Touting for work!

[benhudson treeworks]

If you can shift the massive amount of timber required to make it pay it could work !? bear in mind its become the beer money hobby of choice (firewood) for all n sundry in every village in this cash strapped land !? I dont rekon the Dragons would invest....but....he who dares...Wins or.....loses loads a money !!!

Go for it and report back !

[john p]

i hope youve got a lorry with a hi ab,otherwise its gonna be a ballbreaking way to earn a crust

[the hedge man]

i hope youve got a lorry with a hi ab,otherwise its gonna be a ballbreaking way to earn a crust

 

 

 

not yet, but i plan on it. but in the meantime i'll enjoy a challenge!!

[Dan Curtis]

You talking firewood or other kinds of timber products? We occasionally have timber to get rid of your way, I'll see what we can do

[the hedge man]

You talking firewood or other kinds of timber products? We occasionally have timber to get rid of your way, I'll see what we can do

 

great thanks, im talking firewood. just gonna sell it it bulk, put it on the back of an artic and wave it off. I don't plan wasting time bagging it up for the customer, ive got better things to be doing!

[Neil Wilson - tree connection]

Dude good luck hope it works out for you.

[doobin]

You must be mad. You're supplying a set up worth £400 to £500 a day (two blokes, two vehicles and a chipper) for the timber and a 'small payment'???? Then you have the hassle and expense of moving the timber. Which will be an absoloute ballbreaker and loose you thousands in your unpaid labour with your current setup.

 

If you want to 'get into firewood in a big way' then buy the timber standing and process it yourself.

 

Or use your setup to earn £500 for the day and then get yourself ten tons of timber delivered to your yard, hassle free.

 

As for this:

 

"I don't plan wasting time bagging it up for the customer, ive got better things to be doing! "

 

Like what? Running your by now knackered transit back to the job site fifteen miles away for another ton and half of odd bits of timber? Another thing- you're gonna need an expensive processor to get enough output to make trade sales viable.

 

If you want to get into firewood, you need to fix the costs of your raw material. You can either A) Buy it in at a fixed rate, B) Buy it standing and try to get the cost per ton down that way, or C) 'Buy it standing' as per your original idea by agreeing in writing how many hours labour you will provide for the timber on site.

 

When you say things like 'they'll get a good day as we leave at six and get back at six in the evening' then I can't help but think you're going to loose more often than you win.

 

Just the way I see it.

 

And another thing- you'd do well to contract out the movement of large amounts of timber rather than try to do it yourself by hand and transit.

[Mesterh]

I doubt you will be able to move 1000 cube a year doing it that way tbh.

 

You need a wagon with a grab but more importantly you need the right jobs to come along, ie not your typical arb job of chogging up bits in Mrs Smiths back garden and humping them out to the van.

 

Might be worth approaching your LA's to see what they do with their timber, they no doubt recycle it somehow:001_rolleyes: to keep up with targets but you may be able to recycle it better.

 

65K a year sounds like you need to be processing full time rather than chasing after timber to me.

 

Good luck though, hope you can get it to work.

[the hedge man]

well i asked for advice , and ouch, I got it! I am aware that i'd have to be running a tight ship to make it viable business. Advice heeded doobin thanks, part of the reason I wanted to do it is because I literally enjoy working hard, and from doing research I thought a 1000 meters a year would be faily modest, ive seen some fire websites where they state moving 4000-5000 meters a year. I had wanted to take a different angle on sourcing firewood, however I guess the old saying if it ain't broke, don't fix it applies here. Firewood guys buy in timber because it's worth not losing time getting it, that I am aware of. I could perhaps answer ad's on here such as 'timber by roadside collection' etc.

 

And Mesterh good advice thanks, Local authority would be a good port of call, I guess ive got to be carefull running around like a busy fool when I could source it closer to home.

 

I think what i'll do is 'part and part' as I enjoy the graft on site, so that is something I still want to do. Also I'll plan on buying in perhaps half my timber so that I can put my efforts towards splitting timber and getting it out the door.

 

By the way i didn't mean to offend when I said 'i don't want to waste time bagging the firewood'. its just that I feel I would rather sell it in bulk (split of course) so that I don't have to deal with taking orders for timber on a frequent basis. I'm aware of course that i'd lose part of the value of the finished product.

 

Cheers guys

[the hedge man]

thanks treeinbanbury, I'll let you know how i get on! like the profile pic btw, willows are are one of my favorites to work in- wood soft as a hot knife going through butter!