Running a firewood delivery business: seasons, Ready to Burn and routes

Selling firewood looks simple from the outside: logs in, logs out. In practice, a small log business is a seasonal logistics operation with legal rules on moisture, heavy loads, and customers who all want a delivery in the same three cold weeks. This guide covers the essentials for a UK firewood merchant with one or two vehicles.

The legal bit: Ready to Burn (England)

In England, selling wood fuel is regulated by the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 (legislation.gov.uk). The government's guidance for sellers says:

• You can only supply or sell wood fuel in volumes of less than 2 cubic metres if it is certified as Ready to Burn, which confirms it has a moisture content of 20% or less.
• This covers firewood in single retail bags and loose bulk deliveries under 2m³, as well as wood briquettes.
• For wood sold in volumes of 2m³ or more, certification isn't required, but you must give customers a notice explaining how to dry and store the wood and check its moisture before burning.
• Certified products must show the Ready to Burn logo, the supplier's name and the unique certification number, on the packaging or alongside the product or price, including online.

Read the full guidance before relying on this summary: gov.uk: selling wood for domestic use in England. The rules above are for England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements, so check with your local authority if you sell there.

In practice, this means most domestic deliveries (a bulk bag, a few nets) need to be certified wood. Keep your certification number on your price list, website and delivery paperwork.

Products: bulk bags, nets and loads

Most log merchants sell some mix of:

• Bulk bags (often called builder's bags or "dumpy bags"). The workhorse of domestic delivery. Be clear about volume. "A bulk bag" means different things to different sellers, and customers compare prices.
• Nets or small bags for top-ups, kindling and garage forecourts.
• Loose loads by the cubic metre, tipped. Larger loads are cheaper per cubic metre for the customer and fewer drops for you, but check the 2m³ rule above.
• Extras: kindling, firelighters, briquettes. Easy add-ons that raise the value of each drop.

State volumes honestly, and whether the measurement is loose-tipped or stacked. It avoids arguments and builds repeat custom.

Planning for the season

Demand is heavily seasonal: quiet in summer, busy from autumn, and a scramble in the first cold snap. You can't change the weather, but you can smooth the work:

• Early-order offers. Encourage customers to stock up in late summer and early autumn with a modest discount or free kindling. Every load delivered in September is one less in December.
• Regular top-ups. Offer winter customers a repeat delivery every few weeks. It turns panic calls into a plan and gives you predictable route days.
• Delivery days by area. "Villages north of town on Tuesdays" lets you fill a day in one area rather than driving everywhere every day.
• Waiting list, not promises. In a cold snap, be honest about lead times. A customer told "Friday" who gets it Friday is happier than one told "tomorrow" who gets it Friday.

Stock: knowing what you can sell

In a cold snap the limit is often dry stock, not vans. Running out in January and turning away regulars is worse than having a little left in April. Keep a rough running count of what you have ready to sell, in the same units you sell in (bags, nets, cubic metres), and compare it with what's booked. If you're getting close, prioritise repeat customers, stop advertising, and be honest with new enquiries about lead times. If you buy in seasoned or kiln-dried wood, order before the season starts, when suppliers have it and prices are steadier.

Van payload and weight

Logs are heavy, and how heavy depends on species, moisture and volume. Overloading is a real risk with bulk bags. Know the payload of your vehicle (the plated weight minus the vehicle's own weight), weigh a typical bag of your product, and work out how many fit legally, including the driver and any equipment.

Also check your licence. A standard car (category B) licence lets you drive vehicles up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass. Gov.uk explains the categories and the separate allowance for some electric vehicles (gov.uk: driving licence categories). Towing a trailer has its own rules, so check those too if you use one.

When you plan a day, plan by load as well as by route: which drops go on the first load, which on the second, and whether a refill trip back to the yard fits in.

Route density pays

Log delivery customers are often rural and spread out, so driving is a big part of the cost of each drop. The best thing you can do for your margin is to put drops close together:

• Group drops by area and day, as above.
• Order stops sensibly within each area. Our multi-drop route guide covers how, and the free route planner will do it for you.
• Price for distance. A flat delivery charge within a radius, and more beyond it, is fair and easy to explain. Use the delivery cost calculator to work out your cost per mile and per drop.

At the door

Agree with customers where the logs are going: tipped on the drive, put in the log store, or stacked (which is a chargeable extra for many merchants). Write it in the customer notes so the driver doesn't have to ring. A quick photo of where the logs were left is useful if anyone queries it later.

Payment on delivery is common in this trade, by cash or card. If you take cash, record it against each drop so the end-of-day count reconciles. For regular or business customers, invoices with a card payment link are often easier for everyone. See getting paid on time.

Keep the records

Keep records of customers, what they had and when. It helps with repeat business ("same as last November?") and with any questions about what you sold. Good delivery records also make life easier if your local authority ever checks on your sales; the gov.uk guidance mentions delivery records to households in smoke control areas among the things that can be looked at.

RoundSorted is one way to keep this together: customers with their usual orders, a daily load list, routes in driving order and cash recorded at the door. See RoundSorted for firewood and log merchants.