I'm wondering if someone in or near My area, Eastern TN could give me an idea of pricing. I haven't done any sawing for others for 5 or 6 years. I have two people who want some pine logs cut into 4/4 boards.
They will bring the logs to me, I will saw the logs and sticker the lumber and load it back onto their trailer, any ideas on the pricing?
Here in Ohio twenty cents is a bargain anymore. I always charged fifteen cents and walked to the house wondering how I made any money sawing the custom orders.
You should have an added charge for stickering it. It's more work. Work is time, time is money.
I charge .25 for soft wood and .30 cents for hardwood. If I had to stack and sticker I would charge more.
I taught a college level course on "the time value of money" this is the best way to figure out pricing so a person doesn't end up having to wonder why he can't afford to replace blades and parts.
All the equipment is basically calculated out to its useful life and then you would break that down to an hourly price. Unless tools start falling from the sky, this is the only way to be able to be sure you have the money to replace worn out iron. Any successful businessman either knows this or his accountant knows it.
Without this knowledge on pricing it is like walking blind in the forest.
Someone at WM, can't remember who, told me a good planning figure for average cost for fuel, blades, and maintenance would be $10.00 an engine hour. With 2500 hours on my mill, I think my cost is a little less than $10.00 per hour. It has worked for me in determining my BF cutting price.
Quote from: JoeBrittany21 on June 14, 2012, 04:18:47 PM
I taught a college level course on "the time value of money" this is the best way to figure out pricing so a person doesn't end up having to wonder why he can't afford to replace blades and parts.
All the equipment is basically calculated out to its useful life and then you would break that downan hourly price. Unless tools start falling from the sky, this is the only way to be able to be sure you have the money to replace worn out iron. Any successful businessman either knows this or his accountant knows it.
Without this knowledge on pricing it is like walking blind in the forest.
That is true. Another factor is whether or not you can make all repairs yourself. If you have to pay someone else to make most repairs you need to factor in the difference between what you pay yourself and what someone or a business will charge you.
I'm an old man and retired (what ever that means). If I can pay myself $25 an hour for "my personal time" (not business time or machine time) then I'm happy. If I had to pick up the phone and call in for a service call, 5 times that amount might not cover it... You may never have that kind of breakdown but you need to cover at least part of the possibility ahead of time instead of waiting until it happens and then trying to get your money back.
I only survived a lifetime of farming (and several other businesses) because of my skills as a mechanic, machinist, blacksmith, welder and metal fabricator. Had I had to cough up the prices that most shops charge for my repair work needs I simply couldn't have done it because in farming you don't get to set the rates. All you can control is cost... ;D
I'm glad to see this discussion, while I will not be doing a lot of heavy sawing and hope to mostly do a little on shares I would expect to occasionally do a little job or two for $$$$ and am interested in what the market is prone to bear.
.
Exactly right, being able to repair it yourself is a huge savings weather you call a repair truck or take it in. Being in the trucking business for too long most times I could fix a problen in the same time as it would have taken to take it in and I never minded making the $60 to $75 a hour the shops charge. Back to the subject I'd charge at least .25 a bf for real good logs and .35 if they are small. Steve
$.30 if you do most of the log handling manually. If the logs are small or crooked, I charge by the hour, usually around $40.
The last time I sawed I milled away from home and charged 175.00 per thousand, gas was about 1.00 a gallon ect,ect so I was thinking about 250.00 now. I also have to take into account that I am in a depressed area in that we are 50 to 100 miles from a large city and folks just don't make that much money here but the cost of living is not as high as is always the case.
If the custom sawing jobs are one shot deal of one trailer load each, you can't go too wrong charging whatever you feel comfortable.
But if it's going to be an ongoing venture, you may want to try these first two loads and calculate if you are getting an equatable return for your labor and investment .
One thing, (the only thing?) I've ever learned.......... is that it is easier to come down on your pricing than it is to go up. If you say .30/bf and they balk, you can always come down.
