so I want to start a firewood business...

[Squatch]

I want to start a firewood business to supplement my income. I have all the equipment from my own personal use, and space to store 10-12 cords at any given time. I’m not looking to get rich, mianly looking to add $10-$15k to my income annually, and a way to write off some better equipment over time. I want to start small and service my community (where seasoned oak sells 350-400 per cord) Unfortunately I mainly scrounge windfall etc in a small area around my home, which is great for personal use, but not something I can start a business with. Where do experienced firewood vets source wood?

 

[Mustang71]

I saw the one small landscaping company by me getting logs delivered from a tree company. They cut them up and split them and sold them so I'm assuming it was profitable. The price of fire wood is in the labor not the wood. Buying wood in log form can't be to expensive.

 

[farmer steve]

what's the going rate for a cord of wood in your area? the reason i ask is to give you answers to your questions.

 

[Hank_612]

He said seasoned oak sells 350 to 400 per cord in his area. Which is more than twice what it goes for around st louis.

 

[farmer steve]

He said seasoned oak sells 350 to 400 per cord in his area. Which is more than twice what it goes for around st louis.

he must have added that after I asked.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

We get logs from the woods and house clearing sites.

Working on clear cutting a ~125 acre property right now for example. Did a 90 and a 40 acre jobs before that.

 

[T. Mainus]

We pay around 90-100 a cord for logs delivered to our shop from the loggers. 10-12 cord loads usually. The biggest problem I see is that you only have room to store 10-12 cords. The wood has to season before you sell it so that is going to limit the amount of income you can expect to make. 12 cord at $400 a cord is only $4800 before expenses.

 

[Squatch]

Yeah, I think the best bet is to talk to all the local tree services. I maybe able to store more than 12 cords depending on how I arrange everything. I am hoping to start investing in logs ASAP and selling in the fall. Once I start selling then I would try to get more deliveries and try to get a rhythm to it.

 

[rarefish383]

It's March now, if you want to start selling in the fall, that's only about 6 months drying. A lot of folks don't consider that seasoned. 15K is about 37 cord, sounds like A LOT of rearranging. What is all of the equipment that you have?

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

There's no easy answer to what will work.

We are on about 5 acres here and it'd be nice to have another couple acres.

Best thing is not to rely on anyone for your logs though. They have no real vested interest if they sell to you or not.

At a minimum get setup with a saw, splitter and small dump truck.

 

[chucker]

storage is your biggest problem along with better aged/seasoned wood! wood sales are never in one compass direction! so with 4 points to sell in there should be a friend/family member that may or may not allow you to store wood in these directions room available?. this kills two birds with out hauling it at longer distances! strong measurements, clean product as possible and reasonable price till you gain a client list.. these are just the beginning facts to a sales profit... word of mouth from a "HAPPY CLIENT" goes a long way! sometimes further then you may want to deliver!! but go the extra mile!!1

 

[Squatch]

There is a vacant property across the street I could likely store as many cords as I wanted with permission from the owner.

 

[sundance]

So you're looking at making 30+ cords a year. Figure at least 18 months to be seasoned depending on where in California you are. I can't address wood sources but you need to be prepared for a near term significant outlay while waiting for any payout. Wht's your cost if woods free? Start there, factor in the cost of wood........volume derived from there to meet your $10-15K per year desire? Planning to make it legit and pay taxes?

 

[Circle B MN]

The ideal firewood business is one where the product you sell is one that you were paid to acquire. Tree service, land clearing, etc. Buying logs is a crap shoot as a surge in pulp or saw log prices can put you in a bad spot trying to source product and stay in the black. Not to mention the monetary gamble that the logs you buy today are going to produce the revenue that you forecast come sale time.

You're better off to get into farming...only business I know of where you can buy insurance for success.

 

[Mustang71]

Idk if you have a full time job or not but that's a lot of added work after work to cut and split and stack 37 cord. You have to maintain a schedule too in order to keep enough seasoned wood in stock. If it were me I would start with smaller goals like selling fire wood for a year or 2 and making a profit before trying to trying to make 15k cash in the first year.

I could sell some wood here or there. Stack it by the road with a for sale sign on it but it's not worth my time after work to make a little money. I collect copper from work and scrap it. That's almost no work and makes money. But if you have the time then give it a try.

