Marketing Value-added Forest Products

There are basically two choices when selling your wood: 

You can sell the raw material and let someone else
add the value and make all the major profit,
or you can process the wood into value-added products
and keep that profit for yourself!

Choice #1  - Sell your lumber wholesale:  In The Timber Jungle!
Wholesale lumber and flooring markets are well established and extremely traditional.
This is a very competitive, cut-throat place, where commodities are bought and sold in great volumes at low profit margins.  There is a constant fight for survival here.  You need large quantities and steady supplies to meet orders.  Substitutes are always trying to take your market share.  You have to be an expert at your specific product.  Mass production of a few products is very monotonous.

Choice #2 - Sell value-added products retail:  Paradise!
Retail lumber and flooring markets are very flexible today, with many innovative      approaches to make the shopping experience interesting.  Woodworkers and consumers are just like you and me, friendly folks who want to buy quality products from people that they trust.  In today's market, environmentally friendly products are preferred if the consumer knows the full story.