Prices for hardwood beams

[Stephen1]

hey guys, I have a customer brought me some old beams to mill down to 10x10, but they are garbage. I now need to find some hardwoods, oak-maple, which I think I have found. I need to pick them up ,transport them to me and then mill them. what would the going rate be for beams that size. Where would I go to find a price for these? 1 beam will be 16' .the other 4 will be 10'
Thanks for any info guys
Stephen

[paul case]

i would get $.60 bd/ft for those made out of my own logs.your log cost may be different than mine. but on beams it should be log cost plus sawing cost at least. pc

[beenthere]

Any quality log acceptable? or some log grade in mind?

This going to be a structural beam? Concern for meeting any standard for strength?   

[Stephen1]

from what I can gather, not talking to the engineer but the owner of the house. A laminated beam runs across the house at 16', a 16' and a 10' meet under the laminated, and a 10' post is to hold it all at the joint. I would think it will have to be #2 or better,but not sure, the engineer didn't seem to know any better about the crap they brought to me. But then he could be in the office and never has seen them, and thinks 10x10 is plenty strong.
Paul Case thanks, I wasn't sure if should charge a premium beams that size.

[paul case]

i did say at least didnt i? if you can cut stuff off the sides that is marketable that is a plus but make the money on the beam.bibby has more experience if he would look in but i suppose he is off in kentuk right now.   pc

[Ron Wenrich]

I'm getting that kind of price for oak 7x9x16.  For longer ones, I'm getting $750/Mbf.  Several years ago, I sawed out about 50 Mbf of 8x10 for road construction at $800/Mbf.  Bridge timbers go for a bit more than that, and I have gotten as high as $1400/Mbf for them.  Sizes were up to 12x14.  Trailer load lots.  For some specialty 4x4s, I've gotten as high as $5.25/bf.  Prices often depend on the grade prices. 

If you quote too low, you can never come up in price.  What's the competition like?  What quality do you need?  The specs are necessary before you come up with a price.  Nicer products yield a higher price.

[Stephen1]

Ron and Paul thanks, I agree hard to come up in price, easier to drop the price. I am the only sawmill around, and very close, like a mile away. I haven't told him about Naz yet, but I did send a pm to naz to see what he has in his yard. I think this is kind of specialty lumber, as I am in the suburbs of the big city here, Toronto. Where else is he going to find this. I hope to find out some more info tomorrow, like what grade does he need .

[Larry]

Big hardwood beams got a bit pricey here.  The local lumber yard built a new quasi-timber frame building.  In this building they laminated SYP 2 X 8's together for the exposed beams.  Think the finished beams were something like 8 X 16.  Got an engineer to sign off on them.  Might be hard to find an engineer that will approve hardwood.

Anyways they look good and kept beam prices in check from the local mills.

[paul case]

For some specialty 4x4s, I've gotten as high as $5.25/bf. 

i bet those were nothing short of perfect. i would like to get to cut about 1000 bd ft of those a month. that would help out on the bills .  pc

[Ron Wenrich]

Quartesawn white oak.  They were delivered to New York City.  They cut them into blocks, then sawed in an angle.  They were used for chocks to hold subway trains for repair.  Delivery is by pickup truck.  On a good log, you can get 6-8 of them.  Vertical edger really helps.  They didn't need to be perfect, but, for that price I kinda felt obligated.   :D

This is one of those instances where we had to drop the price to about $4.50.  But, its still better than cutting grade and blocking. 

[Brucer]

If you were to buy 10x10 Douglas-Fir timbers from me, it would cost you $1500/thousand BF. And at this time of year you'd have to stand in line to get them. That's for #1 structural grade.