The day I stopped over-ordering lumber for every job

I was framing out a 1,200 square foot addition in Portland and ended up with two extra bundles of 2x4s sitting on site. The supplier mentioned my waste percentage was hitting 18% compared to the 10% standard. Anyone else track their material overage on jobs and actually adjust their ordering?

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nancy3913mo ago

I mean, is chasing that 8 percent really worth losing sleep over? You're building houses, not solving for the space shuttle trajectory. If the extra wood sits around for a week and then goes back to the yard, it's not like you're setting money on fire. And honestly, that 18 percent waste number might just mean you're honest about counting the cutoff scraps you sweep up at the end of the day. Some guys fudge their numbers to look cleaner on paper, so I'd take that standard with a grain of salt. Unless you're literally tossing unopened bundles in the dumpster, you're probably fine.

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lisa_bennett3mo ago

Yeah, have you ever actually measured the waste on a job and been surprised by how much it adds up? I remember doing a similar thing on a small shed build... ended up with like 15 extra studs and a whole sheet of plywood I didn't touch. Once you start tracking it, you see how easy it is to fall into that "just in case" trap with lumber. The real trick is figuring out where the waste comes from - is it from bad cuts, design changes, or just ordering too much out of habit? That 8 percent difference adds up fast when you do a few jobs a year.

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