new sawmill

[skoal1992]

i was looking for some answers on going about trying to start my own sawing buisness i have a good ideal what im needing but wanting some advise on what mill is better and how to finance the start.

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

Most all the mills are good and will cut lumber from logs.

Doubt any of us can assess your likes/dislikes and your situation to give you the advice to make your decision. Not without a lot more info from your end.

Cash on hand would be the best way to start. Not by taking a loan out expecting the mill to pay it off any time soon.

How much can you invest to start, w/o taking a loan?
Will you have to buy your logs?
What products from you business do you plan to sell?

Lots of threads here on the forum that should make very good reading. Or have you done that already and still seek the answers? 
Don't give up on getting some great help here with your decisions and interest in the sawmill business. 

[sandhills]

All I can say is welcome to the forum wish I could help more, there is a tremendous amount of information and all the members here are more than willing to help.  Funny thing I've figured out is the only thing folks around here like better than food and pictures is questions  (ok maybe questions pertaining to food with pictures  :D)

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum,    skoal1992.   

Most of the answers to your questions generate more questions and much will depend upon you and your goals and financial situation.  Any startup operation will have difficulty providing an income for you as well as repaying capital expenditures.  Markets must be developed, both buying and selling.

All of today's sawmill brands have good points and maybe even some weaknesses.  Since you will be buying, I would want to see the different brands and models as well as actually putting my hands on them.

[clww]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum!
I'm a Skoal guy myself.

[WDH]

If you are going to custom saw for $ for others as a main business objective, you will need a mill with hydraulics.  The manual mills are not suited for high production where your financial return is dependent on your productivity. 

[skoal1992]

thanks for all the advise i believe me and one of my close friends are going together on this since he already does his own logging and i was looking towards the timber king 2000 or 2200. i have costumers ready for my rough lumber at the flooring mill and hopefully sell the ties pretty easily. does anyone know anything about a government business loan?

[francismilker]

thanks for all the advise i believe me and one of my close friends are going together on this since he already does his own logging and i was looking towards the timber king 2000 or 2200. i have costumers ready for my rough lumber at the flooring mill and hopefully sell the ties pretty easily. does anyone know anything about a government business loan?

All I know about a government business loan is "JUST SAY NO!!!"  A friend of mine got wrapped up in one of those things a few years back and might as well have given them a leg or kidney for colateral plus mountains of paperwork to boot.  With the economy the way it is, if a person has reasonable credit the financing offered by mainstream lenders and equipment manufacturers will most likely beat the local bank with or without a govt. loan. IMHO.

[Okrafarmer]

Don't take out a loan. Oh, don't! If you just don't have the cash for a new mill, you may need to buy a used one, like we did. Ours was about 1/4 the price of the new one being sold today. You should be able to find one for 1/3, any way. If either you or your buddy is mechanically inclined, you should be able to fix it up and do fine with it.

Let me just say this, if you are planning to stay stationary with your mill, and not move it around a lot, that opens up your possibilities quite a bit. Some of the mills out there are great if you leave them in one place, but are a bear to set up repeatedly, like if you were out doing custom sawing at other people's properties.

[ladylake]

 If you end up doing a lot of sawing get a diesel with the high fuel cost , far as a loan I got one when I started but had a decent job also at first the could have covered the payments, no worse than a new truck or car. As it turned out the mill paid it's way good but I'd have another source of income when starting out  The TK 2000  2200 are excellent mills as are quite a few others.    Steve

[york]

Like new B20 on e-bay,new listing,in nc
and yes,they are a decent mill.....albert

[Kansas]

If by government business loan, you mean SBA, we went that route years ago. Reams of paperwork. But.. it allowed us to expand where we couldn't have. Most of the paperwork will get done by the bank. Make sure you get one that is highly experienced in SBA loans. The problem with any sawmill operation is that the mill is the cheap part. Its the support equipment that gets you. If you decide to be portable, you may well wish to also have a supply of logs on hand to saw orders out. The money is a lot better there. And if it rains, and you have a place you can saw when you are not portable, that certainly helps. I don't think there are many manufacturing operations, which is what a sawmill is, that doesn't have debt, unless the owner had the money laying around. Its just part of it.

I saw one time where a professor in the industry said you borrow the money for the hard assets, and keep your cash for operating expenses, inventory, parts, etc. I don't recall all his reasons, but it made a lot of sense. Unless its a small purchase, we finance all equipment. Certainly I would look at a good used mill before a new one with things being the way they are in the industry. Look carefully at any existing operations that the banks foreclosed on. Sometimes there is a lot of buried costs if you want something out of the weather, or stationary, that you can get for pennies on the dollar. Wiring is incredibly expensive these days. Three phase is wonderful if you can find it.