Invoice check
Why Does the Yard Charge for More Board Feet Than I Measured?
Your tape says 90 board feet; the invoice says 104. Before you assume you're being cheated — most of the time you're not. Once you know how to calculate board feet the way a mill does, the gap usually makes sense. There are three legitimate reasons the seller's number runs higher, plus a few cases that genuinely deserve a question.
Reason 1: Did you measure surfaced while they tallied rough?
Rough hardwood is tallied at the size it came off the saw. By the time it's surfaced (planed smooth), it's thinner and narrower — but you pay for the rough board, because that's what the mill cut and dried. The gap between the two is exactly the subject of gross tally vs net tally.
Reason 2: Is quarter-inch thickness rounding inflating it?
Hardwood thickness is called in quarters and a board priced as 4/4 (one inch) is billed at a full inch even if it surfaces to 13/16″. Step up to 5/4 or 6/4 and the billed thickness jumps in quarter steps. That rounding always rounds toward the seller's quarter, never yours.
Reason 3: How does surface-measure footage rounding add up?
Under NHLA grading, each board's surface measure is rounded to the nearest whole foot before pricing. Across a big pack of boards, those half-foot round-ups add a few board feet. On a 200-board walnut pack I bought last year, footage rounding alone added maybe 5″ BF over my own tape total — a rough estimate, but real money at $13 a foot. It's standardized, not arbitrary, and it's why your raw tape total reads low.
When should you actually push back?
Question the invoice when: the basis wasn't disclosed and the gap is over ~10%; you were quoted "surfaced" pricing but billed rough size; or per-board figures don't reconcile when you spot-check three boards in our calculator. A fair yard will walk you through their tally line by line. Use the routine in how to buy by the board foot so you catch it at the counter, not at home.