Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Kodiak Kid]

Look at it this way. You need to pay for all your equipment, health insurance, SSI, Disability Insurance and most importantly a retirement account. Eight years ago I was charging $65 an hour to do field mowing at a local residence. I thought that was cheap. I didn't have to pay for health insurance and other things like that as I was still working full time. If you finish your day or job feeling that you didn't charge enough, then you already answered your own question. If you have to hire extra help then add in their hourly wage plus extra to cover the cost for your equipment.

Roger that, thankyou.

 

[xraydaniel]

Do you guys know where the ground goes? Maybe on the open threads of the oil reservoir bolts? Kill switch I’m still working on and I’m still waiting for the 66mm jug ‘n piston to come in the mail.

 

[JimR]

No wood scrounging today but I scrounged up a few loppers and a stick saw for $200.

 

[sean donato]

My time is worth $1,000,000 an hour! Unfortunately, nobody wants to pay me that! Can you believe it??? Yeah, I cant either!

Seriously though Sean. Unfortunately Im not the best at figuring out expenses. I kinda struggle in the department.

Yeah, I think I'm worth that too lol.
You need to have an idea mate. Can't undercut yourself. Just kinda add up a month's worth of bills and divide it by working hours. Gets you a base number for expenses. Then figure out what you want to pay yourself. Don't know how to tell you to quote jobs, but covering basic expenses is a good place to start then add in a reasonable wage for yourself.

 

[Squareground3691]

Do you guys know where the ground goes? Maybe on the open threads of the oil reservoir bolts? Kill switch I’m still working on and I’m still waiting for the 66mm jug ‘n piston to come in the mail.View attachment 1089953

Possibly on the screw of the handle assembly,

 

[Sawdust Man]

Done..

Thirteen loads cut & hauled in 4 stinking long days....

 

[SS396driver]

Done..
View attachment 1089956
Thirteen loads cut & hauled in 4 stinking long days....View attachment 1089958

I have never cut red cedar seems the only cedar here is white .

 

[Sawdust Man]

I have never cut red cedar seems the only cedar here is white .

I likewise have never cut any white cedar.

If you bring me a load of white cedar logs I'll swap you straight across for some red cedar......lol

 

[rarefish383]

Look at it this way. You need to pay for all your equipment, health insurance, SSI, Disability Insurance and most importantly a retirement account. Eight years ago I was charging $65 an hour to do field mowing at a local residence. I thought that was cheap. I didn't have to pay for health insurance and other things like that as I was still working full time. If you finish your day or job feeling that you didn't charge enough, then you already answered your own question. If you have to hire extra help then add in their hourly wage plus extra to cover the cost for your equipment.

Doing residential Tree Removal we were charging the customer $85 a man hour, back in the 80's. There is a lot of South of the Border companies now that charge about the same thing. Big established companies are charging $125 per man hour. You have to make money today for the day it rains next week. We had some really good climbers, back in the day, and some of them would try to go out on there own. The ALL failed, because they would abasically charge the customers what we paid them. They just could not comprehend the expenses above the daily pay roll.

 

[rarefish383]

I likewise have never cut any white cedar.

If you bring me a load of white cedar logs I'll swap you straight across for some red cedar......lol

I'm in MD, Mid Atlantic area, and have never seen a White Cedar, that I know of. I'm in the process of eradicating the Autumn Olive on my property in WV. The state is paying me $595 an acre for the Autumn Olive, but I'm removing any Red Cedar that get in my way. Want to reclaim about 3 acres the Cedars and Olives have invaded a hay field.

 

[rarefish383]

No wood scrounging today but I scrounged up a few loppers and a stick saw for $200.

Are those hydraulic poles for a bucket truck? A friend asked me to sell several of her dad's old bucket truck pole clips and saws. I thought it would be handy to run them off the Hydraulics on my Massey 135. When I looked into it, I was told the two systems were not readily compatible. I don't know that, just what I was told.

