I'm kind of price-shocked this morning. I requested pricing yesterday for some finished (thickness planed) and for 70.3 bd. feet of white oak was quoted CA$825 approx US$750. Are these prices outrageous or is it just me? I'm located in Toronto, Canada.
Quarter Sawn? Riff Sawn? S2S? S4S?
I can get even quarter sawn S2S for under $5/bf . The last stuff that I bought was FAS, S2S and ripped 1 side for $2.24/bf. Of course I'm in the southern US with lots of saw mills close, but that price was from a cabinet supply shop in a major city soooo... I'd do some more checking if I was the OP. bc
In Pennsylvania, I'd expect to pay 3.25 per board ft for 5/4 white oak FAS. I could buy it for you, mark it up and ship it for less than US $750.00. I'll bet if you shop around, you'll find a better price. On a whole, Canada has affordable lumber.
Jeff
It is possible that I used the wrong terminology when I requested the quote, or even left out important details - but I did admit my inexperience in my original request . I gave them the dimensions of the finished pieces I need so I'm guessing they quoted S4S. I did not specify quarter sawn so expect plain sawn but again the quote did not specify. BTW, I did get back to them - politely - expressing my surprise and looking for some clarification.
Also, I read this article which helped educate me:
That's high, although maybe not outrageous. Get some quotes for other woods and see if you can get closer to $5 bf. Gasoline costs may be the culprit here.
My favorite dealer here in expensive Connecticut is $3.90 bd/ft for plainsawn, and $5.95 for qsawn, 4/4, less than 100 bd/ft.
His most expensive is 8/4 qsawn @ $9.95 bd/ft.
comes in certain sizes usually in even 2" increments in width. If they mill a bunch of s4s at one time for inventory stock the price will be higher than rough cut. If they have to do a special small run for a specific size that is not in inventory the price goes up even more.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
You probably aren't even getting what's referred to as s4s, but specifically dimensioned boards. You are paying for shop labor and materials.
Normally, s4s is when they take a rough board and make straight edges and planed faces, leaving as much of the random sized board as possible.
If you order "1x6" or "1x4" white oak boards, they will rip a wider board down, you will pay for the entire original board + labor for dimensioning.
Whoa Nellie! Outrageous is the right word there.
A & M in Cambridge quotes between 5 and 7.50 Can$ bd-ft for WO. Their 'regular' at just over 5 bucks is better than other people's better grades. With a drive to Cambridge, time, and taxes, you'd still be hard pushing to get to $ 500.00...sooo that saves you $ 325.00 from that other quote, and I take half of the savings as commission..
Give these guys a call, they're a great bunch there. You mave heard of Andy Poynter.. he's a furnituristic Krenovmaloofcastlefridkinda guy.
S4S 4/4 flat sawn is 3.75 bd/ft on my latest price sheet from the Charlotte Hardwood Center in Charlotte, NC. They must be adding labor charges to size your lumber order to the sizes that you gave them plus any waste resulting from the added cutting. Learn a bit more about how to specify what you want and then try a few other sources before paying that much for it. That's well over twice what I would consider to be acceptable. Being in Canada you should be closer to the source of native hardwoods than I am so transportation costs should be lower too.
" I'm shocked!, shocked! to find that gambling is going on here". Captain Renault, Prefect of Police, Casablanca Joe G
"Round up the usual suspects!"
Wow! Here in Southern California I pay $2.75/bf for s2s 1 straight edge red oak. Just bought 71bf myself for under $200
I would suggest calling another yard.
Try Century Lumber outside Stoufville. Amazing selection and reasonable prices $4.75 cdn for 4/4/ red oak - rough.
--------------------------------- --- -- - Posted with NewsLeecher v3.8 Final Web @
*tip of the hat* to Matt and Drew for a couple of good links. Very useful to me and others. r
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.