Fire Wood

[strawberrystar]

Hello

Does anyone know of anywhere local to Force (AP) that we can tell guests to buy small amounts of firewood for the log burner? It would be easier than us buying a large amount and having to estimate costs to charge them.

Thanks

Strawberry*

[Penny]

Why don't you use tronchetti? They come in boxes of 20kg which cost €3 each and are sawdust compressed by steam. They are great and we use them in our log burner. You get them from Giannini's in Comunanza.

[Lorraine]

Not being funny, but if I was renting accommodation I would expect the wood to be available at the house when I arrived and not have to start buying it in myself. What if they buy too much and start asking for a refund?

[Angie and Robert]

I think Lorraine has a point, the last thing I would expect guests to do is go out and buy wood when they arrived in Winter, but I take it this is supplimented by CH? and the wood burner is just a nice extra.
I think you are going to have to estimate how much wood has been used, assuming you are on site and then make a charge at the end of their stay. There are other web sites that deal with queries from owners of rental homes if you would care to pm me I will send them to you.Can be a mine of information and support....and some funny stories!.
A

[Sebastiano]

Originally Posted by strawberrystar

Hello

Does anyone know of anywhere local to Force (AP) that we can tell guests to buy small amounts of firewood for the log burner? It would be easier than us buying a large amount and having to estimate costs to charge them.

Thanks

Strawberry*

i think you'll find anyone selling the stuff wouldn't look at less than 10-15 quintali thats 1 ton to 1.5 metric tons.

[anne2]

I would agree with Lorraine, Angie and Robert. If I was renting a holiday home, I would not be terribly impressed if I had to go out to buy firewood, I would expect it to be provided. As it is only about €10-13 per quintale and it is highly unlikely that any guests will get through anything like that amount I would just treat it like any other utility and include a set amount for all hidden in the rental fee and not worry about trying to work out who has used what amount and how much to charge. It also means you can control size of logs, quality and how it is stored!

(I remember a while back a post by a forum member (sorry can't remember who) who had rented a lovely house for a summer holiday only to be handed a bill for electricity as they left - it caused a lot of upset and gave them cause to reconsider ever returning to that house or recomending it to others.)

[Charles Phillips]

I thnk Penny's suggestion is the most diplomatic - leave a couple of boxes of tronchetti for when they arrive, with a note of where they can buy some more if they run out.

[strawberrystar]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The need to charge guests for logs is an optional alternative to using the gas central heating. With the increase in utility bills, as well as very high running costs, combined with trying to offer a low cost option for renting a luxury farmhouse at an out of season period it is simply not an option to foot the bill for something else. I am not on site, and was simply trying to keep things simple. I think I will proceed with the tronchetti suggestion. Is no one else having problems balancing the books this year?!

Thanks very much!

[English teacher]

I don't know about everyone else, but we get our firewood in the summer - not in winter. So asking people to go and get it themselves might be difficult - especially as wood cut later in the year might not be seasoned.

Personally, if I were renting a luxury farmhouse, I'd expect the means for heating to be there when I arrived, and not to have to go looking for it. We burn through at most 10kg of wood a day - which is about €2 per day. You could always incorporate this cost into your weekly or monthly rent or even tell the renters that wood for burning was free (and environmentally more friendly than gas etc) and wow your guests with your generosity and green credentials! (No need to tell them how cheap wood is!) Seriously, anything else just looks cheap to me.

[Geotherm]

Why not just put in a costing for the winter heating in the rental, that way you can provide a good supply of wood, or if they prefer then they can use the gas instead.