Firewood prices

[GRANITEstateMP]

Thanks for the info Jim. We have a local guy here that does the kiln dried, they do a real good job with it and get a premium price, whenever I have a customer looking for dry wood and I'm out (since I don't do much) I send them the business.

I've always been told, shed or garages, build it 20% bigger than you think you'll need!  Then again those folks budget was always bigger than mine! At least you can utilize your own milled lumber, even if the footprint isn't ideal.

I like working less AND making more! Heck, most days I'd take one or the other, but, I'd rather have both

[Al_Smith]

Yep nothing like nanny state regulation to help out average joe blow. Got a housing shortage, people being kicked out of campers and sheds they’re living in because nothing else. I forget where it was in the states but someone here was saying you could build whatever without it being stamped  so long as that wood was cut off that land. Seems like a good system to have. Not sure how we got here but, here we are.

As far as that as far as I know in this part of Ohio there are no regulations on what you can or cannot do for housing constructions .If so it would be in metro areas not so much urban areas .Having said that it's been decades since I've seen recycled lumber used on much of anything except perhaps for a shed .
My shop for example is 60 by 70 all of recycled steel  .The permit set me back a whole two dollars and was never inspected .The two bucks I think was  just to give them a heads up so they could tax it . I might add we don't have the "chainsaw police "either like some .

[HemlockKing]

The cost of everything/life has gone up drastically in the last couple years, so why shouldn’t firewood? The people who sell it need to live too, were due for a price adjustment here soon I’m sure I’m not sure how much longer guys can keep selling 200 a cord, all that work just to hardly break even

[mike_belben]

the only way youll get firewood to rise is to form a firewooders association and agree to raise prices together in unison.  and i dont think thats wrong either.  if the public can pay double for a soda or pizza they can pay a little more for heat. theres no reason we should subsidize them at a loss by doing such back breaking work. its become a forced charity.  $40-50 a rick here still but everything else doubled. 

[Al_Smith]

To put things in retrospect during the mid 70's to early 80's I sold firewood .I was getting 40 bucks for a heaped up pick up truck load ,about a tad over1/2 cord .I made around $10 an hour as a union electrician and about the same selling firewood but the later was just a part time thing .Then it wasn't a bad deal today I would not do it .That's a young mans game .
Wood burning comes and goes with popularity .During the so called energy crunch of the late 70's all the fence rows were cut down and everybody who had a metal shop made wood burners .10 years later they had all grown back and the stoves were selling at garage sales for about scrap steel prices .

The reason I even bother with wood burning is firstly I have an abundance of it, all good hardwood .I get  some exercise in the colder months rather than vegetate and grow fat from inactivity .Lastly I'm a restoration type with chainsaws in addition to a hot rodder with same on occasion .Gives me a chance to try out the saws .   

[bulldozerjoe]

I get 60 picked up, 70 delivered. A face cord in western ny. It not worth it to me but I heat my house and used to heat my grandparents house with wood… so I’m kinda immune to the labor and cost to produce a face cord of wood… and tell you the truth i kind of like it

[Upstatewoodchuc]

It's tough, I raised my prices again this year, but still think im low. I do $250 a cord of mixed tree service hardwoods and then try to make up the difference with the delivery fee. Still, I see some guys at 280-300 near me and I have good consistent wood so I think I should be higher, however it's tough with some of the legacy customers, particularly the older retired ones that have been with me for 10 years since it was $200 a cord. I end up saying "thank our NY state politicians" atleast once a day to customers, business is getting stupidly expensive here.

[snobdds]

Natural gas has more than doubled since last year.  Demand should increase for firewood to offset natural gas prices. 

Unless there is a bunch of new firewood suppliers, prices should rise for firewood. 

A cord of pine in Wyoming goes for around 225, split and delivered.  I am seeing prices around 275-300 a cord this year.  This is a price increase of 22-33%.  Which is still cheaper than the 50% for natural gas.  

So it's inline with normal price ratios...

[SwampDonkey]

I like cutting firewood myself. It's more than a heat source, it's a chance to use up the lesser quality trees and space the woods. Plus the exercise, which I never lack, but a little more can't hurt too bad.

[Spike60]

Prices are finally going up around here. $250 seems to be the starting point, and that's for green. There are still some low ballers; and I think they'll always be there. But there is way more demand than those guys can fill, so prices are rising in spite of them. Nearly everyone who sells wood around here also does something else and their attitude is either they make decent money on firewood or they'll be doing the "something else".

If there's ever a time when you can raise prices without getting too much blowback, this is it. With the prices of everything going up, firewood shouldn't be the typical exception that it always seems to be.

[doc henderson]

It used to be that firewood and natural gas were both about $7 per million BTUs, and electric and propane were at $14 per million BTUs.  will have to see about nan update, but seems to me the price on wood has remained constant compared to that time.  wood pellets are higher and have more processing and transportation costs.  (not the same as wood)

[mike_belben]

The m2 money supply went from about 15Trillion to nearly 21trillion in the last year so thats the appropriate correction percent on consumer goods.  The closer to the financial centers of the US one is physically located,  the quicker the rise in goods has been since the residents who receive the trickle down first can afford it soonest.  Newly minted wealth is distributed via the central banks.  

