Heap of branches value

[Fenrat]

Hi there,

 

Ive noticed the neighbour has a large pile of un processed hardwood firewood quality logs 4-6inch dia, 2-3ft long, laying in his yard. They are prunings from apple trees. I asked him and he said I was welcome to them as long as I made it right with him later.  If not he was planning on getting one of his guys to log them up and try to sell them.  

 

My question is what do you think the logs are worth as they sit there.  I would go and cut them up, haul them away to be dried and then pay him per m3 for them.  I don't want to be overpaying considering I have a large portion of the work to do, but i also don't want to be cheeky/ rude and give him too little.  

 

Greatful for your thoughts.

[Khriss]

Nothing . I would say . Picking a log up in yr hand costs money in some way or other. K

[Bob_z_l]

Tough call.

Personally, I have paid for stuff like this. Enough for a couple of beers! Maybe a bit more....depends on quantity and quality.

Is it for your own use? 

 

[Fenrat]

1 minute ago, Khriss said:

Nothing . I would say . Picking a log up in yr hand costs money in some way or other. K

Thats's on of my thoughts. 

 

The other is that he could pay his bloke £10/hr to cut them up and then sell them at the roadside for say £50/cube

 

So working on a cube an hour will he consider the value of the logs to be £40/cube? If so im not interested.

 

If he said he was looking at like £200 quid for the lot I would probably go for that because its local and I want them for my own burner.

[Fenrat]

1 minute ago, Bob_z_l said:

Tough call.

Personally, I have paid for stuff like this. Enough for a couple of beers! Maybe a bit more....depends on quantity and quality.

Is it for your own use? 

 

Yes my own use and I'm willing to pay something.  I was thinking i was going to see how much I got and what it was like before agreeing to a price.  Don't want to take the piss though as he is a large orchard grower and will continue to have wood available every year.  It doesnt seem that easy to find for free in my area

[Khriss]

So he is an Apple Farmer then ? So he has had his money out of that tree anyway . Presuming you have to clear the twigs - I would say Bob_z_l is nearer the mark . K

[Bob_z_l]

2 minutes ago, Fenrat said:

Yes my own use and I'm willing to pay something.  I was thinking i was going to see how much I got and what it was like before agreeing to a price.  Don't want to take the piss though as he is a large orchard grower and will continue to have wood available every year.  It doesnt seem that easy to find for free in my area

I think £200 is strong money, however it's difficult to gauge the amount from your post.

I'm sure you could go in lower and negotiate up to something more mutually beneficial. 

Fair exchange = no robbery

 

After all you want it to be an ongoing relationship. 

Sounds like another chat is needed.

Good luck, hope it works out.

[Stere]

6" diameter

 

Sounds like a whole orchard grubbed up rather tha prunning

 

You could just offer to pay by the load how depending  big is your trailer vechicle is  etc?

 

Better just offering to  pay cash straight away  rather than all the  process it then m3 stuff etc...

 

And be cheeky

[Jack.P]

If it’s anything like this then don’t bother .tried processing for firewood and quickly gave up with most of it as too time consuming 

 

[djbobbins]

This could turn into a lesson on the theory of economics...

 

What’s your alternative? Buying logs roadside or can you get hold of arisings? If you need the wood and would otherwise have to pay £70 a cube delivered (or probably more, since the “cube” is probably a builders bag) then they might be worth that, minus whatever you value your costs and time at to fetch them, saw them and leave them to dry out.

 

On the flip side, does the person need the space etc etc?

 

Theory says all of this should point to a maximum you’d be prepared to pay and a minimum they’d be prepared to sell for. Providing the value to you is bigger than the value to them, there’s a deal to be had.

 

That all having been said... I’ve only “paid” for wood for firewood once in the last thirteen years. About three years ago I parted with £23 for this lot - it’s softwood and that’s an 8 foot garage door in the background, so how does the heap size compare??

 

For hardwood if there isn’t too much brash to deal with, and since it sounds like you will be able to ring it up but not need to split it, I’d be thinking about the £20/tonne mark personally. Overall amount would depend on how big the pile is!!