Job Offer

[WV Sawmiller]

   I was contacted by a local Log Home manufacturer 25 miles away to see if I was interested in coming to run their sawmill for them. He (Company President) said they have a WoodMizer mill but did not remember the model. He did say it was electric powered. Apparently their operator retired and they have not found a replacement.

 They evidently take their damaged or rejected milled logs and resaw them into dunnage and stickers and such. I always thought of dunnage as something like 4X4's laid down to stack a load on to get the forks under. He said they use 1" boards to protect the logs so I need to see their operation.

I told him I was not interested in full time work but might be interested in a couple/few days a month to come saw at their site. We discussed whether I'd use their mill or bring mine and he was okay either way. We finally agreed he'd have his operations manager call me and I would come look at their process.

 I am not wanting to work steady (or hard :D) but it sounds like easy/steady work. They would prefer I do all the work including stacking and such rather than them providing a helper. I don't know their set up and if we can arrange for pallets or bins and a pallet jack or such to move the finished lumber that may not be impossible.

 I am inclined, if I do decide to accept, to just propose to do it on a contract basis and come in as needed on an hourly rate. I will have to see what kind of mill they have to decide if I want to use it or mine. They may prefer that anyway.

 I typically make more on a good mobile job than I'd expect here but this would be easy, steady work and depending on the site might be something I could do during bad weather when I could not work other jobs. I guess we will see what comes of it.

[Crossroads]

Sounds interesting, I'm curious where this goes. Good luck 

[SawyerTed]

My advice is decide what you want and how much time you want to do it and stick to it!  Even as interesting as it sounds, it is work!

Both of my forays into the work world after retirement tended to creep into much bigger jobs than initially agreed to.  

In both cases I started on a part time basis.  In one case I wound up running a department and the other I was running the business.  Much more than I wanted. 

Maybe they will agree to job sharing if demand is higher than you want to do.  Two part timers instead of one.  

[Ron Wenrich]

I'd work it as an independent contractor, and I'd work it on their equipment.  Less wear and tear on yours, and they would be responsible for any repairs, as well as the blade sharpening, etc. 

You could work on an hourly basis, but also throw in travel expenses.  You will set the hours of work, otherwise you'll be designated as an employee.  I think I would also want someone to stack lumber.  If your hourly rate is sufficient, they'll see that it is in their best interest to have someone stack to avoid your hourly fee to do work that can be done by someone at a lower rate.

[GAB]

Howard:
Question: Is it possible that they are using the WM mill to saw logs that are too large for their normal operation?
I personally would not accept the job if they did not supply at least two off bearers, and I would not stack for them.  If the stacking is not to their liking I would not be the guilty party.
Maybe you can offer to train one of their employees.
GAB

[Southside]

Cold call offers put you in the drivers seat. Decide what you want and that's the deal.

Had a call last week from an investment firm, the third one lately, asking if I was interested in selling my farm. No I am not interested in doing that, but my answer was "How many zeros are you offering?" They are going to put something together and get back to me. Not holding my breath, but you miss all the shots you don't take.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Both of my forays into the work world after retirement tended to creep into much bigger jobs than initially agreed to.  .  

I agree with Ted.  Ive seen it several times.   Guy comes out of retirement or semi retirement to take on a part time job or some additional work and before you can see it coming he's up to his suspender buttons in time effort and stress. 
But, having said that, this does sounds like an interesting job and certainly in your area of expertise. So of course it deserves a good hard look and maybe a good try out. 
WV Sawmiller only you can decide if its a good fit.   I'd be talking to them some more and see if you can work something out and do it for a while, maybe 6 or 8 months.   Then see where you are and if its working for you.
Good luck with it. 

[WV Sawmiller]

Ron,

  I am thinking of being an independent contractor if I accept. I will have to look at their mill and see what kind it is. It may well be a manual LT15 or something and I'd have to work harder on it than using my hydraulic mill. Yes, there are real pros to saving wear and tear on my mill. I had planned to include mileage as I would on any mobile job (But thanks for the suggestion/reminder).

