Fire wood= To stack or not???

[namesray]

I have been in the firewood business for about 8 years now. Through that time I have gone from doing around 70 face cord, to currently doing between 300 - 400 face cord a year. I have a repeat customer cliental that I have worked hard for and has made doing fire wood commercially easier. (People can be the most difficult aspect of a business at times.) My fire wood business is going great for the most part.

The problem on the horizon: All the wood plots I have access to currently are thinning out and getting further away. I could secure enough fire wood to continue doing 300 to 400 face cord a year, but that would mean more travel time and thus more expense.

Over the years, I have all the customers on different "tiers" so to say, as I have always given my first group of customers the best deal by stacking the wood they order for them. After all, they are who helped me get started. The second "tier" of customers, I stack the wood for them, but charge them for it. All customers after that, there is no stacking.

It is now to the point, I am doing so much, and I am so busy, stacking is getting in the way of more production. Time is money. I am at a major decision point as to start next year doing everything the same, or let ALL customers know this year there will be NO stacking next year. On one hand, I have come to know these people, and they are good people for the most part, I feel like I am letting them down. On the other hand, some of those customers have complained about the stacking, as to "it wasn't stacked high enough; it was stacked too high and fell over; you stacked it too tight and it didn't dry;" the list goes on. I always stack it how they tell me, tell them the pros and cons, but if it isn't perfect it's my fault. Not every customer is fussy like that, but the few who are drive me crazy. one thought, no more stacking might thin the customers down to a more efficient number for me as I can do 100 to 200 face cord more efficiently then 300-400.

So I ask you as people, what do you think if you were purchasing firewood? Most other fire wood sellers around here DON'T stack it, but not all.

 

[Scooby074]

Just dumped in a pile here unless you want to pay a big premium for stacking.

However a couple years back a guy started delivering firewood in the large (1/3? Cord) bags. He charges about 5-10 bucks more than bulk, but its bagged, on a pallet, and its actually stacked in the bag. And he'll put it exactly where you want it with his crane. I dont know how it does it so cheap.

Bagged might be an option to look at. But Id charge more than 10 bucks for the labour and convenience involved.

 

[murphy1244]

Nobody stacks wood for you here, Nobody. Wood here goes for 200.00 a cord delivered.

 

[dave1949]

I would stop stacking for free. You have an understandable reason to tell customers who push back; you are forced to go farther for wood and it takes more time, hence your income is falling.

Or

Buy your wood trucked to you in log lengths and then process it yourself. That would give you the time to offer premium services--for a price of course.

 

[Wnc3]

The ones you don't charge, start charging at a higher rate than the current stack price.
The ones that you charge, raise the price to the new price above.
The ones that nit pick your stack get to stack it themselves.

In my experience, give people a choice of a higher price. They would rather hear that than we won't stack.
Some will stack it them self and others will pay so they don't have to.

Just some thoughts to consider ...

 

[ultrarunner]

Amazing... I can't give away cut and seasoned Oak because of the wood burning bans here.

Have even offered to deliver and stack for free in addition to giving the wood away and not a single take at the Hospital where I work... most people pay to get rid of it and every year I have storm fall oaks I am required to clean up to meet the fire suppression rules here.

In years prior... there was a long time firewood family that put everything on pallets and plastic wrapped... they would place anywhere they could drive to.

 

[forgeblast]

They would just dump the load where I wanted stacking was up to me. I would tell them that you cannot stack due to the demand.

 

[chopped]

I never knew anyone could get it stacked. At least not here anyways. But I would just explain that you cant do it all now. ,And maybe suggest someone else to stack it. Maybe someone you know could start a 'mini' business to stack it for them.

 

[Buckgnarly]

You pay for stacking here, and it's usually a local kid, not the person delivering.

 

[oosik]

You pay $200 to $250 for a full cord here. The $200/full cord will be pine here and further north it will be $250 for a full cord of tamarack or fir. No real hardwood here - closest to hardwood would be apple. Its just dumped wherever you want it. If you want it stacked - you pay extra unless you stack it yourself. Be honest with your clients - your costs have gone up, like everything else - and you must charge to stack or you will be losing money. They will all understand - those that do not like the idea, most likely, will be those that do not the way you stack it anyway. Remember, you are not doing this for charity and not charging a fair price is a really good way for you to find that your cost are exceeding your income.

If you don't have time to stack - make an arrange with local, reliable, high school young-uns to stack the wood for a fair price. Provide your clients with a list of these young-uns and their contact information. They can then choose to stack it themselves or hire off your list.

 

[Deadman]

I would do like above said, charge extra to stack it and let them chose. If they pay the extra, you are making money, if not, you are out of the extra work......
People get pissy if you say you are not offering a service that you used to offer, so instead just charge for it.

 

[Deadman]

oops double post....

 

[charlz]

Figure out the 'opportunity cost' of stacking versus going and getting more wood and then charge that rate to stack. Either way you are making the same amount of money.

 

[namesray]

All very good responses and reasons. The one thing that stays in my thoughts is liability. One customer wanted "as much as I could stack" right next to their cabin so they could feed it through their window to the stove. area was mostly level, but their gas line ran above ground along the wall of the cabin right there.

