What Are You Charging

[tree dude]

Hey guys havent been here in a while just curious what the goin rate is for dimensional sawing thes days dont have to be real specific just curious is all smiley_beatnik

[jdtuttle]

I charge .30 BF.
jim

[Chuck White]

In this area, we charge 15¢/bd ft!

So, you see, the rate for sawing just depends on the area you're sawing in!

[terrifictimbersllc]

In this area, we charge 15¢/bd ft!

So, you see, the rate for sawing just depends on the area you're sawing in!

Chuck, is your rate for mobile milling or to people bring you logs? If mobile then how do you charge for travel and when things just aren't ready and extra work has to be done? Do you have a minimum?   Is this just the state of the economy up there or is there a lot of competition?

[Bibbyman]

This is an often asked question.  But if you may not get an answer that will be useful to you. 

Every sawyer's situation and services is a bit to quite a bit different.  Economy of the area, types of wood sawn, products made, competition from other sawyers, reputation, how you charge (by the hour of by the foot), volume of the job, equipment used, labor provied by the sawyer or customer, on and on.

If you charge too little you're likely not to get much business and won't make enough money to pay for your expenses and time.  If you charge too much, you'll only get troublesome customers that nobody else will saw for.

I hear of people in the nearby big cities charging twice what we charge. We also have Amish mills not far from us that charge about half what we charge.  But we get customers that have had lumber sawn by them and they'd rather pay us the higher rate for better quality.

We're at the point where we don't do much custom sawing - maybe 10% of our total production.  As long as we have commercial products to produce we're just as soon not do any custom sawing.  We've kept doing it as a community service but give it a low priority.   

[Chuck White]

In this area, we charge 15¢/bd ft!

So, you see, the rate for sawing just depends on the area you're sawing in!

Chuck, is your rate for mobile milling or to people bring you logs? If mobile then how do you charge for travel and when things just aren't ready and extra work has to be done? Do you have a minimum?   Is this just the state of the economy up there or is there a lot of competition?

My work is all mobile!
As far as charging for travel, I don't.  I look at it like if I didn't travel, I wouldn't be sawing.
My minimum (unless it's like "right next door") is 1500 board feet or $225.
I haven't traveled over 20 miles from home.
Competition isn't real strong in this area, although there are several portable mills!
If I have to do log handling, stacking, etc. then it's $35.00/hr, which is also my hourly charge for sawing on jobs where there is a lot of extra's.
If I have to move logs, other than rolling them, the customer will have a tractor with a loader for me to use.
I have a lot of repeat customers and gain a few more each year!
I have a pretty good reputation around here and others from what I hear don't!  I have had people tell me that so-and-so was sawing for them and they end up with mostly wavy and/or thick-n-thin!  I also think a lot of my "staying busy" has a lot to do with me sharpening and setting my own blades.  Several of the others will push their blades "beyond dull" and of course they'll get low quality lumber!   So, I stay busy from March/April through Oct/Nov.

[terrifictimbersllc]

This is an often asked question.  But if you may not get an answer that will be useful to you.  

Every sawyer's situation and services is a bit to quite a bit different.  Economy of the area, types of wood sawn, products made, competition from other sawyers, reputation, how you charge (by the hour of by the foot), volume of the job, equipment used, labor provied by the sawyer or customer, on and on.

If you charge too little you're likely not to get much business and won't make enough money to pay for your expenses and time.  If you charge too much, you'll only get troublesome customers that nobody else will saw for.

I hear of people in the nearby big cities charging twice what we charge. We also have Amish mills not far from us that charge about half what we charge.  But we get customers that have had lumber sawn by them and they'd rather pay us the higher rate for better quality.

We're at the point where we don't do much custom sawing - maybe 10% of our total production.  As long as we have commercial products to produce we're just as soon not do any custom sawing.  We've kept doing it as a community service but give it a low priority.  

