# Firewood Business.....How much to pay for Logs delivered???



## [email protected] (Jan 15, 2014)

Ok so to the professional firewood dealers that gets logs delivered to them, what do you pay for oak delivered to you?? Obviously free wood is the best but if you can get a company to deliver wood to you with consistently what would you pay?

I have a tree service willing to deliver all oak logs (10 log cords a truck load) for $100 per cord. Face cords in my area sells for $100-$125 and full cords sells for $275-$350. I would like to sell anywhere between 30-50 cords a year---what do you think? Worth it or what??

I don't have any experience but I am only guessing that log cords is less that C/S/S wood--correct? Any guesses to how much less? 20%?

Thanks for your help!


----------



## flotek (Jan 15, 2014)

100 a cord is going rate . In my area unless your cutting on your own property on your own logs there isn't much money in it by the time it's all said and done. . There is a reason the old timers always say. " selling firewood is a poor mans business "now on the other hand if your getting 300 a cord then there's some room for good profit if you have the right tools and business sense. If you buy at 100 a cord and sell at say 300 a cord that's 200 profit ( not actually because there's other costs too like wear and tear new chains gas oil) there is a profit sure but not much consider it's labor some work and
Even if you sold all intended 50 cords that's only 10,000$( then subtract taxes) Not much money really for a lot of work danger and liability ..You could work part time at McDonald's and make more than that


----------



## polkat (Jan 15, 2014)

it is a regional thing but seeing that $100 a loggers cord is the same rate up here in Wisconsin. back quite a few years i was working up firewood on the side and buying direct it was cheaper 50 a cord it made it feasible to sell in firewood quantities


----------



## groundup (Jan 15, 2014)

$100 a cord log load is going rate here. We get $250 max for all oak delivered cut and split


----------



## zogger (Jan 15, 2014)

100 for rough logs that still need processing? Dang... 150 cord cut and split and delivered around here. Pickup "loads" 50 bucks, guys selling full cords, 150.

I have no idea what logs sell for around here though. If you can get 3 bills for a cord, then sure, seems some amount of profit potential.

I would actually get less lazy and try to sell some if the market was that good.

A friend of mine out in the boonies in W. virginny gets cords delivered for 90 bucks, just cut to size though, she splits it.


----------



## [email protected] (Jan 15, 2014)

100% oak is $270-$350 not mixed hardwood--just to clarify. 



What would you say log cord is vs C/S/S cord is??


----------



## chucker (Jan 15, 2014)

here it's going for 90.00 for 100" oak and anywhere from 180.00 to 270.00 for c/s/s/ oak...


----------



## chucker (Jan 15, 2014)

on a side note .. wanted to buy 20 cds of red oak and 10 cds of pine from a logger cutting 10 miles away. oak was 900.00 for 10 cords and pine was 850.00 for 10 cords delivered of course! but the azz kicker was the logger was delivering it 40 miles one way to a log yard for the same price! now for all logic,? I was closer , savings on fuel , time, and wear/tear ... could have made 3 deliveries to my yard for about the same time as the further delivery! would the logger make a price break ? not hardly!! go figure???


----------



## flotek (Jan 15, 2014)

Cut split delivered here is 150 oak may bring. 180 though . No firewood selling guru or logger but I can do simple math and to me Buying it off a log truck and doing all the hard work then reselling it is not worth it in my opinion .. I don't see enough profit to be worthwhile unless you had a big operation .. but in the end that is a question only you can answer some guys love to work and cut split stack and load for. 8 bucks an hour while others need 20 an hour to be worth their while


----------



## lmbrman (Jan 15, 2014)

I keep hearing the term logs, and I wonder if you guys are really buying logs, or maybe stuff that does not make a log. I understand this is a regional thing, so my info is only good near me. A cord of pulpwood/firewood delivered around here is about $90/cord if you buy a full semiload which is around 12 cords. The wood is usually under 9" or a little larger but too crooked for a sawmill. A load of bolts (small logs), low quality 7-10" stuff would bring $160/cord delivered to local sawmills. 10" and up logs would cost higher yet.

Small logs here are 6-10" and are called bolts. The market is strong here, might not exist other places. Heck, some mills here buy 5" bolts.

