fair price to plane wood

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westisthebest

New User
Chad
I have had a work/friend call me up and want me to plane a few thousand linear feet of pine from 1" down to 3/4". I didn't know what a fair price to charge to do this type of job. $.20 a lf sound alright?
 

manfre

New User
Manfre
I'm not sure what is deemed a fair price. Whenever I bill for things, it's usually cost of materials plus an hourly rate, but I've only ever billed for computer consulting. Make sure you account for blade resharpening/replacement, time to brush off any dirt and metal removal.
 

gator

George
Corporate Member
Just in my head and using a benchtop planer, I think I could do about 60 ft/hour. At .20/ft that would be $12/hour pay, not counting knife wear (sharpening/replacement).

If you have a large stationary planer, things would be different.

George
 

scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
Chad, I charge .25 per bd ft to S2S if the lumber is purchased from me, and I use a production sized machine to do the work.

You're probably not going to hog 1/4" off of the pine in a single pass with most home-shop sized machines, so at .20 per LF and making two passes you're actually earning .10 per LF, at a much slower rate than what a production machine could achieve.

I think that you're a little low on your price, all things considered.

Hope this helps.

Scott
 

Sully

New User
jay
You may also want to consider a clause that deals with what happens if a blade gets trashed because of hidden metal or debris.

$0.02
 

FredP

Fred
Corporate Member
I would have to see the wood......:wink_smil Is it clean mill run lumber? Or is it an old barn?:gar-Bi for clean lumber scott is right on the money with HIS kind of equipment. On a home shop type machine you are looking at multiple passes.:eek: Does he need it jointed flat too?
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Chad, I believe if it was me I'd be tempted to refer him to Scott, or one of the other members who is set up to do this volume of work. Unless you've got an industrial strength planer, you're looking at a lot of time and effort, plus wear and tear on your equipment.

Just a thought.

Bill
 

MIKE NOAH

New User
Mike
Chad, I believe if it was me I'd be tempted to refer him to Scott, or one of the other members who is set up to do this volume of work. Unless you've got an industrial strength planer, you're looking at a lot of time and effort, plus wear and tear on your equipment.

Just a thought.

Bill

+1

Mike
 

jhreed

New User
james
I planed one board for my brother-in-law. Found one nail with my planer. Cost me $30.00 for a new set of blades and 45 minutes to install them. He was happy with his salvaged board. I was not.
James
 

westisthebest

New User
Chad
It is clean lumber just picked up from the kiln. i have a pretty good size planer, 20". Nothing like a benchtop. It is the shopfox. I figure it would take two passes. It has a rate of 23 lf a minute. This comes out to 1800 roughly a hour. So in two hours I could run 1800 feet and make $360 roughly-blades and power. I may be wrong on the math, so definitely correct me if I am, but if Scott is doing it for a .25, then I feel ok about that, it is a friend. Thanks for the responses.
Chad
 

AdamO

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User
If you decide to refer your buddy out to someone, I've used Wood Character Builders in Granite Falls, NC (828-313-0018) before. It's a small shop that can do S4S and mill flooring (I've used them for both with good results). The shop is probably a little over an hour from you. My recollection is that the cost was in the ballpark of what Scott mentioned. S4S is sure easy to work with...

I don't have any relationship with the shop other than the fact that I've used his services in the past.

Good luck,

Adam
 
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