Why Work With Franklin (And What to Ask Any Timber Buyer)

Most timber fraud isn’t dramatic. There’s no villain in a black hat. It’s just information asymmetry — the buyer knows what your trees are worth, and you don’t. If you only sell timber once in your life, and the buyer sells timber every week, the math is never going to be on your side unless you start the conversation armed with the right questions.

This is a guide I wish my parents had when a buyer knocked on their door back in 2023. It’s five questions you should ask any timber buyer — us included — before you sign anything. And for each one, I’ll tell you what a good answer sounds like, what a bad answer sounds like, and exactly how Franklin Timber Co. answers it.

Question 1: “How did you arrive at this price?”

A good timber buyer should be able to break their offer down: which species, how many trees, estimated board feet per tree, estimated grade (saw log vs. veneer vs. stave), and the current mill pricing they’re basing it on. If the answer is a single number with no math behind it, that’s a red flag.

Bad answer: “We’ll give you $3,500 cash for the whole lot.”

Good answer: “You’ve got four walnuts and two white oaks. The walnuts grade out to roughly 1,800 board feet total at saw-log quality, which is worth about $900 at current stumpage. The oaks are probably 1,100 BF of stave grade at $1,850/MBF, so call that $2,000. Total somewhere between $2,700 and $3,200, depending on what the scaler finds.”

How Franklin does it: We give you a written assessment that shows every tree, estimated grade, estimated board feet, and the current stumpage range we’re using. Then we send those specs to multiple mills and show you every bid we receive. You never see a single number without the math.

Question 2: “When do I get paid, and in what form?”

“After the trees are on the ground” is the single most dangerous answer you can hear. Once the trees are down, your leverage is gone. If the buyer underpays, disputes the count, or just disappears, you’re the one holding a yard full of stumps.

Bad answer: “We’ll settle up once the logs are hauled and scaled.”

Good answer: “You’ll have a signed purchase agreement with a guaranteed minimum before anything happens. Payment lands in your account before we bring in equipment.”

How Franklin does it: Payment hits your account a few days before the arborist shows up — typically 3–5 days before cutting. The contract guarantees the number. If logs grade higher at the mill (veneer, stave, figured), we pay you the difference after the fact. If they grade lower, you keep the full original payment. That risk is on us, not you.

Question 3: “Who is actually buying these logs?”

A lot of “timber buyers” are middlemen who don’t own a mill — which is fine, we’re a middleman too — but you should always know the end buyer. Otherwise you have no way to sanity check the price.

Bad answer: “We have partners.”

Good answer: “The walnut is going to Mohn’s Lumber in Chambersburg. The white oak is going to Bricker Lumber in Cashtown, who sells stave grade to a cooperage in Kentucky. Here’s the mill receiver’s number if you want to call and confirm the load.”

How Franklin does it: Every bid we show you names the mill. We work primarily with Mohn’s Lumber (est. 1969), Bricker Lumber (est. 1957), and Moulstown Woodworks — all in the region, all with long track records. You can call any of them directly to verify a bid. We encourage it.

Question 4: “What happens if the trees turn out to be worth more than you thought?”

This is the question pinhookers hate. The whole pinhooker business model is buying saw logs and selling veneer. If the answer is “well, that’s the breaks,” the buyer is telling you exactly how they make their money.

Bad answer: “A deal’s a deal.”

Good answer: “If the scaler grades the log higher than the bid, you get the difference.”

How Franklin does it: Our standard contract has an upside clause. If your walnut comes back as veneer instead of saw grade, or your white oak grades stave instead of log, we pay you the difference after the mill scales the load — minus our 10% fee on the upside portion. That’s the whole reason this business exists. See our veneer tree guide for how dramatic that upside can be.

Question 5: “What's your fee, and where does it come out?”

Every broker charges something. The honest ones say so upfront.

Bad answer: “No fee — we just keep the difference.”

Good answer: “Here’s the exact percentage, and here’s a worked example of what you net.”

How Franklin does it: Flat 10% of the final mill payment. Nothing else. No service charges, no log-scaling fees, no marked-up trucking. Assessment is free — you only pay if a sale happens. And because our bid almost always beats a first-knock cash offer by more than 10%, the fee effectively pays for itself. See the worked example on our pricing page.

So why work with Franklin specifically?

Three honest reasons:

1. We specialize in residential properties. Most timber buyers skip yards and back lots because they want to set up heavy equipment on a 40-acre woodlot and take everything. We’re built for the landowner who has one walnut, or three oaks, or storm damage from a winter windstorm.
2. We’re from here. I grew up in Chambersburg — CASHS grad, Sheller Road in the summers — and the mills we send your timber to are places my family has worked with for decades. If I burn a relationship, I don’t have anywhere else to go.
3. The upside stays with you. If your tree turns out to be veneer, you get paid for veneer. That is the single most important thing on this page. Most buyers keep that upside for themselves. We don’t.