Another customer wanted it "stacked about 7 ft high in rows" on uneven grass ground. ground frost heaved throughout winter and a row fell into another row.

Another recent instance, a customer wanted it stacked in their room attached to their house. I have stacked at the residence before, but not inside this area. about an hour before I leave to deliver I have a message on the answering machine "I won't be home, door is unlocked, money is there." The truck was already loaded with special dry wood (because it was prescheduled to go inside=not much air flow inside this room, so had to be real dry) and it was getting close to raining that afternoon. When I arrived, the door was open, but it was a windowless room and no lights on and I couldn't find a switch. It was hard to see, and their was obstacles in the way and such. I was trying to help them out, but I felt really taken advantage of. This was a "tier 2" customer who always paid for stacking, and I thought if this isn't stacked right, here is a prime example of a liability case, because they "paid" for the stacking service.

What do you all think. Am I over thinking the liability thing???

Another thing, handling the firewood so much is taking its tole on my body=back, hips, and wrists. When we are talking about stacking for everyone and doing 300 to 400 face cord per year, that's like handling 1200 plus face cord a year! It is a lot easier and quicker to just dump it off.

 

[oosik]

I don't know about the liability but in todays society - - - For the first ten years we burned firewood. That was from 1982-1992 and it almost killed me to bring in six full cord per year. And all the wood was right here on my property. Felling, trimming, cutting to length, stacking in my wood trailer, restacking into my wood shed. The old saying - firewood heats you two times is BS. This is a saying by weekend warriors who have to carry an armload into the house for the wood stove. That is a reason, as I got older, that we went from firewood to wood pellets to electric heat. The hardest job heating the house now is playing with the thermostat - ha,ha.

 

[Jstpssng]

All very good responses and reasons. The one thing that stays in my thoughts is liability. One customer wanted "as much as I could stack" right next to their cabin so they could feed it through their window to the stove. area was mostly level, but their gas line ran above ground along the wall of the cabin right there.

Another customer wanted it "stacked about 7 ft high in rows" on uneven grass ground. ground frost heaved throughout winter and a row fell into another row.

Another recent instance, a customer wanted it stacked in their room attached to their house. I have stacked at the residence before, but not inside this area. about an hour before I leave to deliver I have a message on the answering machine "I won't be home, door is unlocked, money is there." The truck was already loaded with special dry wood (because it was prescheduled to go inside=not much air flow inside this room, so had to be real dry) and it was getting close to raining that afternoon. When I arrived, the door was open, but it was a windowless room and no lights on and I couldn't find a switch. It was hard to see, and their was obstacles in the way and such. I was trying to help them out, but I felt really taken advantage of. This was a "tier 2" customer who always paid for stacking, and I thought if this isn't stacked right, here is a prime example of a liability case, because they "paid" for the stacking service.

What do you all think. Am I over thinking the liability thing???

Another thing, handling the firewood so much is taking its tole on my body=back, hips, and wrists. When we are talking about stacking for everyone and doing 300 to 400 face cord per year, that's like handling 1200 plus face cord a year! It is a lot easier and quicker to just dump it off.

It sounds to me like you just answered your own question.

 

[94BULLITT]

I would not be stacking wood for free. If I stacked it I would charge accordingly. What happens if a Tier 1 customer tells a tier 2 or regular customer you stack the wood for free? What is the difference in getting payed for stacking the wood or cutting more wood?

 

[Dutch445]

at your rate of growth i don't think it matters what you do.
if you want to stack, go ahead, knowing it costs you money.
i'm sure you can charge a little extra for the stacking at select customers.
if you tell most of them you can't stack, they will either stay with you or
try to find another source, but ultimately you are selling as much as you
can source, so you could drop stacking completely and still sell as much
as you can source. The year after you could be in a worse situation,
if not it will be the next year after.
it all comes down to how much are you willing to sell/produce, and how far
are you willing to go to do it.
think about it this way:
you have grown your business very well. some customer expect extra service,
others don't, which puts more money in your pocket? what is the real reason
you are doing this? are you undercharging for your area?

it comes down to supply and demand, which is nothing new.
how much can you supply?

 

[square1]

I stack for one elderly lady now, don't do nearly the volume you do, and am not in it for profit, just exercise. I used to stack for just about anybody until one day a guy that wanted it stacked "as high as possible" (for free mind you) didn't like my stack so he paid the neighbor kid to restack it while he barked orders on nearly every piece the kid put in place :laughing:

I'm with the don't stack crowd, lessens the aggravation and keeps you doing the profitable part of the business even if at a diminished capacity (which fits in with your diminished local supply).

 

[radioman]

here lies the problem. you have loyal customers now that goes to you because of the VALUE of getting wood AND stacking. The moment you stop is potential to lose them maybe forever. If you are already busy and can afford to potentially lose them and others, then by all means stop stacking. Otherwise you need a crew for stacking to keeping your customers.

If you are still feeling conflicted by advice here, its time to pick up the phone and start calling your 1st tier customers and put out feelers to see if they still want stacking and add price to it if they do. chances are you can pare back your 1st tier list.