How much?

[Treeworld]

2 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

 

Market value prices. Dont like the price? Try and find someone cheaper or do the work yourself. I’ll hazard a guess most folk would rather pay the £90

 

Are you really for real. A dumpy bag of logs at market price is not £90+ and if you think that is a fair price then you are the problem. I'm not in the market for buying or supplying but do know what is a fair price especially in the south east and that is certainly way off the mark. 

[trigger_andy]

Are you really for real. A dumpy bag of logs at market price is not £90+ and if you think that is a fair price then you are the problem. I'm not in the market for buying or supplying but do know what is a fair price especially in the south east and that is certainly way off the mark. 

I’m not yet in the firewood business but I’ve bought some equipment to get the ball rolling. My aim is to sell 100 this coming season and expand from there. 

 

With that in mind I’ve been paying attention to what dumpy bags of hard and softwood sell for in my area, which is the North East of Scotland. A Dumpy Bag of seasoned Hardwood is £90+. Soft seems to be £50-£70

 

If you’re not in the market for buying or selling then how do you know what a fair price is? 

[Mark Bolam]

You can charge whatever you want.

Nobody is forced to buy anything.

[Treeworld]

1 minute ago, trigger_andy said:

I’m not yet in the firewood business but I’ve bought some equipment to get the ball rolling. My aim is to sell 100 this coming season and expand from there. 
 

With that in mind I’ve been paying attention to what dumpy bags of hard and softwood sell for in my area, which is the North East of Scotland. A Dumpy Bag of seasoned Hardwood is £90+. Soft seems to be £60-£80. 
 

If you’re not in the market for buying or selling then how do you know what a fair price is? 

Andy, I have lived with either an open fire or wood burner all my life and now in my 5th decade and as an arborist for almost half of that I certainly know the market value of wood. The original bag dimension you quoted ammounts to a mere 0. 61 m³ which for that price is a rip off. Especially when you take into account all the air space in their too so be lucky to actually get 0.5 m³. £100 for a pick up load ( single cab) is more realistic and what most people pay. I am fortunate never to have had to pay for logs and likely never to have to do so. But I am informed and will input where I believe malpractices are afoot. 

[trigger_andy]

1 minute ago, Treeworld said:

Andy, I have lived with either an open fire or wood burner all my life and now in my 5th decade and as an arborist for almost half of that I certainly know the market value of wood. The original bag dimension you quoted ammounts to a mere 0. 61 m³ which for that price is a rip off. Especially when you take into account all the air space in their too so be lucky to actually get 0.5 m³. £100 for a pick up load ( single cab) is more realistic and what most people pay. I am fortunate never to have had to pay for logs and likely never to have to do so. But I am informed and will input where I believe malpractices are afoot. 

I’ve also had either an open fire or a stove my whole life and my old man was in the game. I chose another path as I actually like to make more than minimum wage for my efforts. 
 

It’s a free market. If people don’t want to pay £90 for a dumpy bag of Hardwood then good for them, keep looking til they find someone willing to sell for less. 
 

I know a few firewood operations to sell up in my area as there was simply no money in it. I think you’re seriously underestimating the costs of producing firewood and how tight the margins are. I’d certainly not be able to make a living off of it. 
 

As you say, you’ve never had to pay for logs so I think you’re wrong in your opinion that you’re informed. 
 

As I said earlier, everyone is free to cut and split their own firewood. But I expect they will just keep paying the market value. A market value that will jump considerably this coming season. I’d not be surprised if we see £120 a dumpy bag of seasoned hardwood. 

[Mark Bolam]

10 minutes ago, Treeworld said:

Andy, I have lived with either an open fire or wood burner all my life and now in my 5th decade and as an arborist for almost half of that I certainly know the market value of wood. The original bag dimension you quoted ammounts to a mere 0. 61 m³ which for that price is a rip off. Especially when you take into account all the air space in their too so be lucky to actually get 0.5 m³. £100 for a pick up load ( single cab) is more realistic and what most people pay. I am fortunate never to have had to pay for logs and likely never to have to do so. But I am informed and will input where I believe malpractices are afoot. 

You could advertise at £900 a dumpy bag, it still wouldn’t be malpractice.

 

People can then pay that if they want or go elsewhere.

[Treeworld]

I have always been asked if I supply logs and always it's a no because of the very reason you mention in that margins are so small. I 100% back a free market and that is the point afterall. Logs>gas=no logs

[Gav73]

Interesting reading. Supply and demand will have an impact on the price.

The big suppliers in my area are all roughly the same price for a .9 cube builders bag at £125 for kiln dried mixed hardwoods.

And the prices go up if you want something more exotic like oak.

I’m lucky that I don’t buy any logs as I process all my own from arb waste, but I know that there’s a waiting list for deliveries so someone is buying them at that price!

[trigger_andy]

I have always been asked if I supply logs and always it's a no because of the very reason you mention in that margins are so small. I 100% back a free market and that is the point afterall. Logs>gas=no logs

 

You don’t think you’re contracting yourself?

 

You won’t sell logs as the margins are too tight but those that do sell them are being greedy?

 

There’s a serious disconnect going on here.

[trigger_andy]

If you run the numbers it’s no wonder no one sells logs full time and for less that £80/£90 a bag.

What’s a ton of processor grade hardwood these days? £70-90?

Will you fill 3 dumpy bags from that?

Then factor in you’ll need to buy a processor, chainsaws, maybe a splitter, fuel, a way to move the bags around so a teli-handler of some kind, a trailer, preferably a tipper, somewhere to store/dry them.

Factor in your time to process and stack then time spent delivering them.

How much profit is actually in that £90 a bag? Seems quite little to me really.