Tips for how to start a sawmill business

This article covers:

• • The basics of starting a portable sawmill business
  • An outline of the starting steps and costs associated with running a business
  • Advice from sawyers in the Woodland Mills Facebook community who run their own milling businesses
•  

Whether you run a tree service and have access to wood, or you own property and want to sell lumber or live edge slabs, there are plenty of opportunities to make money owning a portable sawmill.

Starting your own milling business can be daunting, but there are a lot of resources which can help you. Members of the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group have discussed at length tips on how to get started building your business plan with your sawmill.

One member of the Facebook community, Nathan, says he runs his own tree service, and "started with a pickup and a chainsaw and now [he has] all the toys." There is a community out there of portable sawmill owners looking to make a profit.

Meanwhile the Ontario Woodlot Association has also written about ways for sawyers and acreage owners to monetize their tree lots and rural properties.

So what should you know before you dive into becoming a portable sawmill business?

It's best to plan out what your entire operation is going to look like in advance when starting a new business, seeing what costs you'll need to budget for and what profit margins look like in the industry.

The Ontario Woodlot Association advises coming up with a business plan, beyond just conceptualizing the business idea.

"No matter how good your idea is, financial constraints must be considered. Research price trends and consumer attitudes. Decide how much time and energy you have. Think your ideas through, and research any areas where you believe you need more information," it says.

Furthermore, "experienced owners and managers know that a business plan is an indispensable management tool. It changes as conditions change, and if you revise your plan to meet the situation, the plan acts as a road map."

A comprehensive business plan should include:

• • Details on the overarching business model and your plan for making money
  • A breakdown of the costs associated with starting and running the business
  • Known risks or issues you may encounter, and ways to deal with them
  • A one-to-five year projection of your business' growth
  • Establish your customer base and how you plan on connecting with them
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Gregory, a Woodland Mills product owner and member of the Facebook community, says you should "feed/predict your demand, that is one of the biggest problems for any business."

So let's say you already own a portable sawmill and want to get into milling lumber for other customers, ask yourself what that looks like? Are you planning to fell trees for your clients? Are you looking for a consistent cash flow or a side job? How do you plan on connecting with new customers in your local market? Are you planning on milling your own logs to sell for lumber or other peoples' timber? Are you planning to turn your property into a small scale log yard? What do you do in the off season to make money?

These are the questions you should ask yourself. Write it down, get friends or family to weigh in or maybe ask a sawyer with their own portable mill business for their feedback.

One of the first things you'll need to mill lumber for your customers is the right tools, that includes your portable sawmill as well as any other support equipment you need.

Sawyers like Rick run portable milling businesses, where he drives his mill to his customers' homes and mills up their trees for them. He says maximizing the amount of space he has on his mill is important, not only for the diameter of the logs but also their length. Nothing is worse than showing up to a job and realizing you will have to spend time cutting down a lot before it fits on your mill.

With that in mind you may want to consider a wider capacity sawmill maximize your cut and ensure you'll have enough room for logs on your sawmill bed. Couple this with a track extension and you'll be able to handle most large logs for customers.

Portability may also be an important factor, being able to bring your sawmill out to clients' properties, so you may want to consider a trailer mount too so you can improve the mobility of your sawmill.

Tools you may want to consider:

• • A high capacity sawmill like the HM130MAX or the HM136MAX
  • A sawblade sharpener like the RS30 PRO for keeping a steady supply of fresh blades
  • An ATV trailer like the Pathlander or Multilander for hauling logs

During the process of designing your business plan, you need to look not just at the potential revenue you could be making, but also your costs so you know what potential profit you're looking at by the end.

Chuckie, a Woodland Mills sawyer, while sharing business advice in the Facebook community for someone looking to mill up their own lumber for cash, asked whether "the pile of lumber equates to your time and effort?"

Not only do you have to look at the cost of your equipment, but also the cost of fuel if you're travelling to the job site, as well as the value of your own time.

Permits and fees for cutting down trees can also have an impact on your bottom line. If you need a couple guys to help you out, how much are they making for their time?

While starting a sawmill business may seem like a way to make some extra money, you also have to consider these costs before fully hopping in, otherwise your profit at the end of the day may be less than you're expecting.

Sometimes you may have to be picky about what jobs you'll take. Some sawyers say if you want to mill and sell lumber, you may want to avoid low-cost species like pine and only mill more expensive and desirable species, or mill in more uncommon dimensions.

"If all you are making is 2x4’s then it isn’t worth messing with just go buy them. If you are going to be using it for the higher priced framing lumber then I say go for it," says Jon, another Woodland Mills sawyer.

Some sawyers, like Fred, will pay hundreds of dollars to get logs, but for species like black walnut, they'll make up for it by milling it into slabs and making a healthy profit on that investment.

One benefit of running a custom sawing business is greater access to wood for your own needs.

Rick runs Rustic Harbors, a milling service where he drives out to customers' properties using his HM130MAX on a trailer and cuts their trees into the dimensions they want. But he also has his own woodworking business, doing live edge slab tables and epoxy resin boards.

While normally his customers keep all the lumber, sometimes he'll cut a deal and keep a portion for himself. That's meant an unlimited supply of wood for him and his projects.

This means buying logs is no longer a concern, and he has ample materials for his own projects which he also puts up for sale. What's more, you're optimizing your cash flow, making money not just from the milling job but also from the materials gained from that job, cutting down on expenses like having to buy lumber or spending gas to acquire it elsewhere.

So when milling, talk to your customers and determine whether or not the haul will be shared when the job is done. Consider utilizing your saw mill business to get low cost wood and then make money from it through your own woodworking projects.

Portable sawmills are a great investment for those looking to turn logs into lumber, be it their own wood from their property, or milling up customers' timber too.

It can help supplement the income of your woodlot, or be something you tackle full time. As mentioned above, Rick runs a professional portable sawing business part time, but also said that he could make it a full-time endeavor with just a few Facebook Marketplace ads.

And once you've got a few jobs under your belt and you've developed a rapport with your customers, that's a recipe for great word of mouth and repeat business.

So get out there, start your first paid job as a sawyer, and best of luck!

The Ontario Woodlot Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting owners of privately owned forests and is committed to sustainability. Its members promote, through education and mentorship, the benefits of a healthy ecosystem thereby increasing the enjoyment of our forests. For more information visit their website. You can also read more on this topic here.