To buy or not to buy, down the rabbit hole we go..

[KSwoodworker]

Hey all, forestryforum newbie here. I am very interested in saw milling and wanted to lean on your alls' experience and hope that you can provide me some direction. 

I've owned and operated my own wood working business for the past two years with some success. My first days I began with over a 1000 BF I had milled from my cousin's farm land. I used a local sawmill to slab the lumber and dry it. As a business owner, and an individual, I've always wanted to get into saw milling. I love the idea of it and think that it could be a fun and successful venture.

I wanted to know from the forestryforum community if investing in a portable sawmill would be worth my while? I imagine I would use the mill on my cousin's farm land (1000s of acres), as well as, around the city where I live. I would use the lumber to build furniture and sell the slab lumber to other woodworkers. I can't say how often I would use the machine (couple times a month starting out?) but I already have immediate interests for the saw mill service in my neighborhood, alone. 

I am considering purchasing a 30" portable sawmill with trailer. I've been quoted roughly around $7200.00 USD. I want to pursue this; but, how soon will/can I expect a return if any?

Thanks in advance for your comments and advice.

[derhntr]

All depends on your market and demand for the products you wish to sell.

[opticsguy]

I am retired and a part time wood worker as a hobbyist.
I have basically all the tools any woodworker would need for hobby or business and the very best and most important tool I have is my Timber King 1220.  A sawmill can provide much more than only cutting lumber.  One of the key elements is inspiration.

Inspiration to explore what can be found inside a log or tree.  I get excited about dead and dying trees with both light and heavy spalting. I get excited about the various forms of shapes and twists in the wood and the possibilities for design options.

Along with lumber and slabs, I use the sawmill as a horizontal bandsaw for re-leveling slabs and cookies and more.  I have made up jigs to hold various items for cutting other interesting and odd shapes.  Cuts I could not make with other tools.

One more item. Last summer I cut a lumber to build a 16' x 40' building to . . . . . you guessed . . . . for all my wood storage.

A saw mill is only limited by your imagination and safety considerations. Have fun!!!!

Run and buy it now. 
 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Welcome to FF. Not near enough info to answer your question though. How much furniture do you sell? How much more do you expect to sell? How is your health and what kind of support equipment do you have to work with? I assume you need kiln dried lumber for furniture building. How will you dry it? Where will you store the lumber? What makes you think there is a market for slabs to others in your area? How much would it cost you to have someone else bring a portable mill in and cut more lumber for you and how long would it last? There might even be sawyers in your area who would saw on shares keeping your cash outlet at a minimum. Are you sure your cousin is going to agree to a long term business of you cutting his trees? If it was me I'd want a piece of the action if it grew beyond a personal use amount - but that is just me. Is this going to be a full or part time job? How are your cash reserves? Do you have another steady income to keep you going while you get started? Do you have cash for your start up or are you going to have to borrow money for this venture? What do you know about running a sawmill and producing lumber? How much competition is there in your area and how successful are they? Why do you think you can outproduce them?

  How quick you see a return, if ever, is based on answers to these and many other related questions. I'd do a lot more investigation into expected costs and expected sales with contingencies thrown in before I went too far.

  Good luck. Sawing is supposed to be fun but if you plan on doing it for a living it can be pretty stressful.

[DanMc]

Tools create options and business opportunities.  If you can mill your own lumber, then you will have access to unique types of lumber.  

Pay cash for a used one in good condition that won't tie up your time just to get it up and running.   Then you can resell it for about what you paid for it if you get tired of it.  

[SawyerTed]

Without a lot more information our advice might be duplicate things you already are thinking about.  I just went through a similar scenario in starting my own portable saw mill business.  First you have to be realistic with what you are willing to do and what your advantages and limitations might be.  What are the costs involved and is there room between your costs and your rates to show some profit.

Determine if you have a market besides your own woodworking shop (your wood shop might have enough demand to make it feasible).  Check craigslist, check with friends and farmers in the area, check the bulletin boards at the feed store, check at the hardware store and the local building supply. Talk to some local building contractors to see if they have need for your materials. Search for portable saw mill services in your area.  You need to make sure you are entering a market where you can fill a niche or where portable sawmills are rare.

If you have the market, do you have the support equipment and secondary processing equipment to be competitive - edger, kiln, planer/molder etc?  Secondary processing adds value with every additional step (I'm certain you already know this).  You might find that the secondary processing of lumber sawed at somebody else's mill might be more profitable. 

The sawmill is less than half the picture.  There's support tools and equipment beside the mill that have to be figured into your decision.  Being portable means either having support equipment to take along with you ($$) OR relying on the customer to provide sufficient labor and equipment on site (this can be a disappointment from time to time). 

[thecfarm]

KSwoodworker,welcome to the forum.
I have a manual mill. I only cut for myself. You have a tractor or something to move the slabs? I have never cut slabs,but they are heavy Nothing a matter with a manual mill. But they are SLOW and a lot of WORK.
Start looking at Logrite,sponsor on the left,cantdogs and peaveys. You will need them if you buy a mill.

[mike_belben]

You miss 100% of the pitches you dont swing at.  If you can afford to spend the money on a vacation or a pleasure purchase and find yourself wanting to explore the avenue of sawing, do it.  You only live once.  If it doesnt pan out, close that chapter and move on to write the next.  

[KSwoodworker]

All,

Thanks for the replies and votes of confidence. 

As for what I am working with, I have a lot of support tools to help process the lumber. They are not the biggest/newest support tools; but, they have helped me with all of the slabs I have acquired to date. For drying, kiln drying vs. air drying is a debated topic now and for years to come. If I would have started sawing 2 years ago when I first started my business, I could have air dried some slabs by now. I would plan on kiln drying what I need now and air drying everything else. 

As for my personal health, I am 33 and in decent physical condition. I've spent a lifetime in construction and physical labor is an old friend of mine. 

As for the market and competition question. It is what it is. There is competition in my area; but, there is also a market for quality service. I'm a hard worker and passionate about wood working. It's not something I'm looking to get rich off of. I started my own company so that I could spend more time at home with my newborn son. I have a list of clients that keep me busy with commissioned jobs and I am getting to a point to where I am ready to start making my own projects and selling. I also am speaking with a high end furniture company that is interested in me to make furniture for them to sell in their stores. 

For the slabs I get from my cousins property, they would all be from cleared or fallen timber. If I was to start cutting down healthy trees, I would give him a share of the profit (or trade services with him)

Having a portable saw mill seems like it would be loads of fun. Hard work, yes! I guess my underlying question is: is owning and operating a saw mill really all the fun I perceive it to be or will it be a burden and, overall, a mistake?

Thanks again for your help, encouragement, and honesty.

[SawyerTed]

. 

As for the market and competition question. It is what it is. There is competition in my area; but, there is also a market for quality service.

I guess my underlying question is: is owning and operating a saw mill really all the fun I perceive it to be or will it be a burden and, overall, a mistake?

Thanks again for your help, encouragement, and honesty.

Failure to do the market research is one of the biggest reasons new businesses fail.  If there is lots of competition, are you sure you can offer something of sufficiently higher quality or service beyond the competition?  If you can answer "Yes" confidently then there's opportunity there.  
This is exactly where I am.  There are at least 3 sawmills within 8 miles of me.  Two are stationary one is mobile. I am producing a product of at least equal quality and I offer better service.  You can only answer this question by figuring out what the other guys do.
It sounds like wood working is your passion. Becoming a proficient sawyer takes time. Can you afford to divide your time again?  
Go spend some time sawing with another sawmill.  You may find your answers there.