Here is a question for Rudy and/or any others about barn costs.
I customer of mine, has a friend who lost a barn to a fire caused by a lightning strike. He (the friend) intends to rebuild a 20’x50’ barn, using timbers milled from logs harvested from his own ten acre site/land.
He (the former customer) is asking me how much will his friend will save by using his own timber.
I said that the materials costs for the timber frame should be ½ to 2/3s less than if he purchased these timbers.
So here’s the question: “does this sound right to you?”

Hi Jim:
Well there are many variables to be taken into account preparing a knowledgeable response to your query. My son and I harvest logs on our own property, with our own equipment, and not counting our time, fuel, chainsaw costs, 4 wheel drive tractors, front end loader, it usually ends up that our own milled lumber costs in the neighbourhood of $200. per 1000bd ft milling costs. The sawing is custom done on a local band mill, and to produce 2000 bd ft it takes about 6 hrs more or less just to saw it out once it has arrived at the mill site. We harvest in the winter on the frost and snow to ensure clean logs, which is pretty hard to do in warm months. Does your friend have his own equipment, if not you can add on harvesting costs, on top of the sawing costs. Another factor is sawing out long material for the plates, which if producing from your own trees will mean long very heavy logs to cut and transport to the mill.. I think that it would be wise to sit down and do a proper cost study before coming to a snap decision on the way to go. It is not always cheaper to cut your own, but then again depending on the situation it might be.
good luck--NH

It's my understanding that he doesn't own his own tractor for hauling in the logs.
And I'll pass on your advice.
Thanks, Jim

Hello Brother Jim, I have harvested all my own timber for my barn 24x42 and the savings at the saw mill is 2/3, but this does not include the cost of a new chain saw, logging chains, home made log movers, a peavy handle, gas for the 18' rack truck, countless hours, and things that I may have forgoten. When all is said and done I think I have saved at least 1/2, not including my labor.I have two years invested In the planing, design, and cutting my frame. I think when finished it will be worth every hour and drop of sweat invested, so all you experts keep the help and advice coming, Thanks, John..

Hi Jim,

I've been away, but it looks like a lot of good information has come through already! For the most part I agree with what's been said, and with the numbers, but would caution your friend on a few details. Most of this falls in the "learn from your own mistakes" catagory.

Caution #1. Logging is difficult and dangerous. I've been felling trees for nearly 25 years and have more respect for good felling now than ever. Rather than telling war stories, I will say if your friend hasn't done much felling, get help from someone who has, and WEAR SAFETY EQUIPMENT!

Caution #2. Logging is difficult and dangerous. I'm not trying to be funny. This time I'm talking about the timber. Logs can be seriously damaged by improper felling, and so can the surrounding woodlot. A quality harvest, in my opinion, leaves a healthy and clean woodlot and produces timber that isn't damaged by felling shake and whiplash.

Caution #3. Not every tree makes good timber. Ten acres isn't a lot of trees. A good managed harvest will require a lot of thoughtful cruising and selection parameters will be different than cruising for grade. Spiral grain can usually be spotted on the stump, and should be avoided. Diseased, infested and wind damaged trees also can produce low quallity timber. Many softwoods that are fast grown in a second or third growth environment can alo produce very poor timber. Trees that lean significantly, or have bowed to find light are also likely to contain reaction wood. Again, experienced help would be recommended.

Having said all that, I do have to say that harvesting and using your own timber to build your own frame can be very rewarding. Our floor deck in our house was from a selective harvest from our twenty acre woodlot. We still ended up buying about a dozen logs. We have our own backhoe for skidding, our own mill and all the equipment, but we aren't in the logging business so it took many ours and lots of cookouts and beer for our friends who helped. And nobody got hurt.

Hope this helped.

Rudy

Rudy: Thanks for your advice on logging. Before I started sawmilling, I cut and harvested timber for a few years, so I know what you mean and were you are coming from.
I was more interested in the savings costs, in big round numbers as to how much he maybe able to save by cutting his own timber.
I understand that this savings might be eaten up by hiring a logger to cut his timber, as he probably can't do it himself, as he hasn't got a tractor or equipment to do it with.
And again, thanks to all others who have posted to this thread. Jim

Assumption of risk might be the greatest unpaid cost your friend might profit by and the cost of a lifetime if it comes due. From a NIOSH report, "The National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities (NTOF) Surveillance System indicates that during the period 1980-89, nearly 6,400 U.S. workers died each year from traumatic injuries suffered in the workplace [NIOSH 1993a]. Over this 10-year period, an estimated 1,492 of these deaths occurred in the logging industry, where the average annual fatality rate is more than 23 times that for all U.S. workers (164 deaths per 100,000 workers compared with 7 per 100,000). Most of these logging deaths occurred in four occupational groups: logging occupations (for example, fellers, limbers, buckers, and choker setters), truck drivers, general laborers, and material machine operators. The actual number of loggers who died is higher than reported by NTOF because methods for collecting and reporting data tend to underestimate the total number of deaths [NIOSH 1993b]"

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/logging.html

We credit our customers .25-.35 cents for logs delivered to our shop, and .15 -.20 cents if we pick them up. We typically bill out lumber to the customer at 1.50 - 1.85. If they provide us with square roughsawn material we credit them .50- -.60 cents as long as they deilver it to us. I hope this clearly and SIMPLY answers your question.