π Price Per Linear Foot Calculator
Unit pricing for lumber, trim, fencing, and any per-foot material.
Price per linear foot
How to Use the Price Per Linear Foot Calculator
Two directions. Total-to-per-foot takes a sticker price and a length and gives the unit price, so you can compare boards and suppliers. Per-foot-to-total takes a quoted rate and your measured lengths, adds your waste allowance, and estimates the project cost. Switch modes at the top depending on which question you are answering.
Pick the direction: price to per-foot for comparing, per-foot to total for estimating.
Enter your numbers: sticker price and length, or quoted rate, needed feet, and waste percent.
Hit Calculate. Compare per-foot rates across suppliers, or take the project total to the store.
How Linear-Foot Math Works
A linear foot is simply one foot of length, ignoring width and thickness. The unit price is one division; the project estimate is one multiplication plus waste. The waste factor is what separates a real estimate from a fantasy: cuts, mistakes, and defects consume material, and 10% is the trade standard for straight work.
Worked example, verified: an 8-foot 2x4 priced at $6.40. Per foot: 6.40 Γ· 8 = $0.80. Project version: baseboard quoted at $0.80 per foot, 120 feet of wall, 10% waste. Material: 120 Γ 1.10 = 132 feet. Total: 132 Γ 0.80 = $105.60. Skip the waste factor and you budget $96.00, then make a second trip for the shortfall, which costs more in time than the $9.60 of extra trim.
Linear Foot vs Square Foot vs Board Foot
Three units, three products, endless confusion. Linear foot measures length: trim, lumber, pipe, rope, gutters. Square foot measures area: flooring, drywall, paint coverage, roofing. Board foot measures volume (144 cubic inches): hardwood lumber at real lumberyards. A 10-foot 1x6 is 10 linear feet, 5 square feet of face, and 5 board feet. Buying flooring? Square feet. Buying the baseboard to edge it? Linear feet. Buying rough oak to mill yourself? Board feet. Ask which unit a quote uses before comparing two quotes, because a per-board-foot price and a per-linear-foot price are not comparable numbers.
Where Per-Foot Pricing Rules
Fencing contractors quote per linear foot installed, commonly $15 to $30 for wood privacy fence, because every foot of fence needs the same posts, rails, and pickets. Countertop fabricators quote per linear foot of counter run. Gutter installers, deck builders (per linear foot of decking board or per square foot of deck, ask which), and cable installers all think in feet. Even movers sometimes quote per linear foot of truck space. The pattern: when the work repeats identically along a length, per-foot pricing is the honest unit. Your job as the buyer is to verify what the foot includes: materials only, or labor, or both? A $20-per-foot fence quote that excludes gates and staining is not comparable to a $28 one that includes them.
Tips for Lumber Shopping
Compute per-foot prices in the aisle; sticker prices on different lengths are designed to be incomparable. Check for straightness before you compute anything, because the cheapest per-foot board that is warped like a banana is the most expensive board in the store. Buy one extra stick beyond your waste calculation for critical pieces; a single bad cut should not force a return trip. Remember that dimensional lumber names lie: a 2x4 is actually 1.5 by 3.5 inches, which matters when your per-foot math meets a real-world fit. And keep receipts until the project is done. Lumber returns are painless within the store window and brutal after it.
Worked Example: The Deck Board Order
A 400-square-foot deck with 5.5-inch-wide boards. Linear feet needed: 400 / (5.5 / 12) = 872.7 feet of board. Add the 10 percent waste factor: 872.7 x 1.10 = 960 feet to buy. At $2.20 per linear foot, the decking costs 960 x 2.20 = $2,112. Skip the waste factor and you order 873 feet, run short near the finish, and pay delivery twice plus a weekend of delay, which costs more than the $192 of extra boards.
Compare against the contractor quote to sanity-check it: a contractor quoting $8,000 for the same deck is charging roughly $5,900 for labor, framing, and fasteners over your $2,112 in decking. That ratio is normal for decks, where labor dominates. If the quote were $3,500 total, something would be off, probably the board quality or the waste allowance.
Board Feet vs. Linear Feet: The Lumberyard Translation
Hardwood dealers price by the board foot, one board foot being 144 cubic inches of wood, a piece 12 x 12 x 1 inches. A 2x4 that is 8 feet long contains (2 x 4 x 96) / 144 = 5.33 board feet. At $6 per board foot, that stick costs $32, which surprises everyone who priced pine 2x4s at $6.40 each. Different species, different unit, different universe.
