seen a lot of videos about firewood. yours is the best, by far. I am a 81 year old vermonter the heat my house 100% with wood and have for the last 60 years. I get out and cut about another 25--30 cord a year. Here the price is about $350 cord. The best advice you give is for EVERY business....know when to say "no I cannot serve you"

Good advice again! Oh boy... Those weeds in the garden! The stress alone they cause is not worth it... I'm firing a customer this year. Every year from the beginning I catered to every "issue" he had... Last year I played the game out to prove undeniably that he was looking for any excuse to get a deal on the wood or to get a little extra. Last year I stacked 4 full cord of the driest stuff I had in the most accessible location in the full sun and wind. It was good hardwood; ironwood, hickory, oak, cherry, ash, beech, maple.. I let is sit out for about 10 months like that. He missed scheduled days for pick up and one year the snow came and he had to leave half a cord sitting there. Anyway... Conclusion... He came and measured the stack, he measured the pieces, he brought his moisture meter... He was not able to find anything to complain about... He started chatting me up... He just had a baby, he just spent alot of money on redoing his chimney... Etc. Sure enough.... He started himming and hawwing about whether he could afford to buy all 4 cord... Then he talked about the distance he had to travel come get the wood and rent a trailer...etc. Then he asked since he was buying 4 full cord at 300 a cord... could he buy 5 full cord for 275 a cord... And acted as if it was a deal for me. I told him I advertise as pick up only. I told him the price is firm because my labour costs more than wood is worth. This guy tried everything in the book... To get a lower cost to the point it was getting bullish. He finally gave in. So this year I'm done with him with no regrets. I should have done it the first year. He caused me more stress and waiting around... Than I care to admit.

I'm just getting started and will be selling my first "crop" this winter. I agree with you, firewood should cost twice as much as it does

I almost feel guilty for getting $200 per face cord. I said almost. Lol I do deliver and stack for that price but most times people help me when I get there and a lot of folks give me nice tips as well. I have very nice, clean, easy to handle, wood, and my customers go on and on about that. Most of my deliveries are less than 5 mi. I have a lot of people that come to the yard and load their own wood. I get $150 per regular size truckload. They load from my "ugly wood" or "cookie" pile for $100 per pickup bed stacked high as they dare. The gift of gab is a must in this business. People love a smiling face and a good story. It goes a long way with them and helps them remember you and want to see you again. A lot of my customers stop by my yard all the time just to check on me. That makes you feel good but it can be detremental to churning out your product. A hospice nurse pulled in the other day just to make sure I was getting plenty of fluids. She said "Propel" is absolutely the best electrolyte replacement you can buy. It made a big difference for me in this 105 degree weather we have had consistantly for a month in Arkansas and no sign of rain in sight. I live and work in a wood kiln. Lol which brings me to another good point. My wood reads 17-19 within 6 to 8 months after splitting. The sound of my wood goes from clunk to clink in a short period of time compared to what I hear from the northern states. I always seem to write a book. But damnit boy, I have a lot to say! Great advice as usual Chris.

What a great video! Thanks for sharing what you've learned!

Interesting points. Had 1 customer who didn't like anything I brought him. Always complain. When he call the first few times I said out of wood. The last time he called I just flat out told him I refuse to deliver because he always complain. Thought it was me sent a friend with a load of wood and the guy complain to him about the wood. Have a great day be safe.

We are probably due for a price bump this fall. Inflation and equipment costs have gone up this year. It's easy to forget the drying/seasoning time investment in the price equation. It costs inventory space to produce ready-to-burn firewood.

We're across the water from you in central/northern MI. This is our first winter selling and it's been kind of disappointing so far. I feel the market is saturated, $70 seems to be the average price and it's not selling. We're talking about dropping it to $65 but I really don't want to having a $10k dump trailer, the saws, the pickup, the splitter and a lot of time. Everyone tells me to be patient just starting out... especially since we didn't scramble around to start out until October when most people already had their wood.

