Charging for wood

[nimportequoi]

I've decided to charge for heating now instead of doing an all in price. I can no longer live on site and bite my tongue while guests wearing nothing but T shirts and shorts in April burn my valuable oak in the chimney or woodburner with the central heating on full blast, whilst the doors and windows of the gites are open wide to let the heat out. (This doesn't apply to all guests, of course, but it happens too regularly for me now!)

I'm still not decided on a price for wood and maths isn't my forte. If I paid 180€ per corde, any opinion on what would be a fair price to charge per (heaped) wheelbarrow load?

[Blanche Neige]

Good idea and I think it will make people more aware and less indulgent.

We stayed in a cottage in wales some years ago and they supplied the first basket of logs FOC there after clients were asked to pay per basket but we didn't actually light the stove. I liked the idea of including the first basket load .

Maths is not my strong point either so I won't answer that part of the question.

[nimportequoi]

Yes, I was going to include the first basket as I always lay the fire, and then I was thinking of around 15€ per wheelbarrow load, but I'm not sure if that is too steep (you can get quite a lot in!)

[Jhc]

I like the idea of supplying the first logs free, so they can light a fire on their first night.  Then I direct them to the local hardware store to buy bags of logs which are really v cheap, about 5 euros for a bag which would be a night's worth of logs.  I don't want to have to chain saw logs for customers to use - it's bad enough doing our own. 

[Fil]

Hi,

I think €15 a load is a bit steep, unless you have an absolutely enormous barrow!  We charge just €5 a load, and that is quite reasonable I think.  After all, a cord is alot of wood, probably more than 12 barrow loads (the €15 a load sort) but maybe less than 36 (€5 sort).  We heap ours right up for our guests, and then let them help themselves after that and rely on them being honest.  But yes, last night, load of logs, windows all open!  We giggled as we are still in shorts and feeling very hot!

Fil

[ngh]

Hi Susan

I agree with you about charging, it is something we have decided on for out of season lettings. The charge does seen a little high though. We pay about 45 euros per steer. I think we get roughly about 100, 1 mtr lengths per steer (give or take). so is you say each length is worth about .5 euro . you get 2 pieces per length. If you can carry 12 pieces per wheelbarrow. I think thats about 3 euros per barrow. So i would say first lot free and 5 euros a barrow after that.

 

Hope it helps and a bet i get picked up on 100 lengths a steer.

nich the wood

[nimportequoi]

Thanks everyone - I thought 15€ was perhaps a little much! I just couldn't visualise how many wheelbarrow loads would make up a corde.

[Apero]

Seems a bit much per corde, we pay €120 for seasoned oak + a bottle of whiskey shared.

However, they make sneak some when your out.[Www] I prefer a full price for all services when I rent off peak season. Seems penny pinching to count heaped wheelbarrows; whether they are large or small heaped wheelbarrows.

Or perhaps, if you want wood for the fire say it'll cost x amount on top.

[nimportequoi]

What you pay per corde varies a lot depending on where you live in France. As far as paying a set rate for wood goes, I've had some people who light the fire as soon as they get up and it is on all day, others who just light it in the evening. Therefore to charge a set rate for wood doesn't really work. I know everone would prefer a set rate for off peak lets, I've done this for the last 3 years but it it has got to the point where I may even be losing money in off peak lets so that is why I'm changing policy. It has been pointed out on some previous threads that some people use a lot more heating than others, so it is equally unfair for guests to pay for heating they don't use as it is for guests not to pay for the heating they do use.

[Cassis]

If I were renting a gite I would like the idea of having the first load free then being able to buy more on site if I need it, rather than paying all in for something I may not want.  Just a personal view.

[Bob T]

I am not a gite owner but have stayed in some. If I stay in a gite, I would expect it to be warm and comfortable. If I found that I had to pay extra for wood, which I would expect to be built into the owners profit margin, then I would not return to that gite again. I would find it petty to have other charges for renting other than that which was advertised. Not trying to be offensive in any way here, just my opinion.

[nimportequoi]

Who said it wouldn't be advertised? Of course you you have to make sure that everything is clear on the website if there are any extra charges. As far as being warm and comfortable is concerned, that temperature zone varies in different people. I had a couple who stayed last February who told me they had their central heating switched to 25°c on the thermostat permenently in winter. They expected the gite to be the same temperature (they liked wearing nothing more than T shirts indoors) and so their week ended up costing me money. I don't think it is being petty - a lot of people expect to be able to rent for peanuts in winter, but I'm running a business, not a charity and to me it isn't unreasonable to make a profit (albeit a small one) rather than a loss.

[Coco]

Bob - when I was renting gites I would totally agree with you!!   The trouble is, people always expect to pay LESS in the off-peak months and that is when the house costs the owner MORE to run.  When we rented our house as a gite that fast because apparent to me.  Of course you want it to be warm and cosy and so it should.  It also appears penny-pinching to charge for extras on top.  Consequently we chose not to rent our house between November and March - but that was when it was our holiday home and was just financing our trips to France.  When it becomes a business and your main source of income it's a whole new ball game!  Yes the house should be warm but gite owners aren't running a charity either, and to Susan's cost (and future renters) she has found that some people spoil it for all the rest.

