iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Starting a business?

Started by miked, April 13, 2006, 08:48:28 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

miked

Hi all,
I have been on the Forum for quite some time now and have learned a lot - which is good, cause I was starting at ground zero. However, I have not found what I am looking for. Which means that now it's time to ask for help.
My wife and I are interested in/planning on building our own log home from start to finish. While researching we came across the Forum. GREAT find. Learning lots. Very interested in our own sawmill for the many parts of the home that are not still round  ;). The thought is that the sawmill would also (hopefully prior to building) be a means to an income as well as eventually an aid in building the home.
The help I need is: How have YOU gotten clients when you first started in the business? (It doesn't count if you took over an existing business.) I don't have a lot of concern about being able to get trees to cut. I'm concerned about how to earn money in the disposal of the boards that are the result of milling those trees.
If it may make a difference, we are in New England near the ocean (Atlantic for those of you who may be geographically challenged ).
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Mike D

isawlogs

  Mike , I am in the process of doing the same thing ... that is planning and building a log home . We have the planing done ... the trees are almost cut down .. I have a wack of logs out ready to be sawed . Mine will not be a round log , it will be sawed 8 inches thick and have dove tail corners .
  That beeing said , you will find that it dont take long for word to get out that there is a mill around that has wood for sale . A small add in the local paper will help if you have no clients at all . But word of mouth is one of the best ya can have .  ;)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

getoverit

I'm fairly new to the sawmill business, and so far the only advertising I have done is business cards and a web page. I just did the web page this week through the forum, and it hasnt had time to bring in any business yet. I have found that placing buiness cards at the local resturants has been the ticket for getting the word out that I have a mill. One of the other forum members sent me a couple of leads also. I have a steady stream of free logs to mill up, and also a steady stream of paying customers already. The truck is loaded with lumber for delivery tomorrow morning and I have more logs to saw than I can get sawn in the near future already.

The bottom line is that you really dont need to spend a lot on advertising. A few well placed business cards at the local men's breakfast diner will get you going really fast.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and sleep all day

red

some start with the chainsaw mills  or  the small manual mills

you start spending the bucks on the hydraulics 

getting a return for your bucks  is how much  time you can spend milling

some guys have the biggest fastest mill  but only mill a day or two a week


just some quick ideas

RED
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

DanG

Mike, when you get your mill, try to keep it a secret as long as you can.  Learn a bit about sawing before you offer yourself to the public.  The ForestryForum is a great learning tool, but cannot replace practical hands-on experience.  You got friends, right?  They will get excited and talk it around, and their contacts will know someone with logs, or a need for lumber.  It will mushroom from there.  Look at poor Getoverit.  He's only had a mill for a couple of months and he's already swamped. :D :D :D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Captain

It is almost a leap of faith.  I timed the arrival of my sawmill with a yellow page advertisement.  Now I'm pretty sure I'm going to pull the advertisement after 3 years.  I'm too busy.

Captain

Bibbyman

Welcome to the Forum Mike,

It's not something you can do a search on but your question has been asked a hundred times and answered a thousand here on the Forum.

We've never advertised other than have printed business cards.  And then we only hand them out to people that have contacted us and asked for one.

Visibility was the big factor in getting us started in the sawmill business.  Our fist job was out in the boonies and in behind a house and barn yet people driving by saw us doing something and our first 3-day job for my brother-in-law turned in to a couple of weeks as each day more logs would show up from neighbors.

We've been setup stationary for the past 10 years and we live on the end of a dead end private road mile back from the feeder road and people still find us. We get calls from all over and we're always puzzled where they found out about us and how they got our number.

I don't know how your county fairs are but around here they are agriculture based – that is they have livestock shows and machinery displays, etc. If your fairs are like that then maybe you could set up and demo your mill at a fair or some other public event.

Here is a link to the story of how we got started in the sawmill business.  It needs a little update as we have been sawing "full time" since last year.

How I got started in the sawmill business
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Cedarman

If you are going to build a house and will be using the mill as a cornerstone of the project, here is an idea for lots of free advertising.  Contact your local newspaper and tell them that you are going to build a house over a period of time and you would be happy to share with the readers  a weekly summary, twice a month or monthly update on how it is going.  The good, the bad, the ugly.  Many people think of building their own house but are scared to do it.  Working with a reporter would get your story out, let lots of people know about you and force you to keep working on the house because lots of people would expect you to get the thing built.

Just an idea.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

thecfarm

You should contact the local newspaper for at least one article.My wife did this for her greenhouse business.We built the greenhouse out of hemlock that I cut down and sawed up and we are trying to bring the farm back again.It was quite an article.Made us look like we knew what we are doing.  :D We even had a few people that came here to get ideas about doing the same thing.One person use to live in a house behind on,which is long gone,she just wanted to see and talk about where she grew up.I would be surprized if they would turn you down.One guy with the same kind of mill that I have built a house and they did an article on his work.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

miked

Thanks, all. I appreciate the responses. Just a quick comment - we don't plan on building for a while yet and I'd like to get things going before we do build AND we don't plan to build anywhere near where we live now. On the other hand, it gives very positive vibes to see how others have started out cold and succeeded. Now, if I only had ...and ... and ... and some money? :D :D  Ah well, in time.
Mike D

JP Sinclair

Mike-

I agree with many of these other comments.  I started with a Woodmizer LT15 just to make framing timber for myself (so I didn't have to go buy it at the store).  I made plenty of mistakes, sawed into my support dogs etc.  but pretty soon I was turning out some nice lumber.  Sawmills have a way of attracting people and it wasn't long before people were not only buying 2X4's but were dropping off logs for custom cutting.  Now I'm getting into high end hardwoods for furnature and have upgraded to the LT40.  I never dreamed I would be this busy yet I haven't advertised anywhere.  The biggest thing is just treat your customers well, be personable.  If you have poitive interactions with customers, you can be a success at just about anything.   If you set the mill up and get some time to make your initial mistakes, you will be surprised how fast people start finding you!

JP

little-guy

Mike
Like the other guys have said ,once the word gets out that you have the mill,and can turn out a pretty good product,people wil be finding you not you looking for them. I just got a Norwood Lumberlite 24 late last summer ,basically for personal use and a little hobby that might make me a buck or two. Well i just happened to tell a couple people that i had the mill,and now ..this little hobby is paying me back with more than just a buck or two,becuz when you do a good job people will spread the word.I am now getting logs dropped off for me to salvage whatever i can out of them instead of them going to the dump or firewood pile,and they arent costing me a thing.And other people are bringing their 2 or 3 or 4 logs over for me to mill for them. the little kitty that i was putting my milling money in is now getting fuller and i never even spent a dime on advertising  and i now have a little extra inventory of salvage wood that will be getting sold as the markets turn up..such as birch,apple, plum, oak .
Sometimes you just have to be patient and things will take their own path and you never look back.

Cec
you gotta be happy playing with your toys ..mine are ..norwood lumberlite 24 ,743 bobcat and 1950 John Deere 4010 crawler

Thank You Sponsors!