OP- curious on your location. If I could buy logs delivered for that price I would sell them to a sawmill and not touch them. They would be worth well over double.

Someone made the comment that firewood is a poor mans business and I agree locally. I would get poorer each load I sold. Stinks really. I do like hearing what others are doing and in different places. Be safe-

-dave


----------



## blackdogon57 (Jan 15, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> Ok so to the professional firewood dealers that gets logs delivered to them, what do you pay for oak delivered to you?? Obviously free wood is the best but if you can get a company to deliver wood to you with consistently what would you pay?
> 
> I have a tree service willing to deliver all oak logs (10 log cords a truck load) for $100 per cord. Face cords in my area sells for $100-$125 and full cords sells for $275-$350. I would like to sell anywhere between 30-50 cords a year---what do you think? Worth it or what??
> 
> ...


Yo

Big difference between tree service logs and processor quality firewood logs. Tree services will dump in my yard for free. To me their stuff is worthless as I can't run it through my processor. Going rate around here for firewood logs is 130-150 per cord.


----------



## lfnh (Jan 16, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> I have a tree service willing to deliver all oak logs (10 log cords a truck load) for $100 per cord. Face cords in my area sells for $100-$125 and full cords sells for $275-$350. I would like to sell anywhere between 30-50 cords a year---what do you think? Worth it or what??


 
TS "logs" are most likely yard wood or clearance wood. Either way, those logs will stand a good chance of having heavy metals and other hardware embedded. Chain wreckers. Lot of places won;t take blue stain (for good reason). TS drop off loads aren't goin to be scaled for volume casuse the stuff is culls. Free might be ok.

Good lload from logging outfit will be scaled (vol or weight) w/ticket, clean, straight stuff with little to no hollow or soft heart, uniform lengths. 50 cord run, this would be a safer bet and likely a good 4 load price if contracted up front.


----------



## Stihl working hard (Jan 16, 2014)

flotek said:


> 100 a cord is going rate . In my area unless your cutting on your own property on your own logs there isn't much money in it by the time it's all said and done. . There is a reason the old timers always say. " selling firewood is a poor mans business "now on the other hand if your getting 300 a cord then there's some room for good profit if you have the right tools and business sense. If you buy at 100 a cord and sell at say 300 a cord that's 200 profit ( not actually because there's other costs too like wear and tear new chains gas oil) there is a profit sure but not much consider it's labor some work and
> Even if you sold all intended 50 cords that's only 10,000$( then subtract taxes) Not much money really for a lot of work danger and liability ..You could work part time at McDonald's and make more than that


Yeh but working inMcDonald's wouldn't be half as much fun


----------



## c5rulz (Jan 16, 2014)

lmbrman said:


> I keep hearing the term logs, and I wonder if you guys are really buying logs, or maybe stuff that does not make a log. I understand this is a regional thing, so my info is only good near me. A cord of pulpwood/firewood delivered around here is about $90/cord if you buy a full semiload which is around 12 cords. The wood is usually under 9" or a little larger but too crooked for a sawmill. A load of bolts (small logs), low quality 7-10" stuff would bring $160/cord delivered to local sawmills. 10" and up logs would cost higher yet.
> 
> Small logs here are 6-10" and are called bolts. The market is strong here, might not exist other places. Heck, some mills here buy 5" bolts.
> 
> ...


 

I agree.


----------



## david310 (Jan 16, 2014)

Get out there man. Just start looking in peoples backyard jobsite friends and asking people for there wood. If all u buy is the gas for your saws it's almost 100% profit. The wood is there if u want it. A lot of tree companys will bring it for free u just have to ask. Good luck


----------



## [email protected] (Jan 16, 2014)

I have a tree service already providing me with wood. The problem with that is the wood varies, yes it is free but hard to sell X amount of wood if it isn't there. If one wants to only sell oak I don't think I can get enough of it. 

The seller of the logs told me the diameter of the oak is anywhere between 10"-20".

Again a log cord is less than a cord of C/S/S correct?? Anyone has a guess by how much?


