Price Comparison of Red Oak & Birch Lumber
Price comparisons of Red Oak and Red Birch within the same lumberyard indicate that Red Birch costs about 20 to 35 percent more than Red Oak. But price differences from lumberyard to lumberyard, although difficult to compare directly, vary further, as do differences in price because of length, width and grade. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
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Difficulty of Price Comparing Organic Products
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"Every man knows the worth of his product." This old saying applies to the wide price differences between hardwood lumberyards and reminds us of the difficulty of comparing organic products from different suppliers. One supplier's "Select or Better" grade might look better than another's. The same holds true for "random width/random length" designations; with one supplier you may end up with more "shorts," shorter board lengths, than with the other. And one lumberyard will allow you to go out in the yard and select; the other won't. For reasons such as these, direct price comparisons have real meaning primarily within the same lumberyard.
A Comparison of Costs from Supplier A
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Supplier A sells Kiln Dried 4 by 4 (a full 4-inch-by-4-inch product) Red Oak, Select and Better, 4 inches wide or better, 6-foot lengths or better, at $3 per board foot in quantities between 500 to 999 board feet. The same supplier sells Kiln Dried 4 by 4 Red Birch, Select and Better, 4 inches wide or better, 6- to 7-foot lengths, at $3.60 per board per board foot, same quantities. The Red Birch costs 20 percent more.
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An Attempted Comparison of Costs from Supplier B
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Supplier B sells 1-inch thick Birch, Yellow/Red mixed, 8-foot lengths or better, no grade designation, widths unspecified, at $3.40 per board foot; with 500 board feet you would receive a 20 percent discount, therefore at a net $2.72 per board feet. The same supplier sells 1-inch thick Red Oak. no length or grade designations, width unspecified, at $3.60 per board foot or, with the same discount as above, at a net $2.88 per board foot.
These two prices illustrate the difficulty of comparing organic products more than anything else. The Birch comes in 8-foot lengths or better; the Oak has no length designation. Moreover, a mix of Yellow and Red birch will always be less expensive than Red Birch. Both come from the same tree; in this instance "Red" designates an area closer to the heart, which always costs more.
A Comparison of Costs from Supplier C
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Supplier C sells Red Birch Common 1 1/2-inch width flooring, random lengths, at $3.47 per square (not board) foot. The same supplier sells Red Oak 1 Common 1 1/2-inch width flooring, random lengths, at 2.90 per square foot. The Red Birch sells for a little less 20 percent more.
More Price Comparisons
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Six more suppliers sell the same Red Oak product for $3.65 to $4.79 per board foot and the similar Red Birch product for $4.14 per board foot to $6.30 per board foot. On average the Red Birch product costs 23 percent more, but the variation from high to low is about 50 percent.
Some Conclusions
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Generally, although not always, Red Birch costs from 20 to 35 percent more than Red Oak. But differences in board width and length (longer and wider boards cost up to twice as much) and grade (a similar increase) account for greater price variation.
Sometimes you will need longer, wider boards; at other times you won't. Sometimes you will want a clear, knot-free board; at other times you might prefer the knottier wood that costs less. In all cases, the wide price differences from one lumberyard to another suggest that whenever possible and in order to understand what you're getting (and to understand what you need) you should visit the yard and see the product firsthand.
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- Photo Credit lumber yard image by marilyn barbone from Fotolia.com
