Sound familiar?
- You price by the cord, but you buy logs by the load or the ton
- The trucking on a log load never makes it into your cost per cord
- Some of every load ends up as rot, waste or kindling — and the price assumes it didn’t
- Cash sales, delivery invoices and the books all live in different places
How GodKey MFG handles it
Your units: cords, tons, loads, bundles
Add the units your trade uses — cords, fractions of a cord, tons, bundles — and buy in one unit while you sell in another. Logs come in by the ton or the load; firewood goes out by the cord or the bundle.
Log loads costed with the trucking
Receive a log load against its purchase order and the delivery charge is spread into the cost of the logs, so every cord split from them carries its share.
Splitting runs that count what you can sell
Record a run from your recipe: how much wood went in and how many cords came out sellable. Labor is added at your rate, and the cost is spread over the good cords — not over the waste.
Delivery invoices and real books
Invoice with a delivery charge and sales tax, take payments, or import your Square sales for review. Each cord’s cost moves to cost of goods sold, so your profit is real.
The math makers miss
Two log loads at $1,600, $200 of trucking and $625 of splitting labor that yield 9.5 sellable cords cost $255.26 a cord — not the $168.42 you’d get from the log price alone.
How to calculate cost per unitSeasoning time isn’t tracked as its own step yet — complete the run when the wood is split and stacked, and keep seasoning dates in the batch notes. Rules for selling firewood vary by state: Washington defines a cord as 128 cubic feet of ranked and well-stowed wood (RCW 19.94.010). Check your state’s weights and measures office for how firewood must be sold.
Questions
How do I figure my cost per cord of firewood?
Add what you paid for the logs, the trucking to get them to your yard, the labor to cut and split, and supplies like bar oil and netting, then divide by the cords you can actually sell — not the cords you hoped to get. Try our free cost-per-unit calculator.
Can I sell firewood by the cord and by the bundle?
Yes. Make cords and bundles separate products, each with its own recipe and cost, and add any units you need, like half and quarter cords.
Can I charge for delivery?
Yes. Invoices include a delivery (shipping) charge and sales tax, and you can record partial payments.