Board Foot

A board foot is the standard unit for measuring the volume of lumber. One board foot equals a piece 12 inches wide, 12 inches long, and 1 inch thick — 144 cubic inches of wood.

Lumber is bought and priced by the board foot, so estimators convert the sizes and lengths of framing members into board feet to price rough carpentry and framing packages.

Calculating board feet means multiplying a board's thickness, width, and length and converting to the standard unit, then totaling across the framing takeoff and adding a waste factor. Pulling those quantities from the drawings is exactly the kind of takeoff Quotr speeds up.

For framing and carpentry subcontractors, accurate board-foot counts drive both the material order and the bid. For estimators, it is the unit that turns a framing plan into a lumber cost.