first job

Wade · March 24, 2003, 03:52:17 PM

Hello Everyone,
I just did my first paying job over the weekend. 8)I cut 1,700 bd ft of ash & oak. Everything went well. I think I cut some pretty decent lumber,they were some nice straight logs!
I gave him a price of .25c per bd ft. Not what I want to charge but since this was my first job I gave him a break. I asked him if he had help and equiptment and he said he did ;D. Well when I got there he did have a tractor to move logs and some help.... for a short while :( :(. I started cutting with the help until he grabbed him to go get some more logs. Now I'm working alone >:( >:(. They came back with 1 log 45 min later and went off to get another one :'( :'(. They came back in another 45 min and the help had to leave ???. So now it's me and a not as spry as he used to be elderly gentleman. Well, I could'nt let him carry everything by himself, so I probably did 75% of the off-loading by my-self :-/ :-/. Did I mention that he wanted half cut at 7/8 and half at 1-1/8 and most of it 1/4 sawn? Well 11 hours, a mad wife, sad kids and a hungry dog later, I was $400 richer ??? ( it should have been $430 but he asked me if I would take $400 cash, sure why not? ). Now to be fair he was a really nice man and I don't think he was trying to screw me. This was his first time having logs cut. Next time I will make sure I make it clear on what is expected from the customer and what the cost will be before starting :D :D. I think I am going to charge by the hour from now on. Seems to be the easiest way.
On the upside, it was a beautiful day and the Boyscout's were there making maple syrup from all the maple trees on the property. They said there were 75 trees that they had tapped. They had a neat homemade set-up to boil the sap. I bought a couple of pints from them. Good stuff :D :D. Sorry to ramble. Hope everyones staying busy. God bless the troops.

Kevin_H. · March 24, 2003, 04:14:39 PM

Hey congrats wade,
I think most everyone here has a simular story, as far as not having all the help that was needed.
Just out of curiousity, what do you plan on charging an hour.

Tom · March 24, 2003, 06:04:03 PM

1700 feet isn't shabby at all. If you did most of it yourself then you should be tired. That's a full day.

I charge by the BF at 20 cents and it is a stretch around here. If you can get more than 25, go for it.

Yep, I've still got stories like that to tell. I don't care how much you saw, it happens. :D

Wade · March 24, 2003, 07:09:56 PM

Hey Kevin,
   There is another guy around here that I had cut some logs for me. He charged $75 hour and $12 a blade.
   I brought the logs to him. He is portable, but preffered to have them brought to him. I figured out with all the lumber I had cut ( with me humpin' my butt off ), it worked out to about .30c bd ft. I think I'm going to match his hourly but not charge for blades unless I hit metal.I think I am going to have a $250 minimum to scare off the one log people. I'll see how this works and adjust accodingly. There is a circle mill not too far from me that charges .40c bd ft plus $50 and down time for tramp metal.And you also have to bring the logs to them. I don't think they do to much custom sawing ;D ;D.
  Tom,
I did the work over 2 days. Six hours Sat., five hours Sun. I still was one tired dog today :'( :D.
  One other thing I forgot to put on the upside was I handed out 5 cards on the site and someone pulled me over on the way home and had acouple trees he wanted milled!

ADfields · March 25, 2003, 12:15:05 AM

Sounds like you are at the start of a good thing!! 8) 8) You should do great at that price! You have a good market there and matching the other guy's price is the way to go, I would not start a price war and mess up that market. Folks flagging you down even, next year you could be the poster child for the sale of sawmills! Have fun!!

Andy

Bibbyman · March 25, 2003, 04:57:49 AM

Quote( it should have been $430 but he asked me if I would take $400 cash, sure why not? ).

The reason why not is because your best (and worst) advertisement is word of mouth. Your customer will tell 10 outers and then he'll add "and if you offer him less, he'll take it." And then they will each tell 10 others.

We have rounded down, thrown in, or gave away some assistance we didn't have to. But it was our choice.

