FreeConstruction · Carpentry

Board feet and lumber cost

Board feet, waste and cost for a lumber order from nominal sizes.

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Your numbers

Nominal thickness (in)Nominal size, e.g. 2 for a 2x board.Nominal width (in)Nominal size, e.g. 6 for a 2x6.Length (ft)Length of each piece.PiecesHow many pieces you need installed.Waste allowance (%)Offcuts, defects and mistakes; 5–15% is common.Price ($/BF)Price per board foot from your supplier; hardwoods often $4–$12/BF.

For the yard quote5 more, filled with typical values

Yard price per piece ($ per piece)The yard's shelf price for one board at the length entered above. 0 to skip the comparison.Lengths the yard stocksEven lengths the yard carries, to see whether cutting from longer boards wastes less.Sales tax (%)Your state and local rate on materials.Delivery charge ($)The yard's charge to drop the order on site. 0 if you pick it up.Markup for the bid (%)What you add to material cost in the bid for handling, overhead and profit.

Board feet and lumber costForge by Norventus

How it works

Press Calculate to see the board feet per piece, the pieces to order with waste, the total board feet and the cost.

One board: what a board foot count starts fromThe stack, sawhorses and tapeOffcuts the waste allowance pays forThe drawing follows your numbers as you type: thicker, wider and longer boards, a bigger stack for more pieces, more offcuts for more waste. Press Calculate for the board feet per piece, the pieces to order, the total board feet and the cost, worked out by the tool.

Result

Ready when you are.Enter your numbers and press Calculate.

References

Check the work against these

A yard quote: per-piece against per-board-foot price, which stock length to buy, tax and delivery, and the material price for the bid. Numbers in the result and in the plain-words read point here.

1
Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-282, 2021)Guide
USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory
The commercial lumber chapter covers how lumber is graded, sized (nominal against actual) and measured in board feet, and the moisture chapter why green and dry stock differ. Free PDF by chapter.
2
Producer Price Index (lumber and wood products)Data
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Monthly price index for lumber and wood products. Use it to see how far prices have moved since your last quote and how long to hold a bid price.
3
29 CFR 1926.250, General requirements for storageCode
OSHA
When the order lands: lumber stacked stable and self-supporting on level, solid sills, no higher than 16 ft if handled by hand and 20 ft at most.
4
APA resource libraryGuide
APA, The Engineered Wood Association
Free guides for panels and engineered lumber (LVL, I-joists), which are priced by the piece or sheet rather than by board foot.

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Go deeper

When this answer isn't the whole job

Pro sheetPremiumDeck joist span checkMaximum deck joist span for a lumber species, size and spacing, and whether your span works.In the role plan · see an example →Pro sheetPremiumPlank and lumber weight calculatorWeight of a board, beam or panel from its size, species and moisture, per piece and for the whole stack.In the role plan · see an example →

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Board feet and lumber cost

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