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echnidna
29th May 2008, 11:48 AM
Just got off the phone to a spotmiller with a lucas saw for some macrocarpra trees.

$55 per hour and he can cut 2 to 3 cubes of 200 x 50 or 75 in a 6 hour day

$165 a cube sawn sounds like very cheap timber, am I missing something?

Dean
29th May 2008, 11:50 AM
Just got off the phone to a spotmiller with a lucas saw for some macrocarpra trees.

$55 per hour and he can cut 2 to 3 cubes of 200 x 50 or 75 in a 6 hour day

$165 a cube sawn sounds like very cheap timber, am I missing something?

Call out fee? Setup time costs etc? Do you have to pay for blades etc?

Groggy
29th May 2008, 11:56 AM
That sounds cheap, is he there for a few days or just one?

echnidna
29th May 2008, 12:37 PM
theres half a dozen or so trees.
I'll have him there until its all milled, might be a week's work.
He works one man so if I pull out he should cut a lot more in a day

The buttresses on 3 of them might be too big for his saw to mill up, he can only handle 5 ft logs.
so I have several choices about that

trim the sides off with a chainsaw so the mill will fit
burn the butresses
or stick them aside and keep them for a while.


I'm inclined to burn them if they can't be milled easily just to tidy up the mess.

silentC
29th May 2008, 12:44 PM
Last time I hired one (a few years ago) he wanted $400 per day flat. I got just under 2 cube in one day. But we had a bobcat to move the trees to the mill once it was set up.

echnidna
29th May 2008, 12:52 PM
I think I can borrow a tractor to move the logs around.

Groggy
29th May 2008, 01:15 PM
If he doesn't have to move the logs around and will be on site for a few days then $55 an hour is still cheap.

I'd expect $40 per hour (minimum) labour, plus fuel, sharpening, consumables. Add some for driving to the site and setup, then a bit more for business costs.

This guy seems cheap to me. DJ might have a better idea.

DJ’s Timber
29th May 2008, 01:33 PM
That's a pretty good price, I charge an average of $65 to $85 an hour depending on site and set-up.

echnidna
29th May 2008, 01:39 PM
Thanks DJ & Groggy
I might get him to come out for a look before we drop the trees so the logs can be setup to suit him.

weisyboy
29th May 2008, 07:05 PM
get him to quote per cube so you know how mutchits going to cost. around brisbane you would be looking at around $110/logcube for milling if you have all the logs in a stack ready to be rolled into the mill.

then you also get charged for snigging/rolling cos you cant expect him to do it for free and if a blade is damaged you pay for retiping/replacement.

good luck:2tsup:

charlsie
29th May 2008, 07:41 PM
i recon it,s a good price .i charge $130 for the first hour then $70 per hour after that but i've got the bobcat with forks and the crane truck

Exador
30th May 2008, 08:25 AM
My standard price is $100/hour or $200/log cube for myself and an offsider. The clock starts ticking when we leave home. Most clients prefer us to pick the logs up or to drop them off to us for milling. Let's face it, not many people have an time disposing of several cubes of sawdust and offcuts and we can mill much faster in the yard with the set up we have. Normally, we won't charge for re-tipping, but if the logs are especially full of nasty surprises we reserve the right to do so.

Overall, those prices usually mean the client is getting timber at around $400-$600/cube, depending on log quality, which is pretty cheap.

salty72
30th May 2008, 09:08 AM
were are similar check out www.043turning.com.au (http://www.043turning.com.au)

Sigidi
2nd June 2008, 01:04 PM
get him to quote per cube so you know how mutchits going to cost. around brisbane you would be looking at around $110/logcube for milling if you have all the logs in a stack ready to be rolled into the mill.

then you also get charged for snigging/rolling cos you cant expect him to do it for free and if a blade is damaged you pay for retiping/replacement.

good luck:2tsup:

Hey Carl, most of this is the same for me, regarding the set-up. I turn up, the logs are in one pile, I set up next to the pile and start cutting. If I have to snig logs it's extra, blade damage is charged out at the cost to me. My on site work is done without machinery/hydraulics all hand rolling, so I only charge for the volume of log I process, no hourly rate from home to the job site, no set up fee, no hourly travel home. If I have to set the mill up in another location to get to logs, then I charge for the second set-up. Now as a factor of fuel prices, I do charge a travel fee to basically cover fuel.

But I would really like to know where you you can get milling done for $110 per cube especially around Brisbane, up here in gympie fella's are charging out milling at $185 per cube, which floored me, but he's still working and cutting??? I can't see how someone can charge that much around here, this area definatley doesn't have the money that Brisbane does??

weisyboy
2nd June 2008, 02:55 PM
that shouldnt of said 110 it was suposed to say 150 dunno how i did that.

it has been a few years scince i got anything milled by a spotmiller so i gues the price has gone up consiterably.

Sigidi
2nd June 2008, 09:59 PM
Overall, those prices usually mean the client is getting timber at around $400-$600/cube, depending on log quality, which is pretty cheap.

Especially when timber from the mills is over $1200 per cube and up to $2000 per cube depending upon special sizes and even more from your hardware/retailers.

So Craig, as a guideline you're using 30%-50% recovery for calculating your price per cube of timber? I'm pretty much the same too, I use 40% as my crystal ball figure and if the logs are great and big, then I'll recover a much better percentage and then the client gets more timber for a cheaper price, so far no-one has complained about that:)

Exador
4th June 2008, 05:34 AM
Gday mate,
yeah, 30-50%. Best I've ever done was ginormous ironbark about 1.2m diameter, by far the biggest one I've seen that gave nearly 70%, but that was with a little sapwood left on some boards for contrast when making furniture. I'd say your 40% number is pretty close.

As for pricing, I reckon $200/log cube is pretty good. I do a very good job, if I say so myself and the customer gets excellent value for money.

I sometimes get a chuckle to have someone quibble over the price then come back with an order once they realise how much Bunnings will charge them for an inferior product!