For most woodlanders, their property is an important part of their lifestyle.

Knowing how to maintain that livelihood, or how to make money from it, can be an important set of skills. For some this may be a hobby to get some side-income in, but some sawyers fully invest in their woodlot as their full-time business.

Thankfully there are many members of the Woodland Mills community who have shared their advice to others who are thinking of taking that next step.

But what do you need to know before you fully monetize your woodlot?

Check if there are any local Facebook groups or websites where people can post their lumber for sale, and see if there is an active community. If there is, you may have a customer base in your area willing to pay for those services.

But others in the community will sell raw, uncut timber because that’s what people in their area want. It’s really going to depend on your market, what you have and what is in demand.

Others don’t mill up their own trees, but will pay for logs from others and then mill them up, making a profit off of the difference selling boards or slabs compared to what they paid for the timber. Know what’s economical for you and decide what's best.

Another factor to consider is competition. Are there a lot of wood lot owners or logging companies in your area? If there are, then you may have to consider how your business model can make money in that market and adapt your plan accordingly. But if there isn’t, then there may be more opportunities available for you.

Having a spot on your property to store and maintain your equipment, as well as build anything you may need to make your job easier, is a key recommendation from wood lot owners in the community.

If you have the time, space and equipment, you can build yourself a barn, shed or workshop. This is where you can keep your equipment out of the elements, store and dry your lumber, protect your sawmill and have a place to do regular maintenance like sharpening your sawmill blades.

These structures will have to hold up to the elements, so depending on your location and your climate, some members of the community will advise that you may need to treat your posts or use appropriate siding/roofing to weather-proof your building.

One of the advantages of being a Portable Sawmill owner is cutting down what your clients want and milling it up to their specifications exactly.

In the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook group, there are continuous discussions around whether something is worth doing yourself versus paying someone else to do.

And most sawyers want to do it all themselves. After all, they bought the mill to make their own lumber for their own projects, so it makes sense to do each part of the job yourself, right?

But sometimes it’s easier, and cheaper, to pay someone else to do it for you. Community contributor Fred mentions that he runs a tree service using his mill, and someone offered him 20-plus logs in exchange for clearing part of a lot.

Though after thinking it through, acknowledging how much time it would take to haul all that lumber, he says he ended up paying an arborist with the right equipment. Four hours and $800 later and all those logs were neatly stacked on their property.

Your time is valuable, and in your case, you might think like Fred and evaluate that it’s worth spending that money up front to save you dozens of hours of work, thus getting you to milling and selling your lumber faster. These are calls you’re going to have to make as you run your business.

There are many advantages to owning a Portable Sawmill: not needing to rely on store-bought lumber, making custom sizes of posts and beams, using your own species of woods which can be tailored to the project you’re making and many more.

And you should be thinking about these things when you’re pricing your lumber, because the lumber industry is manufacturing boards on a scale much larger than you. Because of economics of scale, many sawyers in the community admit large-scale lumber mills can produce pine 2x4s far more cheaply than they can compete with if they're planning to sell. To try and sell to that same market, you would either have to undercut their prices and risk losing money, or you can use your sawmill to your advantage.

Because you can make more than just pine 2x4s… you can make whatever you or your customers want. Does a client need 4x4s posts for a deck? You can do that. Is there someone looking for a walnut slab for a custom piece of furniture? Can do. If someone walks up to you and says “I see you sell cherry, can I get a 20-foot live-edge board at a 1.4 inches thick?” You can just do that.

As a small-scale sawmill operator, you can leverage your versatility in ways the lumber industry can’t, and sell things which would be typically harder to acquire. And you have far more freedom to price these items to a point where you can make a profit compared to pine 2x4s.