mixed hardwoods, dumped or thrown off. Upcharge for mileage.
Quote from: landscraper on September 07, 2015, 09:08:41 PM
From $225 before January 1, to $250 after January 1, per cord - mixed hardwoods, dumped or thrown off. Upcharge for mileage.
I like how you operate landscraper- so for me it's $280 before New Years and $300 after but I rather dump, already touched this wood enough. Full cords = 4 x 8 x 4 and the "upcharge" is the word of the day, perfect to cover mileage.
LHL
PS: Mixed hard woods, mostly oak, dried at less than 20% moisture stored indoors.
We are getting $450 per cord or $160 on 1/3 cord. It comes in a tote bag which we charge $15 for if they bring back the bag they get $10 credit on their next bag.
Quote from: 4x4American on September 06, 2015, 09:07:51 PM
So I often wonder, how often do you westerners who primarily burn softwood clean your chimney pipes? Most of us easterners are hardwood snobs and wont burn any softwood, because we have the choice.
I burn almost all spruce (it is what I can get for the taking) in my tarm boiler with a insulated ss chimney. I have yet needed to clean my chimney in 15 years. When the wood is dry and burned at a good rate not smouldering for long periods of time there should be no issues.
Yep, a good burning fire needs air. The main reason we also burned the denser hardwood is the realestate is far less than burning spruce and fir and tamarack. I've never gone out in the snow bank for my firewood and am not about to start. :D
Hilltop366,
If you don't mind, which Tarm, what is the inside diameter on your flue pipe, and how tall is the stack from boiler to cap?
Have an OT50 and thinking of reconfiguring the exhaust system.
As to the topic at hand, green seems to be averaging low to mid+ 200's (big range in quality), seasoned at or north of 300.
(SE NH.)
$275 seems to be the average here. The phone will now be busy with the proverbial "got any dry firewood" queries now that labor day is behind us. My response is always the same. No, but can sell you some fresh from the vine.
Due to having heart problems this year I bought wood cut split and del for 150.00 for a 128 Cubic foot cord. It is all ash and oak cut last year
Don't mind at all North River, it is a Tarm MB 55, 8" flue, 4' of ss stove pipe and 12' of insulated ss chimney.
Last year I changed the cap to a rotating weather vain type because of a problem with wind gust blowing down the chimney when the wind is blowing from the north east. The rotating cap helped a lot but not fully cured perhaps another 4' of chimney is in order.
Quote from: 4x4American on September 06, 2015, 09:07:51 PM
So I often wonder, how often do you westerners who primarily burn softwood clean your chimney pipes? Most of us easterners are hardwood snobs and wont burn any softwood, because we have the choice.
It's a myth that burning softwood causes creosote formation. Burning wood incorrectly (green or starving it for oxygen) is what causes problems - assuming your stove or boiler is correctly installed.
What tends to give softwood a bad rap for burning "dirty" is that it burns fast and hot, and people try to counter this by choking off the air supply to make it last longer.
Generally speaking does softwood have more resin? (thinking pine and fir)
If so would this cause more creosote?
Well said there John Mc. Sure agree...
Design of the wood burning apparatus also can have an effect.
Quote from: beenthere on September 09, 2015, 09:18:21 PM
...
Design of the wood burning apparatus also can have an effect.
Agreed. Though a poor design will tend to have problems with any wood
Quote from: Hilltop366 on September 09, 2015, 09:13:09 PM
Generally speaking does softwood have more resin? (thinking pine and fir)
If so would this cause more creosote?
Resin is not what causes creosote. Resin actually burns well. Creosote is basically a product of incomplete combustion. If your fire burns too cold, some of the gasses will not ignite. They can then condense on the inside of your chimney, forming creosote. You are also giving up a lot of the BTUs available in your wood by not burning those gasses.
Once it's gotten hot enough to ignite the gasses, a catalytic wood stove can keep the gasses burning even at a lower temperature. However, most catalytic stoves take a bit of attention to operate properly, especially when first firing it up from a cold start.
Thanks Hilltop.
