Advertising helps a lot, but after you get a small customer base, word of mouth is gold. I have never advertised, but I'm not going big-time either. I have 9 routine customers now, but have had as many as 15 courtesy of word-of-mouth. I've only lost one due to a lack of satisfaction. The rest were A.D. military and got PCS'd. With those , I generally move around 12-16 cords/year not counting the 6-8 I burn a year. The most I've ever done was about 30 and that was about the max of my comfort level, with being full-time military myself and it's resultant demands. I've had to tell 7 referrals this year that I could not help them out, (but was taking orders for next year) as I did not plan for the amount that has been burned so far this season, nor losing all of the equipment in red in the middle of last year, with a miserably low insurance payout (another thread unto itself). In order to be official, I'd have to separate the wood I use from the wood I sell, or else I'd be insolvent on paper after wages and other expenses and I'm getting $100 for 0.5 cord, delivered and stacked. Hell, most of my customers insist on helping me stack (some are better than others) even after being reminded that they're paying me to stack it. It provides time for a bit of conversation and check-up, they all know me by name and ask how my family is doing and vice-versa. I enjoy it tremendously. Once I retire, I will likely take a lot more on, account for the sale wood properly and st least start being able to depreciate some equipment. Right now it's a hobby and what little I make after expenses essentially pays for my own consumption.
In my area the going rate is as little as $65 for 1/2 cord and as much as $135.00 depending on content, logistics and other factors, with the average being around $85. I am not the highest but am on the higher end. I am able to do this by operating more of a boutique/cottage style model, spending some time getting to know new customers and educating them on units of measure, wood types/uses, heater types pros/cons of each etc and giving them the information to make their own informed decisions. By doing this, I know my customers needs relative to type, size and end use requirements and help them to achieve a realistic outcome. My Farm customers want Hedge. My City customers want anything BUT Hedge, as they've been conditioned to avoid it. Most are happy with the mixed lot of Mulberry, Hackleberry, Burr, Black, White, Pin, Chestnut and Red Oak, Honey Locust, Ash, Red Elm and Black Walnut that I typically mix together as I cut it. A few specify something particular and the price goes up a bit accordingly, but they get exactly want they want and when I say I will be there, they know that I will with a quality, reliable and consistent product. If you put that together while managing your costs accordingly, you'll be just fine. Depending on the size that you're wanting/needing, If you want to do 1000 cords, you'll need some pro equipment. If you want to do 10-50 you could do it with 2 decent saws, a splitter and a good truck/trailer. Anything beyond that is simply to increase your productivity or ease the physical demands on yourself. A good hydraulic splitter is hard to beat and low entry price (not Pro-Level of course). If you're mainly doing smaller more easily managed wood, a kinetic, or flywheel splitter may be the better option, especially from a time perspective, not that they won't do large wood, but they generally don't offer a lift feature and are all horizontal. A few observations and lessons learned over 17 years of doing this, with a lot more learning to go.
