I have been milling for a couple years for myself, I have a LT10 Wood mizer, I have ford 3000 tractor.
How much do you charge per board foot? ???
How much do you per hour? ???
How much do you charge to harvest the logs? ??? ???
Thanks,
much for any input
Mark :P
I'm very much a newbie so here goes. First of all, you're asking a question that is liable to raise many or no respones. I also have an LT-10 and have raised this question.
It's taking me a little while to get to a point where I think I'm efficient enough to charge a price while giving the customer a valuable service. I finally came to this: No matter what I'm doing, whether it be running a chainsaw, sawing logs, moving logs, etc............I charge $40 per hour.
So far, I feel like I'm making a decent wage and the customers have all been well satisfied. With the LT-10 I'm not able to turn out near the production of a bigger mill but the boards don't know the difference in what mill cut them. Due to my lower horsepower and log size restrictions I don't cut by the board foot price. If I did, some hours I'd be making $10 and some I'd be making $40. At other times, due to dirty and harder logs, I'd owe the log owner money when I was finished. Cutting by the hour works best for me.
I charge by the hour. $75 per hour for sawing or transporting. I also charge $20 per blade if I hit anything in the log. Additionaly, there is a 5 hour minimum for mobile sawing and 1 hour if they bring it to me.
We only charge by the board foot. Most logs are brought to us. If we remote mill, there is a travel and set up fees. Blade loss is the log owners responsibility at $25.00 per blade.
Logs 16' and under up to 24" average are 45 cents/bf for boards, and 30 cents/bf for beam work.
Since we are timber wrights, we often give them a big break on price if we cut the frame.
Logs over 20' and wider than 24" are taken on at a "case by case," basis. They run anywhere from 50 cents/bf as high as $2/bf for logs over 24' long at 30" or greater.
Hand Hewing is $5 to $10/LF of side hewn, (power hewing is $2-5/LF.)
Logging is either by the stump or $75/hour man and machines, any climbing the price goes up, as does our insurance.
Always provide references and get a signed contract with details of each job.
Regards, jay
This is a tricky one. custom sawing has a base of .15-.30/bdft. Logging and dragging is a different aminal. I have done it, don't really like it, but it is a service. Your time has to be covered as does the equipment. the size of the job, the people you are dealing with, weather and many factors have to be considered. Mainly time and machines should be the factor regardless of who it's for, unless it's for family of course. My suggestion is make a set charge for sawing lumber, and a set charge for the logging. You have to determine what this will cost.
This is a useful thread for me, as I go into business for myself. I'm decided that mobile work will remain hourly in general, maybe some logs delivered to my site will be by bd-ft.
I have a lot of number crunching to do in order to determine my rates. I own my hydraulic mill outright but the expenses of wear and tear, equipment depreciation, insurance and tax fees, etc. etc. all have to be taken into account.
Since I've never run a business of my own, it's the legalities that need addressed for me; LLC vs. other, insurance, contracts, things of that nature I have never dealt with. I hope some of you can refer some existing threads or school me a little in the 'biz' of saw milling.
I just got another call by word of mouth, this one for 21+ Cedars, and I haven't even made up a name! LIFE IS GooooD!
Hourly is just the only way I can make it pay considering all the different variables that come my way as far as logs.
I've mentioned in other threads that I don't live in logging country. There's no commercial logging or milling going on anywhere close to me that I'm aware of. Sure, occasionally a mobile logger will come in and buy some timber to fill a pallet or tie contract, but as a general rule logging is few and far between.
When folks call me they're not needing me to cut a whole truck load of logs to build a barn or house. They're needing me to slab up that big tree that they used to play in that in the backyard of grandma's house. They're needing a few cedars sliced up for lining horse stalls and such or occasionally they're a crafter and needing some hardwood 1x's to let dry for next year's projects.
I'm not fortunate enough to get to cut logs of straight, lengthy stature that can be handled one after one and be efficienct. Most of the time every log that someone brings me needs quite a bit of chainsaw work before it will even fit on the mill or roll on my staging cradle. So, that being said, if I charged solely by the bd. ft. on those logs I'd go hungry.
I let the person know of the hourly fee and the cost of a blade if I hit metal. Other than that, when they show up with a log, I charge hourly from the time I unload until the time I reload boards. I've actually had quite a bit of luck getting them to leave their trailer there backed up to my stationary mill so my son can sticker and stack it directly on their trailer. Sure works out good for everyone. Most will even ask if they can have the outside slabs. (not sure what the proper terminology on them is)
I have run a LT15 for 12 years, mostly alone. I have sawn a lot of BF. I have also worked with Jake, i.e. Customsawyer on his LT70, and he is the mark of efficiency with all the best equipment. There is quite a contrast between a manual mill and a big hydraulic mill. From my experience, you cannot custom saw with a manual mill and saw at the rates that the efficient hydraulic boys charge. You will work yourself to death for little gain. Charging by the hour is the fair way to go. The customer may have better options, and they might be able to get their logs sawn by an experienced sawyer with a hydraulic mill. Fine. Great. That is what I always advise them to do, and I refer them to those sawyers. But, for the guy that does not have the volume of logs to merit a portable sawyer, or that only has a few small logs, then I can saw them by the hour and we both get a fair shake. The key is to figure what your time and equipment are worth. With a manual mill, it is mostly about the time. You have to figure out what you are willing to work for. That will decide the price. In my opinion, many sawyers work too cheap. It is a skilled service with specialized equipment. Don't sell yourself short.