Buy what the yard actually sells — stock-length packing

Cuts are first-fit packed into 8/10/12/14/16/20-foot sticks, so the list says how many pieces to buy and how much drop that leaves.

What it is

A bin-packing pass over every member's cut length. Spliceable members (girts, purlins, eave struts, skirt boards) can be made up from multiple sticks; posts and rafters cannot be spliced and use their own ladder (12/14/16/18/20/24 for treated columns). Each line reports pieces, the stock mix ('12×16′ + 3×20′'), consumed linear feet, purchased linear feet and waste.

Also called: cut optimisation · stock lengths · lumber waste · purchased vs consumed

See it
Buy what the yard actually sells — stock-length packing
CustomerBuildingAmountStatus
Delia YoderRiding Arena$11,080Open
Gideon AltHobby Shop$17,540Sent
Marlin Hoover30×40 Garage$3,480Draft
Gideon AltEquipment Storage$12,030Sent
Marlin HooverEquipment Storage$18,110Open
A framing row reading '2x6 wall girt (cut-to-stock) — 51 pcs · 12×16′ + 3×20′ · 18.4 LF waste'. takeoff.ts `pushLumber`. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
How it works
  1. 1Cuts are sorted longest-first and dropped into the first bin with room
  2. 2A cut longer than the yard's longest stock becomes its own special-order piece
  3. 3Spliced members longer than 20ft explode into 16ft runs plus a remainder
  4. 4Posts never splice: 'Treated 6x6 columns — yards stock these; never splice a post'
  5. 5The line carries stock[] (length → qty) and pieces[] (stock, cuts, waste) for downstream use
  6. 6LVL headers are flagged specialOrder and kept as framed
Why we built it

From the export module's statement of what 'honest' means: 'buy what a yard actually sells (stock lengths), not a 60′ 2x4' and 'show purchase vs consumed vs waste, not a single rounded qty'. A takeoff that reports 480 linear feet of 2x6 is unbuyable; a yard sells sticks.

The problem
  • Linear feet cannot be ordered — a yard sells pieces at fixed lengths
  • Waste is invisible, so the job is under-ordered or over-ordered
Sound familiar?
What you get
A piece count a yard can fill
Waste is a visible number, not a surprise
Special-order lengths are called out before they hold up the job

See it on your own jobs

Twenty minutes, your numbers, no slide deck. We’ll build one of your real buildings in front of you and send you the estimate link at the end — yours to keep either way.

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