I'm sorta lazy so I like to saw a little for a lot $$$. My price is on the higher side so I don't get some jobs. Saves wear and tear on the mill. :D
Staking and stickering is a whole different operation and should be charged as such. I'm sat up pretty good with the TK-2000. Drag the boards back and stack while the mill is making the next cut. About the only extra time required is putting down sticks between layers. After the stack is made I can pick it up out of the crib and sit it down on the customers trailer with the forklift. It doesn't take much extra effort or time on my part, so I don't charge much.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/oakstack.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/slabs2.jpg)
Larry, it looks like you have perfected a system that works quite well for you. :)
>:( I'm jealous I want a crib and fel with forks this carrying of to a stack is getting old quick :D when i get that welder buddy of mine to build them cribs i want and i get that fel I will be doing the 8) :D nice setup Larry
Oh on the price i charge 50 a hr to pull the leavers customer can supply help or pay me 50 a hour to carry and stack ;D
I have a customer coming in the morning. He is supplying the logs, offbearing , and loading his lumber. .25 a board foot. All pine. First time trying this. Should be interesting.
Tripp
It is nice to provide a service such as stickering.
But, I don't get the idea of stickered lumber on a trailer. Wouldn't it feel up and then how does it come off again. If you were portable and cutting in their yard then I think stickering would be a big help and a nice service.
I know it takes more time to make all 4/4 stock so that should cost a bit more, also if you were cutting a lot of small parts or small logs then that will drive the cost up too.
As other have said you are providing a valuable service and your time spent affects the price paid.
sgschwend,
Most of my customers have access to FEL to unload lumber. I stack and sticker then band with poly, two bands up to 12' and 3 bands on 16'. Load on trailers with FEL. My stacks are 40" wide with 42" stickers. Place stacks on trailers onto 4X4. Customers can use straps under the stack on trailers with sides and lift with FEL. Also easy to figure BF in stack without counting each board. EX: For 4/4, 40"wide X 16' long divided by 12 equals 53.3BF per row X 10 rows equals 533 BF. I pull boards same as Larry, use dragback and place on stack using "Bibby" horses.
We are mobile and do custom sawing, and the lumber is usually dead-stacked!
Once in a while a customer will ask us to sticker, which adds quite a lot of time to the saw job.
Question is: How much would be a fair price to charge for the stickering?
Also extra is cutting the stickers, placing the stickers and cutting them to the width of the stack!
The three sawyers I have talked to around here all charge $.40/bf. and none of them are portable, you must bring the lumber to them. Just more info for the discussion.
In my situation, I am portable, the customer always provides/pays the help, and the help does the stacking/stickering. Any stickers as a result of edging are free. If more are needed, we saw a "sticker log" and scale the lumber or either use some of the customer's scaled lumber.
On the stickering, to me it's not much more work and I can charge for the stickers and also I am able to band the stack and use a forklift on the back of my tractor for loading onto their trailer/truck and they have forks for their front loaders on their tractors. I guess it works out that most of the folks who want Me to saw are farmers and have tractors with loaders to put logs on to haul to me and to get lumber off at home.
Because of my health and trying to take care of the farm I don't go looking for jobs, most of the folks who ask me to saw are people I know,other farmers, landowners,loggers, I want to make enough on a job to cover cost and make a profit but I am in an area where you can't throw a stick without hitting a sawmill so I have to figure if they are hauling the logs anyway they won't pay me twice what others are charging.
I do want to thank everyone for their feedback so far.
I don't do portable and charge $.35 per bdft and am kind of choosy about which jobs I take. If I saw 1 Mbf per 3 hours which isn't too hard, I make $115 per hour minus estimated $15 per per hour mill expenses, fuel, etc gives me a nice $100 per hour take home.
If I'm a little more relaxed about it and do a Mbf by lunch time, four hours, I'm still making better than $75 per hour, which is enough to keep me motivated
I don't race, I just try to stay on a 325 bdft pace by doing a pallet of lumber per hour which for me is 10 layers of 8 foot by 4 foot of lumber.
