Firewood business ? Could we make it profitable in the first 2 years

[Nickb123]

Hi guys I’m nick pleased to meet you all 

 

me and my friend have been thinking of starting a firewood business we have as follows 

 

large 30m x 20m barn (rent free) 

losds and loads of outdoor space 

£20k-£25k start up budget 

5t bobcat 

tipper truck 3.5 tonne

large tipping trailers 

 

here are my questions 

 

where would we source the trees to process? 
 

how much would a half decent processing plant cost ? 

 

we would be able to go 3/6 months without any wages from the company until we had reinvested all the money we earnt

 

we aren’t expecting to become rich out the job but we are both hard working honest lads who want to try and get on in life 

 

any info/advice links to equipment would be most welcomed 

 

please give both good and bad sides of the story 

 

thanks nick 

[Stubby]

9 hours ago, Nickb123 said:

Hi guys I’m nick pleased to meet you all 

 

me and my friend have been thinking of starting a firewood business we have as follows 

 

large 30m x 20m barn (rent free) 

losds and loads of outdoor space 

£20k-£25k start up budget 

5t bobcat 

tipper truck 3.5 tonne

large tipping trailers 

 

here are my questions 

 

where would we source the trees to process? 
 

how much would a half decent processing plant cost ? 

 

we would be able to go 3/6 months without any wages from the company until we had reinvested all the money we earnt

 

we aren’t expecting to become rich out the job but we are both hard working honest lads who want to try and get on in life 

 

any info/advice links to equipment would be most welcomed 

 

please give both good and bad sides of the story 

 

thanks nick 

Hi Nick . welcome bud .Lots of people calling it a day as they find it difficult to make a profit . This might be a warning or might go in your favour ( less competition ) . Also the new regs on moisture content to come in soon . Do a search , loads on hear about it .

Edited August 22, 2020 by Stubby

[Jcarbor]

I’ve been in the Arboricultural/ forestry game for a long time, I’ve tried selling firewood, lots of overheads and very little profit and lots of moaning customers ( it’s too big it’s too small! ) I decided to invest £28 k in a biomass burner just to get rid of my never ending timber problems, best thing I have ever purchased.

[Big J]

Selling firewood is selling the unprofitable to the ungrateful. Tom D told me that about 10 years ago, and I've stuck to that mantra.

 

Also, 95% of firewood customers in the UK are short sighted idiots. They'd rather spend twice as much on dry timber, delivered in unfeasibly small quantities at a time of year where delivering dry firewood is challenging and a guarantee of supply is impossible. The rest of Europe buys firewood in bulk cheaply, with unspecified moisture content and then they store it themselves until such time as it's dry. 

 

Couple that with the boom and bust nature of the UK forestry and you've got issues. The cause of this instability is (I feel) the overall lack of supply, the grant funded nature of aspects of the timber industry (RHI, for instance) and our very unpredictable climate (we may get a winter, we may not).

 

The final thing to consider is ash dieback. Every man and his lad will had a profusion of cheap or free ash and the commercial outfits are going to struggle for a couple of years. 

 

If I were you, I'd forget about investing in a firewood business and buy a wheeled excavator with a felling head to do roadside ash. You'll make decent money for a few years, ride out the ash dieback wave, and then if you still want to run a firewood business at the end of it, I say go for it. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Big J

[topchippyles]

18 minutes ago, Big J said:

Selling firewood is selling the unprofitable to the ungrateful. Tom D told me that about 10 years ago, and I've stuck to that mantra.

 

Also, 95% of firewood customers in the UK are short sighted idiots. They'd rather spend twice as much on dry timber, delivered in unfeasibly small quantities at a time of year where delivering dry firewood is challenging and a guarantee of supply is impossible. The rest of Europe buys firewood in bulk cheaply, with unspecified moisture content and then they store it themselves until such time as it's dry. 

 

Couple that with the boom and bust nature of the UK forestry and you've got issues. The cause of this instability is (I feel) the overall lack of supply, the grant funded nature of aspects of the timber industry (RHI, for instance) and our very unpredictable climate (we may get a winter, we may not).

 

The final thing to consider is ash dieback. Every man and his lad will had a profusion of cheap or free ash and the commercial outfits are going to struggle for a couple of years. 

 

If I were you, I'd forget about investing in a firewood business and buy a wheeled excavator with a felling head to do roadside ash. You'll make decent money for a few years, ride out the ash dieback wave, and then if you still want to run a firewood business at the end of it, I say go for it. 