----------



## lmbrman (Jan 16, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> I have a tree service already providing me with wood. The problem with that is the wood varies, yes it is free but hard to sell X amount of wood if it isn't there. If one wants to only sell oak I don't think I can get enough of it.
> 
> The seller of the logs told me the diameter of the oak is anywhere between 10"-20".
> 
> Again a log cord is less than a cord of C/S/S correct?? Anyone has a guess by how much?



I would guess a cord of 8' sticks will not quite make 3 face cords CSS. Face cord is the way stuff is sold here, again, local thing. Friend of mine does a good job treating people right in his seasonal firewood business, both on the acquisition and sales sides. He does as well as you can around here, but it is not a living wage. Still, more money than sitting around or going to the bars.

Going price for a face cord here is $50.


----------



## jrider (Jan 16, 2014)

I am looking at buying oak logs this year for the 1st time ever. Logs will be $80 a cord. I sell at $210 a cord. Not counting expenses, I am looking at $130 a cord profit. I have processed logs before that I cut on my own and once they are on the farm and I'm just dealing with logs and not the rest of the mess, I can cut and split a cord of wood in about 3.5 -4 hours. When I include expenses, I throw out another $20-$25 per cord. I am now looking at $105-$110 profit per cord which puts me around $25-$30 an hour for doing something I love. I'd like to see someone at McDonald's make that kind of money. Oh and all the scrap pieces - longs, shorts, uglies, big nasty knots, partially rotten, get thrown into my wood boiler and heat my house.

Now some of you may call it cheating but part of what makes this possible is our little JD 1070 with forks. This allows me to pick up a log and cut it where ever I want and have it waist high so I'm not bending over at all. I usually bring the log to the splitter and cut enough until my work area is filling up. I then split (Iron and Oak w/ 4way) until those cuts are gone and repeat. It's amazing how much you can get done when you aren't picking up everything by hand multiple times.

I sometimes hire a kid to split for me and while he doesn't split as fast as me, it increases my $ per hour but it does eat into the total profit a little more.


----------



## blackdogon57 (Jan 16, 2014)

jrider said:


> I am looking at buying oak logs this year for the 1st time ever. Logs will be $80 a cord. I sell at $210 a cord. Not counting expenses, I am looking at $130 a cord profit. I have processed logs before that I cut on my own and once they are on the farm and I'm just dealing with logs and not the rest of the mess, I can cut and split a cord of wood in about 3.5 -4 hours. When I include expenses, I throw out another $20-$25 per cord. I am now looking at $105-$110 profit per cord which puts me around $25-$30 an hour for doing something I love. I'd like to see someone at McDonald's make that kind of money. Oh and all the scrap pieces - longs, shorts, uglies, big nasty knots, partially rotten, get thrown into my wood boiler and heat my house.
> 
> Now some of you may call it cheating but part of what makes this available is our little JD 1070 with forks. This allows me to pick up a log and cut it where ever I want and have it waist high so I'm not bending over at all. I usually bring the log to the splitter and cut enough until my work area is filling up. I then split (Iron and Oak w/ 4way) until those cuts are gone and repeat. It's amazing how much you can get done when you aren't picking up everything by hand multiple times.
> 
> I sometimes hire a kid to split for me and while he doesn't split as fast as me, it increases my $ per hour but it does eat into the total profit a little more.



Using equipment to process logs is definitely not cheating - it's working smart. The less time and effort you put into production per cord the more money in your pocket.


----------



## [email protected] (Jan 16, 2014)

Well you might not get rich selling wood but there is always money to be made--if there wasn't, people wouldn't be doing it.


----------



## flotek (Jan 16, 2014)

If you can cut split stack a full cord of hardwood in just over 3 hours your doing a great job I'd say if your getting straight clean hardwood logs at only 80$ for a full cord that's even better you might be the only firewood guy making 30$ profit per hour consistently I ever heard of


----------



## John R (Jan 16, 2014)

flotek said:


> 100 a cord is going rate . In my area unless your cutting on your own property on your own logs there isn't much money in it by the time it's all said and done. . There is a reason the old timers always say. " selling firewood is a poor mans business "now on the other hand if your getting 300 a cord then there's some room for good profit if you have the right tools and business sense. If you buy at 100 a cord and sell at say 300 a cord that's 200 profit ( not actually because there's other costs too like wear and tear new chains gas oil) there is a profit sure but not much consider it's labor some work and
> Even if you sold all intended 50 cords that's only 10,000$( then subtract taxes) Not much money really for a lot of work danger and liability ..*You could work part time at McDonald's and make more than that*


 I think they would get *MAD* if you brought your chainsaw to work.