I guess we can conclude that bankers and their associates dont burn much firewood.

[HemlockKing]

A big scam system of IOUs, what little money is real, is in your “bank” being embezzled to make big guys more money while they screw you.
And if they fail chances are the government will use your tax money to bail them out . Pound sand little guys (businesses)

[bulldozerjoe]

Had 2 people call me today looking for firewood delivered..  I’m in western ny, our wood is sold by the face cord.. told them 75 a face cord delivered… good seasond ash and cherry.. 17 inch pieces.. they both responded with never mind..  we just don’t get the prices around here other places get… o well 

[mudfarmer]

Same here Joe. Once in a while find someone willing to pay a premium for a good product but mostly want it at $40 or $50 per face cord "like they've always paid" Funny they don't tell walmart or the gas station the same line. They are just trying to take advantage of you (whether they know it or not). Sell it for what it costs you to produce + fair markup or set it on fire in the yard and put the video on youtub

[Spike60]

People struggle with the concept of "premium" because most of them just think "wood is wood". They often need to have a bad experience before they'll pay more to avoid it.

Going to be entertaining this year to say the least. The glut of dying ash over the last several years has run it's course. But it has skewed the business model around here in the sense that seasoning didn't really have to be factored into the equation. Made it easy for sellers and buyers alike. Now it's moving back to a traditional hardwood mix and folks need to allow for seasonong again.

[Old Greenhorn]

If you want to make folks appreciate what they are getting for their money, let them cut split and stack a couple of cords (elderly folks exempted). It won't take long for 90% of them to say 'forget that, $250 is CHEAP!' 
  For me, firewood is not 'ambiance' it is survival through the winter and comes down to economics. It is just cheaper to heat with wood I collect, harvest, buck, split and stack than it is to do it with oil. That's it. If I had to pay for wood with cash it would likely not pan out. I would pay about $2500. per season for wood. That day will come for me, of course, but not yet, it just takes me longer to do my wood these days.
 I am still taking all the dead ash I can get my hands on, that ship has not sailed yet, but it's working it's way toward the horizon for me too. I am a small individual cutter, not a production guy, so I can still find smaller trees and once in a while a big one to make a difference, but not like before. Besides, I like to mill the bigger logs because Ash won't be easy to get for build projects.
 Back in my working days I would buy wood from a friend down the road during years I was overworked and the kids required the little 'home time' I had, and the cash was available. I never complained a bit about getting a full sized load and stacking it myself while paying the going rate. He did give me a slight discount because he could split and load his truck and have it laying in my driveway in less than an hour (less than 2 miles away) and be back home again with no issues. But that was his choice, I never asked for a discount. In those years I split by hand so I had a good idea what work I was being saved from by buying wood.
 If they don't work for it they will never appreciate it. With firewood, they never see the work involved, so it's easy to complain. Just stop selling at low prices and let the weekend warriors beat each other to death with their price wars. I know 2 local suppliers fairly well, one raised his prices this year and is HOPING some of his regulars drop out because he has too much work and firewood just doesn't bring the profit that land clearing and tree work brings. The other raised his price to $250. a couple years back and let the chips fall where they may. He is still quite busy and he doesn't really need that work either. The logs he doesn't cut and split this year will be in the pile for next year or they will wind up in his OWB heating his complex. Bob, I am sure you know both of these guys.
 Oh, and it's just my opinion, but folks that start calling around for firewood prices around thanksgiving time should pay a good premium for their stupidity, and those that 'gotta have firewood' in January should pay 60% more, if they can find a source that can dig it out of the snow.

[HemlockKing]

I was thinking the same OGH, let em split it themselves and see what think then! Don’t want to pay? Good go without heat for awhile then maybe you will see the commodity I offer is much more important than  all the other material plastic junk you buy at Walmart and don’t argue their prices, so what gives, you just like screwing over little guys? People are just not pleasant to deal with in the slightest. 

[Al_Smith]

Back in the day I had one smart aleck say something about the price which was cheap enough .My response was the wood is free ,you're paying for  the labor and delivery costs .He never bought any more from me  which suited me just fine .

[mike_belben]

I have determined that i wont work for free at things i dont want to do, and $50 a rick is working for free.  If you factor in joint damage its worse.  So i wont sell any more wood until i build a processor but i still have all this highgrade to release so i am harvesting and piling.  What gets punky can go in the evaporator or in my stoves. 

Anyway whenever i get back to it i will handle lowballers exactly how i did before.  I give them the numbers of the guys who are cheaper.  A man can only process so much wood.  Pillheads sell soaking wet doaty wood cut down just a few months prior to burning and on front lawns in the rain. when the 3 of them pull in your yard toothless and high looking at all you and your neighbors stuff you will realize how little you like the $40/rick crowd.   


Either way, it serves my needs to have the cheap guy get bought out early in the season so i send lowballers to them as fast as possible.  No one is a lowballer in january/february when the pipes are fixing to freeze and wood peddlers are all universally sold out of sopping wet big blocks of wood that need kindling 2x4 supplments to stay lit.  Theyll see the value in the extra $20