$300-Full Cord, Delivered and Stacked. Haven't changed the price since we started in 2006 and have retained a boat load of customers because we do stack. Before all you haters go off on me, most of the people we do stack for are 80 years old+ and some can barely pick up a piece of wood. Some are yuppies who probably couldn't stack it if they tried. (Wouldn't want it to fall on your $80k Benz, afterall)
I am NOT the most expensive and am the only one who does stack. I think if it's stacked, they see what they bought, I know they got more than the guaranteed volume, it's not in a pile rotting, and it's getting all the more dry which means it makes me look better in the end. That's just me.
We are in the North Pittsburgh Suburbs between $600-800k housing communities and a very old farming population with some of the highest land values in the country. I don't think there are many markets quite like ours. O, and we sell out every year including last year before Christmas. 8)
QuoteBefore all you haters go off on me,
shamusturbo
You must be used to a different forum group, as we don't have "haters" of how you conduct business, IIRC.
Don't think anyone on this Forum would mind what you do for your business.
Sounds like you are happy and have a good plan to service your customers. Both are important. ;D
Whatever works in your market 8) 8) 8) 8) I've had elderly customers in the past that I stacked for or found someone to do it for them. They've all passed on now :( and I don't have any at the moment. I didn't charge them extra to stack it if I did it myself or a crew member did. We just did it.
I've had customers in the past that wanted a firewood service. They wanted to call every couple weeks in season and order a couple face cords of seasoned wood and have it stacked. I've discouraged that sort of customer ;) ;D
I saw an ad for seasoned wood at $50.00 per face cord delivered in 3 cord loads and another for seasoned at $60.00 with no mention of a minimum.
Apparently the real money is in small bundle artisan firewood. :D
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thisisthat/canadian-entrepreneur-finds-international-success-selling-firewood-for-1000-per-bundle-1.3219747 (http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thisisthat/canadian-entrepreneur-finds-international-success-selling-firewood-for-1000-per-bundle-1.3219747)
Hilltop
You missed it in this other thread.. ;D (but truly fits in with this one better )
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,85520.msg1309132.html#msg1309132
Hay look at that, I did miss it.
A friend e-mailed a link to it to me this morning and the first thing I thought of was this thread.
Do you guys offer multiple cord discounts? I can only haul one at a time so i tried explaining this to two recent potential customers. One wanted a $25 per cord discount on 7 cord and i told hom no thanks, and one i offered a $10 per cord discount on 3 cord because he was literally around the corner. Both declined which is fine with me but what do people expect? ??? :o ???
Grandfather burned mostly softwoods and white birch at his hunting/fishing camps every year. None of them burned down in fact grandfather is long dead and them camps are still standing. I suspect the owners are burning same old spruce, fir and birch. ;D That's what was growing all around those camps, it wasn't typical hardwood ground out on that glacial sand. :D
In spring we were getting $215-$230 a cord (128cu ft.) delivered, green ($ difference for mileage). Been tough to keep the wood deck stocked, and the price has gone up to $225-$250 cord green right now. We sell mostly Maple & oak, with a little bit of ash, black birch, birch, beech (whatever is on the lot the logger is cutting). I was only able to put up 4 cords last fall to sell as dry this winter, 2 are prepaid and are $310 each delivered. The other 2 will stay put until around Christmas time and will be advertised on craigslist are try to get enough to cover the family's gifts. Some might call it being greedy, I'm not, most of my customers think ahead and are rewarded with lower prices.
Brendonv, I've got two customers that get multi cord discounts. They are each within 2 miles of my place and use 22in long wood. They pay me every two cords and are upright and honest. The biggest reason I give the discount is the length. 22in is easy to cut with my processor and add's up fast. I did have a customer with 12in long wood this year, didn't charge any extra but once I was done his 3 cords told him next year we won't be doing 12in wood!
I'll be selling full measured cords of 100% seasoned oak for $250 this year, delivered and dumped. If it's not too far, I may stack it. Depends on the customer. Repeat customers will get it for less. Half cords of the same I'll be doing for $150.
I get $50 a quarter cord of dry mixed hardwood. The customer has to come pick it up.
I like the sound of $300 a cord! We are at $225 a cord but after checking Craig's list we will be going up even tho oil is going down. We just started selling firewood this week. 12" wood is no fun but we do it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/28754/20150912_134748.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/28754/20150912_133849.jpg)
$ 240 for a full cord here for seasoned mixed hardwood cut and split 16". 3 cord dump loads only ! Some people get one or two or some with owb three loads.