I'm 70, for the past several years I've gathered, cut, split and stacked firewood. Going thru all that work taught me to respect anyone who sells "good" firewood. It is a LOT of work. LOL, my wife shakes her head at what I have stacked out back, but she doesn't seem to understand how long it takes to season it. She does love a fire though! Much respect for what you do, it is a never-ending job. FYI, I live in Ocala, Florida... we get a couple months of weather cold enough to justify a fire.

I read a post (I forget where) from a firewood seller who said that they were always running out of wood to sell, despite having a consistent source... My reaction to that is this: 'If one is running out of product, they clearly are not charging enough'. I am self employed (though I don't sell firewood), and the foregoing is just basic pricing vs supply and demand. Thanks for the well thought out post and good advice for small business owners- it was almost 100% spot-on. (I particularly liked what you said about costs and how they ought to be figured into to the price. Many small business fail because they don't account for things like sourcing materials, bids that one does not win, and, importantly: depreciation and maintenance, of ones capital investments.

Good advice! Thanks Chris👍👍

Yes great advice mate. I was doing your thing but age took over and I had to be honest with myself. I was not being reliable for delivery. No one wanted to pickup and continue my very successful wood business. In my area $450-600 is the going rate for a full cord delivered. The low end price is wet wood. So now I’ll watch you and do my own thing in the wood yard.

Good advice the ones that are allways price checking get rid of them . 😊

Thank you for your knowledge and your time

A full cord goes for $260 to$350 Canadian $ , Nova Scotia. A mixture of Beech, Maple, Oak, and a small percentage of Birch. Depend on delivery distance and fuel prices at the time.

Greetings from the Dixie state of Florida. I really enjoy your videos.

I like these talks you been doing !

Great content as always! It’s been super helpful for myself as I’ve started up a firewood business :)

Excellent coverage sir. Much appreciated.

Very good information! Thank you!

Great video! Very cool! THANK YOU!

Good advice Chris.

Really appreciate all the information you shared here! Priceless. Here on Kodiak island our firewood is scarce. For years my primary solid fuel was driftwood. I’d sell my surplus and would never charge less than $350/cord. Now, an area of borough land which burned 6 years ago, is our only resource. Some wood is punky, but still burns. It’s all softwood, Sitka Spruce. We have cottonwood and alder but that’s it! I hate to say it as it didn’t sit well with me but we have been selling cords of the above mentioned wood for $500!! Recently, I restructured my business model, many thanks to you actually. I now sell face cords for $150. People in my area have never heard of a face cord, so I am having fun refining this limited market. People like being able to purchase an amount less than a cord. Face cords are so easy to measure and stack! I agree we all need to charge more. I drive 4 hours, spend 2 hours collecting, 2-3 hours splitting, stacking and delivering is a few hours yet. I don’t add gas/oil my lunch or any other expenses. I rounded my rate to $50/hour. It takes me approximately 10 hours to produce a cord of firewood, start to finish! Yeah, it’s hard work. I love it. Best job I have ever had!!!!

Great series you have going Chris. 👍🏻👍🏻

Who would have thought? Chris doing a chat sitting on his Tractor!😂 Take care my Friend, 🚜🪵👍🏼🇺🇸

A full cord of seasoned wood sells here in Upstate NY for 55 to 70 bucks

Best info on firewood is this channel right here.

Morning Chris. Another good information class. 👍

I really like how you just help everyone out on how you stated your business and to where it’s at now love your videos keep them coming. You have helped me out a lot. Just to hot to cut and split during summer here. It was 108 today splitter doesn’t like it lol

Great info for me. I just sold my first face cord! -Brad

Great idea Senior Firewood Homestead👍 tractor side chat with Chris👏👏

I love this video! You are covering basic business financials. Market, capital, inventory, pricing, labor, etc. I really enjoy the “business” side of the business and you just did a great video on basic business economics. Fantastic video!

Great advice of selling wood, I know I need to raise my price. Thanks for the info. Take care

Very well said Chris! Business truth's!!! Keep up the great work sooner or later your gonna be producing more then just firewood my friend.

Great tips and suggestions on this topic. The most important point is that firewood is really undervalued as a product like you said due the amount of intense labor that you have to put in it. Keep up the awesome video’s.

