Delivery check
I Ordered the Board Feet — Why Did I Get Fewer Boards?
A board foot is a unit of volume, not a count of pieces. So 100 board feet can show up as 9 wide planks or 20 narrow ones — both are 100 BF. Getting fewer sticks than you pictured usually means you got bigger boards, not less wood. If you know how to calculate board feet, you can prove it in five minutes.
Why does the piece count change?
Each board's footage depends on thickness × width × length. A 4/4 board that's 10″ wide and 12 ft long is 10 BF on its own; an 8″ × 8 ft board is only about 5.3 BF. Order 100 BF in wide, long stock and you'll get roughly half as many pieces as the same footage in narrow shorts. The footage is the contract — the count isn't. That is the whole point of what a board foot measures.
| Mix | Typical pieces | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| Wide longs (10″ × 12 ft) | ~10 | “Looks short” until you measure |
| Medium (7″ × 10 ft) | ~17 | Closest to what most buyers picture |
| Narrow shorts (5″ × 8 ft) | ~30 | More sticks, same wood |
Is this normal for random-width hardwood?
Hardwood is usually sold in random widths and lengths (RW&L). The mill grades and tallies whatever the log yielded, so you can't order "twenty 6-inch boards" — you order footage and take the mix. I once shipped a 100 BF white oak order as just 11 wide planks; the buyer counted pieces, assumed a shortage, then measured and found every foot was there.
If your project needs a minimum width — say 8″ for table aprons — say so when you order. Many yards will pull a “width sort” for a small premium. Without that note, a legal 100 BF delivery can be almost all 5–6″ stock, which is correct footage and the wrong pile for your cut list.
How do you verify your footage in 10 minutes?
Lay the boards out and measure each: thickness and width in inches, length in feet. Run each through our cut list calculator — one row per board — and read the total. If it lands within a board foot or two of your invoice, allowing for surface-measure rounding, you got what you paid for.
- Photograph the invoice and the stacked pack before you move anything.
- Measure every board; don’t sample only the top of the pile.
- Use the same thickness basis the invoice used (rough vs surfaced).
- Compare totals before you cut. After the first rip, you can’t prove a shortage.
When is something actually wrong?
If your measured total comes up clearly short — say 100 BF billed, 84 BF measured — that's worth a call. Bring your board-by-board tally; a specific list of pieces and footage gets a far better response than "it looks like less." See the counter routine in how to buy lumber by the board foot.
Also separate “fewer boards” from “charged for more BF.” Fewer sticks with matching footage is normal RW&L. Matching stick count with higher billed BF is a different problem — start with why the yard charges more board feet.
Frequently asked questions
Why did I get fewer boards than I expected for my board foot order?
Board feet measure volume, not the number of pieces. Wider and longer boards each contain more board feet, so a 100 BF order made of wide 12-foot boards arrives as far fewer sticks than the same footage in narrow 8-foot boards. The footage is what you paid for.
How do I confirm I received the board feet I paid for?
Measure each board's thickness and width in inches and length in feet, calculate board feet per board, and add them up. Compare the total to your invoice. If the summed footage matches, you received your order even if the piece count looks low.
Can I ask the yard for a minimum piece count?
You can ask, but most hardwood is sold by footage, not by stick count. What usually works is a width or length sort (for example “prefer 8″+ and 10 ft+”) rather than “send 25 boards.” Put that on the PO so it is part of the contract.