I have lernt a few things about chargeing for sawing !

[scully]

  I have decided that charging bye the board foot does not always serve well.... I have found that one must be keenly aware of each and every saw job ,and have a rate spec.ed for many situations . I am refering mainly to us portable guys . Did a cherry job ,small logs not many straight . figured 400$ a thou. BF knowing it may bring barely that , sawed 750 + lots of work and paying my tailer . Should have set a fixed fee . I did a 6000 BF hemlock job ,knocked a nickle off my rate and made out darn good .... I think for the smaller jobs there needs to be a premium just because they are the ones that usualy have all the extra time and messin around ! Anyone else feel this way ?

[Small Slick]

Yup!  I don't saw for money but my company does other work some jobs big and some small. You have to charge more to do small jobs than the large. They cost more to manage.

John

[Tom the Sawyer]

Scully,

I primarily charge by the board foot but I agree that, for some jobs, p/bf is a losing proposition.  For those I charge by the hour.  Things like logs shorter than 6' (don't fit my loading arms, more difficult to turn and clamp), logs less than 10" in diameter (lots of time measuring and clamping for few board feet produced), resawing planks or timbers, specialty milling such as cookies, mantles, splitting posts, etc.  Current hourly rate is $60 which is a 'fail-safe' rate.  If my normal milling were by the hour it would be significantly higher ($80-90?). 

[Chuck White]

I get paid for 1k bf, even if the customer has less than 1k.

Of course the customer knows this before I show up!

[warren46]

I had a customer call Monday to see if I could saw some cedar logs for him.  Knowing that cedar logs here in my part of North Carolina are likely to be small and knarly I quoted a per hour price instead of bd. ft.  I certainly was glad I did because the "logs" were not straight and the largest diameter was about 10".  To top it off the two of the logs were full of ants.

If I had quoted bd. ft. price I would have lost my shirt.  In the end the customer recognized that it was defects in the logs that resulted in limited yield.  Perhaps I should have told him in the beginning that the logs would not yield much usable lumber.

[Magicman]

I always base my charging rate according to the job.  I originally thought bf on the Sinker Cypress job that I am now sawing.  Log cavities, ring shake, large log handling, etc would have been a killer, so it is hourly rate.

[Finn1903]

I will second the comment on charging is different for each job.  Most all of my jobs are better off charging by the hour and I add log prep, plus log handling, and trip charge.  If the job is large enough, logs are good size and stacked ready to roll on the mill then I will charge per bf.  I have yet to have a job that I would be comfortable doing by the bf.
I have had a few jobs that I have spent nearly an hour rolling logs around and time spent with the chainsaw.  Had I not charged for it, that time would have been free.
When charging by the hour, it is important to remember that the hour is usally charged when the mill is running.  Either you start your mill and let it idle when you roll around logs or use the chainsaw, or you should charge additional. 
I enjoy milling, but I also enjoy getting paid to do it.

[drobertson]

Still learning about what to charge, every thing is different, for the most part by the bd/ft here, the short runs under an hour is give and take, don't keep change, so sometimes I get the good, other times if give it. Most of these short ones are very enjoyable, and at the end of the day, so whatever comes, comes,

[balsabones]

What do you guys do or tell the customer, if charging by bf, if you ruin 2 or 3 blades by hitting nails, barbwire, etc?

[Ianab]

It's normal to have a standard charge for blades damaged by foreign material. Have that laid out up front on the quote / contract / charge sheet.  Basically what a new band costs.

Now if the band isn't ruined and only needs a resharp, or it was old and almost worn out anyway, you can always cut the customer a discount. You can't add on extra charges that  you haven't told them about at the beginning.
\
Ian

[Bogue Chitto]

If I hit metal I charge $25.00per hit.  If I keep on hitting metal I will call the log owner and ask if he wants me to continue.  The thing is with me is that my saw is stationary.

[scully]

I started off telling customers from day one if I hit anything it will be a new blade charge and they can keep the damaged blade . This last cherry job was allot of extra work and I had to pay help . If I would have gone bye the hour I would have ended up just right as it stands I felt like I made half of what I needed to or should have . Oh and I am now charging re-sharp fee for every band I change as well per job !

