Estimating Materials

[Robert Engel]

Do you do it by BF plus a fudge factor or do you bring a cut list and do it by the board?

[Cody Colston]

I figure BF plus 20%.

[Michael Zerance]

I bring a cut sheet and select boards for the project if it is a small project (maybe under 20 bd ft) but usually I just order it and have them send about 50% more than the actual calculation, at a minimum. For woods that I use a lot, I'll order twice as much as the actual calculation because I know it will be used and it's nice to have some extra just in case.

[Stew Hagerty]

I bring a cut sheet and select boards for the project if it is a small project (maybe under 20 bd ft) but usually I just order it and have them send about 50% more than the actual calculation, at a minimum. For woods that I use a lot, I'll order twice as much as the actual calculation because I know it will be used and it's nice to have some extra just in case.

That's pretty much what I do as well. I do have the program Cutlist Plus that I use for layouts to estimate materials. It works great for sheet goods, but it also is nice for dimensional lumber. Naturally,you can't just follow the layout maximizer exactly, you have to take grain & location (matching draw fronts for example) into consideration. What it gives me besides BF though, is a list of widths & thicknesses. Then, like Michael said, I add somewhere between 25 - 50% depending on the size of the project and the species I'm using.

[Michael Stein]

Do you do it by BF plus a fudge factor or do you bring a cut list and do it by the board?

When quoting for a price, I do actual BF + 20% (sheet goods, I charge the customer for the whole sheet(s), even if I only use partial). When buying supplies, I purchase using a cut list, by the board. I am no where near production, so what works for me, probably won't work for others. I sell enough to support my own stuff... Let's get real, if I were a true business, I would be in the red.

[Lee Schierer]

I built a spread sheet that has pricing for my local supplier built in. I enter the dimensions into the spreadsheet and determine which standard width piece of material will be used to make that piece. The spreadsheet then places the total length of wood needed to make those pieces and enters it in a column to the right Those entries are totaled at the bottom and the price is also figured. Since I am limited to transporting pieces that are about 8 feet long, I divide the total linear feet for each dimensional width by 8 and round up to the next full length. WHen I get the material home I enter the pieces needed and the length of the material I brought home into a program that optimizes the cutting of pieces to minimize waste.

[Prashun Patel]

Estimating materials for what? For plywood casing, yes.

For a table, probably.

For a chair I take the cut list to the board.

[Martin Wasner]

I'm going to be the outcast here. I just shoot from the hip. Some stuff I just keep in stock; ¼, ½, & ¾ birch plywood. Soft maple for paint grade, and solid birch for drawer stock I keep in stock as well. The rest I just take a wag at, if there's some left over, okay, stuff it in the rack somewhere. If I have to order more, oh well.

[Randy Red Bemont]

I figure BF plus 20%.

I do the same. I may change the % up or down some depending on the wood type I'm buying.

Red

[roger wiegand]

As a non-pro I generally buy exceptional wood when I find it and then stare at it for a few years until it becomes obvious what I should make out of it. For specific projects if I don't have what I need on the rack I'll buy 2-5 x what I need to replenish the stock, at least 100 bf at a time. For plywood I buy enough so that I always have a couple extra sheets of the stuff I use frequently on hand.

[Mark Blatter]

I bring a cut sheet and select boards for the project if it is a small project (maybe under 20 bd ft) but usually I just order it and have them send about 50% more than the actual calculation, at a minimum. For woods that I use a lot, I'll order twice as much as the actual calculation because I know it will be used and it's nice to have some extra just in case.


+1

I stay busy enough that I simply don't have the time to try and take it down the board level. I suppose I would do that for a high quality furniture piece where the customer was paying enough to cover the time. Mostly what I do is commercial work and is concentrated around 3 - 4 species. I keep some of those on hand then buy what I estimate to need based on bf + 30%. Each job I either add a little to my stock pile or subtract off a bit. Over time it pretty much works out at break even.

As others have said, with sheet goods, I calculate out what I can cut from each sheet, and order what I will need, plus one sheet if my calcs are close. I always charge for the full sheets I buy.

[Ellen Benkin]

I take the cut list to the lumber yard and figure out which boards will make which parts plus about 10%. I also label them with chalk as I work. This makes it much easier when I get the boards to the shop. Just figuring out board feet never made sense to me.

[Bill Ryall]

+1

I stay busy enough that I simply don't have the time to try and take it down the board level. I suppose I would do that for a high quality furniture piece where the customer was paying enough to cover the time. Mostly what I do is commercial work and is concentrated around 3 - 4 species. I keep some of those on hand then buy what I estimate to need based on bf + 30%. Each job I either add a little to my stock pile or subtract off a bit. Over time it pretty much works out at break even.

As others have said, with sheet goods, I calculate out what I can cut from each sheet, and order what I will need, plus one sheet if my calcs are close. I always charge for the full sheets I buy.

^^^ This, exactly.

[Michael Zerance]

As others have said, with sheet goods, I calculate out what I can cut from each sheet, and order what I will need, plus one sheet if my calcs are close.

Same here.

I try to buy just what I need for sheet goods because I don't have the room to properly store the extras. My plywood supplier is a block away and, since I usually pick it up at will call, they give me the 10+ sheet price anyway; there really isn't any incentive for me to stock extra sheet material.

[Art Mann]

It is a 20 mile drive down slow country roads from my shop to the sawmill where I buy quality rough sawn lumber lumber. That takes too long to just go buy the minimum I need. If it is cherry, maple or QSWO, I will always buy some of each because I will eventually use it all up. If it is premium walnut, which is hard to find around here, I will buy as much as I can afford. I just don't have the patience to identify individual boards for particular project pieces. When I start a project I usually have enough material to finish it without going anywhere. I will freely admit to being a lumber hoarder.

[Frederick Skelly]

Cut list....