I may not be the cheapest, but get a lot of the other saw millers in the area PO'd customers who went low bid first, then came to me after they found out that they got what they paid for.
YH
Stickers and banding adds 5 cents..bf.....I used to charge 3 but its worth more than that...Banjo
I'm having a difficult time understanding how you guys that charge 25¢ or less can stay in business. smiley_headscratch I've been at 35¢ bf for over 5 years now and have only had a few dispute my charges. I didn't saw there logs. ;D My price is the same whether portable or stationary. The only difference is when I'm portable my minimum charge is $350 ( up to 1000 bf) and the customer supplies helpers for moving logs and stacking lumber. I never sticker and encourage them to sticker after I leave as it slows me down waiting on them to retrieve the next board.
Points to note: I don't mill full time. I have a day job. Milling is extra cash. I've turned away 7 out of ten jobs I've been called on in the last 2 weeks and am still very busy. My prices are not negotiable. Just ask the guy the tried to convince me that I should charge less for 2x12's than 1x12 because it takes less sawing. ;) I don't know who milled his logs for him because it wasn't me. ;D
Myself I charge $1.00/BF oak and .50 for pine,I don't encourage folks to bring logs,and don't charge much less if they bring them, its the same work to cut and stack.I work in a log rich envourment A tree service yard,the big pine they would have to pay to dispose of it and the large oak, much labor to cut/split for firewood.I'd have to work double shifts to stay ahead of the incomeing logs. Frank C.
bandmiller2, is that the selling price or the saw price? and do you have to pay the tree service guys for the wood? :)
I possibly Have a contract to cut up 6x6x14s and they will bring me the logs. I was thinking about charging 350/1000bdft
Just get a couple strong young backs to help with the off bearing. The first hundred 6x6's will be cake, after that they will start to get a little heavy :D
YH
I have a day job and saw on the side. I've charged from .30 to .50 bd/ft. depending on the number of logs and size. I'm stationary so they have to bring the logs to me.
At some point the customer can buy new framing lumber cheaper than having it sawed. Especially when you consider the cost of the logs. At that point one can simple price himself out of business.
I charge .25 for Pine and .30 for Oak to the customers who bring me their logs.
I sell Pine at .45 and Oak at .80 unless it's quarter sawn, then my price goes to $2.00 and up depending on the grade.
I get all my Pine, Oak, Sycamore, Poplar, Sweet Gum, Walnut and Cedar for free from 8 different tree service companies.
Plus I get lots of "TIPS" for doing extra things. I don't expect tips but most people just feel good about what they get and say, "here.....this is for your hard work. I'll be back."
I also keep a cooler full of bottled water and soft drinks for customers and their kids to drink on hot days when they come to pick up lumber.
I also have a thick and thin pile where a customers can get a few freebies if he has something in mind he wants to build.
All this works for me. 8)
Postonlt40hd, nice that you get all your logs for free, but what do you do with all the junk logs :D
Quote from: Peter Drouin on June 17, 2012, 07:45:28 PM
Postonlt40hd, nice that you get all your logs for free, but what do you do with all the junk logs :D
Some of my junk logs can be slabbed and I make benches or I sell them to other woodworkers who like ugly logs like I do.
But I think more of what you are talking about, I just take the dozer and pile and burn them. When I get enough ash from all those logs, and there are a lot of junk logs, I take the ash mixed with soil and put it in the tomato rows. This is a good way to recycle the pot ash and it really helps the MATERS.
Peter,thats the price I sell it for.I don't pay for the logs but cut quite a bit for the tree service no charge.When I cut a trailer deck I charge for what the guy wants to cover say a 7'x20' deck 2" would be $280.00 I always cut and give them more for repairs or in case one splits. Frank C.
well thats good you get your logs free too bandmiller2. I have to pay for my logs. so I sell pine starting at .70 and hard wood starts at 1.00 a bf. but they are all good grade. and postonlt40hd I do like the bench you made with the crooked legs :D :D I do have 2 wood lots but it cost to get the logs out. but most times I just tell the logger what I want and he gos out and cut it then I call the trucker to get them home
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22511/foley_logs_001.JPG) but its all fun :D :D 8)
Wow Peter, I wish all my logs looked like the one on your truck. smiley_thumbsup
Dang wish my truck looked like the one with his logs on if I was going to wish 8)
Do you keep a tally on how much the tree services bring vs how much they get in return based on your standard bdft cost? I must be doing something wrong because when I try to work with tree services they bring junk logs and expect enugh lumber in return to build a barn.
