Starting a buisness

[the village idiot]

There are lots of woodlands out there that are in need of " management " of some sort , and many bodies ( national parks etc ) like to promote coppicing etc .... however very few are willing to pay for it ! The question is can you make it self funding ? and the owner may well expect some remuneration as well , not easy but do - able in some situations , also onerous H&S plus other red tape / legislation make costs unsustainably high in proportion to income derived from such work .... however ..good luck !

 

This is pretty spot on.

 

Going into woodland management from scratch is a challenge but it can be done. I went straight from making ice cream to looking after 200 acres of ancient woodland and I had no forestry experience.

 

You do have to be totally sure that it's what you want to do. It has already been pointed out that the main rewards are 'spiritual' rather than financial.

 

It takes a good while to get up and running, and to get kitted out etc so working under someone else for a while to gain invaluable experience and a bit of money to help you through the early years.

 

I started with no machinery bar a chainsaw and no savings and would have failed without a retainer paid to me by the woodland owner.

I was extremely lucky to get this extra financial boost. I'm pretty sure it would not be offered by 90% of the 10% of woodland owners who would be open minded enough to give someone a go, so a bit of start up capital would be a really good idea along with some working experience to give you some credibility and to avoid a lot of the costly and time consuming mistakes and false starts that I fell prey to.

[agrimog]

chris, sorry to be the one to put a real dampener on your idea, but, wake up and stop living in cloud cukoo land, no-one in the industry is even going to speak to someone with no history, or track record behind them, never mind employ them for a managment role. get your qualifications, find a starting job in the industry, then start to learn how its really done, not how some lecturer, and some books say how its done !

[Richard 1234]

Can you buy a wood? An expensive way of doing it!

[Sharpy92]

Diversify into other stuff aswell- not just forestry. Think everyone needs to stop being negative. It can be done with enough hard work, determination but somethimes it can be done to luck. Everyone has to start from somewhere. Youll build contacts and machinery over time.

[the village idiot]

chris, sorry to be the one to put a real dampener on your idea, but, wake up and stop living in cloud cukoo land, no-one in the industry is even going to speak to someone with no history, or track record behind them, never mind employ them for a managment role. get your qualifications, find a starting job in the industry, then start to learn how its really done, not how some lecturer, and some books say how its done !

 

Why so aggressive angrimog? Not helpful and not altogether accurate.

 

I started out with with less qualifications than you Chris. The method I used to get a start was to explore my local area, finding woodlands that I felt were un or undermanaged, finding out who owned them (this can be tricky) and then approaching the owner direct by letter.

 

There are receptive owners out there who are up for having management done in return for the resource. It did take me a couple of years to get everything settled so ideally you need to be working (ideally in a relevant field) whilst you are looking for a wood.

 

Do you get taught about management plans and felling licenses at college? You may well need to offer this service to the woodland owner. There are grants available to the owner to help with this cost. There's lots of info on this on the Forestry Commission website.

 

It is worth bearing in mind that not all woodland management work is resource generating. This would need to be factored in.

 

It may be worth speaking to your local wildlife trust. They will know a lot of the right people to speak to and can help spread the word that you are on the look out. You can also offer your services to the trust as a volunteer, helpful to gain practical experience and potentially a reference to help with your pitch to woodland owners.

 

Where are you based?

[CHC]

Some times it's who you know not what you know. Go talk to some local contractors say what your thinking of doing you might find that they will have you subbing for them which will help you gain more exspereance in the industry. Also approach woodland owners as well and explain your situation they might be willing to help you out. you can't sell the timber if you don't have it in the first place hope this is some help it's always a learning curve the one thing I will say is it's not easy as I think graham said you sometimes have to do it for the love. Good luck

Edited October 13, 2015 by CHC

[Alec]

Some useful advice here. I have been looking into starting up on my own for a little while now while working in the industry (woodland management/conservation). Have been at it a few years now and finding my 'business plan' heading in different directions as I experience more. For me I think this experience is necessary if I am ever to go it alone at any point. But getting the contacts is a little tricky and the one thing holding me back. That being said no reason why you can't make it work, so good luck if you go ahead with it.

[R5log]

I left school with no GCSEs nothing

Took basic ticket, subbed for local contractor, felling down and winching to harvester

Then when built up enough customers and went on my own

 

Logs is a very clicky business to get in to

Good luck, every thing will sim against you to start

[devon TWiG]

Myself and another guy I know ( who is a greenwood worker , pole lathe etc including tuition ) got talking a while ago about buying woodland , he had recently been out bid on a piece by some one who wants somewhere to use 4x4 's and was incredulous at the price woodland is fetching , when you consider virtually no one derives any income from such land ! after talking for a while I queried can you rent woodland ? many farmers own it and get no income from it ( self supply of firewood aside ) . I could do with a small area for firewood supply and storage , for myself and the other guy would like to coppice hazel etc for greenwood work and tuition and put up a crude shelter for running pole lathe carving courses and for his own work , we will start asking around , perhaps advertising for woodland to rent ... price per acre per annum to be negotiated , hopefully less than arable / grass land .. currently £ 70 - £100 ... supply of wood to owner part payment perhaps ...

[Backpain]

Is there money to be made selling firewood? As sure as the sun sets in the west! But not really unless its cold and wet. So you'll either need hundreds of customers or find some other way of earning a crust to survive all year round. Don't get caught up in the romance of woodland management. Go to the summer country fairs and speak to the bodgers, coppicers, weavers, turners and loggers etc and you'll get an idea of how difficult it is to scape a living in this industry. I started out in conservation and woodland management and there's an enormous amount to consider. I now do an but of everything.