Very good video, thanks 👍👍

Great advice, Chris! See you tomorrow. GNI

I love your videos cutting, splitting, delivering, showing equipment and tools in operation, etc. but this is probably the best video you have ever done. Great advice! I sell part time and I’m having a hard time accepting that I just can’t do the physical part like I used to. Torn rotator cuff, bad knee, loss of strength… all the things that come with approaching 73. I’ve raised my price this year to $125/face, $350/cord. I still hope to sell 15-20 cord… it’s become a hobby that I really enjoy.

YES SIR, you hit that right on the head. Firewood is the hardest job (I've) ever done. And let me tell you I've done some hard azz jobs before. The only job that comes close is clearing lots with only a backhoe, chainsaw, axe and your back... Firewood is SOOOOOO undervalued.

I usually get on Craigslist after storms to get free wood.But the time and effort to pick it up ,cut it to length,split w an axe and then stack it.I should just buy it but I don’t lol

Good one Chris👍🏼!

I'm in northern Ontario Canada. I sell jack pine for 120 per face cord maple birch 140. I'm out in the bush but it sells. I hate oak the smell bothers me. Canadian bushcord explained before my time pulp mills bought wood by the bush cord 4 foot sticks stacked 4X8. So firewood just moved away from that measure to assure your firewood would fit in a stove Even more confusing as I drove log truck logs are sold by the cubic meter . Was selling more but getting old 50facecords is enough

I’ve watched this video a couple times now. Great info. Been watching you along time now. I just don’t comment b/c you get so many. Thanks for the great info and videos Mr Chris!

Great tips! I'm in your same area and looking for some small acreage up north to perhaps start up a small concern.

wanting to do firewood as i enjoy being out in the woods, using the saws, equipment, doing work like this, especially in the fall i get an urge to be in the woods but i look on marketplace and see cut and split wood for 150$ a cord... or you can have it delivered in full lengths for 150$ a cord.. and spruce slabs from sawmills are close to free maybe 20$ a truck load at most

Great advice on the price 👍 And Man you look cool on the tractor 🚜😁👍

Nicely Done....

Thanks for sharing the insightful pricing/market assessment info. The Kioti makes a great prop for shooting your video on.😅

In Australia we measure in cubic meters, 1 cord is 3.6cubic meters In my area 1 cubic meter is $150, so the equivalent is $540 AUD per cord! Firewood is crazy expensive here in Aus.

Chitcago suburbs checking in (Plainfield). Local prices : face cord of oak, cherry, birch or maple $175 picked up add $25 for local delivery and another $25 for stacking.

I've been Watching our videos great stuff 👏 Keep up the great work 👍 Nova scotia 🇨🇦

I live in Ireland and we have peat bogs here where we dry peat in the summer to burn in the winter. Wood is a premium product here and a face cord of dry Ash can cost 150-200eur. Luckily I can cut my own I have access to loads of Ash and Irish oak it burns great. American hard woods are better and more plentiful.

20 years ago I sold cords for $180 Rick's $90 . Somebody asked the other day what I would sell a cord for I said $400 they told me they could get it for $180. Well I'm keeping my wood then. How does firewood price never go up after 20 years in my area? Everything else has gone up over the years.. I will just keep my day job and do my own wood. Maybe see about bundles because all I see in that market is at lowes only..

Stumbled on your video and enjoyed it. Good stuff. Another reason wood in Chicago is so expensive may be due to the fact that anyone delivering anything realizes that while they are in Chicago their lives are in much more danger than if they stayed where they were.

We live in seacoast New Hampshire and are surrounded by trees. The going price for seasoned hardwood is about $375/ cord or128 cubic feet. I buy almost all red oak by the truckload. I paid $1250 for 2 loads in February that measured a total of 13.5 full cords. By the way, I think red oak smells like catsup when split. Takes a long time to dry, but I like it.

