what is everyone charging to cut saw logs.
im in tn, and have been charging .20 cents a foot, need to go up
to .25 i think. all on little bandmill.
Sounds low but depends on the market in your area. I'm at .40 per b/f for 4/4, slightly less for thicker stock, all prices on my site.
Tom
We have had many a thread at this forum on sawing prices. If you have a manual mill with a modest production rate (like the one I owned), I did not try to compete against the bigger mills with the hp and hydraulics. Establish an hourly rate that works for you and let the market come to you. From personal experience,your customers will sort themselves. I ended up sawing very little pine or dimensional lumber and seemed to attract customers that wanted to salvage valuable hardwood trees off their property for personal use and hobby projects. If you want to keep busy between customers,although I never did this because of other committments, I would inventory and concentrate on valuable hardwoods and develop a customer list of hobbyist and small contractors that are looking for value when purchasing their hardwoods. I charged by the hour and the bdft cost to my remote customers sorted out to around .50 to .95/bdft. Good luck.
.. Are you talking about sawing at your place or on the road...? I live in Ms...that could be just down the road from you or it could be most near 400 miles , but for good logs brought to my mill I get .25 for now. If I were sawing mobil it would be more..Tim
In our Mississippi Farm Market Bulletin, I see advertised saw prices from $160 to $250 per Mbf. I charge hourly rate for special projects, beams, and for sawing Cedar.
At 20 cents/BF on my LT15, I may as well work at McDonalds. At least I would make more $ at McDonalds.
It all depends on what your time is worth to you. I don't custom saw much at all for this reason. So, I don't care what the competition is sawing for. If I can't get what I consider fair for my time and equipment investment (including log handling equipment), then I do something else. I mainly saw high quality hardwoods, air dry the lumber, and sell the boards to woodworkers. That is a different niche than production custom sawing. What is your "niche"?
Around this area, mobile sawyers get anywhere from $150.00-$175.00/MBF
Business is way down this year, and for some reason, people here (3 to be exact) are buying bandmills!
With business the way it is, makes me glad my mill is paid for!