YH
Hammer,my tree service guy is a good friend,and neither one of us has a tally sheet. Frank C.
What do you all get for rough saw air dried pine ?
Quote from: Papa1stuff on June 18, 2012, 08:04:38 AM
What do you all get for rough saw air dried pine ?
$.65- 4&6" (4/4)
.70 - 8"
.75 - 10'
1.00- 12"
Thanks Ellmoe ,I was thinking around a dollar!
If you can get it, by all means do. I have to move quite a bit, so have to price accordingly. You can always buy mine and sell them for a dollar! Easy money! :D
Mark
Thanks Ellmoe ,but I think I will pass on that for now ,but you never know!!
I will just show them how great it looks and then maybe I could charge more ;D
Hi All,
I'm brand new here. So, a bit of an introduction is probably in order.
I'm a "woodworker" -- but, really a zygote woodworker, who really enjoys creating sawdust. I must admit I thoroughly enjoy the hobby. I have a regular (fancy) day job -- but, I still love to get my hands dirty (You can take the boy out of Iowa (to Los Angeles), but you can't take the Iowa out of the boy).
So, a post on another message board pointed me to this board. I started reading yesterday and I was pretty fascinated. It's very clear to me that I don't want to buy a portable mill -- at least I don't think I do! what I'd like to do is find a new best friend with a mill that I could use/borrow/steal.
I'm sort of a cheapskate at heart. I like to build things, but expensive wood scares me. I've always wondered what happened to the wood in urban areas after big storms -- and this message board helped me understand what a mess of a problem it really is. And, it helped me understand that there is a market for the small mill that can come in and convert that would be thrown away to a usable resource: Wood. That's pretty interesting.
I did a very simple web search today. I wanted to know: A) how many board feet of lumber in a typical house; and B) what's a typical price per board feet for lumber. Here's the answer: A typical 2,000 square foot home has 16,000 board feet of framing in it (see, http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=5&C=645). And, the cost per board foot, seems to be about $0.30 (see, http://www.nahb.org/generic.aspx?genericContentID=527). Thus, at $0.30 per board foot, a typical home costs about $4,800 in framing lumber.
My wife and I -- and our new son! -- plan to move to San Diego in the next year or so. I -- more than her -- really want to rehab a house. since I'm a self-avowed cheapskate, I love to try to do more with less.
Anyone have an opinion as to whether one can work with a sawyer and cut the cost of framing lumber for a remodel? let's say instead of 16,000 board feet, one needed 5,000 board feet -- would any sawyer want to compete against the rough lumber one of the big box retailers has readily available?
I suppose the other way to come at the problem is to spend several thousand dollars on the mill, find the lumber, and make your own lumber; but that sounds expensive and complicated -- I'd much rather rent or purchase another's labor. Unless, of course, that ends up costing me more than it would cost to just go to the big box retailer and get it when I need it.
(of course, for more exotic woods, it sounds like it gets much more interesting -- and the price difference between the retail board foot, and the small-shop-mill/portable mill operation may be easier to justify.)
Anyone ever sold the framing lumber to someone trying to frame a home or a large addition? Just curious more than anything. Really love the message board!
craig.
Welcome tkleff to the Forestry Forum.
You are ambitious. Look forward to hearing more about your plans.
Tough to beat the prices of buying framing lumber found in a local lumber yard like Lowes or Home Depot.
Craig, welcome to the Forestry Forum.....from South Carolina!