The translation guide: dimensional softwood (2x4s, decking, trim) sells per linear foot. Hardwood (oak, walnut, maple boards) sells per board foot. Sheet goods (plywood, MDF) sell per sheet, usually 32 square feet for a 4x8. Molding sometimes sells per linear foot and sometimes per 8-foot stick. When a quote mixes units, convert everything to total project cost before comparing. The calculator handles the linear-foot side; for hardwood, multiply board feet by the per-board-foot price and add it to the same total.
Worked Example: The Fence Build
A 150-foot fence needs pickets, and two suppliers quote differently. Supplier A sells 6-foot cedar pickets at $4.80 each: $0.80 per linear foot, so 150 feet of coverage needs pickets totaling 150 linear feet at $120, plus posts and rails. Supplier B sells 8-foot pickets at $6.00 each: $0.75 per linear foot, $112.50 for the same coverage. Supplier B wins by $7.50 on pickets alone, and the longer pickets mean fewer cuts and less waste at the ends.
Now add the waste factor the pros use: 10% for a straightforward run, 15% if the fence jogs around trees or slopes. Supplier B's total becomes $112.50 x 1.1 = $123.75. Still ahead, but the margin narrowed, and if Supplier A delivers free while B charges $25 for delivery, A wins the real comparison. Per-foot price ranks the materials. Delivery, waste, and your time rank the project.
The Cutoff Trap: When Short Lengths Cost More
Lumber pricing hides a trap in the cutoffs. A 12-foot board at $1.50 per foot ($18) looks worse than two 8-foot boards at $1.40 per foot ($22.40 total), until your project needs 10-foot pieces. The 8-footers cannot make a 10-foot span at any price, and the 12-footer yields one 10-foot piece plus a 2-foot cutoff you may or may not use. Per-foot price assumes every foot is usable. Cutoffs are not.
The fix is to price the project, not the board. List every piece length you need, map them onto the available stock lengths, and total the actual boards required including waste. Only then divide by total feet for a true per-foot cost. The supplier with the cheaper per-foot sticker often loses this contest to the one whose stock lengths match your cut list. Buy lengths, not prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate price per linear foot?
Divide the total price by the total length in feet: a $6.40 eight-foot 2x4 costs $0.80 per linear foot. The calculator above does this and also reverses it, turning a per-foot price and a cut list into a project total.
What is a linear foot vs a square foot?
A linear foot measures length only: a 10-foot board is 10 linear feet regardless of width. A square foot measures area: length times width. Lumber, trim, pipe, and cable sell by the linear foot; flooring, tile, and paint coverage sell by the square foot. Mixing them up is the classic estimating error.
What is a board foot?
A board foot is a volume unit: 144 cubic inches, equal to a board 12 inches wide, 12 inches long, and 1 inch thick. Hardwood lumber is often priced per board foot, while construction softwood is priced per linear foot. A 2x4 eight feet long contains about 5.33 board feet.
How much does an 8-foot 2x4 cost per foot?
Divide the sticker price by 8. At $6.40, that is $0.80 per linear foot; at $4.80, it is $0.60. Prices swing with the lumber market, so compute from the current sticker rather than remembering old prices.
How do I estimate fencing cost per linear foot?
Get quotes expressed per linear foot of fence, which typically include posts, rails, pickets, and labor. US residential wood privacy fence often runs $15 to $30 per linear foot installed. Multiply by your total fence length for the project estimate, then add gates separately.
Why is trim priced per linear foot?
Because trim is sold in long sticks and the cost scales with length, not area. Baseboard, crown molding, and quarter-round are all linear-foot products. Measure every wall run, add 10% waste for cuts, and multiply by the per-foot price.
How much waste should I add to linear-foot estimates?
Ten percent is the standard for straight runs; 15% for rooms with many corners or angled cuts. A 100-foot baseboard job needs about 110 linear feet of material. Waste is not optional: every mitered corner eats length.
Is per-linear-foot pricing fair for wide boards?
Usually, because mills price construction lumber by the piece length. But compare thoughtfully: a 1x12 at $2.00 per linear foot and a 1x6 at $1.10 per foot means two 1x6 boards ($2.20) cost more than one 1x12 for the same coverage. Width matters for sheet-like coverage.
How do contractors use linear-foot pricing?
For quick estimates on repetitive work: fencing, trim, countertops, gutters, and decks. It lets a contractor walk a job, measure lengths, and quote on the spot. Homeowners can use the same math to sanity-check a bid: total bid Γ· total linear feet should land near market per-foot rates.