Firewood prices

[wills-mill]

hi got to find a market for a load of chestnut 3m cord and a stack of 3m seasoned firewood mixture of mainly ash oak, birch, hornbeam, and alder all got out to hard standing. chestnut is stacked separate to log wood had a guy offer £7 a ton for chestnut to go as chip and £14 a ton for log wood ? Do these prices seem fair as im out of touch what the going rates are? Price seems to cheap for log wood but could be wrong

 

Digga, if your chestnut's over 8" diameter these guys would be interested. Currently paying around £40-£50 per tonne. There's a spec of what they want on the materials page. It's a bit specialised, but a good return if you cut for it.

As for the cordwood, you should hope for a bit closer to £20.

 

W

[digga]

thanks for the link and info wills- mill chestnut thats there wouldnt meet there spec but very handy to know for future use and the stuff i will be cutting this winter cheers

[Dean Lofthouse]

I have been charging £60 for a bulk bag 80cm x 80cm x 80cm with no problems at all. The key to getting a good price for your wood is to quote moisture content.

 

The wood , from being cut is tipped under cover, it is then split within a few days and stored for a full season split. It then shows around 15% on the moisture meter.

 

You also should be selling the wood by volume, ie bulk bag. There is no such thing as a ton of wood.

 

A ton of wood at what moisture content??

 

I have sat down and worked out costings, for labour, machinery, wear and tear, bulk bags, fuel, chains, bars, storage etc etc and you sell for less than £60 a bag you are earning pin money.

 

All costing should be added on top of your profit, half the reason for seeing tree surgeons pulling around clapped out tackle is they don't do this, they don't add that bit on for wear and tear which they should (ideally) be putting to one side for a time when a machine claps out, they can then go buy another.

 

I searched online for prices and found a well known northern log supplier selling low moisture content logs for £105 plus delivery.

 

I also tested some logs that had been delivered to my local pub from a well established log supplier that were described as seasoned and they measured 45% moisture. All I can think is that they ahd stored them under a waterfall.

 

If you explained to your customers that your logs are low moisture content and explain that these logs give of many times more heat because they aren't wasting energy converting water into steam which then dampens the fire and that they can turn the airflow down so making them burn and last longer. You will comand much higher prices for your logs and won't have to work like billy ho to keep up to supply for give away log supplys ltd.

 

This next winter coming I am putting my prices up to £70 or £80 for a 90 x 90 x90 bulk bag of 15% moisture content logs, I've explained to my customers and they seem not too peturbed by the idea of paying a little bit extra. If need be give your customer a sample of your logs.

[Steve Bullman]

sounds an interesting setup you have......how do you go about delivering the bags? and how do you fill the bags?

 

post some pics sometime if you dont mind

[Big Tom]

Ive got a full barn full of pop but no one wants it. i use it and its gr8 when its dry. sometimes a bit sutty tho

[Dean Lofthouse]

I have a little mid sized kubota tractor with pallet tines on the front loader, it's a slow job but i just put the empty bag on the forks and fill the bag by hand, that way with the bag suspended you get a good load in, it is then put straight on to my defender tipper and if the bag is pulled over onto its side with the base facing the back of the tipper and then tipped, it nearly always lands upright on the customers drive! Two bags are a bit more tricky.

[RPA]

Round here they are charging (on average) £50/dumpy bag dropping to £40 if u get 4+ bags

[Zenfordinner]

We sell mixed bag (cubic meter, bulders sac stylie) for £35, hardwood for £45, reductions come in at 3 bags. Transit load around £150. Plus vat though. Depending on quantity we do low price for unsplit cordwood for clients who like to play with chainsaws and axes:proud:

 

We have wood/logs coming out of our ears, so if anyone wants any unsplit rings, and some lenghts, give us a shout. We are thinking to clear the lot, as we need to move yards. We were cleared out of tools in December, compliments of some thieving b******* who gas axed the shipping container and helped themselves on a cold windy night. Luckily for us we had taken the chipper home, so they did not get the prize, even if they took trailer and thirteen saws. It was a sad day, as you can imagine

[Frimsley]

Well having just had a letter from the electricity company telling me they're putting 13% on the price, I can't see a problem with the price of logs going up to. After all, energy is traded on the world market. That's whe the increase in prices of gas, oil and coal thanks to the Chinese demand is affecting the cost of my electricity, despite the fact that the company I buy it from only buys renewably sourced electricity. Problem is, when the price of gas generated lekky goes up, the wholesalers buy up renewables, pushing the price up.

 

Demand for wood fuel is likely to increase. The Forestry Commission seem to be pinning there hopes for the future of forestry on building the wood fuel market on the back of sustainable sourced wood fuel being near carbon neutral. I think you can expect to see increased prices for logs in the next few years, alongside increased markets. Given the work that goes into producing logs, it wouldn't surprise me at all if many arbs started to sell their unprocessed cord straight into chip processing plants as the wood fuel supply infrastructure develops. I'd question whether smaller setups can actually add enough value to the wood to justify the labour by converting it themselves.

 

By the way Zenfordinner, what rate of VAT are you charging. Logs are fuel, so if your selling to domestic customers it should be the lower rate of 5%.

[detritus21]

My local council shred virtually everything and sell to a company that make wood briquettes. Not having a stockpile of my own logs to delve into for myself is prooving problematic as the stuff I I'm "aquiring" at present is all pee wet through