Thanks and understood.  I'm just trying to understand a situation where wood gets cut for 15cents a bf on a Wood-Mizer.   Also I spend some time in the Adirondacks and am interested in the wood situation there.  May go to Boonville next week for a day.

[Chuck White]

Well said Bibby!

[terrifictimbersllc]

In this area, we charge 15¢/bd ft!

So, you see, the rate for sawing just depends on the area you're sawing in!

Chuck, is your rate for mobile milling or to people bring you logs? If mobile then how do you charge for travel and when things just aren't ready and extra work has to be done? Do you have a minimum?   Is this just the state of the economy up there or is there a lot of competition?

My work is all mobile!
As far as charging for travel, I don't.  I look at it like if I didn't travel, I wouldn't be sawing.
My minimum (unless it's like "right next door") is 1500 board feet or $225.
I haven't traveled over 20 miles from home.
Competition isn't real strong in this area, although there are several portable mills!
If I have to do log handling, stacking, etc. then it's $35.00/hr, which is also my hourly charge for sawing on jobs where there is a lot of extra's.
If I have to move logs, other than rolling them, the customer will have a tractor with a loader for me to use.
I have a lot of repeat customers and gain a few more each year!
I have a pretty good reputation around here and others from what I hear don't!  I have had people tell me that so-and-so was sawing for them and they end up with mostly wavy and/or thick-n-thin!  I also think a lot of my "staying busy" has a lot to do with me sharpening and setting my own blades.  Several of the others will push their blades "beyond dull" and of course they'll get low quality lumber!   So, I stay busy from March/April through Oct/Nov.

Thanks, you have some built-in things here, minimum bf and very local which make a difference and keeping your blade costs lower. I'm not surprised you can keep busy doing good work at this price.   Do you switch to hourly when the logs are less productive like smaller and not real straight? 

[paul case]

$.30 bd ft, or $40/hr on live edge stuff or odd jobs. with a 1 hour minimum.   i do about 50% custom at times but i am not much of a production mill.i may saw 800 bdft a day at times and sometimes i will saw only 200 bd ft /week. i do market some of my own lumber in custom orders and the small stuff for pallet materials. i am stationary. pc

[DR Buck]

I charge as much as I can get!  ;D     My advertised rates are 35¢ a board foot with a minimum charge of $350 if I go portable.   If it is something that requires an hourly rate, which isn't my normal way of charging, I charge $65 per hour.    Free travel and setup up to 50 miles.  Then it's $1 per mile one-way.   On site the customer off-bares and stacks.     


Same fees if I mill at home, only no minimum charge and I do all the handling.

[Magicman]

I subscribe to our state's market bulletin.  Advertised rates in Mississippi are .16 to .30 per bf.  My price is about mid range.  Cedar is sawed by the hour, with the rate determined by dividing a 1500bf day by 8.

The quality of your product should determine it's worth.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Chuck and Magicman, is the customer helping you carry boards and scrap from the mill at your bf rate? dennis

[Qweaver]

I'm charging $45 an hour plus a small fee to cover my costs for the logs if I'm providing them.  I add a resharp fee of $9 for all of blades that I dull and tax.  I'll also saw customer logs by the BdFt but I try to get them to go by the hour.  I'm charging .45 per BdFt to just saw.  I read a post here yesterday when a Canadian sawer was charging over twice as much as me.  He would never get any business here at those rates. The customer could go to Lowes and buy dried and planed lumber for those prices.  I charge travel & setup time at $30 an hour.   I've had more jobs come in since doing the county fair show than I've done all year.  I guess it helped get me noticed.

[Magicman]

Magicman, is the customer helping you carry boards and scrap from the mill at your bf rate? dennis

Yes, at least one off bearer is always required.  I don't mind stepping off and helping with one end of heavy slabs when necessary.  I usually don't have to help with lumber handling.

