The first proper cold snap in October does the same thing to every fuel yard: the phone goes from quiet to constant in a day, and the people ringing are the ones who did not stock up. They searched “firewood delivery Dublin 15”, “kiln dried logs near me”, “coal and briquettes delivered” or “home heating oil north county Dublin”, they want it this week, and they want three things settled before they ring: what exactly are we getting, what does it cost, and will you come out to us. Websites for fuel and firewood suppliers in Dublin tend to be a phone number and a photo of a trailer. The one that settles those three things gets the order.
What a bag of logs has to say about itself
A bag of logs is not a bag of logs. Kiln dried or seasoned. Hardwood, and which (ash, beech, birch, oak), or softwood. Moisture content, with a line that your firewood meets the 25% limit for firewood sold in Ireland, and the certificate if you hold one.
Sizes that mean something: a net, a bulk bag, a tonne bag, a crate, a trailer load, a cubic metre, loose or stacked. Log length, so the customer knows it fits the stove. Kindling and firelighters. Low smoke coal by type and bag weight. Briquettes by the bale. Bottled gas. For oil, kerosene by the litre with your minimum drop and whether you do emergency fills.
Photograph the products with something for scale: a person beside the bulk bag, a log split to show the dry centre, the kiln, the yard. The prices sit beside each, and you change them yourself from your phone the day the wholesale price moves.
Delivery days, areas and the yard
The second question is always “do you come out to me”. List the towns and villages you cover and the days you cover them: north county on Tuesdays, west Dublin on Thursdays, or however your rounds run. Say the minimum order for delivery, whether you tip at the kerb or stack in the shed and what stacking costs, and what the lorry needs in the way of access. If people can collect from the yard, give the hours and the Eircode. Say how to pay: cash, card at the door, Revolut, bank transfer.
The Google listing needs the same care. A yard with public collection is a shop with hours; a delivery-only operation is a service-area business with no pin on your house. Winter hours differ from summer hours, and the listing should say so. The common mistakes are in how to get your business on Google Maps.
The season, and selling the summer
October to March is the year, with the week before Christmas its own panic and a storm forecast doing more for sales than any advert. Summer is quiet, and the site can make it useful: a line about summer prices for logs that will be stacked and seasoned by autumn, a reminder to fill the oil tank while the roads are quiet, and a nudge to get the chimney swept before the rush. The one-line notice at the top of the page changes with the week: “Delivering Thursday only this week”, “Kiln dried back in stock Monday”, “Oil deliveries within two days”.
Orders by WhatsApp, cards at the door
You cannot take an order on the phone with the lorry in gear. A WhatsApp button lets the customer send “two bulk bags of ash and a bag of kindling, Thursday, Eircode attached” and get a thumbs up at the next stop. A short order form does the same by email and WhatsApp together, asking for the product, quantity, Eircode, phone, preferred day and access notes, so nobody is ringing back for the gate code.
Card payment on the site, or a card link sent by WhatsApp, suits customers who do not keep cash in the house any more. A full online shop with stock levels and checkout is an add-on and quoted first; most yards do not need it. If a boiler is the problem rather than the fuel, the heating engineer you trust can be named on the page.
What we need from the yard
Your product list with sizes and prices. Delivery areas and days, the minimum order and your stacking charge. How people pay. Yard hours and Eircode if you do collection. Your WhatsApp number. A dozen photos. Any certificate for the firewood. Ten minutes on the phone, in August for preference.
Plan and price
Essentials is the plan for most yards: €499 to set up and €50 a month, plus VAT, no contract, for the site, the listing, the price list you change yourself and the monthly report. Complete at €1,499 and €100 a month adds card payment on the site, a review text after each delivery and the managed Google listing through the season. Yards outside Dublin start with a phone call. What each plan includes is on the pricing page.