How would you price this job?

kelLOGg · August 31, 2011, 09:27:36 PM

I have the opportunity to re-saw beams from a long defunct tobacco warehouse. A new acquaintance has some that appear to be about 6" x 8" x 12' - 18' for which he has a buyer IF they were smaller. There are also many more beams that are "huge" which also must be re-sawn. I told him the only way I could do the job is if I set up on the premises and they use their fork lift to load and unload and he said that is OK with him. Now I need to come up with a price. Normally I charge $0.25/bd ft with the customer doing the bulk of the off-loading. On this job there will be a minimum of turning, loading and cutting (theoretically) so my effort should be minimized. How would you you price the job? by bdft?, per cut?,...
Bob

cypresskayaksllc · August 31, 2011, 09:36:53 PM

by hour

paul case · August 31, 2011, 09:50:52 PM

on my manual mill i get $40/ hour for stuff like that. that is from the time i start sawing untill the last lumber or beams come off the mill. pc

Collima · August 31, 2011, 10:21:11 PM

Charge hourly. I have a hydraulic woodmizer lt50 and portable edger. I charge $60 per hour and customer pays for blades

red oaks lumber · August 31, 2011, 10:22:15 PM

whos doing the denailing? if your customer is doing the denailing, you need to set a "nail charge" every metal hit is x amount.
if the beams are being loaded and unloaded via your customer, then the footage should add up, when we resaw reclaimed beams we charge .80 b.f. no help . you can either charge say .50 b.f or 125/hr if your customer can figure he'll go with the hourly rate which brings down the b.f rate. any way you go don't give your service away!!

thecfarm · September 01, 2011, 07:10:45 AM

Any way to know what kind of wood you are sawing? Some wood saws hard dry like that. Nails and metal will be a problem too.

WDH · September 01, 2011, 07:45:31 AM

There are a lot of things that can go wrong with a job like that. Because of increased risk, you should price in some of that risk. I was talking with a neighbor that installs metal buildings. He is raising a large metal cattle barn. He priced the job figuring it would take 1 day for him and his partner to dig the footings for the concrete piers. However, they kept hitting rock that required him to use a jack hammer attachment to bust it up to get the 5 foot depth that the engineers required. Four days later, they just got through all the rock

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woodmills1 · September 01, 2011, 08:09:54 AM

I have the woodmizer blade sharpener so for beam or other nail infest jobs I use this pricing scale

customer buys at least 4 blades at $35 each up front
Job is sawn at $70/ hour and time includes, blade changing as the bands get zinged.
Once the 4 are used up, any that can still cut are sharpened and that time is also at the $70/hr. By the end of the job I am down to one blade that gets sharpened and resharpened.

I hit on this method after barely breaking even on my first beam Job

buildthisfixthat · September 01, 2011, 11:03:37 AM

price that job on a daily amount ...so say 300 a day ..makes it easy and fair as for blades included in the per day price ..thats my opinion sir

woodmills1 · September 01, 2011, 07:59:25 PM

a job like that could eat 600 dollars worth of blades in an 8 hr day

kelLOGg · September 01, 2011, 08:40:01 PM

We've talked about blades because I know of the nail risk. I told him every blade rendered un-sharpenable due to a nail is his $20 expense.

I prefer not to work on time because I tend to work fast naturally and don't want an incentive (read obligation) to work even faster. I am retired and don't need to make a living sawing - I saw mostly for myself and occasionally for others and just want to provide a good service and make some extra $.
Bob

woodmills1 · September 03, 2011, 10:31:10 PM

then just add in blade costs and change time, cause it will startle you on metal infested jobs....at some point production will fall to zero

toploader Ford · September 04, 2011, 12:18:31 PM

I wouldn't touch those old timbers unless I personally went over them with a metal detector. Sometimes it takes longer to denail than it does the sawing. Regardless, the price is the same.

zopi · September 04, 2011, 06:07:54 PM

I do not like old timbers on a sawmill...I would sure ramp up the dinero on it...if I did it at all...

Best way imo...by the cord.

kelLOGg · September 04, 2011, 06:58:53 PM

I'm re-thinking this due to the comments. Even though the beam owner will pay for damaged blades it can take a good amount of time to remove a broken blade whose teeth are embedded in a cut at the time of a break. An hourly rate is sounding better all the time.

Oh, thecfarm asked what find of wood. Those I have seen are pine; I assume they all are since SYP is so common here.

Bob

woodmills1 · September 04, 2011, 10:50:50 PM

you can find a way to do these jobs and make both the customer and you happy

If you don't have a sharpener he needs to both pay for blades and your non sawing time

nail infested stuff is not board foot cut material

then again no one else will do it, so work a way to get the job and protect yourself

kelLOGg · November 05, 2011, 05:46:53 AM

I did this job one day this week and all-in-all things went well. It took a while to learn to work together - they, running the fork lift, scanning for nails and off loading. They removed many nails but my bands found 4 small ones they missed. I skimmed off about 1/4 inch on 4 sides to expose "new" wood or squared the beams if they were twisted. Went through 5 bands all of which can be re-set and sharpened - not too bad. The job will continue on an as-needed basis so I will be making more trips into town. Next job I hope to take pics - just too busy to mess with a camera when sawing. They were very nice folks to work with, too. Made for a great day. Oh, I ended up charging $40/hr.
Bob