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Is my timber worth any money?

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Home Builder with DigLynden DIGLY**CH385

Doing tree service in Bellingham WA means we get jobs that people want to know, "is my trees worth any money?"  A lot of times property owners are happy enough to just get the job done without any out of pocket expense.  

A average tree service company looks to produce over a $1,000 in revenue per day.  Some companies are looking to even produce double and triple that amount.  Crews of multiple climbers and ground personnel can eat a lot of trees fast.

I'll give you an example of a job DigLynden Tree Service is currently working.  Tomorrow will be day three.  We have seven douglas firs on the ground, limbed and scaled for the mill.  One more fir and a good size cedar to go.  It will take four of us three to four full days to finish chipping all the branches and get the logs hauled to the mill.  The job should produce between three and four thousand in revenue.  

It can be a gamble on our part, but through experience we can predict pretty close results.  I did a similar estimate two weeks ago for seven firs, but they were so limby that there wasn't enough money to cover the monies I would want to do the job.  She didn't want any out of pocket expense, so I walked away.

You always want to get a second opinion.  Even if the tree service company you are going to talk with is a referral, get a second opinion.  There are many levels of experience in the service industry. One company may have to climb almost every tree, limb, top and take down in smaller pieces, while another may have an experience faller that can bring the trees to the ground faster.  Having an experience tree-faller is a huge time saver in the tree service world.

In Bellingham WA we have a few money trees. They are Douglas Fir, Cedar, Maple, Alder and Black Walnut.  Lumber mills usually specialize in one species of tree. Great Western in Everson WA mills Douglas Fir, Bow Hill Mill works with Cedars, and Washington Alder mills Alder, Maple and Birch.

You can call the mill directly and if you have more than 20 trees they will probably be willing to send a expert to your property to evaluate the value of your timber.  Once you know approximately how much your timber is worth you can talk with different tree service companies to find the most profitable solution to get your timber to the mill. Remember, because of experience levels, you can get a wide spectrum of estimates.

The expenses a tree service company will incur to do a larger job like what we are talking about probably will include an excavator. It is the machine of choice to move and stack logs to get them ready for the self loader.  An excavator will run about $1000 for the day.  The self loader cost will be determined by the mill they have to travel to deliver the logs.  A log truck company will cost between $250 and $500 per load.  If they can fill their trailer up you get a break on the overall cost.  

Labor will also be a large part of the tree service companies expense.  Experienced climbers and fallers in the tree service industry should be earning $25 per hour on up.  Ground-men around $15.

Branch material is usually burned on larger jobs like these.  The branch debris will have to be placed in large bins and hauled off-site in some situations where cities don't allow burning.  You can easily spend $600 per load. It can add up fast.  Call your local chip and grind company and ask if they can help you determine how much the cost will be to get rid of your tree limb material.

You can see that you'll have to have a fair amount of trees to get the job done for just the value of the timber.  Have your tree service company give you an estimate of their cost and work out a 50% split after that amount is produced.  Get a copy of the invoice from the mill for each load of logs.  

The more home work you do, the more money you will keep in your pocket.  Timber values are really good this year.  It may be time to get those trees you have been thinking about to the mill.  Call a professional tree service company and start the process. Hope that helps.  DigLynden Tree Service 360-318-9795

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Bellingham Tree Service