Paul pushes his sawmill through an oak log on his property in rural Ontario. The tree was harvested on a job for Paul's company, Ballantrae Tree Care, and will be milled into boards for the bed of a trailer for a colleague.

Owning a portable sawmill means Paul can take down trees, turn them into logs, mills them up, and either use the wood for projects or sell the lumber.

Paul says "urban timber salvage" is one of the main uses for his sawmill, allowing him to process and make use of trees which would otherwise be chipped and go to waste.

"I blew up a snowmobile, and fixed it up and sold it and bought a sawmill," says Paul. "I bought it for hobby reasons but now we're using it on a more commercial scale, I'd say."

Members of the Woodland Mills team came out to visit Paul as he milled up some wood and chatted about how his portable sawmill helps his business.

As a tree care provider, tree removal is the core of Paul's business. Many residential homeowners have trees on their property which are diseased or dangerous, and need to go down for safety reasons.

"Being in the arboriculture industry, we got a lot of lumber from removals, and it was always going to firewood or waste wood, and it was a shame to see that happen," says Paul.

Paul or one of his guys come in, take down the trees and any that can be salvaged are cut into slabs or lumber and stacked, letting them air dry.

"Usually the wood might not be so good due to disease or tree death, but sometimes certain woods hold their value even if they're dead," notes the tree care expert.

Once the logs have achieved the right moisture content, Paul will either use the lumber for a personal or work-related project, or he'll put it on for sale on social media.

Sometimes a customer wants a wooded area cleared to make room for a new house or other structure. In these cases, Ballantrae will be called and they'll clear out the land, and the customer just wants the trees hauled away, as they usually don't have a use for the log once it's taken down.

So now Paul can make use of it, or make money from it.

For those running tree care businesses or woodlots, Paul says you should think about the ways a sawmill could help save you money in the long term.

"If you're throwing lumber away, for the price point, you can just buy a sawmill," he says.

Businesses in the tree care community will spend tens of thousands of dollars on equipment anyway, so buying a sawmill is an affordable purchase which will help to make use out of the timber you're taking down.

Then the trees you're clearing become valuable resources for construction projects, structures that you can use for your business or you can just put them up for sale.

"We spend the majority of our jobs removing trees and just seeing them disappear, where we now actually get a product out of it," adds Paul.

The wood you take down is more than just waste, it could become a new timber frame house for a customer, or could become a shed to store equipment.

And you could potentially sell that wood back to your tree care customers, thus expanding the services you offer and create great value for them. A sawmill can provide so much utility to your business in ways you might not have thought.

Not everyone has access to a portable sawmill, so use it to your advantage in expanding your business offerings. That will help you stand out in the forestry industry, by offering fuller suite of services.

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