Starting small...

[Little Butch]

I've been working for a bloke since the end of last year and he's not interested in the splitting and delivering of our left over wood from jobs. He's looking for somebody to do that side of things and I'm half tempted to give it a go as a way of filling up my off days and making a bit of dollar...

 

As I'm new to the trade I'm just looking for ideas and to try and figure out if it's worth it?

 

Basically what I'd be doing is spending the odd day down the yard by myself, logging up, splitting and then delivering the firewood to contacts that he's given me, all he asks for is a tenner a load then I keep the profit...

 

At the moment I've only got a 106 diesel, not quite sure if I could get away with putting the seats down, filling the back right up and then towing a small trailer? Or there's a possibility of using my dads 110 defender pickup.

 

How much cubic metres does the back of a 110 hold?

[Dan Curtis]

The dimensions are here mate

 

Single Cab 4x4 Pick Up - Land Rover Defender Pick Up | Land Rover UK

[Stubby]

I think , though could be wrong , that the margins on fire wood nowadays are so slim that you could be working for nothing , at best treading water ??

[Spruce Pirate]

I think , though could be wrong , that the margins on fire wood nowadays are so slim that you could be working for nothing , at best treading water ??

 

I would agree. Don't give the guy a tenner if you want to make any money. I think the best result for both of you would be you filling your time and getting a foot in the door of a business which you may be able to grow into something worthwhile and he gets rid of the wood for nothing.

[rowan lee]

Sounds like a sweet deal to me. Free raw material, a a yard you can use, a customer base that you don't have to go looking for. Not sure if you can use your bosses chainsaws as well, if so even better. Do you have access to a log splitter?, if not a season on the axe will get you a decent investment for the future, and your outputs will increase for the following season, with less effort.

A small 6x4 car trailer with greedy boards will carry a m3 of firewood no problem. Pending on where you live, and what type of wood your selling - you might stand to make 50 or 60 quid profit after expenses. If you work with this dude, you could spend a little more time on site prepping up the arb waste before it comes back to the yard, perhaps even have alot of it blocked up ready for splitting. You could easily have a cube split and delivered locally in under 2 hours. Happy logging.

[Tomatin Firewood]

My main expenses are raw material, fuel and machinery expenses. I think having free resource is great, that is half the battle. If you provide a quality product word will quickly spread and you can build your own customer base.

[Beezy]

I reckon it could work.... its not going to make you super rich, but will be a bit of extra cash, if you are using the bosses saw and fuel and the wood is an arb waste product.

 

As said, a bit of prepping, billeting and splitting to season over the summer, then a few loads on a weekend will be a nice bit of cash in the pocket, fair enough the boss wants a bit of cash to pay for his expenses, although defo worth getting all the finer points sorted with him beforehand.

 

Good on you mate

[Graham w]

firewood is strong with electric and oil being so high. pretty much what every one above said keep your machinery costs down, try sourcing cheap timber and a 106 wont be as heavy on the juice.

 

i have never advertised sales come from word of mouth and good service over time

try small scale first and if things work out upwards you go.

 

running four trucks that do 22mpg diesel becomes expensive. wood is running low in my area you could get it for £15m3 then it went to £30m3 today is at £55-65m3. hope to enter firewood season with 400-500ton hardwood and already have infinite access to softwood.

 

you are half way there. hope it goes well

[Little Butch]

Thanks guys! I'll have a word with him then...

[forestgough]

Im also a smallscale firewooder,and I can confirm that theres not much margin in it but at the same time it is quite addictive and a useful timefiller on slack days.Even selling it in small feed bags or nets a few at a time adds up.