HIS TIMBERKING 2200 GROSSED $1,340,000 IN 7-1/2 YEARS
— UPDATE: Brian just hit $1,400,000 gross with his TimberKing!
“In 1996, I started my own lawn care business. Then I bought a home, met my wife, and married her. Today, we have four sons. I’m involved in the ministry in a church and my plan with our property was to turn it into a camp for the ministry.
Started sawing to keep employees busy…then sawing took over
I started cutting and selling firewood to help me keep my lawn care employees busy over the winter. But I hated seeing good trees being cut into firewood. A friend suggested I get a sawmill and saw trees into lumber instead of cutting them into far firewood. Lumber’s a lot more valuable than firewood, of course.
In 1998, I bought my first TimberKing sawmill. I sawed lumber but still sold firewood – 2/3 of my business was firewood and 1/3 was sawing lumber. Today, it’s the other way around — 1/3 of my business is firewood and 2/3 is sawing. And it’s good business. Last year, I grossed $314,000 in sawing alone!
2,580% return on investment
I traded up to a TimberKing 2200 seven and a half years ago. In that time, it’s grossed $1,340,000. That’s an amazing return on investment for a machine that costs a bit over $50,000 today.
Update from Brian: “My sawmill just passed $1,400,000.00 and it has 3820 hours on it, which comes out to around $367.00 per hour. This was over a period of 7 1/2 years, so about 42 1/2 hours per month, or about 510 hours per year. It was also done with just a little part time help, mostly on weekends. My helper mostly stacked and unstacked boards for going in and out of the kiln.”
It really is a one-man sawmill. I can saw and edge boards without any help. I can stand boards on edge, clamp them, and edge them by myself. Other mills don’t let you do production like that. On other saws, you have to work backwards: you have to bring boards to the side away from you to edge them or stand in the sawdust to edge.
I’ve pulled a lot of boards off my TimberKing. It’s easy to run. I pay attention to little nuances like the sound and ‘feel’ of the blade.
Facebook boosted sales 50%
I tried advertising in the yellow pages and billboards, and they don’t work. Then a web guy said to me, ‘I think you need a Facebook page. You’re going to get quite a few likes.’ (Whatever that means!)
He built me a Facebook page and my business increased 50%. Frankly, I don’t even look at my own Facebook page or website. They take care of themselves.
There are a lot of people looking online for boards. My customers say these things a lot: ‘I saw you online…’ ‘I saw you on Facebook…’ ‘I saw online you have table blanks’…’I saw online you sell firewood….’
Maximize earnings with 3 value-added services
A couple other things helped my business a lot: adding custom cutting and kiln drying. Mill operations without kilns are really missing out on a big piece of sawing business. If somebody’s looking to get into the sawing business, there’s a lot of business out there!
There are three services a sawmill can offer. They can saw green lumber. Or they can saw and kiln-dry lumber. Or they can do it all: saw, kiln-dry, and sell their lumber in an on-site retail shop. Ours is one of the only mills within 200 or 300 miles that offers all three services. And we sell throughout Nebraska, where we’re located, plus Wyoming, South Dakota, Indiana, Kansas, and Colorado.
Easy, Healthy, and Enjoyable Work
Sawing lumber on my TimberKing mill has helped me stay fit and healthy. They’re great machines, easy to run. But it takes time to learn to get the most out of a log. Anybody new at it will need practice – don’t expect to make $130,000 the first year.
The TimberKing company’s easy to work with and they make a really good product. I’d get another TimberKing mill, maybe a 2500 next time. And TimberKing has been great to deal with. I have Jason, one of their tech guys, come out here and do tune-ups for me. He’ll look at what needs doing or updating and does it here.
I really enjoy sawing much more than working up firewood. You saw open the logs and see what’s inside – that’s the fun part. It’s exciting to cut the log the right way and see what comes out. Of course it’s discouraging sometimes when a log’s full of ants!
If you’re a hobbyist, just go for it and get a mill. If you’re serious about starting sawing as a business, get a dry kiln, too!”
—— Brian Schwaninger, Big Red Sawmill, TimberKing 2200 Owner, Palmyra NE
HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you
• Call us 1-800-942-4406
• Email us [email protected]
• Visit us on Facebook