You'll love this forum. 8)
David
i live here in east tenn. and i dont saw for a living but i do take a job here and there on the weekend. i charge $200 a thousand bf. and i could probably be covered up at that price. now i figured the gas and blade price and on most days i can saw 1000 bf a day by myself with good logs. at that rate it leaves you with about $165 a day. but that does nof figure in ware on mill and tractor
Zygote? Is that the music they play in Nu-orlins? :)
Quote from: Delawhere Jack on July 24, 2012, 07:25:11 PM
Zygote? Is that the music they play in Nu-orlins? :)
It's pronounced "NORLINS". ;D
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, tkleff. :)
Some of the answers to some of your questions will be tricky at best. The simple math will not give you all of the answers. There are things like where will the logs come from, log cost, log transport, storage of logs and storage of the lumber while it is drying. Then comes things like permits and the use of non-graded framing lumber, which under most circumstances is not allowed. Yes, in some locations and circumstances non-graded framing lumber is permissible, but even then it can be a slippery slope when dealing with insurance and financing.
Unless you already own the logs, you can't hardly compete with the Big Box Stores for softwood framing lumber. $.30/BF is more of a wholesale price rather than a retail price.
There are a lot of problems with what you would like to do. Like:
Who is going to grade your lumber?
How much softwood do you figure can be had around San Diego?
Your prices ($.30) are less than 50% of what you will find in reality.
And so on...
I am not sure where you are finding your prices for lumber from the box stores but home depot 2x6 finger joint studs are $2.65 each or $335.00 ish MBF local and 2.85 each or $350.00MBF for #2 construction grade by the full lift. If you buy them by the Super B (about 32,MBF) you can get them a bit cheaper. even if you go to whole sale your numbers are maybe a wee bit low?
2x6x16 rough utility SPF are $9.95 to $12.95 a piece or 600 to 700 MBF. That is loacl to me but i think youd be hard pressed to find much more than a 20% variance. I may be wrong but I would be surprised.
Local whole sale on rough unstamped SPF 2x6,8x12,16 is at 425 to 525 MBF by Super B for construction grade. Utility and D grade is about 25% less.
SORRY decimal in the wrong place on the home depot prices when i calculated.
The cheapest 8' 2X4's are about .50 / bf here in Home Depot, I think. They've gone up a little. All the studs and 2X's that are wider or longer are even more / bf. And in southern California, I can't imagine it would be any less than that. But again, they are certified for building purposes, and they are all available quickly in one place, professionally dried and planed.
Welcome to the forum!
Quote from: tkleff on July 24, 2012, 06:47:56 PM
Anyone ever sold the framing lumber to someone trying to frame a home or a large addition? Just curious more than anything. Really love the message board!
craig.
Welcome, I never sold my wood to someone framing a home, but I had a customer bring me trees that were downed by hurricane Katrina. He rebuilt his whole house. 2500 sq ft. home. I charged $200 / 1000 bd ft. Most of my wood I sell to customers are for barns, and fences.
Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on July 24, 2012, 08:17:30 PM
It's pronounced "NORLINS". ;D
Actually, it's "Nawlins"... ;D
unless your from waaay up north and it becomes New Orleeeeeeeens
Thanks for all the responses and welcomes. Like I said I'm a neophyte (OK, I said Zygote, but that created some "interesting" responses).
I hadn't considered the grading aspect of the framing lumber. I really love the Hurricane Katrina story.
I take it from the responses, the typical use of the lumber created from trees in this forum is for: a) fences; b) barns; and c) ??? I suppose you could use it for furniture, right? I'm not sure what trees are in San Diego.
Honestly, I'm a bit more fascinated in the economics of it all. You can't build without materials. We spend $1,000s or $10,000s on tools. How much do you imagine you spend in wood over a decade? 3 decades? If you knew that you would spend $100,000 on wood for projects and stuff over the next 30 years, it would seem that a portable mill, at many different price ranges, would be a great deal. But, it's hard to know one will actually do this for 30 years (and, even harder to figure how much wood one will consume/build).