Just bought a truck load of ash logs for $150 a cord. I would like to double my money with processing and delivery, but no way I can get $ 300 with all the amish around here. So that load is probably not gonna be a money maker. :(
They probably aren't delivering though. After awhile folks see value in delivered wood. ;)
I just paid 150 a cord plus 15 delivery fee. If chord wood ever hit 250 here I would switch back to LP gas or get a coal boiler.
Quote from: overclocking on September 17, 2015, 07:53:40 PM
I just paid 150 a cord plus 15 delivery fee. If chord wood ever hit 250 here I would switch back to LP gas or get a coal boiler.
overclocking
We don't know where "here" is, so help us out by clicking your member name and you will see where you can add your location to your profile. Helps a lot to relate to your posts, such as this one. tks
I'm selling seasoned for $330 a cord. Sold 14 cords today so far 6 lined up for tomorrow
Wow never thought I would see those prices. When we started it was $100 for cord(128 cuft) when we went to $110 that was a big jump.
Juniper and lodge pole is around $160 a cord here. 3 hours south in Reno, NV the same wood is $300 a cord and oak is $400
$750.00 per tandem truck load (5 to 6 cord), delivered, long length.
Works out to $125 to $150 per cord.
A friend here doing firewood is selling seasoned hardwoods for $350 a cord, delivered in the local area. He has a good reputation - full measure of good wood, and when he says it's seasoned, it is (unlike some other folks in the area). He's selling all he can make.
A good sized sawmill got into the firewood business some years ago. They sell kiln-dried hardwoods at $410/cord (I do not think this includes delivery). They seem to be doing a decent business in it. They also have a reputation for reliable quality. Their kiln is heated from their woodchip boiler, fired by chips and bark from their other operations.
We are a fairly rural area with a few small towns nearby. Burlington is not far away, but far enough that the two producers mentioned above are not delivering to it. So I don;t think these prices are being driven up by being close to a metropolitan area.
I chop up slab wood off the mill with a buzz saw and sell for 110 a cord.
With fuel oil prices now below 2 bucks a gal I would think wood will be harder to sell at a profit.
Not up here, fuel oil is more than $5/gallon. Plus over the last 10 years insurance companies have dropped anyone with a tank older than 10 years. A new tank is $600 installed these days for 200 gallon. And you have to show it was installed by someone certified.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on September 25, 2015, 08:49:37 AM
Not up here, fuel oil is more than $5/gallon. Plus over the last 10 years insurance companies have dropped anyone with a tank older than 10 years. A new tank is $600 installed these days for 200 gallon. And you have to show it was installed by someone certified.
WOW! How much was oil last year before it dropped? On road diesel is only $2.39 here and I saw it for 2.19 in Delaware.
This week's regulated max price is....
road diesel is $CDN 1.08/litre x 3.8 US Gallon = $4.10
x 4.54 Imp = $4.90
fuel oil is $CDN $0.94/litre x 3.8 US Gallon = $3.57
X 4.54 Imp = $4.27
in 2001 stove oil was 0.48/litre = $2.18 when crude was $US 26/barrel
Quote from: SwampDonkey on September 25, 2015, 08:49:37 AMNot up here, fuel oil is more than $5/gallon. Plus over the last 10 years insurance companies have dropped anyone with a tank older than 10 years. A new tank is $600 installed these days for 200 gallon. And you have to show it was installed by someone certified.
Thats crazy! I wonder why it's so much, is that low compared to what it was? Is that in U.S. bills? And golly you can't even install it yourself?
Here in NB 2000 litres or more yes. But the kicker is that the insurance companies insist on it for homes, which typically use a 900 litre tank. Other provinces I suspect require them by law and these insurance companies make it simple for themselves by requiring all policy holders to do it.
$ 150 per cord
Quote from: robson1015 on October 05, 2015, 10:15:58 AM
$ 150 per cord
If that's a full cord, and not a face cord, I don't know how someone can make a go of it at those prices, unless they are valuing their time or equipment at next to nothing.
robson
Welcome to the Forestry Forum.
Add some location to your profile (click your user name and you will see where you can update your profile), then will help interpret your posts.
Are you selling firewood for $150 ? What species?
We sell oak for $90 per face cord if the buyer picks up, $100 per face if we deliver it. We sell about 26 face cords per year, and can't keep up with the demand. I live in a suburban area where fireplaces are very common.
