widmere
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Everything posted by widmere
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I think a major point is being missed - Practically every delivery I make I see a sample of the house holders stash - usually a couple of lumps of leylandi and some twigs. Leave them the wood let them find out how much skill and work it takes to produce a great product. Even had one lady who had a fantastic pile of split and dry Ash. She insisted on deriding her husbands efforts claiming that the 'log man' had a far better product.
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It'll be bankers draft up front - then once you've worked hard flogging their product and found a good market i don't look forward to negotiating next year ah Mr Widmere price gone up. To make it work you would have to shift a lot of their wood which on the face of it looks great stuff - I wouldn't fancy having an artic load turning up of dubios quality - what you going to do then after you've paid for it threaten to turn up and take the Latvian mafia on single handed. Hmmm
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Flippin eck Chestnut - Do Tesco's only sell milk to people with fridges_ Do Fords only supply cars to people with garages.
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As long as it's transparent what you sell then so what. On previous threads there has been plenty if the 'they wont notice the difference'
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Rob - you sum up the point exactly - Please don't take this the wrong way but shouldn't you be trying to produce 400t and stop discounting for multiple orders. In fact a business model might suggest a price lift of 30% and you still may run out of wood. My guess is that you sell great product that is delivered efficiently why not get paid for it.
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Thanks Logbaron - I am in the same situation as yourself and I am sure everyone else at a point in the season you start to run out of dry product and so stop servicing new customers or selling part seasoned wood. Bobbysm - you don't actually say whether you run out or not. Stephen admits to a surplus left in his first year - could be various reasons for this. My point is that I think we all undersell our product. If you look at the posts on hear it looks like most of us vacillate on how much to charge a cubic metre or worse still try and take advantage of their customers with the 'old builders bag ton of logs' malarkey. Local retail outlets round here £3.99 a net for wet softwood - 50p a log - 352 logs a metre - £176 a metre for a poor product which the customer collects and pays for at point of sale. If they didn't sell they wouldn't stock them.
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I don't produce a huge volume of firewood and always sell out well before the end of the season. Has anyone ever been left at the end of the season with a lot of unsold stock.
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It takes around 12 hrs to split a lorry load - 27m or 27 t - that does not take into account tidying up chain sharpening mending or maintenance. I budget on spending 1 hr an evening 3 days a week a load takes four weeks like this. It is pretty mechanised and I really love the work for short time and find it quite therapeutic. I don't think I could do a straight twelve hour shift and try and blitz a load straight off too much like hard work.
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Baz - Firewood heaven - my own personal nirvana - provide what the customer wants and the margin will come. Good luck - you wont need it W
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Thank you Old Hand - You're comments are very sage - No2 on the list describes exactly what the problem is and highlights my poor efforts at sharpening. Looks like I will have to invest in a chain grinder of some sort. My problem this year has been exacerbated with it being so wet the logs are picking up debris more easily.
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Plenty of oil - chain is sharp - joystick control which you can vary the speed - too slow wont cut - too quick bar jams - so just in between. It's the bar that is the problem i think.
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Thanks DB and John - not sure photos are going to reveal fine detail - one bar plus one chain at present lasts a lorry load. WW
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Anyone got any hints on how to get more life out of a chainsaw bar on a firewood processor. Mine cuts like a dream with a new bar and chain but once it starts struggling output drops quite sharply. Buying new bars is one answer though a little expensive. I have no experience in 're -dressing ' a bar - is it simply file off the rough bits and away you go. WW
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I really don't buy this price bubble theory - a bubble is formed by a huge escalation in price. I would describe the price rise of firewood as being very moderate mainly due to input costs. Lets face it we are not businessman and we don't operate in perfect market. How many of us right now have run out of dry product. In a perfect market as supply dwindles and demand increases the price goes through the roof - that's a bubble. This doesn't happen does it - we maintain price but only supply valued customers and then in the end compromise quality by selling poor product. I really don't believe that firewood sales are going to slump any time soon. The numpties who have put in stoves with little or no thought do not make up the market - if they dropped out it wouldn't make a lot of differance. My two pennies w
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Can I say say that it is very very noisy this year - done a months sales in a week before Christmas and news of more snow has lead to a feeding frenzy.
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Threaten to go through the small claims court and mean it assuming that you have made contact and they plainly refuse to pay. Put a bit of it down to experience - a large amount of wood to a customer who you don't know is likely to end in tears mostly yours.
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I had the same big squirrel visit my pile - i don't know if big squirrels can read but I am forced to place a sign notifying anyone looking at my wood that one of the logs in the pile is drilled out and filled with gunpowder. This seems to have done the trick and you would be amazed how many people have heard what I doing. Make Christmas go with a bang. Adios W
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Been even busier than last year - I can only just cope but the wheels are going to come off if Snow threatens for Xmas - I've even got people panic buying. I ran out early December last year and it may have been the best thing I ever did. Customers went elsewhere and got sold some really vile product. This time round orders started in August with customers doubling orders to get what they want, need and get -dry firewood
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That poem isn't that good - particularly the bit about Ash - if its green it isn't good enough.
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If they ever say the word snow in the forecast in the week before Christmas I think my phone would melt
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Looks great - is that wood ready to sell or do you dry it out a bit?
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Get a Windsor bar - don't know why Jonsered get put on new processors (well we do cos they're cheap).
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Large geen lumps of garden clearance - firewoodman I've seen several cases where the customer is not very happy - they don't really know what they want - wood is wood isn't it? QED it must burn in my newly installed wood burner if I can fit in through the door. W
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Still ahead of last year even though it snowed. We ran out around Christmas last year which has made people increase orders and put tem in earlier. On my deliveries I have seen the quality of what people were able to source Jan Feb. Some suppliers have no shame but they are unwittingly my best advert.
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If it's good quality you are giving it away - the forecourts etc sell crap at twice the price. w
