Pricing out milling jobs

[danh8866]

I am getting a LucasMill that I have been waiting on for a while. I have a couple of customers that have been waiting with me, that are wanting logs milled. My question is... What do you guys that are portable saw owners normally charge per board foot to mill?? Thanx in advance!

 

[brookpederson]

I charge by the hour. I find it easier than trying to figure out the board footage. 40 bucks an hour for my 28 hp BS mill. I let them help stack and move stuff around if they want to make the job go faster. Good luck

 

[BobL]

I haven't milled for money all that often but the times I have I charged by the hour, and half rates for travel time.

 

[M.R.]

I would base my rates by the hour under a given log diameter & by the bf / thousand over this dia.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

How long have you been milling??? If the mill is new to you, i don't see you being skilled enough to charge too much. (no insult intended)

Do you know how to grade saw? That's hard to do with a swinger, so you end up with lower grade lumber, unless you are just milling construction lumber???

Lots of other things enter into it too that all need to be taken into account when priceing...

SR

 

[Dave Boyt]

I generally saw by the hour, too... and charge setup & breakdown as part of the time. Also $1.50 per mile (one way) to discourage small jobs. I keep track of board footage so I can tell the customer how much per board foot he paid to have a given log sawn. Generally, I try to cut the best logs first, then work down to the smaller, scrappier logs, which take more time (thus costing more per board foot). If we get to the point where the lumber is costing more than the customer wants to pay, we stop at that point. Check with insurance before allowing a customer help. There are a lot of ways to get hurt, some which are less than obvious. An inexperienced mill hand trying to save a few bucks by helping out generally costs more time than he (or she) saves, and they don't always use good judgement. Good luck!