Milling for hire? advice

[betterbuilt]

Yesterday I was looking through Craigslist. I found an ad that said looking for an Alaskan miller. Well It turns out I know the guy. He called me last night and we chatted for a while. He says he has a bunch of really big trees he wants to mill. He said that one Oak is Around 48 inches. I told him I'd come look at them when the snow melts a little more.

I've done this in the past and I didn't like working by the hour because I felt I was in a hurry and I was pushing my saws to hard. I enjoy milling but I also can't do it for free. So the conundrum is how do I do this. I'd like to charge a fee and bring some of the lumber home.

Things I would charge as extras on top of the above:
Chains?(broken especially), Oil, gas, mix, & Mileage. If I missed anything please add.

So my question is have any of you done this in the past and how did you make out. I like to hear the good and the bad stories.

Thanks in advance for any advice. BB

Oh yeah I forgot, I'll pay you guys in pictures when I do the job.

 

[mtngun]

I can't imagine CSMing for money.

But, if it makes you happy .....

 

[betterbuilt]

I can't imagine CSMing for money.

But, if it makes you happy .....

:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[betterbuilt]

I realize you can't make money CSM. I think we've been over that more than once. I'm asking how do I charge and at least come out ahead.

 

[SDB777]

What is your time worth to you?

Seems everyone wants you to work for free, but keep to the price you decide on and don't sell your self short!




Scott B

 

[betterbuilt]

I know what my time is worth. But like I said I'm not looking to push my equipment. When I take a job I usually work a set speed of how much I'm getting paid.

The last milling job I took I charged $35 an hour. I wasn't happy at the end because It was a burl of a job. The guy said he had a 36 inch burl and I drove a hour and a half to it. When I pulled up to It I knew it wasn't 36 inches. It was mor like 55 inches. To make a long story short, It took two days to mill because It was full of grit. I actually wore a .063 chain down to .050. I've decided to not put myself in that position again. After that job I figured I'd charge at least $45 next time. I'm not gonna do it for free. I've got a few months to think it over so I figured I'd ask for advice.

I guess I'm asking If anyone has milled for hire and how they made out. The good and the bad.

 

[mtngun]

Think back to the last time you hired a skilled tradesman to do a job at your place. How much did they charge you ?

The last time I hired someone, was when my sewer pipe plugged up. $100 for twenty minutes of work.

In general, I don't think you are going to get a skilled tradesman to do portable jobs for less than $50 an hour, whether it is plumbing, electrical, concrete, or what have you.

 

[jeepyfz450]

I have never done any milling but i do quite a few tree jobs every year. I never charge by the hour. I always charge by the job because its hard to come out making money or even breaking even doing it hourly.

I try to look at the job and determine the ammount of work. i decide what tools i will need how long it should take me and if i will have to pay a friend to help then i tell them the price.

I had a lady call me a few years ago that wanted 2 dead maples taken down in her yard. the trees were rotted bad and none of the wood was savable for firewood. I told her i would drop them and chunk them up to haul away for 200$ she was shocked and said she would pay me 10$ an hour lol. the job would have taken me 2 hours max with my buddy helping me. my plan was to give him 50$ and keep 150$ for my self (I was cutting/my saws/my truck). anyway when you are using a 800+ dollar saw you need to make money cause eventually it will break or wear out.

 

[mikeb1079]

i've not done it for money, but i agree with the idea of charging by the job. you've milled before, you should be able to ballpark an idea of how long this job will take. this way, you won't be rushed, and if it takes longer than you think no biggie you're still milling!

 

[gemniii]

Yesterday I was looking through Craigslist. I found an ad that said looking for an Alaskan miller. Well It turns out I know the guy. He called me last night and we chatted for a while. He says he has a bunch of really big trees he wants to mill. He said that one Oak is Around 48 inches. I told him I'd come look at them when the snow melts a little more.

Let's define a few things:
You know the guy- Good relationship?
How much does he make per hour?
Bunch - I just bought a bunch of bananas, there were 6 in the "bunch", how many in his "bunch"?
"he wants to mill" - He does? Or he wants them milled? Or he will be out there helping with the milling?
Around 48 inches - that is DBH, not "Around the tree" correct?
How far are they "straight"?
Your going to "look at them" - That's a truck roll right there. How far is it? Next door or an overnight?
Are the trees vertical? How difficult to fell them without hitting something else? Are you going to have to remove all limbs etc. to the dump?
How difficult is it to get to the trees?
What does he want? 6" thick slabs or 1"x1" ?

For a person who you know that makes say $50/hr, is going to help thruout the process, has 5 trees all about 40" DBH and 20' clear for the cut on the average and they are all horizontal and cleaned up and right next to where you park I'd expect it would take three days behind the saw, and another day for scouting, setup and tear down, clean up. Which means 5 truck rolls.
I'd say at least grand and a half for starters. In my area 5 truck rolls would be $500.