----------



## hamish (Jan 16, 2014)

There is a big difference between a saw log and a log. The logs the OP is considering purchasing are not saw logs. Tree services do not cut saw logs.


----------



## lmbrman (Jan 16, 2014)

hamish said:


> There is a big difference between a saw log and a log. The logs the OP is considering purchasing are not saw logs. Tree services do not cut saw logs.



My bad, I should have explained my perspective was local. Tree services here do often sell logs, bolts and sticks as the market is strong locally for those products. Logs and bolts here go to a sawmill. Sticks go for firewood or pulp. Sorry if my local terms confuse people elsewhere. Maybe I should have explained my perspective was local.

OP: you will know your local prices and demand better than us, just as Hamish knows his area. Good luck.

sincerely, lmbrman


----------



## blackdogon57 (Jan 17, 2014)

hamish said:


> There is a big difference between a saw log and a log. The logs the OP is considering purchasing are not saw logs. Tree services do not cut saw logs.



Most logging operations in ontario require that the trees be marked and graded before the cutting begins. Logs are then separated according to grade and species at the landing and trucked away accordingly. Not often that I get a millable 
Log in a load of firewood.


----------



## Milkweed Seed (Jan 17, 2014)

$350 a cord wow? I thought $250 was good? $100 a truck load is good, some guys have the balls to ask $700 by me, but like I said cords are around $200. I get it free. It's blood money though, there are guys who really go all out and can make over 500k a year but it takes a substantial investment to get there.


----------



## PLAYINWOOD (Jan 18, 2014)

I'm getting 350 a cord right now, supply and demand.
firewood logs or pulpwood, same thing here, are 150 to 165 a cord delivered


----------



## lknchoppers (Jan 30, 2018)

[email protected] said:


> I have a tree service already providing me with wood. The problem with that is the wood varies, yes it is free but hard to sell X amount of wood if it isn't there. If one wants to only sell oak I don't think I can get enough of it.
> 
> The seller of the logs told me the diameter of the oak is anywhere between 10"-20".
> 
> Again a log cord is less than a cord of C/S/S correct?? Anyone has a guess by how much?



For me I think this is too much, I don't like to have more than $100 in the finished product CSS. I sell cords between $300 and $400, it beats my McDonalds job !!


----------



## Weesa20 (Jan 30, 2018)

PLAYINWOOD said:


> I'm getting *350* a cord right now, supply and demand.
> firewood logs or pulpwood, same thing here, are 150 to 165 a cord delivered



$350 Canadian or US? Great money if US. I get about $280 US + tax.

Any of you guys familiar with "pallet grade" logs? A good "in between" saw logs and pulp wood grade.


----------



## Jhenderson (Jan 30, 2018)

flotek said:


> Cut split delivered here is 150 oak may bring. 180 though . No firewood selling guru or logger but I can do simple math and to me Buying it off a log truck and doing all the hard work then reselling it is not worth it in my opinion .. I don't see enough profit to be worthwhile unless you had a big operation .. but in the end that is a question only you can answer some guys love to work and cut split stack and load for. 8 bucks an hour while others need 20 an hour to be worth their while



If you think cutting and splitting is doing " all the hard work" you need to go work with a logger for a month.


----------



## Marine5068 (Feb 1, 2018)

groundup said:


> $100 a cord log load is going rate here. We get $250 max for all oak delivered cut and split


Firewood is still cheaper there in the US. Your $250 US dollars work out to about $288 CAD.
Here in Ontario, Canada hardwood firewood goes for $300-$350 a cord, but that's not delivered. You have to pick it up at that price. And usually not seasoned either, just blocked and split.
Our log trucks around here run anywhere from $1100-$1250 a load for a 9 cord, tandem load. Ten years back they were around $900 a tandem log load.
I'm still looking for a good supply for hardwood logs at $1000 a load....max.


