Since Schomber bought the machine it has been "full-speed ahead," he says. He is called to a job when a customer has a tree or log in their yard that is already down and Schomber comes out and mills it for them. Currently he leaves the wood that he mills on the site, however in the future he would like to get into selling the lumber.

 

It's a job Schomber says he could be set-up to do as early as this fall. "Selling lumber, in particular siding, is what people have been asking me about," he says. "Most of the people that ask me about it want to straight up buy the siding, they don't have logs. I am probably going to move more in that direction of obtaining logs and then selling lumber."

 

He handles most calls by himself, but if there is a bigger job he will bring a friend with him to help. Schomber does most of his work by hand, he doesn't use a loader or edger, he says. To help keep the jobs manageable he asks his customers to arrange the logs before he arrives, although from time to time he will have to pull one into place with his truck.

 

He has managed to keep quite busy getting business by word of mouth, citing urban homeowners as his major source of customers and farmers as a smaller percentage. He says he might consider advertising to expand the business in the future. Schomber says he would like to get to a place where he can purchase a couple of more machines and keep a small crew busy.

 

He has been learning as he goes, he says, taking the advice of people who have told him to do his research and get to know the lumber market. He reiterates the same  advice to those looking to get into the business  - do your research. "It is easy to get carried away with a dream or wishful thinking but when you are talking about starting a lumber business you really have to know your market," he says. "You have to know who is going to pay you and have solid research to follow up what you hope will happen."