We once had a family (4 adults) staying in our house and they phoned our key holder because the electricity had tripped and they couldn't work out how to reset it.  He went to the house to do it for them but by the time he got there they had all gone out.  It was Easter Sunday (a very mild one) and when the electricity came back on he said that EVERY light in the house was on, along with every electric radiator (at full volume) along with the hi-fi and even hairdriers had been left switched on and plugged in.

We come up against the same problem here with the B&B in that people expect to pay less for a room in the winter but because we have to heat the whole house it actually costs us more.  When we're here alone we wear more layers and only use the woodburner but the oil gobbling CH has to be on if we have guests in.

Susan, I was going to say a bit more than 5€ originally but then you don't want to put people off and it's not something that you're trying to make money out of, just cover your own costs and not have to pay for other people's wasteful behaviour.  So I'd go with the majority and say that I think 5€ would be fair (as long as it IS a big barrow)  I bet you find then that they don't use anywhere near as much!! [;-)]

[Bob T]

As I said, Susan, just my opinion. I don't know what your profit margins are, nor is that anything to do with me. I just thought that some feedback from a potential customer might be of use to the gite owners on this site. Even if your website said there will be an extra charge for wood, I would find another that doesn't. Don't think that I am telling you how to run your business, because I am not. But I would be a booking lost if I were to look at more than one gite website.

[nimportequoi]

Bob,

I appreciate your opinion and as far as no extra charges, I'm with you on everything but the heating. As St Armour says, it is really the minority who abuse the 'all in' heating charges, but once you have had a few of these of guests it does make you a little wary. I'm not too bothered about week +  lets from Nov - March as I get a lot of weekend stays from the French market during this period. I find that French guests tend to be a little more considerate where heating is concerned and also they generally expect heating to be an 'extra'. But please don't stop giving your opinions, I find them very helpful!

[Alan]

[quote user="St Amour"]

We come up against the same problem here with the B&B in that people expect to pay less for a room in the winter but because we have to heat the whole house it actually costs us more.  When we're here alone we wear more layers and only use the woodburner but the oil gobbling CH has to be on if we have guests in.

[/quote]

It’s the same for us, but if you want trade in the winter months then the rooms have to be heated. Don’t think it would go down to well with a surcharge on the bill for room heating .But I agree with what you are saying , I have had guests in during the winter that leave heating on full and the window open and then go out for the day.

 

When  we have rented a gite in the winter months then i  expect some kind of heating to be included in the cost of the gite, regardless as to it being oil electric or wood, I am afraid I am like Bob and would not book a place who charged for the main source of heating as being an extra. Maybe on the other hand if the rent was considered to be low I would not mind, or if the wood fire was a second source of heating then i might go along with that idea

[londoneye]

You could work out a middle ground - eg how many logs would be used having a fire on from say 18:00 to 23:00, factor that by 7 for a week's rental (wheel-barrow loads, or any other measurable load) and include that in the rental.      Then ensure advertising says that between eg october and april a moderate amount of wood is provided, and extra can be purchased on site or something similar.     I should imagine that an evenings use would be less than a wheelbarrow's worth (perhaps half?) thus it should only cost (on the 5 euros per WB calculation !) less than 20 euros a week to provide what may seem to people like a lot of wood.    of course we serious burners of wood would know at a glance that it wasnt a great deal, but hey ho most people from uk at least dont have wood burners .....

i think if i were renting a winter gite, i would be quite happy with this scenario, plus an estimate of what they could expect to pay extra - 5 euros a barrow is going to look pretty good to most people i think.     after all who comes on holiday without money - no-one.      so if they want to literally burn their money in a frenzy of heat they would probably feel it  was money well  spent !

[zeb]

We've recently rented a large 3 epie gite in the Pyrenees through gites-de -france.

The contract, which we signed and returned with our deposit, stated that electricity and gas meter readings would be taken on arrival. A certain amount would be allowed in the rental and over and above that used would be charged at cost (a chart of charges were in the gite).

A weeks supply of logs was included in the rental (there was a very large pile in the garage, with kindling) and more could be requested if necessary and again, charged at cost.

As it turned out, the meter readings were generous, as was the pile of logs. We didn't have anything extra to pay for our usage, but it did make us all careful.

Maybe this is the way to go?

[Ejc]

As a past regular gite customer - I had no problem what so ever with paying for the wood I used - it's nice if you're not used to an open fire to have one, a free first load & laid fire was always appreciated. In the past when staying out of season we have also had the various meters read at the start / end of our stay - and have never yet had to pay extra - but then we're the sort that put a jumper on rather than turn the heating up.

I do know that lots of people do take advantage so this is one way of either reigning that waste in a bit - or at least making sure that the costs are fairly applied. If not then the over-all running costs end up going up and we all end up paying for those families who are not so careful.

Now we have our own place - we're even more careful......

 

[Thebiga]

Hi All

Can anyone tell me if they know where I can get bulk wood for our fire, near Chateaubriant Dept 44.

Thanks

Adrian