Do a little a little bit of the fire wood as well to build up a customer base

[gary112]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

Selling firewood is selling the unprofitable to the ungrateful. Tom D told me that about 10 years ago, and I've stuck to that mantra.

 

Also, 95% of firewood customers in the UK are short sighted idiots. They'd rather spend twice as much on dry timber, delivered in unfeasibly small quantities at a time of year where delivering dry firewood is challenging and a guarantee of supply is impossible. The rest of Europe buys firewood in bulk cheaply, with unspecified moisture content and then they store it themselves until such time as it's dry. 

 

Couple that with the boom and bust nature of the UK forestry and you've got issues. The cause of this instability is (I feel) the overall lack of supply, the grant funded nature of aspects of the timber industry (RHI, for instance) and our very unpredictable climate (we may get a winter, we may not).

 

The final thing to consider is ash dieback. Every man and his lad will had a profusion of cheap or free ash and the commercial outfits are going to struggle for a couple of years. 

 

If I were you, I'd forget about investing in a firewood business and buy a wheeled excavator with a felling head to do roadside ash. You'll make decent money for a few years, ride out the ash dieback wave, and then if you still want to run a firewood business at the end of it, I say go for it. 

Thats the answer right there?

[eggsarascal]

Ten years ago I was buying in round wood for £55/ton delivered and selling at £100/m2, there wasn't any money in it then. Give it a miss, plenty of easier ways to make a living.

[gdh]

Where are you based? It's possible to make money at it if you don't mind hard work. The first decision is whether you stay small and process arbwaste and cheap wood or go big and buy in wood and rely on efficiency. Either way without a kiln it's too late really to cut and dry wood for this winter.

 

If i were you I would find a wholesaler and buy in, for example, 100cubic metres for this winter and see how you get on with selling it.

 

If you enjoy it and make money you can start processing for next winter in the spring.

 

Whichever route you go down it's best to go VAT registered to stay competitive. As a general rule you'll always get a reclaim with firewood because you're buying at 20% and selling at 5%.

 

12kish + vat will get you a brand new tajfun 400 processor which will handle most wood and be quick and reliable. 

[Nickb123]

4 hours ago, gdh said:

Where are you based? It's possible to make money at it if you don't mind hard work. The first decision is whether you stay small and process arbwaste and cheap wood or go big and buy in wood and rely on efficiency. Either way without a kiln it's too late really to cut and dry wood for this winter.

 

If i were you I would find a wholesaler and buy in, for example, 100cubic metres for this winter and see how you get on with selling it.

 

If you enjoy it and make money you can start processing for next winter in the spring.

 

Whichever route you go down it's best to go VAT registered to stay competitive. As a general rule you'll always get a reclaim with firewood because you're buying at 20% and selling at 5%.

 

12kish + vat will get you a brand new tajfun 400 processor which will handle most wood and be quick and reliable. 

 Hi we are in Grimsby 

 

how much would a kiln be ? 
 

Do you know of any wholesale suppliers In our area ? 
 

thanks nick 

[spuddog0507]

some really good answers above here to consider, now coming from some one who has been involved with selling firewood for some (dare i say it ) 45 years, I was doing it with my dad back in the mid 70s and he made a bit out of it but not much, but you have to remember back then the miners where on strike nearly full time, people where hard up and  gas centeral heating was only for the rich,

Since then i have allways done firewood but it only made pocket/beer money, then as things have progressed and the demand has risen as more people have installed wood burning stoves, but it is a venture that needs a lot of careful thought as you will end up working your arse off for very little return,

I am in a very good position at the moment as i do a bit of work for one of the Uks major forestry cos and when it gets to the end of say a 10,000 tonne harvesting job i get the the job of going and removing the timber that is left roadside, now this will be 3 tonne of this 4 tonne of that and 5 tonne of then etc, its not worth the forestry company sending a wagon for a mixed load, so they pay me to go and remove the timber, i all so get paid of one or 2 local tree surgeons to remove there timber as well,

The above enables me to make a bit out of the firewood but it is only a bit, i make more out of removing the timber, and most of it is sold direct from the harvesting site, we now have to consider the fact that after Feb 2021 all logs have to be sub 20% moisture so this is another issue to consider, I would be doing some serious home work on this subject and personally i think as Big J said you could spend your money else where and make far more with a lot less effort, Do a trial on the firewood with say 1 or 2 wagon load and see what happens, but you will miss this winter now unless you have means of drying the logs to sub 20%, i would consider the comments above very carefully,