[bugdust]

Just finished sawing 1,400 bdft of 1/2" hemlock and charged price as would for 1" @ .35 bdft. I to asked about pricing and found it basically depended on locality. Since most of my sawing is at the mill site I find the price/bdft works best for me. Of course I always advise a $25 dollar charge for damaged blades caused by foreign material in their log. Sawing on site is charged at $45/hr, plus moving fee of $25 within a 40 mile range. Then there's the "good old boy" price for friends, and family is free. Just call me a sucker.

[Magicman]

It's OK, but you need to be careful charging different prices for different customers.  If one finds out that he was charged more, then what ???

[Chuck White]

Chuck and Magicman, is the customer helping you carry boards and scrap from the mill at your bf rate? dennis

The customer either is the off-bearer or he provides one or he pays one that I find.
Like Magicman, I usually help with heavy slabs, but I usually cut them thin enough so the off-bearer can easily handle them.
The off-bearer also stacks the lumber.

You might also want to consider Magicman's suggestion on different prices for different people.
Although most people would understand charging family a different rate.
I charge my family members the same as other customers, except Mom and my S-Father, they would be FREE.  Heck, most of my family members have more money than I do!  ;) ;D

[tree dude]

thanks for all the info well apreciated.the prices everyone quoted me are a lot cheaper than i expected.guess i will have to do some rethinkin in this area
smiley_beatnik

[weisyboy]

gday

obviously im in Australia so this isnt much help to you.

but im gunna say it anyway.

i run a swing mill.

i charge $200/m3 of log, not of sawn product. out of 1m3 of log i get between .4 and .8 cube of boards. normally around .5m3. so it works out to about - 90c/bf.
and we get threw between 3 and 6 m3 of log in a day. - 666 bf to 1300bf of brads a day.

i charge $50 travel if its more than 20 mins drive, $100 if its more than 1 hours drive.

when doing slabs i charge $120/hour. i also charge this if i have to do a lot of moving of logs.

[Magicman]

the prices everyone quoted me are a lot cheaper than i expected 

One thing to remember on pricing.  How much does store bought kiln dried lumber cost?

Presently, framing lumber is going for about .55bf.  Say that you charge .25bf to saw.  That leaves .30bf for the cost of the log, cutting, bucking, skidding, and staging.  If you overprice yourself, the customer is better off just selling his logs and going to the Building Supply for lumber.

Last year, while the market was really in the dumper,  a customer approached me about sawing 20' 2X6" for his new home.   I asked about his logs and he told me that he would have to buy them.  A quick call and quote from the Building Supply said $6.55 each.  My advice was for him to buy his lumber.

The majority of my sawing is dimensional framing lumber from beetle killed SYP.  These logs have no market value and the landowner is trying to recover some value from them.  In that case, cutting, skidding, etc. is done in their spare time and the lumber cost is my saw fee.

[weisyboy]

with the price of hardwood in Australia it costs less than a half normally less than a third of the cost of buying the same timber at a sawmill, or a quarter of the cost of buying it from a timber yard.

[Peter Drouin]

I get .25 for soft  .35 for hard to 16'/ 18' and 20' is .45 a b.f. no extra for going to work or broke blades and I work alone and cut 2000 to 2800' a day with LT 40 super . I all so sell lumber 1" and 2" at .60 a b.f. and in my shop with 43' door I cut 40' beams at 4.00 a b.f+ have fun pete'

[Magicman]

Pete, Welcome to The Forestry Forum.  Tell us a bit more about yourself and interests.  Pictures?

[tree dude]

ill do some checkin on the bf. price at the local lumber yard that seems like a good idea,got to make it where the customer feels like they are getting a bargain, i guess im just spoiled i own a local tree service so i get a lot of my wood for free .just tryin to put some extra coin in my pocketand mayby get a few more customers.if ican sell the job on takin there tree down and then sell them back there wood hey guess what im money ahead and the tree they just had removed just milled out fo a new deck in there back yard.Took down two green pines today both 50 foot tall 1 was 20 inch diam.1was 16in diam.took to house.gona take down a 60 ft ceder tomorow aprox 30in at breast height.gona make some nice wood. smiley_beatnik