Anyone else have Bonkers/Desperate Clients?

[gensetsteve]

I have had a letter from our cord wood supplier saying price increase 25% on the 1st Jan . I have done some calcs a kg of cord cost me 10p and produces 5.5kw when bone dry. A kg of hotmax costs me 13p and produces 4.6 kw.

 

Now

 

I dont have to buy the hot max 9 months up front. I dont need to break my back or machines processing it. I dont need 1000 gals of cherry. It comes neatly bagged so the customer does not have to put it away. The results are consistent and I pretty much have an endless supply.

 

I am thinking in future it will be single load of beech with 15 bags of hotmax. Unless the price of cord goes up again then it will be 20 bags of hot max and a barrow bag of logs.

 

What do you guys think ? I know people like a log but how much. I mix hotmax and beech in my stove for the best heat output ever

[delabodge]

I have had a letter from our cord wood supplier saying price increase 25% on the 1st Jan . I have done some calcs a kg of cord cost me 10p and produces 5.5kw when bone dry. A kg of hotmax costs me 13p and produces 4.6 kw.

 

Now

 

 

I dont have to buy the hot max 9 months up front. I dont need to break my back or machines processing it. I dont need 1000 gals of cherry. It comes neatly bagged so the customer does not have to put it away. The results are consistent and I pretty much have an endless supply.

 

I am thinking in future it will be single load of beech with 15 bags of hotmax. Unless the price of cord goes up again then it will be 20 bags of hot max and a barrow bag of logs.

 

What do you guys think ? I know people like a log but how much. I mix hotmax and beech in my stove for the best heat output ever

 

whats hotmax???

[gensetsteve]

whats hotmax???

 

A reformed brick of pine dust and shavings. If you goggle it should go straight there.

[steve@black]

It is always busy this week of the year, the snow only helps ,easier than selling smack backstage at a Jeremy Kyle show.

[windfall]

It is always busy this week of the year, the snow only helps ,easier than selling smack backstage at a Jeremy Kyle show.

 

 

Your not wrong, its been a good day today! Sold enough to pay for all the cord wood i bought in and put me back in profit.

[log_hauler]

Sometimes I think we worry too much about the quality of wood we sell. Don't get me wrong, I hate to sell anything that isn't dry, doesn't look & feel good & will throw anything not quite right to one side for my own fire. Most customers just want 'wood'. Surely, we all hear the comment "it all burns".

I've sold lots of 12 month seasoned poplar & without exception, everyone has loved it. Open fires & burners alike. One chap came back for 4 loads providing it was the same wood!

I have 6 month seasoned beech & took a bag (free) to two of my regulars & said "try this & tell me what you think". One said, "great, burns lovely" & promptly pre-ordered & paid for 2 loads. The other said "it's lovely Chris" but " can we have our usual stuff". So, I took them a load of pop, cedar, goat & crack willow. They were delighted, paid cash with a tip & will probably tell their friends what a nice chap I am.

It's all about managing customer satisfaction & remembering that what we think they need or should have is not necessarily what will please them.

I aim to be open & honest & tell customers what the wood is & how long it has been split & under cover.I can't recall ever receiving a complaint.

 

 

Really just goes to show people prefer to burn different types of wood. Since we can't always all be burning seasoned oak/ash it's good to know what the good second choices are. I'll burn anything on my fires (haven't found anything that burn eventually!). The worst day we had though was when the missus fetched in a load of fresh cut Cedar from 'the wrong pile'. When I came home the fire was a pile of barely smouldering wet wood. I got a little pile of coal burning real hot underneath it though and the green wood burned eventually.

 

I certainly wouldn't sell such green wood to anyone though- they would never come back.

[mikey10]

I certainly wouldn't sell such green wood to anyone though- they would never come back.

 

Thats what i think, why ruin your reputation, if you sold all your wood you have seasoned you have acheived your aim. you can only sell it once so sell it seasoned at a higher price and keep the customers coming back. if they go somewhere else in between and buy green wood they will then see how good yours is and be back next year:thumbup:

[Hodge]

It is always busy this week of the year, the snow only helps ,easier than selling smack backstage at a Jeremy Kyle show.

 

Ha,ha. Cracker!

[windfall]

Had my first unhappy client tonight, gutted.

 

Even though when she called i told the woman that the wood was felled 10 months ago and split 3 days ago so will need drying in a well ventilated place for at least 1 or 2 months they have been trying and not succeeding in sustaining a fire with it.

 

I didnt get into anything with her except when she said you dont sound happy reply that i am not delighted, you had the facts that the wood was effectively unseasoned felled 10months ago and split 3 days ago and that i was sorry she was not happy.

 

She had two cubes from me at £55 each, which i lovingly stacked in her old garage for her while she watched Jeremy Kyle. Two cubes of macrocarpa stacked in her garage for £110!

 

So it would seem not everyone understands that you cant put a fire lighter under a log at 30% and have a roaring fire instantly. It takes a bit of effort and thought!

 

Told her that I would drop by in the morning and give her the money back and take the wood away.

 

Put the phone down, and it rang again, ended up selling one of the said 'wet' cubes to a woman for £75 who was more than happy to dry them by and under her stove for a day or so before burning with some other dry wood she already had.

 

Perhaps i should have learnt my lesson but the wood will be in my van... whistling...

[Rob D]

There are a few other guys here (Isle of Man) selling softwood cubes at £55 so i was trying to match them, your right though its a lot of work for £55. I was planning on putting my charge for macro up to £65 next season, already increased my delivery charge and now offering to move and stack a cube for extra £ too.

 

I find that it burns well to, hot and steady.

 

There is a lot of competition here and it would seem some are willing to sell cheap. One of my clients turned down a cube of eucalyptus (19%) i offered him for £85 as he had managed to get a cube of Oak for £65! I sold the cube 2 hours later for £100 delivered... get in.. ill see him at early swimming on sat so ill find out how well it burns.. or not.

 

 

 

You have a lot of competition and yet you've still sold out before Christmas. I'd put your macra carpa up to £75-00 a cube.