[Magicman]

don't keep change, 

I have my till that contains the various denominations to make change for a $100 bill.  I do not deal with coins, and always knock off the cents and round down to the even $1.00.

[DR Buck]

I mostly charge bf rate with a minimum charge of $350 if I go portable.   No minimum if I saw at my place.  Small logs and special cuts like cookies and short crotch logs are at the hourly rate.     When I charge hourly, it was $65.   Getting ready to up it to $70.   If I have to change a blade because I hit something in a log, it's $35.   Cost of new blade plus lost sawing time.     Dull blades are my cost.   I keep all blades, even if I hit something.    Sometimes they resharp OK and are not cracked in the gullets.

[Brian C.]

We have a manual mill, so it is an hour rate that works for us. If sawing at the shed then there is an one hour minimum. When going portable, we have a $125 travel charge then an hourly rate of $65 once on site. It works for us, no complaints and we are getting repeat business. We also charge $25 for blades that hit things not supposed to be in trees, but not for normal wear and tear, that is our cost.

[woodNthings]

Sounds to me like I need to raise my hourly rate soon. I almost always charge by the hr, $50. Majority of my work is mobile and I use most of the same fees; $25/blade when hitting foriegn objects and $1/mile over 25 miles. This is not my fulltime job, only a side business but I have few competitors and high demand.  ;D
My rate reflects my experience and low HP sawmill.

Oh and I am now charging re-sharp fee for every band I change as well per job !

I have often wondered if this was acceptabe practice... ???

[Delawhere Jack]

Just raised my hourly rate Jan 1st from $60 to $70. In 50 + jobs I've only had one customer ask to get a lower rate, told him I couldn't do it. Most people never bat an eye over my rate.

Being a one man operation, it's up to the customer and the quality and quantity of logs that will determine what the BF rate equivalent ends up being. One or two logs, no support equipment, it can approach $1/BF, but that's usually some home owner with a walnut or cherry. On the other extreme, milled 1,600 BF of oak for trailer decking. The client had a skid steer with forks, lots of help on hand and really good logs. That one worked out to about 25 cents / BF for the milling. It was actually less than that. We finished up and he asked me what he owed. I told him $300 (5hrs @$60), he looks at his son and says make it $400.  Sad part, I think they were using me as a paid demo for WM as they mentioned they were thinking of buying one themselves.

[DR Buck]

Just raised my hourly rate Jan 1st from $60 to $70. In 50 + jobs I've only had one customer ask to get a lower rate, told him I couldn't do it. Most people never bat an eye over my rate.

Being a one man operation, it's up to the customer and the quality and quantity of logs that will determine what the BF rate equivalent ends up being. One or two logs, no support equipment, it can approach $1/BF, but that's usually some home owner with a walnut or cherry. On the other extreme, milled 1,600 BF of oak for trailer decking. The client had a skid steer with forks, lots of help on hand and really good logs. That one worked out to about 25 cents / BF for the milling. It was actually less than that. We finished up and he asked me what he owed. I told him $300 (5hrs @$60), he looks at his son and says make it $400.  Sad part, I think they were using me as a paid demo for WM as they mentioned they were thinking of buying one themselves.

You should have had them sign a Woodmizer demo card.  You can get store credit from Woodmizer and referral bonus.

[Ronnie]

Seems there are a lot of guys charging by the hour. When charging by the BF you can give the customer an idea of what it's going to cost by measuring the logs. How do you handle this when charging by the hour? If a customer calls and says "I have 4 logs I would like to have cut up what do you think it will cost me?" how do you quote that with an hourly rate?

[Ianab]

You will soon get an idea of how long a certain size log should take to saw, and so you can give the client an estimate. That should be within ~ 20% of the actual total. Explain that it's an estimate. If the client wants an firm quote, then go on the high side so don't loose out. It would be unusual to give an exact quote, as there are variables you can't control.

You can also give an idea of how many bd/ft  an hour you can cut in good conditions and point out to the client that the better they set up the job, the cheaper it's going to be. This puts the onus on them to get the logs staged, space for the mill setup, extra helpers etc.

Ian