Most excellent brief I have seen on KZfaq

Great tips on pricing. In my lawn business. I've had to fire customers. To use a saying from a trucker "know your worth" Have a Safe Day

The firewood prices have gone so high that i can not afford to buy it anymore, so I have to cut my own. I stopped buying when it went to $200 a cord I jus can not pay that much on my budget. Prices have forced me to go find my own, sometimes I do buy slab wood from the mills. Last time I bought 2 cords delivered on a trailer, when I got it all stacked it came out to about 1 and 1/2 cords.

The problem is no one realizes actually how much work it takes to make a cord of wood. Same with maple syrup making. I bust my ass to make 100 - 150 gallons and people give ya a hard time about 25$ for a half gallon.

Very nice video but I good saw for 400$ is very rare. I am selling the cord for 300$ in New Brunswick and this is mixed wood. Soft and hardwood.

I also like your tip about offering a range of choices with different pricepoints. That ties right in with question #1 for people who don't really have any strong opinion, or know what to buy: What are you wanting to use it FOR. Like you said- all wood burns, some burns hotter, some faster, some is great for making coals, others are great for making nice bright cheery flames. And some produce especially nice smelling smoke. Pine , spruce, basswood, poplar, aspen, etc are great for recreational fires- they burn hot with nice bright flames. But not the best choice for smoking, or for heating. Pine/spruce also produce that classic campfire smell! (all of those woods also split easily, and make great kindling) Good heating woods- like oak, hickory, and locust burn slow, steady- and long. Perfect for a stove fireplace or boiler but not necessarily so perfect for the nice cheery blaze you want from a campfire. You're just spending unnecessary extra $$, if it's just for the firepit. Buy the good stuff for cooking and heating. For recreational burning, the less expensive varieties are often better suited for that purpose.

Great chat

Full cord is 8L x 4H x 4W or any combination of those dimensions or 128cubic feet by volume, I use 14in or 16in bar chainsaws and that's my length of the rounds I cut and split, I just put my bar along side tree after felling and mark my tip placement then cut, rinse and repeat and this keeps my cords fairly uniform and consistent especially when people are using short box trucks nowadays lol, if I measure their truck box and divide those dimensions by 128 that gives me roughly the amount or loads needed to get them a full cord of wood if that's what they want... Again love the content and info and hope my info helps as well, it's true running any kind of wood selling business even a little side business is very demanding and most people take for granted what we all have to do and go through just to get a single cord of wood completely done from start to finish, felling, cutting rounds, splitting, hauling, unloading, stacking, and then helping load or delivering and unloading and stacking again, getting too old for this lmao...If we actually keep track of our hours of labor spent on doing a single cord on a good day, say our average pay is 10bucks an hour because hell you can flip burgers for that today, a single cord of wood for me doing it all myself takes roughly 4 to 6hrs, so right there is 60bucks for a single cord in just labor per hour costs, this doesn't include fuel expenses, equipment used and maintenance costs, which would easily cost another 40 to 60bucks per day of operation, so 1 cord a day plus operating expenses per day I'm looking at 100 to 120bucks per cord per day and thats if everything is perfect nothing breaks and no other surprises come up...Maybe this will help most people understand better how frustrating it can be to deal with people that want wood but don't want to pay the proper price for it, I usually say find someone cheaper then or do it yourself and see where you end up, guess what they end up right back at my doorstep with a humbled apology and I say don't worry about it I just wanted them to understand the truth of the matter and that I'm the cheapest place within a hundred mile to get a quick cord of wood albeit I don't have the best woods I mix everything and I say this is mix dirty wood 75bucks a cord and I help load or deliver and help unload I do not help stack though I do enough of that for myself lol...

You are right about market pricing. I have been telling other suppliers they need to raise their prices. We should let bundles set the price and as you know the price has been going up.

Once I enter the bagged snd bundled firewood market, will be getting between $330-640 per full cord. At that point will be bags/bundles, along with various sized self-serve loose bulk and delivery of facecords. I'll be getting a bunch of "free" wood soon via small expansion of my woodyard. Most of my competitors sell in the same size loose bulk sizes with similar pricing. But I deliver.