You've got a substantial investment in your mill and your own education on how to produce lumber with it. After that much sawing, you dulled 3-5 blades that will cost for re-sharp or your own time to re-sharpen. That many dull blades adds up to the life of one blade. Then your fuel and add to that time setting up the job and getting back home. And the more valuable thing you invested is your time. Time away from your family and other things you could be doing or taking care of.

ohsoloco · March 25, 2003, 10:29:17 AM

When I went to my second on-site job last year, I couldn't wait for my help to go out into the woods :D It was for a friend of mine, and after every couple of cuts (when I had to turn the log) he wanted to shoot the bull for a while. Since I was charging by the board foot, I wanted to keep moving, and he wanted to talk an take lots of breaks.

It got to the point that he wasn't sure if there would be enough lumber to finish his bridge, so he went back into the woods to cut some more trees. No sharp chains on either of his chainsaws. Take mine...you sure?...yeah, take it. Well, I got some good milling done then, even though I had to offbear the 2x 12ft. white oak myself.

About an hour later he comes back and informs me that my chainsaw is stuck in a tree >:( So I had to stop milling, go into the woods and help him drop this tree (after I removed the engine from the bar and chain), buck it, and skid it down to the mill.

It's a good thing this work is enjoyable, cuz it sure isn't easy :D

bull · March 25, 2003, 03:57:05 PM

I charge .40 cents a bfd which is the lowest prices for my retail green pine..... if the customer doesn't want to pay that price I cant cut $ 1.25 per bfd green oak all day long. So if they want their logs cut, fine if not they can by some of my lumber.... If neither so be it onto the next guy....... my current inventory is 500 bfd of pine and 1200 bfd of oak and i saw 3 or 4 days a week 1200-1500 bfd cut stickered and strapped per day and can never keep an inventory..... many days we are sold out before we start sawing...... And the log supply never ends I still have 20,000 bfd of pine to cut ( custom ) from September 2002 This past winter was no help !!!!!!!!

bull · March 25, 2003, 03:58:22 PM

that should have said I CAN CUT $ 1.25 BFD oak all day long

Kevin_H. · March 26, 2003, 06:35:50 PM

Hey wade,
75 bucks and hour is unreal around here, but if you can get it go for it. I charge .20c a board foot and just recently started a $25.00 set up fee. I do also have a $10.00 charge for any messed up blades.

I used to turn down the little one log jobs, but have sinced changed my mind, Many times the little jobs can lead to something bigger. Alot of these guys know each other and word of mouth can take you far.

I also do not discount any for cash pmt.

Sounds like you are off to a great start, Remember to stay flexable, Business plans do change.

Minnesota_boy · March 27, 2003, 04:14:18 AM

I'm with Kevin_H, I never turn down small jobs, except those with less than one log. I usually get referred to the neighbors when they need cutting and some of those jobs are bigger. I've just accepted a 2 tree job from the DNR wildlife manager that I will probably do for free (wood duck house material, I want to support the program) that will lead to more sawing for him personally and to other DNR people as he talks around the office.. One small job I did for a neighbor has led to 2 large jobs from a full scale sawmill as his son is the production manager there, the first job was a fill in when their mill burned down, the second was for material longer than they could do. Both jobs turned out to be about 100 thousand BD-FT each.

JoeyLowe · March 27, 2003, 11:53:07 AM

Hi Wade:

Welcome to our world! These guys here are a plethora of information and the bits of wisdoms they share will definitely make your life easier and put more coin in your pockets.

I was (am) guilty of taking pity on customers and offering them "great deals", too. Unfortunately, if you run this as a business, when you put pen to paper, if you use more red ink than green ink, you lose.

A year ago, I would have done exactly what you did, and in fact, I did on more than one occasion. Today, I would have charged as follows: $.65/BF to saw hardwood (not offload); $10/hr. to provide one offloader, $25/broken blade, $300/day forklift usage, and the ever present $250/setup fee if I had to travel more than one hour in one direction. If the gentleman wanted to be charged by the hour, I would have billed him $128/hour and I provide the offbearer. Blades, forklift, etc. are extra.

Most recent job involved sawing 138 36" x 20' logs. Owner opted to go by the hour. Also wanted us to limb, buck and stack and stage logs and slabs. I charged him $255/hr. and provided one sawyer and two helpers. Now this isn't an everyday thing for me, put the point I'm trying to reiterate that Bibbyman so eloquently stately is that if you are going to make money at this business, don't be afraid to charge a fair price. ;D (Dang, I'm beginning to act like I know what I'm talking about). I better stop now. Good luck again Wade and hang in there.