HOW TO START  & OPERATE YOUR OWN 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 sizes 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.

    FIREPLACE AND STOVE WOOD:  In running a program of pre-cut and split
    fire place and stove wood, you combine all the principles we've
    discussed so far, into either a wholesale or retail firewood supply
    sales outlet.

    The easiest and most profitable operating procedure is to set up a
    wood lot where whole logs are delivered to your location. Part-time
    workers saw these logs into 16 to 24 inch lengths for you.  A couple
    of people with chain saws should be able to cut two cords of wood
    per hour.  A couple of people working a power log splitter should be
    able to keep up with the people on the chain saws.  And a couple of
    other people stacking this wood onto pallets as it's split, or for
    storage until sold, would be all the help you need.

    If you can set your business up along these lines, you'll realize
    the greatest profits and not have to get involved in the physical
    part of the business.  The big thing to remember is that - as the
    business owner and operator - your time should be devoted to selling
    the end product.

    If you decide to be a wholesale supplier, and sell to retailers,
    advertise for and hire commission sales people to call on the retail
    outlets in your area.  You'll need help in covering all the possible
    opportunities for retail sales of your firewood.

    You should be selling sacks and pallet loads of firewood. Remember:
    The more you can divide a basic cord of firewood into sacks or
    pallet loads, the greater profit you're going to make from each cord
    of wood you sell.

    You'll find most people buying cords or truck-load quantities of
    firewood before cold weather sets in, and after that, people will
    buy in quantities only large enough to get by, or to last out a
    sudden cold snap.  If you should also sell bags and pallets of wood
    to the general public, after setting up retail sales outlets, be
    sure that your prices at least "average" those being charged by the
    retail sellers. Never "under-cut" the price your retail people are
    charging.

    If you decide to do all the selling yourself - in other words, act
    as your own retail outlet - you'll need to advertise.

    Start out with a large three-column wide, by four-inch deep display
    ad in your local paper.  Unless you've had advertising experience,
    at least contact the advertising instruction class at your local
    community college for help in the layout and writing of this ad.  If
    you're not far from a large metropolitan area, you can often contact
    the advertising agencies in that area, and get free-lance help to
    assist in the makeup of your advertising.

    Plan the appearance of this ad for a Saturday morning paper. Make
    your opening a big event - much the same as a grand opening or
    special anniversary sale - with free coffee, donuts and balloons for
    the children.  Ideally, the opening of this kind of business should
    be staged on a weekend in late September or early October, and
    designed to acquaint the people in your area with your firewood
    business.

    Get the name, address and phone number of everyone who shows up.
    This can be handled very unobtrusively by giving away free prizes
    requiring the attendees to your event to fill out simple prize
    drawing forms.  The prizes can be a free cord of wood, dinner for
    two at a local restaurant, or even movie passes.

    The whole purpose of your grand opening show is to let people know
    that you're open to serve their needs; to get them to discover your
    location; and to implant in their minds the memory that you can
    supply them with the means to keep warm when the weather turns cold.

    Quite naturally, many will find your services to be more convenient,
    time-saving and less bother than whatever methods they're currently
    using.  As you talk with your customers, listen to their
    "complaints" about their present methods of fire wood procurement,
    and then alleviate those problems with the services you provide.

    After your grand opening, a small 2 by 4 inches display ad in the
    yellow pages of your telephone directory plus the posting of
    advertising circulars and business cards left with woodstove and
    fireplace suppliers, insulation and remodeling contractors and
    lumber yards in your area is about all the advertising you'll need
    to do.  However, it would be wise to follow the lead of the "snow
    tire" people, and whenever the weather forecast shows a cold front
    or winter storm moving in, again invest some money in radio and
    newspaper advertising.

    Statistics prove that 20 percent of your potential market will
    prepare for cold weather by purchasing before the cold weather sets
    in.  Another 30 percent of the market will wait until the first cold
    snap hits, then buy from the first supplier that comes to mind.
    Finally, the remaining people will have to be "sold" via suggestion
    of the benefits your business provides.

    This is the period when you begin profiting from those names,
    addresses and telephone numbers of people who turned out for your
    big opening event.  Simply set up a telephone selling program
    utilizing the services of commission telephone salespeople, and
    follow up on those who had registered.

    You can conceivably operate this business from your home or
    backyard, and definitely on a part-time basis, but the prospects of
    immediate success, with outstanding profits are so great that it
    would be wise to plan on a big operation from the start.

    A receipt pad for taking orders, a "daily diary" or ledger type of
    bookkeeping system, a calculator and a telephone should suffice for
    office supplies and equipment.  Until you're over the hump on the
    profit side, you can keep your sales receipts in a shoebox or daily
    staple together and store in chronological order.

    A couple of other points to remember:  Hardwood burns the longest
    and gives off the most heat; firewood that has been cut in the
    spring and seasoned through the sum mer is the kind most people will
    be willing to pay premium prices for; and giving the customer a
    "little extra" for his money will result in greater and
    longer-lasting success than quick profit schemes.

    Once you've got your basic firewood supply business on a profitable
    basis and running smoothly, you'll find your facilities and business
    expertise ideally suited to adding extra profit producing lines such
    as the sale of firewood accessories, woodstoves, built-in
    fireplaces, home insulation or weatherizing services, recycling and
    perhaps even home remodeling.