Its not wimpy, its cute. Can always add an airhorn and do it right. City delivered kiln dry hardwood all packed up neat is about $875 (bulk pallet) or you can go get dripping wet pine for near free and make it your own firewood but in a city people dont do that often

Good food for thought here Chris. In NE Tennessee, most customers have no idea what a cord is let alone a face cord. I have ended up selling by the load. The customers just want to see a truck that cannot hold another stick. This year I am giving them what they want, but the price is going up. $100 for mixed and $125 for oak, beech, hickory and walnut. My ad will read oversized truck load close to one half cord. Strange market. A lot a scammers out there delivering crap loads to folks. I have seen loads delivered that had literally sticks that could have been picked up out of any woods in the area. I have seen 2X4 blocks in the loads. My take is that I am going to offer what they want, give them what they want and the better customers will accept the higher pricing. Been doing this for three years now and have run out of wood every year. Will see what happens. Have a great day!

In Dallas TX they have redefined the "Cord". As of Dec 2022, a face cord, 16" - 18" cuts 4'w x 8'L is now called a Half Cord. Seasoned oak sells for $355 per face cord, or as they call it, per 1/2 cord. A Full Cord is two Face Cords, 4'x 16' x 16"-18". The Full Cord, two face cords, goes for $685.

This is my 2nd year saling wood I have a Ford ranger small garden tractor and a wood splitter I just purchased a full size dodge. It's a side hustle but averaged about 10 k the last couple years but hoping to double that this year I wish I had big equipment

When we had our treeservice and firewood-business we gave extra "good" prices to what we called assholecustomers, 10 times the regular price, and then we got rid of them. We said, we like you so much so you get the "goldprice". It was worth it just to see their looks.... LOL

I'm in WNY and they charge $155-180 per face cord and even if you buy a full cord they chsrge you by the face cord. I just paid $465 for mixed hardwood delivered I feel ripped off. Last year I paid $145 just for a face cord. But everyone around me sells wood for a lot .

Great video! Inflation has raised everything. Husqvarna/Stihl/Echo Chainsaw models have went up $25-$50 since 2020, Trucks have went throw the Roof!!

So far I have only had 2 that were extremely picky before I got to load up in both cases I was all of a sudden out of wood and they went somewhere else.. One ine them my,wife seen the email and was asking me why I wouldn't respond. I told her to read it and you tell me what to do, after reading it she was like "oh I see well you don't need the extra stress" since this is a side job... All good points Chris see you tomorrow..

G’mornin Chris. As always, great info ! Thanks for sharing. I sell facecords of oak/cherry for $140. That’s the competitive price for my area. Irene : GoodNight

I agree I’m in the same boat I’m to old and have two rebuilt shoulder’s, my days of selling firewood are over. Chris has done it the right way. Till just recently he has spent very little money and done very well. I have always believed, you make a good living keeping your business a one man show. You make a great living when your company in huge though your over head can be very high. You just don’t want to get in that middle area, where you purchase processors, trucks, tractors to early and the money goes flying away.

They get up to 400 a cord in some areas of Massachusetts ,in fact most people charge 400 a cord in my area ,it's just because of the work involved ,and it's slow and steady work unless u have a processor

Down here in eastern SC. I will sell this year for $150-$175 per face cord delivered and stacked.

I suggested to a customer once that "want you to be happy I seem unable to keep you happy so buy from someone else" .

Wisconsin Pride!!!! Eagle river fellar here. 1200 strong!

I'm always curious if you guys have any restrictions on what you are allowed to sell and where. Here in southeastern Pennsylvania there is a 5 county 'quarantine zone' where firewood is not allowed to leave this area. We have the Spotted Lanternfly which is like a moth but goes after grapes and anything sweat like walnut, cherry, etc and they can lay eggs in firewood. I burned some egg masses last year on pieces of oak.

So so many people are so afraid of sharing their knowledge because they feel threatened and are afraid that others will do better ! "Let our life be an open book......so that others can come and read and learn". "Nothing belongs to anyone because everything belongs to everyone". "Knowledge might give some people power, but character respect". Total respect 100% ...... ✔✔✔

What about almond wood .good wood

Great Video Chris, in Ireland 🇮🇪 and the EU 🇪🇺 we sell by the cubic meter (m3). Very interesting video 👍

And yes we do call it a bush cord here in Canada.