 

[Squatch]

The long term goal would be to make 10-15k. Year 1 or even 2 I’d be hoping to break even and have a legitimate way of writing off any new equipment I need, and maybe a bit of extra cash in my pocket. Yes, I want it to be a legitimate business. I’m in a full time professional career, but want to earn more money, and have confidence in my ability to work hard and manage my time. I’d hope to build a solid reliable reputation for being on time and having good product... then see where it takes me.

 

[muddstopper]

I will just say this about running a legitimate business. Dont!!. Anytime government gets its nose in your business, it will cost you more to stay in business than you can make. Its not just the taxes you have to worry about. As a legit business, are you going to Incorporate, LLC, DBA, what ever, it cost you money just for the paperwork. Doesnt add anything to your bottom line, and it does cost you up front. Then theri is the whole insurance thing, it cost and doesnt add anything to the bottom line. are you going to have employees, more added cost and not just in wages. There is SS taxes, medicare/medicaid, Unemployment taxes, workers comp and general liability. Heaven forbid one of your employees gets hurt on your property, you might end up losing your house. Then there is the accounting, you can buy software, but it aint cheap and you still have to take the time to file the quarterly reports. Dont want to fool with doing it yourself, then you will need a accountant, they cost money too. For a small part time business, it aint worth it to be Legal Legit" You will lose the shirt off your back and the government sets it up where you can lose even more. Never forget, the goveernment will get theirs, whether you get anything or not. Not saying you cant be a legitimate business, as in you sell firewood there fore you are in the firewood business, just keep the government out of it. Trying to write off high equipment cost on a low income business will never work, you simply cant write off more than your business makes. To be "Legal" legitimate, if you are able to write off the equipment as a business expense, and then later if you decide to sale that piece of equipment, you now have to list the sale price as income and pay taxes on that income.

 

[Husky Man]

All I can say is GOOD LUCK

Myself, I have trouble getting the 10-12 cords that I like to have for my own use each year, and still have a life. I have neighbors, and others in the general area always asking if I want to sell any of the wood that I have cut, or where to buy firewood. I would have no trouble at all selling about as much wood as I could cut and split full time, but I have a long time career, for paying the mortgage & etc.,etc., etc. plus I like to go Fishing, crabbing and all sorts of other things with the Family. It sounds like you have a stable primary career, in MY OPINION, trying to selling 30+cords of wood a year, your Family Life(if you have a Wife and/or Kids) is really going to suffer. Just something to think about, the Alimony, and Child Support, may cost you more than you will ever make selling firewood, and I am only half joking when I say that

I Hope that what is TRULY the Best case for you works out,

Doug

 

[sb47]

You said you wanted to start small and 20/30 cords a year is small. Do you want to sell year round or just in the winter? Whats the drying time for split and stacked wood in your area? How long will it take you to work up that much wood? How much yard room do you have to work with? What is the storage lot or area look like, is it sunny,shady,windy,covered? Where or how do you intend on dispose of all the saw dust, chips and bark that you will generate? Do you have room to get a big truck into your yard to dump a load of wood?
There are a lot of factors that determine when and how much wood you want. I get a lot from tree companies. The good side is it's cheap or even free wood, the down side is you get what you get, the good with the bad. It will also be cut in random sizes so you will be doing a lot of saw work. If you stay small any tree company should easily be able to keep you supplied.

 

[Little Al]

We pay around 90-100 a cord for logs delivered to our shop from the loggers. 10-12 cord loads usually. The biggest problem I see is that you only have room to store 10-12 cords. The wood has to season before you sell it so that is going to limit the amount of income you can expect to make. 12 cord at $400 a cord is only $4800 before expenses.

Agree the problem you have is storage the usual delivery to fire wood sellers were we are is a minimum of 25 cubic metres which is on par with your 12 cords assuming the delivery is 12 cords you have very limited working room to cut/split but you manage that task & stack your 12 cord to season your work/storage area is taken up & until the original stock is seasoned & sold off you are stuck for space to ongo the process I don't know what you consider seasoned but the wood we processed the summer/autumn of 2017 will not be for sale until the cold season 19/20 if you adopt the same time frame all your stock is tied up for 2 or more years & if & when sold on will be the same for the next load I fear you need a bigger area for preparation to enable to be ongoing & making money