OK.....Just trying to get your pricing.
Let just say I bring a Red Oak log to you. Small end 28 inches. Big end 30 inches. 8 feet 9 inches long.
There are 2 BIG knots on the side that have to be chain sawed off before I can load it on a Woodmizer LT 40HD, so the log can turn / roll properly.
I want 1 1/2 x 8 and 1 1/2 x 6 lumber sawed and what ever else you can get. ( 1 x 4's.....2 x 4's.....etc. )
I bring the log to your saw.
Tell me what you will charge me to saw it.
Thanks! David
If I were still in business and had my mill set up at the house, I would charge you my, then, going rate of 20¢ a board foot for all of the 6/4 lumber I removed from the log and the boards that I removed to get to your 6/4. So, you would also be responsible for some 1x material that you didn't order. I would also expect the slab material to be removed when you took the lumber.
If the mill wasn't set up, you would have to wait until it was or pay a setup fee, likened to a "move" fee on a site, to set up the mill.
$75.00/hour from the time the first engine starts until the last engine shuts off. This includes myt tractors, forklifts, sawmill,edger, etc.
I only saw at home occasionally. When I do I charge a $20 setup fee plus my usual $60 / hour labor fee. Time taken to trim branches would be on the clock. My estimate for breaking down that log is somewhere between 1 and 2 hours. (I never try to be very precise with my estimates.) I'll dump the waste somewhere in my woods for no extra charge.
--Peter
Thanks for the info.....my saw is stationary under my shed. I sawed the knots off, sawed the lumber, disposed of the slabs and the temperature was 105 degrees.
I charged the guy $100.00. And he "3itched" about the price!
I thought I gave him a deal after having to clean his log up for him and put him before others because he had 1 log.
Ya just can't please everyone I guess. But with 105 degree sweat all over me, I had to bite my tongue to keep from wrapping a dull blade around his neck and turning up the PSI to 3000.
Thanks guys for your replies. David
He wouldn't have gotten out of here for less than $150. And that's Canadian $ ;)
Nick
It would help to know how much B.F. you pulled off the log. Did you discuss the price with the customer before you started? Some people have no idea of the costs of things and they feel blindsided.
BF should have been around 300 . He shouldn't have complained , 100.00 was a good deal for that customer. Besides fuel your time and a blade cuts into alot of the profit. I charge .35 Bf for flat sawing and up to .55 BF for quarter sawing , Those measurements made the Oak a good canidate for quarter sawing guessing the knots weren't to big. Sometimes the small jobs can be time consuming but word of mouth is your best advertisements try to keep them happy but don't give them the farm.
David,
I don't charge for unloading their logs here or a setup fee but there is a $25 minimum sawing fee. Log prep - probably a 1/2 hour at $30 p/h. Forum calculator shows that log should yield 310 board feet. 310 bf of 6/4 (@.36 bf) is 111.60. Any that was sawn thinner would be slightly higher.
Milling - $111.60
Prep - 15.00
Tax 9.53 (Kansas says mowing or tree trimming is tax exempt, milling is not???)
Total $136.13
He got a good deal !!!
Most of my customers say I don't charge enough and tip accordingly.
Tom
I've held my price per BF at $0.35 for the last 4 years, and $60.00 per hour for unusual or difficult stuff. Price increases have caught up to me, however, and having just reassessed my costs, the new price schedule goes into effect tomorrow -- July 1.
To saw logs delivered to my site, $75.00 per hour. Money to be paid on completion of the work, or at the end of each week for longer jobs. All material except sawdust to be removed from my site immediately on completion.
This is based on my experience over 6 years, on large jobs and very small jobs. I have had a few dream jobs where I decided to under-charge the customer, and I have had quite a few jobs where the customer stands and makes decisions while I'm waiting on him.
When I quote my hourly charge, I give the customer some tips on how to make the job go faster.
Tom, I honestly never thought to call and ask the state. Might be a good idea if you did. We always charged sales tax except for special situations. Farmers (have them fill out a farm exemption), churches and such milling logs off their property for their own use, once when a boy scout camp brought in a bunch of logs. Always had them fill out an exemption form. Be curious what you find out.
And 100 dollars is cheap. We would have been around 135-150, depending on yield.
On Memorial Day weekend a circle mill owner called me to help him out because his mill was broke down. My brother and myself took the mill to his yard, sawed 20, 2x8x12' 6, 2 1/2x16' pine plus the side lumber and a 36" diameter cherry 8' long, into 2x as wide as possible with one live face. It was probably 1200-1500 bd.ft. We were there about 4 hrs. When we got ready to leave, he handed me some money, I stuffed in my pocket. When we got home I pulled it out, it was $50.00!!! All I could do was laugh. ??? ;D
Part of being in the sawmill business is being a salesman. You first prep the cusomer for the charges. Let them know what they are getting and what it will cost. Let them know they jumped line. Let them know that small orders are more costly for you to do. People hate surprises. A good salesman makes their customer feel good about their purchase decisions.
Always count the money. I sometimes say I want to make sure they didn't have an extra 20 in the stack. Anything to keep a smile on their face.
Gday
Down here it would have set him back about $300 bucks on the average portable sawmillers rate ;) so I think he got a bargan at $100 bucks ;) the down side of any business is that your gonna get your fair share of whingers who expect everything for nothing in this world :( and try to make you feel bad about charging a fair days py for a fair days work Mate ;) :) :) ??? ??? ::) ::)
Regards Chris
Assuming normal yield that would have been around $110 for me. I try to educate customers on how to clean up a log, but that's a hard row to hoe sometimes. I just go ahead and do it...what's it take, maybe a minute?
I heard a new one yesterday. A guy was asking my price to saw a bunch of ERC. He commented a mill close to him charged $50/log. Apparently size doesn't make any difference to this mill. I told the guy asking my prices he better not be taking the other mill the big logs and sending me the little ones. ??? :o ::) :-[
So far since I got my mill i've only sawed lumber for myself but today a guy called and asked if I would saw some oak boards for his trailer. I tod him sure and that I got $.35 per bd/f. Then he asked what I charged if I cut it from my logs. What do most people sell their own wood for such as syp and oak?