Quote from: John Mc on September 21, 2015, 08:37:04 AM
A friend here doing firewood is selling seasoned hardwoods for $350 a cord, delivered in the local area. He has a good reputation - full measure of good wood, and when he says it's seasoned, it is (unlike some other folks in the area). He's selling all he can make.
Just found out he sold about 250 full cords this year.
In about 2007 or 2008 we used to sell hardwood firewood in the Ithaca, NY area for $90/face cord (16") delivered and stacked. A couple years we had dry wood, but later it was seasoned (off the stump and split) but not dry. It was an upscale market and we provided a gourmet product clean, stacked, and measured to show full volume. That was a break-even price for me. I could only justify the selling price because I delivered wood to and from work - I didn't account for time or miles for delivery. Most other dealers in the area at that time only sold large volumes of greater than 3 full cords (about $225 or $250/full as I recall) or sold what I called "ditch wood" (looked like it was pulled up from a roadside ditch) at less than full marketed volume. We sold out each year. Until, the Emerald ash borer got close. Our county was inside the quarantine and our market was in the next county. Tough luck as we had just purchased about 20 full cords of logs.
You can sell firewood at a competitive price, at a price the market will accept, or at a price that covers your costs. My costs were higher than competitors (high volume processors), so I had to sell to a new market that wanted smaller volumes of ambiance wood. It was a nice niche while it lasted.
In NY, the Department of Agric and Markets regulates the sale of firewood. They stipulate species and the need for measurements in three dimensions. Also, NYS DEC requires a certificate of source whenever firewood is moved on a public road...even from your woodlot to your your woodshed.
Everyone on this forum knows that using firewood is a "lifestyle" fuel. You love it or you hate it. The economic argument for firewood always seemed easy with one of the many online fuel heat comparison calculators. Here is one
http://nepacrossroads.com/fuel-comparison-calculator.php With this calculator you can adjust the heat content and the efficiency of the stove or burner. With firewood at $250/full and fuel oil at $4.50/gallon near Swampdonkey, wood is half the cost as oil on a per BTU basis. Aside from the convenience of just bumping the thermostat, you could double the cost of firewood and be on par with oil...BTU to BTU.
Around hear, eastern Adirondacks, a tri-axle of hardwood logs is about $650...about $110 to $125 per full cord. Even if you don't buy the wood, the wood sold has value. Your time has value. As I calculate costs, I couldn't sell full cords for less than about $225 to $275 without losing money. I was closer to $300/full and barely making the books balance.
Good data there, Peter.
I don't buy logs myself, since I take wood from my own land, but a friend down the road buys a triaxle load or two each year. Last I checked a couple of years ago, he was paying $100-$110 per full cord for a load of hardwood logs, delivered. He's buying more-or-less locally, which helps on the price. Since he's cutting with a chainsaw, rather than on a processor, he's able to take some logs which a processor can;t handle efficiently, which may help his price a bit.
Hi John
I don't have the equipment or tine to move large volumes of wood effeciently. I tried it but it didnt pencil out. For smaller scale home use I use an ATV and cart. I suspect you might gain a cost savings to produce your own logs if you're appropriately equipped. However one large scale producer near ithaca ny buys logs. Other producers who are loggers get logs from their jobs.
Yeah, I'm only taking 3 to 5 cords per year off my own land, and help some others with their firewood or the occasional saw log, using a compact tractor and winch. I've come to the realization that it's a good thing I'm not trying to make a living at this, because I am not at all efficient at it. It's a good thing I like puttering around in my woods.
Anywhere from 90- 110 per face cord , mostly maple with some birch and oak. My chum can't keep up with his orders and the heating season hasn't begun yet.
Larry-- Northern ont.
Here in Idaho, I'm selling red elm for $250/cord, split and delivered. Just started this year and can't keep up with the demand!
I'm charging 210 a cord delivered locally, same price as last year.
Quote from: xalexjx on October 19, 2015, 07:21:45 AM
I'm charging 210 a cord delivered locally, same price as last year.
Seasoned or green? How far upstate? (New York city folks tend to then of anything north of Schenectady as "Upstate NY", but that area is a far cry from what you see when you really get upstate.)
That is green directly off conveyer, and doing a few hundred cords a year, I'm about an hour south of lake placid