 

[Sawdust Man]

I'm in MD, Mid Atlantic area, and have never seen a White Cedar, that I know of. I'm in the process of eradicating the Autumn Olive on my property in WV. The state is paying me $595 an acre for the Autumn Olive, but I'm removing any Red Cedar that get in my way. Want to reclaim about 3 acres the Cedars and Olives have invaded a hay field.

I'm not familiar with autumn olive, but red cedar is horribly invasive.....the ranchers around here have a continuous war to keep it out of the pastures & hay fields.

 

[JustJeff]

Roger that, thankyou.

There are some actual arborists on this site. just not on this page. I'd bet some of them would be happy to help with some business advice.
It's good to know where your competitors are pricewise as well.

 

[WoodAbuser]

I'm in MD, Mid Atlantic area, and have never seen a White Cedar, that I know of. I'm in the process of eradicating the Autumn Olive on my property in WV. The state is paying me $595 an acre for the Autumn Olive, but I'm removing any Red Cedar that get in my way. Want to reclaim about 3 acres the Cedars and Olives have invaded a hay field.

Why is the state paying you for the Autumn Olive? Is considered an invasive species?

 

[Kodiak Kid]

Needed to make some saw waste and I needed a powersaw that could handle the job. Lucky for me I had one!

Before


After

 

[rarefish383]

Why is the state paying you for the Autumn Olive? Is considered an invasive species?

Yes, the work order calls for Autumn Olive and Multiflora Rose. I hadn't seen any Rose in years. Now that I've started pulling the Olive, I'm finding a lot of Rose too.

 

[rarefish383]

I'm not familiar with autumn olive, but red cedar is horribly invasive.....the ranchers around here have a continuous war to keep it out of the pastures & hay fields.

Yep, I've been saying I was going to reclaim the hay field lost to the Cedar for years. I didn't even know what the big silver leafed bush/trees were There were just a few of them. In the last ten years they are every where now. We snatched out about 20 of them Wed and Thur, on maybe an acre, probably only half that. the big bush is an Autumn Olive. They also have Russian Olive, and it's worse. it's covered in thorns about like the ones on a Locust tree. The big puffs of what look like smoke, was running over almost knee high ant hills.

 

[JimR]

Are those hydraulic poles for a bucket truck? A friend asked me to sell several of her dad's old bucket truck pole clips and saws. I thought it would be handy to run them off the Hydraulics on my Massey 135. When I looked into it, I was told the two systems were not readily compatible. I don't know that, just what I was told.

They are off a bucket truck. I'll let you know if they work off my tractor or not. I need to change the fittings first.

 

[chipper1]

Needed to make some saw waste and I needed a powersaw that could handle the job. Lucky for me I had one!

Before
View attachment 1089961

After
View attachment 1089960

Thats a nice pile, how much do 5 gallon buckets of it sell for .
One thing to consider when working for yourself is the liability/risk, jobs that anyone with a chainsaw can do will typically be much cheaper per hr, much like splitting. If no-one else will touch it, why not, usually means they don't feel confident in their abilities to do it safely or they don't have the proper equipment, if you do then there should be a bit of a premium charged for those jobs.
I usually charge 500 a day per machine/man hr, and more if I have to rent the equipment, obviously if you're hiring a crane, then you should be getting enough to pay for that and you should be making money for the crane being there. My close rate is about 60-70%, much of the work I don't get I didn't want in the first place; then there are the clients I tell that another company can probably do it cheaper because they won't be renting the equipment to do the job, and they say "okay, when can you start", theres a reason I'm there in the first place (references).
While these are all important to consider, as has been said, it doesn't matter how much you think your time or equipment is worth an hr if people can't or won't pay for it. Many companies have been started because there was a high demand and they saw an opportunity to make a bunch of money even while charging reasonable prices, but they must make enough to continue to make enough to pay for their equipment/people/other cost, or why are you doing it.
I will say that I charge enough that I can also afford to help others out, if I'm not making enough to pay our bills and to help others, I see no worth in working.

 

[xraydaniel]

Possibly on the screw of the handle assembly,

Correct. Just checked my other clone (you’d think that would be my obvious choice lol ) and it’s on the handle bolts.