The Forestry Forum

I know I've asked before but it's come up again. A local contractor wants a price to saw a cut list so he can build /sell small sheds. To start he provides the logs. Whats the going rate per bd. ft. in the area when the customer provides the logs? How about when I provide the logs?

It's hard to tell someone else what to charge because it depends on how efficient you are set up. If someone in from your area tells you they make money at 0.40¢ + ruined blades (arbitrary number) and you think cool, I can make money at 0.40¢ + ruined blades, maybe you go broke because you are 40% less efficient than he.

Still, ya got to have a starting point. I would try to get him to pay by the day. Tell him to try you out that way. $400 a day down here is good money for custom sawing others' logs as long as they bring them. But our cost of living is low compared to where you are. Up there, I doubt $400 a day will do it.

Efficiency is key. For example, Cedarman is filling a small cedar order for me because he can process small (or large) cedar orders efficiently. I am not in the "cedar mode" any longer so it makes no sense to me to stop the engines of what I am efficient at, to do something inefficiently.

Don't start hauling your mill all over the country sawing until you get slowly efficient at it, and educated (like you are doing).

Thanks for your reply. I'd like to help the guy out and make a few bucks but honestly I can't compete with the local lumber yards.I think the only market for me is custom beams or wide /thick pine boards that the locals don't deal with.

  That may be, but it would hone your skills and fill the slow start-up period to do this work at a fair price. If it's at your house, even better. Tell him right off where it fits in priority-wise so if something comes along you don't have a problem doing it. You could cut the lumber for quite a few of those pretty fast anyway I bet.