Unless the guy wants thick wide slabs from all of it I'd suggest you offer to cut it down to bandmill size, take out a few big slabs and have someone else make the dimension lumber. That might only take 2 days.

Good luck.

 

[betterbuilt]

Let's define a few things:
You know the guy- Good relationship?
How much does he make per hour?
Bunch - I just bought a bunch of bananas, there were 6 in the "bunch", how many in his "bunch"?
"he wants to mill" - He does? Or he wants them milled? Or he will be out there helping with the milling?
Around 48 inches - that is DBH, not "Around the tree" correct?
How far are they "straight"?
Your going to "look at them" - That's a truck roll right there. How far is it? Next door or an overnight?
Are the trees vertical? How difficult to fell them without hitting something else? Are you going to have to remove all limbs etc. to the dump?
How difficult is it to get to the trees?
What does he want? 6" thick slabs or 1"x1" ?

For a person who you know that makes say $50/hr, is going to help thruout the process, has 5 trees all about 40" DBH and 20' clear for the cut on the average and they are all horizontal and cleaned up and right next to where you park I'd expect it would take three days behind the saw, and another day for scouting, setup and tear down, clean up. Which means 5 truck rolls.
I'd say at least grand and a half for starters. In my area 5 truck rolls would be $500.


Unless the guy wants thick wide slabs from all of it I'd suggest you offer to cut it down to bandmill size, take out a few big slabs and have someone else make the dimension lumber. That might only take 2 days.

Good luck.

I don't know how many logs there actually are. I plan on taking my car over on the first scouting trip to keep my mpg cost down.

The guy is a contractor like myself. We have ran into each other on a few occasions and we seemed to get along pretty good. I think we were actually talking about labor rates. I know for a fact that he doesn't make $50 an hour. Actually around here not many do. I'd say lawyers and maybe plumbers do but this place isn't brimming with capital. I'm actually not working right now because I've found that during the winter its better to only take the jobs that can pay and to turn down the rest. We have a seasonal economy and it really sucks. I'm down to about two days of work a week. I actually don't mind because it give me time to build in my shop. You know yesterday I was cutting dowels down for a bakery. A 10min job that I have charge the a full hour for, or else its not really worth my attention.

Back to that job. I took it as he had 3 trees or so? that were pretty big and the biggest was 48wide. I was figuring I'd go see what he had and give him a list of what he needed to do before I could mill them. I was thinking I'd have him cut some cookies and get the logs up so BobL wouldn't see me working on the ground. The guy I bought the 076 from actually lives near to this guy and I figured I stop in and say Hi and see if he had anything else for sale.

I think this quote is actually what i plan on doing.

Unless the guy wants thick wide slabs from all of it I'd suggest you offer to cut it down to bandmill size, take out a few big slabs and have someone else make the dimension lumber. That might only take 2 days.

I don't ever plan on make dimensional lumber with a CSM. I will always go back to my other posts on other Threads where I say you can hire a bandmill for about 220 plus mileage. I'm figuring on slabbing some and blocking out the rest. I really appreciate everyones help with this. I do tend to sell myself short occasionally and I don't want to do it again.

 

[SDB777]

48" logs? I'd have to make a bunch of cuts before getting down to the ground....but I'm not the tallest person on the 'net either. So I'm think BobL won't mind a few cuts off the top side.


Hope the trees are clean and the cutting goes well! Of course pictures never hurt?!?!?!?!



Scott

 

[betterbuilt]

Here's my one good experience. Last fall I got a call from and older lady that I knew. I had helped her daughter bale hay a few years back.

She said they had a few trees taken down and the wanted to mill the one but it weighed to much. She said she only needed it split. I told her today I'd do it for cheaper because my gear was still loaded up from a log I just did. I gave her my hourly and she agreed. I was going to town anyways. I pulled right up to the log grabbed the unistrut rails and was milling in about twenty minutes. Well I only needed to make the one cut and I was on my way in less than an hour. She even gave me a tip. That was a perfect scenario, for me at least.

 

[betterbuilt]

48" logs? I'd have to make a bunch of cuts before getting down to the ground....but I'm not the tallest person on the 'net either. So I'm think BobL won't mind a few cuts off the top side.


Hope the trees are clean and the cutting goes well! Of course pictures never hurt?!?!?!?!



Scott

I promise I'll take pictures. It's the little bit I can do for the free advice. I'm 6'3" and 48 is a little high, especially when I lift the log so I can get some slope.

 

[betterbuilt]

Think back to the last time you hired a skilled tradesman to do a job at your place. How much did they charge you ?

The last time I hired someone, was when my sewer pipe plugged up. $100 for twenty minutes of work.

In general, I don't think you are going to get a skilled tradesman to do portable jobs for less than $50 an hour, whether it is plumbing, electrical, concrete, or what have you.

I can honestly say I haven't hired anyone in a while because of what they charge. Most of my friends are in the trades and we help each other out with most things.

Your totally right on the hourly. I have a friend that explained it pretty well. He said you have to charge what the market can bare.