  I would be working at my hourly rate whether stacking or sawing so it is very possible they would see the advantage/cost savings of hiring a helper. In any case proper storage pallets or bins and such will make the job faster and easier and more efficient no matter how many people are involved.

Gerald,

   These are reject milled logs about 6"X 8" that have been run through a molder to round the corners and apply a tongue and groove. I assume they are pretty much the same as my house if you remember how they were made. I don't know how long the logs are and whether they have been KD yet. I think they are so they would not be heavy. It is resawing work not true sawing of raw logs. The logs they can't use for construction purposes are resawed as a salvage operation and for other in house purposes. I assume it is cheaper to re-saw and salvage these logs than to simply buy dunnage and stickers and such.

   I would offer to train one of their employees but I think they already have someone who knows how to run their mill - he may have to train me :D. They have the same problem as everybody else in our Woke society and they can't find or keep help either. I would not worry about complaints about my stacking as we would agree on the process and materials to be used and they would provide it if I took the job. These materials are for their in house use not for re-sale.

Ted,

   If I do take the job/contract I will be clear I will not be offended if they find and hire someone full time to replace me. I was crystal clear to the president of the company I would want to set my own work schedule and frequency. I'd love to help get them out of a jam and help with overflow work if needed but I am not going back to work full time and not going to take on anything that provides more stress than the enjoyment I get out of it.

SS,

   Yes - they called me, I did not call them. I want to help but it has to be on my terms. The man sounded pretty straight forward and we are not talking about another coat and tie, meet with the clients daily and make all the inspectors happy kind of work again. Been there, done that, not going back.

[barbender]

 I'm curious to see what they offer. I've gotten "offers" before from secondary manufacturers looking for lumber. With the price they are offering to pay, I feel like they are "offering" to take my wallet.

[Magicman]

I have gotten several calls from several different "manufacturers" wanting me to come, set up, saw, and become a rich man.  My answer has always been the same.

Matter of fact that is what the guy that I bought my sawmill from was doing before he had to quit and go to work to make a living. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   My thoughts are to contract with them just like any other customer if it looks like I am interested. I can't see any reason for working for less than my normal minimum fees/rates. I have no intention of getting too tied down. I have grown very fond of setting and working my own schedule. Don't get me wrong - I work very long hard days but they are when and where I choose to do so.

[Don P]

Not your concern but from the description, would they not be money ahead to set up a resaw? 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Duly noted. I have not seen their equipment yet. For all I know they may have one or may have looked into one in the past and declined it for some reason. 

[richhiway]

Good Luck. Sounds interesting. If us old men don't keep working everything is going to stop.  :D

[OlJarhead]

Ditto on the going to back to work from retirement thing!  I'm trying to find ways out of it now

As soon as I heard it would be a 6 month gig and not a year I was dancing a jig...then they extended 3 months....and I'm not thrilled at all! 

[jpassardi]

Howard,

Good for you, good to be needed.

[Crossroads]

I'm curious to see what they offer. I've gotten "offers" before from secondary manufacturers looking for lumber. With the price they are offering to pay, I feel like they are "offering" to take my wallet.

I have a pallet guy call me every couple weeks asking for a quote for enough material for 1000 pallets. The last time he texted me, I simply copy/paste the quote from a couple weeks ago. There might be a language barrier too. His English is about as good as my Spanish and that ain't good. 

