I'm Dave. I have a home and a family and tons of DIY projects. Sometimes I am fixing something that is broken, other times I am building something new, but one thing is for sure, I am always busy. I love to share what I do and share what I learn.
I stopped once when some guys were cutting down a tree, they cut a bunch of rounds for me and I made them into a pathway on the side of my house after applying waterproofing.
A local family I knew owned and ran a cabinet shop. I asked if I could grab some pieces from the dumpster for practicing some woodworking and they let me. Much like the construction scenario, you aren't getting super long boards, but I did get some really nice wood for small projects and didn't have to worry about messing up as much.
Without permission, DO NOT take lumber from jobsite dumpsters, PLEASE. Most jobsites use lumber out of them while they're still building that house, and neighboring houses. PLEASE GET PERMISSION!
Absolutely talk with people there, but the thing that I was told the most was, "You can't take anything because you're not wearing gloves or boots. We won't be held liable if you get hurt." So, I would suggest that you at least do that. Along with what Dave said in the video. I've been doing this for years.
As a carpenter on big commercial sites; I would see a lot of scrap lumber going out and I would ask the boss if i could take it home; I got cedar quarter sawn siding for raised bed garden; packing crates for mirrors used as chicken brooder and shielded three wire romax thrown out; i used it fo many wiring projects; 10 inch by 1 maple from the 1800s ! all kinds of scrap and I have created many project for my Homestead type property; I no longer work, now and my lumber supply is getting short! but I know where to go for the secret lumber supply! you let the secret out! LOL! but I still got my contacts who are working in the Trades so as I can get second choice!
Yeah, this is the worst advice ever. Those sites are insured by the builder. Unless you have his " The Builder" or the GC's explicit permission, you shouldn't venture onto the site.
just like the eggs, the farmers didn't charge more when the supply got scarce they just sold less. the groceries stores got to pocket all that profit. I imagine its the same with lumber. the land owners, lumberjacks and mills probably didnt increase their prices all that much they still had the same supply, but construction material stores did.
I made a business card that gives my name and phone number and says “Free Wood Scrap Removal “ I go to construction sites, ask for the boss and introduce myself and tell him to call me when he wants me to come take his scraps. I have gotten a lot of really great wood of all sizes this way, and the contractor was happy that he didn’t have to haul it to the dump.
your thumbnails is BULLSHIT.... you wont get anything for free from Lowes or Home depot and taking it from a construction yard is stealing and youll be paying ALOTMORE THEN CASH...lol
My wife and I just retired from working as property caretakers for a private club. We lived onsite for many years. During our stay, there were a number of new cabins built. These are upscale weekend homes. They call them cabins, but a family of four could have plenty of room to live in them year round. One of the things I always watched for was the exotic wood scraps. Ironwood, White oak, Red Oak, Cedar, Mahogany, and others that I don't even know the names of. One of my plans for retirement was to get more involved in my knife making hobby. These wood scraps will supply me with fine handle material for ages. It will be saving me many thousands of dollars.
And you just made another mistake! In all your examples you are comparing prices of two different branded products. Although the items may be the same in function/purpose they are still two different products from most likely different manufacturer sources. If you are going to compare pricing you also need to compare apples to apples. For example a drill bit is a drill bit. They all work on the same principle & look the same. However the quality of the steel used to manufacture them can vary considerably. This is not visible to the naked eye.
I disagree with going to jobsites and taking anything ever. I'm in construction and you don't know what is scrap and what is not. It's not yours, so don't touch it. We reuse material if we can on other projects and take it when done. Asking someone for permission for material that isn't theirs is stealing. If they don't own it they can't give it.