Here's a slightly different angle on the economics: When I find a great deal at the grocery store, we buy lots of it. Why? Because, prices tend to rise, not fall -- and the notion that a penny saved is a penny earned is 100% true. (And, I can break out some fancy books and talk you through the tax law to demonstrate how saving a few dollars now, has tremendous impact later -- impacts financially, mentally, life-wise, etc. etc. etc.)
[A quick story. There was a talk show host years ago that I always enjoyed listening to. He'd had a lifetime of experience, ran several businesses, made a few million dollars in business, and understood MONEY. There was a particular model of Lincoln that he loved -- it worked well and survived his 40,000 mile/year commuting punishment. So, like every great frugal person -- he bought a second one, put it on blocks, and broke it out after he put a few hundred thousand miles on his first car.]
So, if I were to find a California Sawyer that could get me a great price on wood -- let's say a seven year wood supply -- well, I'd give it really strong consideration. Because, if I buy at (I'm making up the number) $1 per board foot today -- I can guarantee you in seven years it'll probably be $2 per board foot -- all else being equal (and assuming the wood does not crack, break, deteroriate, burn, get stolen, etc.).
Anyhow -- I'm going back to reading some more of the forums. thanks for all the kind words of welcome and otherwise.
tkleff.
Keep on reading. At some point logs, lumber, or bananas for that matter will deteriorate. You either use it or loose it.
tkleff,
I have sold framing lumber for barns, carports and fences, but the reason I bought a mill was that I wanted to build my own house. I had a lot of trees on my place to use and the markets for them fell apart so I bought a mill and made all my own frame paneling and decking for my new house. Try these numbers.
Mill - $6500
Framing lumber for house would have cost $7200 at the big box store.
Plus I made all my own paneling which saved me another $3000 over the cheapest wood paneling I could buy.
Only put about 80 hours on the mill to cut out my house.
1 project sure justified my mill purchase. PC
Quote from: Magicman on July 25, 2012, 03:45:00 PM
Keep on reading. At some point logs, lumber, or bananas for that matter will deteriorate. You either use it or loose it.
Or both.
The price of lumber is cyclical, and is tied to the construction industry. The price does not always increase over a 7 year period. It could easily be lower, like it is now. Lumber is an interesting commodity that supply and demand truly impacts because there is no governmental support network and there is no Lumber OPEC.
Quote from: WDH on July 25, 2012, 09:28:31 PM
The price of lumber is cyclical, and is tied to the construction industry. The price does not always increase over a 7 year period. It could easily be lower, like it is now. Lumber is an interesting commodity that supply and demand truly impacts because there is no governmental support network and there is no Lumber OPEC.
If there were, it would be OLEC.
QuoteI take it from the responses, the typical use of the lumber created from trees in this forum is for: a) fences; b) barns; and c) I suppose you could use it for furniture, right? I'm not sure what trees are in San Diego.
Mostly c) I would say...
I think over the years we have seen almost everything that could be build from wood made. Sure it includes fences and barns, but boats, furniture, musical instruments, coffins, even whole houses.
The thing is that framing timber is a mass produced commodity. Here in NZ it's plantation grown more like corn. Mechanically harvested, milled in big automated sawmills, dried, graded and shipped out. So that 30c bd/ft stud could have been shipped all the way from NZ or Chile, for that cost. It's real bottom end of the market stuff, and the wood is technically low grade. Appearance doesn't matter, and it's only got to be strong enough to pass through the grading machine.
So even if someone owns sawmill, they may buy framing timber, use it in the out of sight structure, avoid issue with lumber grades and building inspectors, and keep their better stuff for the visible parts. Hardwood floors, solid wood kitchens, furniture etc. Where there are no structural issues and wood grading issues, but where the use of real wood would be prohibitively expensive.
Want a dining table made from one solid piece of Walnut or Cypress? They can be bought, for multiple thousands of dollars. Got as big tree that's knocked down in a storm, or needs to come down? Spend $500 or $1000 getting it sawn on site, and you can build 10 tables from it. It's those more unique pieces that have the value.
