FIREWOOD SUPPLY BUSINESS

Unpredictable fuel costs and the necessity of keeping warm in the winter have resulted in "boom sales" for manufacturers of wood-burning stoves. There has also been a return to the use of the fireplace as a form of supplementary heat and as a luxury that promotes the "cozy" atmosphere sought after by both middle class and affluent families. This renaissance in the popularity of wood heat, and upward spiraling sales of associated equipment, has created a demand for firewood that's almost impossible to fulfill!

 A very important element: This demand has caused the price of firewood to almost double over the past several years. Whatever the "going price" for a cord of firewood in your area, you can expect it to increase by 20 to 30 percent each year for the next ten years or so.

 Your potential market is a varied as the weather; it is also somewhat dependent on the weather. You'll find buyers among apartment dwellers as well as home owners. The rich are buying firewood perhaps more than the poor; those concerned with the purity of the environment and the so-called "voluntary-simplicity' folk seeking a return to the "pioneering" life are all part of your market.

 And don't think for a minute that firewood sales are limited to the colder northern states. People living in Sunny Southern California and along the Gulf of Mexico buy and burn firewood for the same reasons as people living in Minnesota or Montana.

 One of the secrets of success in this business is understanding why the people in your area burn firewood. Then it's a matter of learning when and how often they need it, and positioning yourself to fill those needs.

 It doesn't take special education or training to become a successful firewood supplier. Just for the record, the backgrounds of people operating businesses of this kind range from farmers to unemployed factory workers to doctors, lawyers, real estate salesmen and even university professors.

 The kind of equipment you'll need varies according to the type of business you want to establish, and the kind of wood you will be supplying.

 The first prerequisite to the establishment of your business is to decide what kind of business - wholesale to retail outlets, or retail to the general public - you want to operate.

 Next, you'll have to decide on the type of firewood you will sell. There are three major categories: l) mill ends or sawed up scrap lumber and kindling, 2) whole logs for the buyer to cut according to his own specifications, 3) fireplace and stove wood, cut and split according to the general requirements of your market area.

 Your next step is to line up a source of supply. Actually, it's best to "lock in" a number of sources of supply. Later on, as your business develops and grows, you may want to offer several different kinds of firewood, that is, become a full-service dealer offering firewood to meet everyone's needs and fancies for your area. We'll discuss different categories of wood in demand, so that you can explore sources of supply and costs.

 MILL ENDS: Your best source of supply for this type of wood is the sawmills in your area. If you live in a metropolitan area, take a few weekend trips to the small towns in the wooded areas of your state. With a little bit of initiative on our part, you should be able to discover any number of small sawmill operations within a 200-mile radius of most metropolitan areas in this country. What you'll want to do is buy a truckload of mill ends,
take them home and package them into sacks of firewood. Thus, a load of mill ends that you might buy for $50 would be broken down into perhaps 200 sackfuls that you sell for $5 per sack. Multiply these 200 sacks of firewood times $5 each, and you have a gross
income of $1,000 for a load of wood costing you only $50. You wouldn't have to be very smart to realize that's pretty good, providing your sources of supply can keep up with the demand.

 The beauty of mill ends is that they are clean, burn easily and fast, put out a lot of heat, and when broken down into sackfuls are ideal for apartment dwellers, as well as people in warmer climates needing firewood for just a few cold spells each winter. Until you have a large full-service firewood supply operation, it's suggested that you leave the sale of truckload supplies of mill ends to the larger, more established fire wood suppliers. My advice here is that you should stay within your capabilities of supplying the buying demands of your market, and further concentrate on selling what brings you the greatest
profit. However, as your operation grows, the supply of truck loads of mill end firewood is definitely worth considering.

 Other sources of supply for mill end lumber will be your local lumber yards, wood working or furniture manufacturing firms, and home building or remodeling contractors. In many instances, you can offer to stop by these places about once a week and clean up the worksite by hauling away the scrap lumber, and they'll let you have it without cost. It is possible to even get paid for doing this. The only drawback will be that you'll have to sort this wood, and then saw it up into the size s you want for your bundles or sacks. This is no big deal, because you can handle a pickup or trailer load with a power saw in just a couple of hours.

 When you have the wood ready to package into sacks, you'll save time and in crease your profits by hiring a couple of high school students. Contact the counselors at one of the local high schools, explain that you need a couple of students for part time work sacking firewood, and you'll have all the help you need.

 As for how much to pay them, establish a pay rate for 100 full sacks. Of two high school students, one would hold open a sack while the other uses a scoop shovel to pick up the wood and dump it into the sack. Between them, they can gather the top of the
sack and tie it with twine. The full sacks, of course, must be stacked on a pallet or in an area ready for selling. Check the time it takes two good students, working at a reasonably fast clip, to load 100 sacks. Knowing the current minimum hourly wage rate, you can then determine the labor value of 100 loaded sacks.

 For a supply of burlap bags for use in sacking your wood, check with a farmers' feed store. If you buy in quantity, you can get them at a very reasonable price. You can purchase twine for tying the sacks at the same place.

 WHOLE LOGS: Many people have chain saws and fancy themselves as "do-it-yourselfers," but they don't have the time to go out into the woods and bring back firewood. If you can supply these people with a location not too far from home, where they can saw and split their own firewood, you'll have a steady stream of customers. You'll need a large vacant lot - about a half acre to a full acre - and preferably on the outskirts of town. The first thing will be to put up a 6-foot cyclone fence around your lot,
and then a small garden shed type building to serve as your office.

 Contact a sawmill or logging operation not too far from where you want to open your business. Arrange with them to deliver whole logs (lumber rejects) to your wood lot. Your costs shouldn't run much more than $10 per log, even for premium wood, but will depend upon the size and number delivered in each load.

 If you have the vehicle and the energy, you can also contact the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management in your area for a permit to Cut firewood in government preservation areas. Then you go out into the woods, saw up downed tree s into eight-
foot lengths, load them into your vehicle and haul them to your woodlot.

 Still another source of supply is the farmers in your area. Talk with them and offer to "thin out" areas of standing timber, and the downed trees. Oftentimes, you can get this wood at no cost other than offering the land owner a share of the timber you take out. He may even consider your "thinning" and hauling an even exchange for the logs.

 Don't forget about the road building construction companies, and commercial and residential developers as sources of supply. Actually, once you get into this business, you'll find sources of supply virtually unlimited, and restricted only by your own initiative in making contact with the property owners.

 Once you have a supply of logs within your wood lot, there are many things you can do to attract customers. Run an advertisement in your local paper inviting "do-it-yourselfers" to come out and Cut their own firewood. You charge them twice as much per log as your cost, and they do the sawing, the splitting, the loading and provide their own car or truck to take them home. You are there only to supervise and receive payment.

 You could also rent chain saws, axes, and the use of your power splitter. Allow the customer to select the log of his choice, and then have the hired help - high school students, perhaps - who would saw, split and load this wood into the buyer's vehicle. The ultimate, of course, would be to include delivery and stacking of this wood at the customer's residence.

 Once the customer has selected his log - at twice your cost and pays you $5 for sawing it into the lengths he wants, plus $10 for splitting it for him and another $10 for loading it onto his vehicle, you're talking about $150 to $200 per cord of wood. The secret here is to have your helpers working in teams, with the kind of efficiency that means $l00 per hour for you.