[barbender]

A common scenario is they urgently need me to provide them lumber for less than what I pay for the logs🤔

[Cedarman]

WV, you mentioned in first post that they said it was an electric mill.  One little key and motor starts, never run out of fuel as long as the electrons flow.  Quieter too.
I would definitely check it out.  Don't assume anything as assuming always gets me in trouble, don't know about you.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Its been a couple days since I talked to the company president and his ops manager has not called me to come meet with him so it must not be as urgent as it sounded. I'm beginning to suspect they basically are looking for an operator for their resaw. The president just said they had an electric WM mill but based on the description of the logs to be resawed and what they are making with them it would be reasonable their operation would include a resaw in the equipment line to salvage reject logs into other materials the operation needed. If all they need is a resaw operator they ought to be able to find one cheaper than me. We will see. 

Cedar,

   Yes assumptions get me in trouble but but I started my career in the military and Making Assumptions was one of the key planning processes because you never had all the info so I still do it routinely. I also worked in midEast a long time where the mindset was "I might be wrong so don't do it" instead of my philosophy of "I'm probably right, lets do it". 

   I try to make reasonable assumptions based on reasonably available data and adjust my plan/process as I get more info. If I waited for all the info I'd never get started. BAMSIS applies and making assumptions is part of the Begin Planning phase. ;)

[GAB]

Mr. Green:
Sometimes you need to go with what little you know and GUT feel.  Sometime you win, sometimes you need to go to plan B, and some times you smash your nose pretty badly.  That's life.
GAB

[ppine]

I worked for a log house construction company in Denver back in the 1980s.  We were strictly a round log outfit so a lot of effort was put into joinery.  We usually used purlins and spliced everything together with old timber framing techniques.  I tried buidling log houses, peeling logs and some other things, but ended up running a logging crew for the company.  We had a small crew of fallers, a D-4 Cat and one log truck.  We were in beetle killed lodgepole pine.  The trees were not that big and made good house logs.  We could fall and buck around 100 trees per day per man. 

Most log house companies do not make a lot of money.  They are kind of shoestring outfits.  Contract milling sounds like a good idea.  You would probably like it a lot better a few days a month instead of working steady.  Good luck.  It is good to have options. 

[DanMc]

Had a call last week from an investment firm, the third one lately, asking if I was interested in selling my farm. No I am not interested in doing that, but my answer was "How many zeros are you offering?" They are going to put something together and get back to me. Not holding my breath, but you miss all the shots you don't take.

If you had 3 calls from "investment" firms wanting to buy your farm, then something is up.  They don't buy land just for fun.  There must be some kind of project somewhere that makes your land attractive.  Maybe Walmart is planning to build out there, or something?  Seems like it would be good to do a little investigating to find out what's going on.  You could probably get a much better price, that is, if you're interested in selling.

[SawyerTed]

I've been to Southside's place, it isn't the middle of nowhere but you can see it from there.  

[Southside]

My gut tells me they are thinking solar farms, but the last two proposals got shot down in this county so they may be dreaming.

Ted you will have to make a trip to the Kansas farm, makes this place look like Manhattan.

[Ron Wenrich]

Solar farms in this area have been mainly leases.  Sounds like a reasonable idea of solar farms, or Bill Gates.

[WV Sawmiller]

    Well, I got a text message from  the Log Home President thanking me for calling but advising me they had found a permanent operator. 

     I texted him back thanking him for letting me know, wishing them good luck and telling him to keep me in mind if he ever needed any contract bandsaw milling done.

     (I guess it is back to eating in the soup kitchens and selling pencils on the street corners. :D)

[Bert]

Pencils! 2 for $5 or 3 for $10!

[K-Guy]

selling pencils on the street corners

Don't forget the black sunglasses and white cane!! smiley_jester

[Crossroads]

Sounds like it all worked out

[Don P]

Whew, that was close.

I wonder how they embalm a permanent operator at the controls  ???

[Resonator]

 I texted him back thanking him for letting me know, wishing them good luck and telling him to keep me in mind if he ever needed any contract bandsaw milling done.

I'd leave some business cards with their sales office, people who buy log cabins like the look of natural wood.

[Don P]

Good point, one of those companies contacted me years ago looking for character posts. If you can supply "custom" in some form it might be a niche.