I think I commented on this before but what the heck. $125.00 for a face cord, $335.00 for a full solid cord. $99.00 to stack a cord. 1.50 a mile for delivery for customers outside my local area but I'm going to $2.00 soon. I have had no complaints with my new pricing as a matter a fact I still can't keep up. Have a good day!

I agree, I can't sell my firewood for what it's really worth, so I don't sell any as I'm an arthritic 68 year old and I do 95% of the work alone!!! LOL!

We call a face cord a "Run" here in VT but we don't sell runs here we sell full cords here for an average of 300-400 kiln dried 540 a cord crazy prices up here in communist county of VT

Ok Chris good video I get $110 for oak and a $125 for hickory. And my pine camp wood goes for $90. I get $25 to $50 for delivery. I'm in a good place to sell

Great information new subscribe I run a tree service in Southern California and we can't even hardly give our wood away Most of the time we pay to dump our wood. Pretty sad in high school I used to split wood and sell it And now I can barely get rid of it.

I'm watching late at night. Good stuff. Can't believe you have 10 👎. Must be those people who wanted wood, and you told them you were out. lol. Take care friend 👍🇺🇸

I think you have some of the best serious business advice for firewood selling. You don’t over invest in equipment for your sales levels. There are many people in many businesses who over invest for their sales levels and they are no better off doing all the work. Sometimes buying on credit can yield interesting business results depending on how depreciation is accounted for in small businesses. Cash flow isn’t always net income in some situations so it can be useful to do credit financing, but debt also has its downsides.

Good morning Chris!!😀😀 Prices for wood is definitely based on a lot of different factors. I'm a hour away from you and am probably only able to get a little more than half what you are getting. Unless I am willing to deliver it long distances for almost free. Take care my friend!!😀😀 Logger Al

How much cotton wood do u split/sell? Do people use it for fire pits or heating. I always thought it wasnt worth the time that it was junk wood.

here in the Netherlands, a cubic meter (one meter high, one meter wide, one meter long) costs 75 to eighty euros loosely deposited. a cub stacked is around one hundred and forty euros. and this is then mix wood. Oak you pay around one hundred and forty euros loosely deposited and about one hundred and ninety stacked

So what would you charge for a face cord of hedge or also called Osage orange because I’m in Kansas and some of the woods you mentioned are really hard to come by. The ones that are really hard to get like oak I’ll charge close to 150 face cord

In N.E. Ohio average price for wood is $50-$80 a face cord if I decide to sell next year I'll probably just do roadside stand or got a place along road that people sell stuff here and there make more money that away. I'll charge $5 a bundle average price is $6-$7 a bundle.

Had to buy some to tide me over till my wood is dry enough to burn WELL, and I wanted some "Good stuff" to use for grilling. (I normally just woodhound for whatever I can get, but there's not much around atm) One guy wanted $80/face cord for Ash. Another was asking $100/face cord for cherry and/or hickory. The second guy was local, guy #1 would have to be delivered. The quite reasonable delivery fee of $20 would make that Ash $60 for half a face cord. The guy with the cherry, answered his phone first. It really was that simple, lol. He's a 10 min drive from me, so I went and picked it up. Where I live, woods are plentiful and there are lots of guys that sell firewood. (and I drove past one even closer- that I didn't know about- on my way) So prices aren't too bad. We also got hit HARD by the goddamn Emerald Ash Borer, so Ash is incredibly plentiful.

I worked at a sprocket factory after i got out of the military. Put one disk into a chuck, while that one's drilling i take another one out of the machine next to it and put it in a bin. I take the one out i just out in, put it in the second machine, and put a fresh disk in the first machine. 700 times a shift. I had to quit, i felt my brain melting from boredom the entire time. Couldn't do it.

There is a sawmill in the area that dry kiln there fire wood and I see Walmart trucks picking up the wood.

Agree 100% priceless......I won’t sell it at any cost. I do give some away to people in need.....