For construction it's things like large beams? You can't wander down to you local hardware store and buy a 16ft, 8 x 10 oak beam. You will probably need to get them custom sawn, and it's the guys with the smaller operations that are going to be flexible enough to do the job.
Wood as an investment? I don't think it will catch on. There would be much better uses for your shed space.
Ian
Quote from: Okrafarmer on July 25, 2012, 09:35:49 PM
If there were, it would be OLEC.
Wouldn't that be LPEC? (Lumber Producing Exporting Countries)
Quote from: MHineman on July 25, 2012, 10:55:08 PM
Quote from: Okrafarmer on July 25, 2012, 09:35:49 PM
If there were, it would be OLEC.
Wouldn't that be LPEC? (Lumber Producing Exporting Countries)
OPEC stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. So I substituted lumber for petroleum. More and more people are doing that, by the way. Just look at the thread for wood-gas powered vehicles. ;D
I have sawed framing lumber for 12-15 homes, plus several large horse barns, etc. In each instance, the customer was a landowner and used his own logs. Also, the architect specified #2 and/or rough sawed lumber which satisfied the lender/insurance/permit issues. Even then, there are some counties/municipalities where their permitting system will not allow this.
Be very careful and ask the questions. You do not want to spend funds and labor building something that you can not use and have to tear down.
Quote from: DR_Buck on June 17, 2012, 06:26:53 AM
I'm having a difficult time understanding how you guys that charge 25¢ or less can stay in business. smiley_headscratch I've been at 35¢ bf for over 5 years now and have only had a few dispute my charges. I didn't saw there logs. ;D My price is the same whether portable or stationary. The only difference is when I'm portable my minimum charge is $350 ( up to 1000 bf) and the customer supplies helpers for moving logs and stacking lumber. I never sticker and encourage them to sticker after I leave as it slows me down waiting on them to retrieve the next board.
Points to note: I don't mill full time. I have a day job. Milling is extra cash. I've turned away 7 out of ten jobs I've been called on in the last 2 weeks and am still very busy. My prices are not negotiable. Just ask the guy the tried to convince me that I should charge less for 2x12's than 1x12 because it takes less sawing. ;) I don't know who milled his logs for him because it wasn't me. ;D
Just tell him you were charging the 2x rate for the 1x, but you could up the price of the 1x if he'd like. :D
I charge hourly. I have never had a customer tell me I was too slow. Even though I am no doubt a good bit slower than some of you fellows with fancier mills.
Quote from: Dave Shepard on July 26, 2012, 06:35:34 PM
Quote from: DR_Buck on June 17, 2012, 06:26:53 AM
I'm having a difficult time understanding how you guys that charge 25¢ or less can stay in business. smiley_headscratch I've been at 35¢ bf for over 5 years now and have only had a few dispute my charges. I didn't saw there logs. ;D My price is the same whether portable or stationary. The only difference is when I'm portable my minimum charge is $350 ( up to 1000 bf) and the customer supplies helpers for moving logs and stacking lumber. I never sticker and encourage them to sticker after I leave as it slows me down waiting on them to retrieve the next board.
Points to note: I don't mill full time. I have a day job. Milling is extra cash. I've turned away 7 out of ten jobs I've been called on in the last 2 weeks and am still very busy. My prices are not negotiable. Just ask the guy the tried to convince me that I should charge less for 2x12's than 1x12 because it takes less sawing. ;) I don't know who milled his logs for him because it wasn't me. ;D
Just tell him you were charging the 2x rate for the 1x, but you could up the price of the 1x if he'd like. :D
:D Im with you but I might be a bit Higher though 8) but heck this is Texas everything is bigger even price's LOL
i think the main obstacle in your way is that it may be difficult or impossible to build with ungraded lumber. (if you are planning to do it above board ;) ) i think alot of folks can get by out in the sticks but it may be a different ballgame in the city. you could always call building inspection in san diego...
There are sometimes ways to get your lumber inspected and approved, too. Here, anyway. But it's an additional step, usually involves taking it somewhere to have it inspected.