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Price Per Board Foot?

Started by levans, June 14, 2012, 01:14:57 PM

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levans

I'm wondering if someone in or near My area, Eastern TN could give me an idea of pricing. I haven't done any sawing for others for 5 or 6 years. I have two people who want some pine logs cut into 4/4 boards.
They will bring the logs to me, I will saw the logs and sticker the lumber and load it back onto their trailer, any ideas on the pricing?

Autocar

Here in Ohio twenty cents is a bargain anymore. I always charged fifteen cents and walked to the house wondering how I made any money sawing the custom orders.
Bill

Jemclimber

You should have an added charge for stickering it. It's more work. Work is time, time is money.
lt15

Bogue Chitto

I charge .25 for soft wood and .30 cents for hardwood.  If I had to stack and sticker I would charge more.

JoeBrittany21

I taught a college level course on "the time value of money" this is the best way to figure out pricing so a person doesn't end up having to wonder why he can't afford to replace blades and parts.

All the equipment is basically calculated out to its useful life and then you would break that down to an hourly price. Unless tools start falling from the sky, this is the only way to be able to be sure you have the money to replace worn out iron. Any successful businessman either knows this or his accountant knows it.

Without this knowledge on pricing it is like walking blind in the forest.

wwsjr

Someone at WM, can't remember who, told me a good planning figure for average cost for fuel, blades, and maintenance would be $10.00 an engine hour. With 2500 hours on my mill, I think my cost is a little less than $10.00 per hour. It has worked for me in determining my BF cutting price.
Retired US Army, Full Time Sawyer since 2001. 2013 LT40HD Super with 25HP 3 Phase, Command Control with Accuset2. ED26 WM Edger, Ford 3930 w/FEL, Prentice Log Loader. Stihl 311, 170 & Logrite Canthooks. WM Million BF Club Member.

Indiana Robinson

Quote from: JoeBrittany21 on June 14, 2012, 04:18:47 PM
I taught a college level course on "the time value of money" this is the best way to figure out pricing so a person doesn't end up having to wonder why he can't afford to replace blades and parts.
All the equipment is basically calculated out to its useful life and then you would break that downan hourly price. Unless tools start falling from the sky, this is the only way to be able to be sure you have the money to replace worn out iron. Any successful businessman either knows this or his accountant knows it.

Without this knowledge on pricing it is like walking blind in the forest.



That is true. Another factor is whether or not you can make all repairs yourself. If you have to pay someone else to make most repairs you need to factor in the difference between what you pay yourself and what someone or a business will charge you.
I'm an old man and retired (what ever that means). If I can pay myself $25 an hour for "my personal time" (not business time or machine time) then I'm happy. If I had to pick up the phone and call in for a service call, 5 times that amount might not cover it... You may never have that kind of breakdown but you need to cover at least part of the possibility ahead of time instead of waiting until it happens and then trying to get your money back.

I only survived a lifetime of farming (and several other businesses) because of my skills as a mechanic, machinist, blacksmith, welder and metal fabricator. Had I had to cough up the prices that most shops charge for my repair work needs I simply couldn't have done it because in farming you don't get to set the rates. All you can control is cost...  ;D

I'm glad to see this discussion, while I will not be doing a lot of heavy sawing and hope to mostly do a little on shares I would expect to occasionally do a little job or two for $$$$ and am interested in what the market is prone to bear.

.
Lifetime farmer.
Lifetime sawdust lover.
Old Tractor lover.
Have worn a lot of hats.
Once owned a Kasco mill that would saw a 30"x24' log. Now a new little LT-10 Woodmizer for my own lumber.
And yes, my woodshop is seriously infested with Shopsmiths.
Old geezer trying hard not to be one. :-)

ladylake

 Exactly right, being able to repair it yourself is a huge savings weather you call a repair truck or take it in.  Being in the trucking business for too long most times I could fix a problen in the same time as it would have taken to take it in and I never minded making the $60 to $75 a hour the shops charge.  Back to the subject I'd charge at least .25 a bf for real good logs and .35 if they are small.   Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

tyb525

$.30 if you do most of the log handling manually. If the logs are small or crooked, I charge by the hour, usually around $40.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

levans

The last time I sawed I milled away from home and charged 175.00 per thousand, gas was about 1.00 a gallon ect,ect so I was thinking about 250.00 now. I also have to take into account that I am in a depressed area in that we are 50 to 100 miles from a large city and folks just don't make that much money here but the cost of living is not as high as is always the case.

Bibbyman

If the custom sawing jobs are one shot deal of one trailer load each, you can't go too wrong charging whatever you feel comfortable.

But if it's going to be an ongoing venture, you may want to try these first two loads and calculate if you are getting an equatable return for your labor and investment .
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Delawhere Jack

One thing, (the only thing?) I've ever learned.......... is that it is easier to come down on your pricing than it is to go up. If you say .30/bf and they balk, you can always come down.


Larry

I'm sorta lazy so I like to saw a little for a lot $$$.  My price is on the higher side so I don't get some jobs.  Saves wear and tear on the mill. :D

Staking and stickering is a whole different operation and should be charged as such.  I'm sat up pretty good with the TK-2000.  Drag the boards back and stack while the mill is making the next cut.  About the only extra time required is putting down sticks between layers.  After the stack is made I can pick it up out of the crib and sit it down on the customers trailer with the forklift.  It doesn't take much extra effort or time on my part, so I don't charge much.




Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Magicman

Larry, it looks like you have perfected a system that works quite well for you.   :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Migal

 >:( I'm jealous I want a crib and fel with forks this carrying of to a stack is getting old quick  :D when i get that welder buddy of mine to build them cribs i want and i get that fel I will be doing the  8)  :D nice setup Larry
   Oh on the price i charge 50 a hr to pull the leavers customer can supply help or pay me 50 a hour to carry and stack  ;D
Stihl learning and picked up my Log Master LM2 Cat 34hp 02 21 12! 230MF+ the toys that go with it! MS361 MS271 Stihl PB500 Echo 48" LogRite 16ft Bass Tracker Pro' Abua Garcia 5600 bait caster, Wood working equipment' Lake Lot never enough time! oh don't forget the fridge with ale! Loving Wife Rebeca

Tripp

I have a customer coming in the morning. He is supplying the logs, offbearing , and loading his lumber. .25 a board foot. All pine. First time trying this. Should be interesting.

Tripp

sgschwend

It is nice to provide a service such as stickering. 
But, I don't get the idea of stickered lumber on a trailer.  Wouldn't it feel up and then how does it come off again.  If you were portable and cutting in their yard then I think stickering would be a big help and a nice service.

I know it takes more time to make all 4/4 stock so that should cost a bit more, also if you were cutting a lot of small parts or small logs then that will drive the cost up too.

As other have said you are providing a valuable service and your time spent affects the price paid. 
Steve Gschwend

sjgschwend@gmail.com

wwsjr

sgschwend,

Most of my customers have access to FEL to unload lumber. I stack and sticker then band with poly, two bands up to 12' and 3 bands on 16'. Load on trailers with FEL. My stacks are 40" wide with 42" stickers. Place stacks on trailers onto 4X4. Customers can use straps under the stack on trailers with sides and lift with FEL. Also easy to figure BF in stack without counting each board. EX: For 4/4, 40"wide X 16' long divided by 12 equals 53.3BF per row X 10 rows equals 533 BF. I pull boards same as Larry, use dragback and place on stack using "Bibby" horses.
Retired US Army, Full Time Sawyer since 2001. 2013 LT40HD Super with 25HP 3 Phase, Command Control with Accuset2. ED26 WM Edger, Ford 3930 w/FEL, Prentice Log Loader. Stihl 311, 170 & Logrite Canthooks. WM Million BF Club Member.

Chuck White

We are mobile and do custom sawing, and the lumber is usually dead-stacked!

Once in a while a customer will ask us to sticker, which adds quite a lot of time to the saw job.

Question is: How much would be a fair price to charge for the stickering?

Also extra is cutting the stickers, placing the stickers and cutting them to the width of the stack!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

grweldon

The three sawyers I have talked to around here all charge $.40/bf. and none of them are portable, you must bring the lumber to them.  Just more info for the discussion.
My three favorite documents: The Holy Bible, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

Magicman

In my situation, I am portable, the customer always provides/pays the help, and the help does the stacking/stickering.  Any stickers as a result of edging are free.  If more are needed, we saw a "sticker log" and scale the lumber or either use some of the customer's scaled lumber.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

levans

On the stickering, to me it's not much more work and I can charge for the stickers and also I am able to band the stack and use a forklift on the back of my tractor for loading onto their trailer/truck and they have forks for their front loaders on their tractors. I guess it works out that most of the folks who want Me to saw are farmers and have tractors with loaders to put logs on to haul to me and to get lumber off at home.

Because of my health and trying to take care of the farm I don't go looking for jobs, most of the folks who ask me to saw are people I know,other farmers, landowners,loggers, I want to make enough on a job to cover cost and make a profit but I am in an area where you can't throw a stick without hitting a sawmill so I have to figure if they are hauling the logs anyway they won't pay me twice what others are charging.

I do want to thank everyone for their feedback so far.

YellowHammer

I don't do portable and charge $.35 per bdft and am kind of choosy about which jobs I take.  If I saw 1 Mbf per 3 hours which isn't too hard, I make $115 per hour minus estimated $15 per per hour mill expenses, fuel, etc gives me a nice $100 per hour take home. 

If I'm a little more relaxed about it and do a Mbf by lunch time, four hours, I'm still making better than $75 per hour, which is enough to keep me motivated

I don't race, I just try to stay on a 325 bdft pace by doing a pallet of lumber per hour which for me is 10 layers of 8 foot by 4 foot of lumber.

I may not be the cheapest, but get a lot of the other saw millers in the area PO'd customers who went low bid first, then came to me after they found out that they got what they paid for.

YH
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Banjo picker

Stickers and banding adds 5 cents..bf.....I used to charge 3 but its worth more than that...Banjo
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

DR_Buck

I'm having a difficult time understanding how you guys that charge 25¢ or less can stay in business.     smiley_headscratch   I've been at 35¢ bf for over 5 years now and have only had a few dispute my charges.   I didn't saw there logs.   ;D     My price is the same whether portable or stationary.   The only difference is when I'm portable my minimum charge is $350 ( up to 1000  bf) and the customer supplies helpers for moving logs and stacking lumber.   I never sticker and encourage them to sticker after I leave as it slows me down waiting on them to retrieve the next board.

Points to note:   I don't mill full time. I have a day job.  Milling is extra cash.  I've turned away 7 out of ten jobs I've been called on in the last 2 weeks and am still very busy.  My prices are not negotiable.  Just ask the guy the tried to convince me that I should charge less for 2x12's than 1x12 because it takes less sawing.  ;)   I don't know who milled his logs for him because it wasn't me.  ;D
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

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