I do it all the time. As long as you do it right and talk to the right people you will be good. What I do is, ask for the project manager or the main boss in charge. Once you meet them, introduce yourself ask him nicely about the scrap lumber for a fire pit, once he agrees to let me pick up a couple small scrap pieces, thank him a lot and ask them about the long lumber scrap pile. Now every time I have asked I can see them looking at me thinking about it. Now I am just honest and tell them what’s it’s for. Such as repairing my mothers wooden fence, building a shelf in my garage, building a new fence in my back yard, or a small project for church or school. Not once have they said no. One thing I notice is that they are looking at me up and down , I see them looking back at my truck then back to me and I can see them thinking about it. They always say yes. I think it’s just how the first approach is, how you introduce yourself, and how you got about it. It has gotten to the point where I am there constantly lol, almost like if I became part of the team and I am free clean up for them and the crew even knows me lol.
I’ve been following your videos over the past few years! Really appreciate your analysis and insight. One thought about the housing supply issue: it doesn’t seem to be representative of every market. Urban cores are having the opposite problem compared to suburbs and rural areas. Nashville, where I live, reported a 17% vacancy rate in the downtown area at the end of last year, with 22k more apartments being built in the next few quarters. Of course, that’s just one city that I’m aware of, but it’s still interesting to see housing demand outside of the city grow while builders continue to build dense housing in an area that is already (obviously) not in demand. Also worth noting that rent prices grew by nearly 30% in that part of the city over the last 3 years.
Congratulations. Your channel is the first is the first youtube channel that I have blacklisted. Your 'method' of free lumber is a very good example of what modern society has become. A society where everybody is 'entitled' to do what they want & satisfy their own needs at someone else's expense. Regularly reusing / recycling / re-purposing items I am all for minamising useful items going to landfill. However something is not waste until it is actually on its way to landfill. At work we regularly 'stockpile' off cuts, not fit for purpose items until they can be used elsewhere either in the current project or future projects. Waste/scrap is what is actually left after the job is completed. Waste/scrap that is likely to go to landfill is exactly that ..... small pieces.... NOT long lengths in large quantities. Public liability ..... that is a whole other can of worms. Even if you had permission I bet you would be the first person commence litigation if the waste pile fell on you as you were removing a piece from the bottom of the pile.
As a framer.. DO NOT DO THIS!!! At best the coos wil show up, at worst you might get your legs broken....We do not pay for the kumber, but the builders know this and dont order extra...if I dont have what i need for the day, I will lose thousands of dollars in labour costs...
I've done this all my life ~ Building multihull molds with the excess plywood from a obsite across the street now. Gotta have a cool old lady who puts up with the "lumberyard " out back but it beats driftwood and pallets for sure though I've built some great stuff with that.
Those construction sites must be in the South. In the Northeast we are trained well and we use as much as the wood as possible. The only pieces that are thrown away are under 12" long.
The mills aren’t pleased with where plywood and lumber is trading. Log, labor and energy costs are way higher than pre-pandemic. We’ve seen some closures and there will likely be more to come.
Last week I went to purchase a Ryobi tool and was greeted by rows of cages which obstructed my view I had a hard time finding what I wanted. Then there was no employee around to unlock the tool jail. I left went home and ordered it online with free shipping and got it the next day which now cost them shipping. From now on unless I desperately need something if it has free shipping I will not be going back to this store for any item that is locked up, my time is valuable too.
Not always true..contractor I worked for had the apprentice cut scraps into spacer blocks that were loaded in containers for future framing projects (1978)
Yeah even doing restoration jobs there is a lot of scrap wood left over! I made my last desk out of cabinets that we ripped out and it was honestly better than what I would buy in the store!
Fyi dont you dare come to my jobsite with out permission and just so u know the answer is no. People will take more then what you tell them to. Not to mention my tools
This guy represents exactly what is wrong with surrendering your culture. This is theft, this is criminal... And This guy doesn't have an ounce of shame about recommending it.
Around here, the garbage belongs to the county. You can't take anything out of a landfill or convenience center or trash can. In my old hometown, a man was arrested for taking a pair of shoes from the landfill. He needed the shoes, but he was arrested anyway. When I have work done to my house, I go through the scraps and save a lot. If I have a small project, I hardly ever have to buy wood.
