davetaz

About 90% customers are happy with 9" (logs). Although I do have a customer that buys 2 cubes of 18" and 2 cubes 15" logs, and a few customers wanting 6" logs.

thread in firewood section might be worth looking at http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/23987-ash-cordwood.html

20T would produce about 35 cubic metres of seasoned split hardwood. Should be able to sell that for about £3k retail, delivered.

If carrying wood (ie virgin wood from tree surgery/forestry) it is not classed as waste and so exempt from waste rules etc

£100 per cubic metre (loose) delivered in barrow bags (5 bags = 1 cubic metre) Just because other suppliers are selling it cheap doesn't mean you should. Offer a good product with good service and charge an appropriate price. Waitrose v Aldi syndrome. My coustomers aren't particularly wealthy but value a good product with good service

I always ask my customers "what size /shape?" they prefer (logs). Most of (the majority) them want something that will fit into their fire grate or log burner. My logs are seasoned as billets and so can cut to what ever length customers want. There's more to a good fire than what shape the logs are!

might be worth netting them and selling them on wholesale

I was unloading my own logs at home and people kept asking if I would sell them some. After some research found that there was a shortage of people selling seasoned dry firewood in my locality. I was also looking for some kind of self-employed work to do after moving to a new area, having been a landscaper for a few years it seemed like a reasonable trhing to have a go at! Rented a yard on a farm nearby, bought in a few loads of timber and hey presto! Sold about 50T so far this year

sold 35T of poplar as firewood last year at £100/cube (seasoned) had many repeat customers this year asking for it again! very under-rated as firewood, especially considering the shortage of timber that many people seem to be experiencing at the moment You can season it in about 3-4 months called in at a garden centre today and saw dumpy bags (80 x 80 x 80) seasoned hardwood for £75 and un-seasoned for £60

Sold about75 cube (£100/cube)this winter with about 10-15 cube left. This will be gone within next two weeks I reckon - could do with another 50 or 60 cube but when it's gone it's gone. Had lots of repeat customers on 2nd and 3rd loads of the winter, turning away some new customers daily. Will start processing next year's timber in January when my yard is nice and empty of seasoned logs

since when was running a legitimate business the same as being a charlatan? I have to buy in timber as I am not a tree surgeon and can't get hold of it any other way. If the whole firewood industry just relied on arb arisings retailed at £50/cube about 90% of the firewood customers in the country wouldn't be able to get hold of any

Sold out yet - or nearly? If so what sort of volumes have you shifted?

If seasoned, 1.6 cube of logs I'd sell for £160 Put them in 0.2 cube barrow bags for £20/bag and they will go no probs

People that buy logs couldn't care less about calorific values of different types of seasoned/wet logs. All they want is something that burns on an open fire or log burner and gives some sort of flame. All they ever ask is "how much for how many? " Far too many variables to properly compare against other fuel Once you start "over regulating" a small scale localised industry many will be put out of bisiness or decide to stop selling logs and so so so many people will end up with out any firewood. The only regulation that is likely to happen is the volume v weight issue

Going back to the original post, I've just paid £50/T delivered plus VAT for oak thinnings (nice diameters and straight mind). My supplier had several hundred tonnes of the stuff and it flew out! None of my customers question paying £100/cube for seasoned hardwood delivered to their house. I've shifted about 100 cube so far this winter and reckon could probably shift another 100 cube if I had it - this is only my second winter selling firewood. As for the debate about where you source your timber from and hence it's retail price as fire wood, if people didn't buy timber in to process and relied on "free stuff" there would be huge shortages. It is all about a supply of fuel at the end of the day and not just a lifestyle choice for supliers or customers. Gas, coal, oil and electricity increase all the time, so should firewood. I guess you have to accept that there are some people happy to sell it relatively cheaply, if I can't get £100/cube I'd give up - and there would be lots of people with no logs to burn on their £1000 log burner!

in the last 12 months I've tried various bits of advertising. Local papers cost too much say £100 for 3 months for a small ad and only had 1 customer from it. Placed a decent ad in local parish/church magasine £120 for 12 monthly issues and have had 5 new customers. I have magnetic notices on the L200 and plenty cards to hand out A good number of customers find us on T'internet so a web presence is useful although will set you back a couple of hundred quid. May be worth looking at self-build websites and just do one page. I reckon you got to try a few ways of advertising and see which works best for you in your area

We use barrow bags, 0.2 cubic metres each, £20/bag, quite easy to handle with a sack truck. Customers like the look of them when full of logs - I thinh it works well as people don't mind £20 for a good sized bag and they are usually happy to buy 5 or more at a time. I also have many customers with out loads of storage space so they only order 3 bags at a time.

Log on to Google maps, I think you can place a free advert on there. I've had a few customers from it. They click on their local town/village etc and type search words in. The map then produces a list of local suppliers - and it's free.

Follow on from above, you only charge VAT if you are VAT registered yourself

Our price is £100/cubic metre (all hard wood), free delivery up to 5 miles. If charging VAT I believe it is only 5% to the end user. I reckon mixed loads should only be slightly cheaper - £90/cubic metre - as they still require the same amount of work to process etc

Have you looked at vented barrow bags? I got some and are proving to be very useful and relatively easy to handle

If its going in a new self build have you thought of wood fired rayburn or something similar. We have one and a log burner, both of which are connected to a thermal store. This produces heat for all our cooking, central heating and mains pressure hot water

Cedar makes A1 kindling 1t fresh cedar, when seasoned weighs about say 600kg This will produce 120 x 5kg nets kindling (2 days labour) If you wholesale them at £2/net = £240 (less cost of nets 120 x 12p, £14.40) Or if you can, retail them at £4/net = £480

Any one picking up a tool and using it, even as a volunteer is classed as an employee and therefore need to be covered by insurance. Insurance will then prevent anyone without a ticket from using a chainsaw - unless it is on their own private land

firewood falls under the virgin timber category and is NOT classed as WASTE so it shouldn't be a problem