How do you really make a living?

[moosehunter]

red,
 I will be using the hemlock for lots of stuff, but not siding. The only wood we will be buying for the house is treated logs 'couse the Mrs wants a log home. If she wants a log home, then I want a log home too!! Life is easier when the  better half is happy.

[sawman]

maintenance electrician by day in industrial plant
doing the sawmill thing on weekends and other days off
slowly collecting support equipment


 

[Gilman]

Mechanical engineer by education, have a machine shop, fab shop, a wood shop and now a portable mill.

The engineer portion designs machines or portions of machinery on a contract basis.  It also structurally analyzes new products for potential structural failures and performs stress analysis on existing equipment that is experiencing premature failures.

The fab shop specializes in nickel alloy fabrications for gas processing equipment.

The machine shop machines stuff.

The wood shop builds store displays and specialty tables for the electronic test industry.

The sawmill portion is being financially supported by the other portions.  The goal is to make it profitable.  We'll see in six months...

[MemphisLogger]

Hey Gilman, our shops are kinda like mirror images of each other . . .

I makin' money with my sawmill and then spending it to build up fab and metal milling equipment to maintain/modify the sawmill and support equipment.

I may be gettin' a bunch o' metal workin' gear as a friend of mine who's student teaching metal at Carbondale will be moving back with his forge, hammers, rollers etc. and wants to rent 900 sqft o' space in my new building.  

[Gilman]

Just don't get your metal working equipment like I did.  A defunct partnership that took me four years to pay off.

I think the co-op shops can work out well.  Another machinist with a large CNC and I have looked into renting one large building and then splitting it up.  If we did, we decided to assign rental rates for each other's equipment, put a clip board on each machine and just note how much time was used and then settle at the end of the month.  We didn't want things like breaking the other person's blades to start irritating each other.  We still haven't found a building, but have came close a few times.

Now I need an even bigger building to store lumber in 8)

I really like the diversity, I don't think it is a very good business model for most people though. I have a hard time finding people that can work in all areas, thus training is hard.  Each division might sit idle for up to two months.

[Frank_Pender]

I did not make much of a living to day, at all.  Even the one customer that was to show for sawdust bugged out on me until tomorrow afternoon.  They did not even call to let me know they would not show as planned.  I waited all afternoon and I finally call sat 7:30. >:(  They only owe me $256 for what they have already hauled off.

[Blake22]

I'm an ASTRONAUT.   Maybe not.............

First things first, Thank You to everyone here. I think I've read just about every post & I have learned alot. I hope I can apply some of your teachings.

I grew up on a Shade Tobacco farm in N Fl. Still live there now. My Dad has cattle her now. While I was in high school I took a welding class in Tallahassee, completed the class, passed the certifcation test & didn't strike an arc for 10 years. I spent 10 years at a big printing company printing business cards and stationary for Furtune 500 Companies. Probably printed some of your cards.

As for making a living,  

   I own a Lawn Service. I work alone most of the time. I've been in business since 1992 & about '94 I bought a Stump Grinder & a 394 Husqvarna. A couple of years later a little New Holland 4X4 with a frontend loader. Now this is where Y'all come in.

Everytime I go to a stump grinding job there's a good log or two the customer needs me to haul off. I also do some clean-up for a tree surgeon. All this plus the timber  on our farm equals saw mill.

I've been picking up scrape iron & junk for years, taken down 10 or 12 satilite dishes for $50-$60 each.Then 1 day it all came to me in a flash. I knew about an abandaned carwash. The owner payed me for removing it & I had enough material to start my building my mill. I'll get some pics in a day or 2.

I tore down 3 towers of a pivot irrigation system. Each tower had 2 20ft H-beams, a reduction gearbox & other bits & pieces.

Once again thanks for all the laughs, technology and pure BS you guys put out. Now that I've come out I'll do my best to help anyone in need.

Be back later, I gotta go dumpster shopping before daylite.

[Cedarman]

I am a geologist by education. Worked 7 years as an electical logging engineer for an oil well service company. Quit in 76, taught school for 4 years while developing a custom hay baling operation. Bought a WM in 83 and started custom sawing on the side. Started sawing a bit of cedar. A company asked me to saw a lot of cedar. About 88 or 89 I hired a couple of helpers to saw more cedar. In 92 we built a mill and I hired more people. About this time I gave up the baling operation and did nothing but saw cedar. In 98 my oldest son graduated from college and an opprtunity came to open a mill in Alabama. He runs that mill and does better than me.  But we both have several employees.

I love being an entrepreneur and expanding the operation. As a one man operator I always looked at the grass on the other side of the fence, there was just too much to do for one person.
I have thought also how nice it would be to go back to being a one man show, less stress, maybe more time. I missed the pigroast because of too many goings on.
It is not how much wood you saw in a day, its how happy you are the next morning when you get up.
Most of you know that it takes tremendous amount of education and experience to be a successful mill owner of any size.

[Arthur]

I spent 30 years as an IT consultant.  Problem fixer at the top of the heap for the last 15 years.  Problem with this is living away from family for 90% for your time normally in another country so I cant just pop home on weekends.

4 years ago we bought a farm in Australia and an EcoSaw.  Built the house and cut lots of wood both off our land and contracting to other landowners to mill their logs as well.

Last Christmas we sold the mill and bought the EcoSaw company.  Now we manufacture the EcoSaw mills as well as mill logs to test each mill before despatching to the buyers.

As owners of EcoSaw I know most of the contractors who own EcoSaws and their is very good money available in both sustainable forestry and salvage work.  Most contractors have paid for their mills in the first few months.

I dont do as much milling as I would like to do due to  developing new and improved models.  maybe next year.  

Nothing better than making your own wood products from wood you have milled yourself.