----------



## american dream (Feb 1, 2018)

im not a pro by any means, i get about 2 cords worth of rounds delivered for $100 and sell a cord for $175


----------



## cantoo (Feb 1, 2018)

Marine, firewood around here is sold by the face cord and usually under 16" long. A couple guys are selling 3 face at 13-14" and calling it a full cord. Facebook prices delivered under 15-20 miles are $70 to 90 for the face. So that's around $210 - $270 a full cord delivered. I sell a trailer load of ash that is a little over a full cord of 15 1/2" splits for $300 delivered. It's nice clean wood, no junk, same length and dry. I don't really sell a lot though, people seem to like getting burnt over and over. I go to lots of auction sales and there is usually firewood up for bids. It usually goes for peanuts but it's almost always crap wood too though so that's what it's worth. The Amish sales have some decent wood but it's every length under the sun from 8" to 22". My buddy has sold more wood in the last 3 weeks then he sold all fall. Most people had some left over from last year and thought they could sneak by, then we got that cold snap and the wood was going up the chimney quick. I have 6 or so full cords ready to go but no bites yet. It'll keep and I'll sell some for campfire wood this summer.


----------



## Marine5068 (Feb 2, 2018)

cantoo said:


> Marine, firewood around here is sold by the face cord and usually under 16" long. A couple guys are selling 3 face at 13-14" and calling it a full cord. Facebook prices delivered under 15-20 miles are $70 to 90 for the face. So that's around $210 - $270 a full cord delivered. I sell a trailer load of ash that is a little over a full cord of 15 1/2" splits for $300 delivered. It's nice clean wood, no junk, same length and dry. I don't really sell a lot though, people seem to like getting burnt over and over. I go to lots of auction sales and there is usually firewood up for bids. It usually goes for peanuts but it's almost always crap wood too though so that's what it's worth. The Amish sales have some decent wood but it's every length under the sun from 8" to 22". My buddy has sold more wood in the last 3 weeks then he sold all fall. Most people had some left over from last year and thought they could sneak by, then we got that cold snap and the wood was going up the chimney quick. I have 6 or so full cords ready to go but no bites yet. It'll keep and I'll sell some for campfire wood this summer.


Wow, what a difference in prices. Here it's like gold at $300-$350 and always sold in full cord amounts, some are selling pick-up truck loads (which is a a half cord).
I have a half cord utility trailer that I load if picking up.
I still have my local guy that sells me Cherry and some Maple in log form, but I have to go there and cut and load it.
I do get it for $90-$100 a cord.


----------



## panolo (Feb 2, 2018)

Red oak, bir oak, sugar maple is going for about $100-110 a cord delivered in log lengths if you are a 1 time buyer. Was talking to a guy at the truck stop yesterday with a 14 cord load on and it was mixed. Some bigger ones in it but mostly processor size wood. If you commit to 50 or more cords they were going for $90 or so a cord. All this wood was coming from about 30 miles north west of St. Cloud. All the quality stuff was heading to the mills.


----------



## Pcoz88 (Feb 4, 2018)

interesting


----------



## bartman23 (Feb 5, 2018)

Always see adds like this here and they don't stay up long so it must be selling.


----------



## ft. churchill (Feb 5, 2018)

!00 bucks a cord to have a truck deliver logs here, doug fir, jeffery pine, lodgepole, etc. no hardwoods to be had.


----------



## mijdirtyjeep (Feb 5, 2018)

Pulp/pallet grade logs around here go for $100/cord trucked in unless you get above 50cords and then they drop it down. 

I found a guy that processes it into my dump “all hardwood and 90% oak” for $100/cord. Don’t know how he gets it in 8’ lengths to do it for that price and I don’t really care.


----------



## Ryan'smilling (Feb 5, 2018)

bartman23 said:


> Always see adds like this here and they don't stay up long so it must be selling.View attachment 630709



Crappy price, but that's a sweet truck!


----------



## Marine5068 (Feb 9, 2018)

bartman23 said:


> Always see adds like this here and they don't stay up long so it must be selling.View attachment 630709


WOW. I've never seen it that expensive.
I know a full sized pick up box holds about 1/2 a cord tossed in so in that case that's $600 or more......a cord..


----------

