Selling 10 acres of timber in East Canton, Ohio
A landowner in Stark County with valuable subsurface limestone on his property made plans to have it quarried. Before he could do so, he wanted to have all the mature trees timbered out and sold.
He also wanted to protect sections of his property that wouldn’t be quarried from logging impact.
Because he’d worked for years in the tree service business, he knew better than to negotiate directly with any local logger or sawmills.
Instead, he called us out to take a full inventory of his timber, and develop a harvest plan that would maximize his yield, while protecting his property for his future plans.
Here’s how we proceeded to help him.
Step 1. Site visit and timber stand evaluation
On January 27 the owner called, explained the above, and asked us to come to meet with him and visit the site. We did so the next week and saw a reasonable amount of mature trees, but some challenging topography for a timber harvest.
The owner badly needed the services of an experienced forester to accurately mark the property lines, lay out an ideal path for a log-skidding road and to create an optimal harvest plan. He acknowledged that he could not do these things himself, and hired us on the spot to sell the timber and oversee the harvest for him.
The yellow line is the property’s boundary. The red lines mark the two areas where trees will be harvested. The dotted line is where the loggers must put their skidding/hauling road. The purple pins mark the landing areas for their logs. The read pin marks where their logging equipment is to be parked overnight.
Step 2: Getting a complete and accurate timber inventory
The landowner wanted to clear cut all the mature timber from the back (eastern) part of his property, and some from the northwest, in order to enable retrieval of the limestone.
This did not mean, however, that he didn’t value the timber or would just offer it to the local sawmill and accept whatever he could get.
He asked us to send an expert forester to evaluate and inventory every mature tree, by species and size, and to prepare a report of the number of trees on his land, and the total number of board feet of lumber in them.
Here’s what we found:
| Species | # of Trees | Doyle Volume FC 78 | Average DBH | Volume per treeDoyle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Aspen |
5 |
818 |
18.2 |
163 |
|
Basswood |
2 |
42 |
20.5 |
216 |
|
Beech |
8 |
892 |
19.4 |
112 |
|
Black Cherry |
7 |
1129 |
19.1 |
161 |
|
Black Gum |
5 |
659 |
18 |
132 |
|
Black Oak |
42 |
13,099 |
22.8 |
312 |
|
Chestnut Oak |
21 |
4,289 |
20.8 |
204 |
|
Grey Elm |
1 |
234 |
22 |
234 |
|
Sassafrass |
3 |
449 |
18.7 |
150 |
|
Sycamore |
59 |
13,854 |
20.7 |
235 |
|
Scarlet Oak |
7 |
1,602 |
22.6 |
229 |
|
Yellow Poplar |
88 |
27,004 |
20.7 |
307 |
|
|
248 |
64,456 |
20.9 |
270 |
Step 3: Marketing the timber to multiple loggers
Once we had an accurate inventory, we prepared a Notice of Standing Timber Sale and sent it out to qualified, honest loggers who are known for doing good work.
As with every sale we manage, our timber sale prospectus also contained:
• The timber location;
• Authorization and time to visit the timber stand to inspect it;
• Harvest requirements and restrictions;
• Sale method (sealed bid in this case);
• Bid submission deadline and instructions;
• Terms of payment and contract requirements, such as bonds, insurance, and timelines.
We invited twenty loggers to bid on this timber, avoiding the biggest mistake that landowners make, which is just calling the local sawmill to come out, take a look, and give his best offer.
Sawmills are not in the business of getting you top dollar for your timber. That’s our job.
Step 4: Evaluating the bids from the loggers
Notice of Sale went out on March 5, 2024 and all bids were due at noon on March 20.
We received 6 bids from loggers in these amounts:
| Bids | Amount of bid |
|---|---|
|
Top Bid |
$30,261 |
|
Next Bid |
$26,850 |
|
Next Bid |
$26,777 |
|
Next Bid |
$26,600 |
|
Next Bid |
$26,200 |
|
Next Bid |
$20,500 |
Our process gets you top dollar for your timber
Notice the differences in the value of the bids from highest to the lowest. The top bid was $3,411, and 12.7% higher than the next bid. But it was also almost $10.000 (or 50 %) higher than the low bid.
This shows clearly what can happen to you when you don’t get an experienced forester on your side to get you full market value for your timber.
Our client accepted the high bid the next day, and immediately received $7565.25 as a deposit payment of 25% of the total sale. The harvest contract has been written and both parties will sign it before March 30. The harvest will begin in the second week of April, and the logger will pay our client $22, 695.75 (the final 75% of the sale price) before his crew can bring equipment onto the property to begin work.