Budget your lumber order
Lumber Cost Calculator
Enter your boards and a price per board foot for an instant project budget — pick a species to auto-fill a reference price or type your dealer's quote. New to the math? See how to calculate board feet.
How does lumber pricing work?
Hardwood is almost always priced per board foot, so total cost is simply board feet × price per BF. The catch is that you should price the board feet you actually buy — including a waste allowance — not just the net board feet in your finished piece.
Reference prices by species (USD, planning only)
| Species | $/BF (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Poplar | $4.00 |
| Soft Maple | $5.50 |
| Red Oak | $6.50 |
| Ash | $6.00 |
| Hard Maple | $7.50 |
| White Oak | $8.50 |
| Cherry | $9.00 |
| Walnut | $13.00 |
These are starting points, not quotes. Grade, thickness, surfacing (S2S/S4S), and region all move the number. Read how to buy lumber by board foot before you commit.
What does a real lumber budget look like?
Here's how I price an actual order. Say a walnut bookshelf works out to 23 net board feet. I never buy net — there's always a knot or split to cut around — so I add a 20% waste factor and price 28 board feet. At the $13/BF walnut reference above, that's 28 × $13 = $364 in wood, before tax and delivery.
The single biggest budget error I see is pricing the net number and getting blindsided at the register. Nail down accurate footage first in the hardwood board foot calculator, then let this tool turn it into dollars — change the species and watch a poplar version of the same shelf land near $112 while walnut runs $364 for identical parts.