Shocking Lumber Hack! Never Pay for Wood Again With This One Easy Trick. 

As a Builder I agree with most of what Dave has said.....Except.....Do NOT go to job sites / developments on the weekend and take materials!! That's a great way to get arrested and spend your weekend in a cage w/ stupid people until the Judge can see you on Monday or Tuesday. The exception being if you've gone to the site during the week and received permission. Coming back with a trailer is a great way to cleanup on the scraps. But if you do that make sure you get a Name and phone number of the person / Foremen / Super / Builder so when the police have a talk with you, you can prove you are NOT stealing from the site. Also doing this you may score more usable lumber if the crew knows you're coming and starts a scrap pile for you. Lots of lumber that may look like "scrap" to the public can or will be used as drywall backing, fire blocking, blocking in walls for cabinets, etc. Construction theft is such a problem lots of sites have cameras. If there are any occupied homes in the development they will be watching / calling the police. Good Luck and Go For It........less that ends up in the landfill the better.

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.

Those piles kept me in quality firewood for 10 years (only good thing about living in an 'infill construction zone' for 10 yrs). Ftr I always asked permission; they were happy to have people take it so they didn't have load it into bins and/or pay for removal. One site was ditching a gigantor-pallet (good quality, solid, like a boardwalk, about 4' wide by 12' long); I asked if I, 5'2" middle-age female could take it and they laughed like "OK girly girl go ahead and try" so I went home, got some casters, screws and a screwdriver, and rolled my gigantor insta-deck home. :)

Ok here’s my story. One time my friend and I were driving by this combo gas station McDonald’s. We saw this crew digging out all these beautiful flowered and planting new ones. I said pull over, so my friend did and I got out and asked them why they were pulling out all the flowers to plant new flowers. They said the owners wanted a new look. I asked what they were going to do with the flowers they just pulled out, they were going to throw them in the garbage. I asked if I could have them and they said sure. So my friend and I put all of the flowers into boxes and brought them home. I planted them everywhere even some in my next door neighbors planters. She was shocked, came out of her door and did a double take to see flowers where there were none before…lol

My Dad worked on a movie as a lighting guy when Paramount came to their small town. Back in the day they never cleaned up after themselves and left the sets behind. My dad built a large portion of his house out of what they left. Crazy the amount of good supplies. He saved thousands which was a blessing.

My son had a house built a few years back, so I got permission from the builder to sift through the skips, I got enough insulation to do my roof, Glulam beams, rebar, treated pine etc. I made my son a great coffee table, 3 jewllery boxes for the daughter in law and grand daughters and the pine went into a studio i built for the missus. Not wasting is in my DNA and goes back several generations. Cheers

I was driving by a Taco Hell that was being built in the winter and noticed that the wall was enclosed with reinforced visqueen to run space heaters. This keeps the mortar from freezing. Anyhow, I had decided to build a greenhouse and had already sourced some 2" gasline from leftovers on a different jobsite. I asked and those guys said they had just hauled a huge load off, but I could have all the new cutoffs. Anyhow, back to the visqueen. I asked the job supervisor what they did with the stuff when they were done. He said it went into the dumpster, and he'd take my number and call me when they were done. Cool! A week or so later he called. So, I swung by. He had the visqueen all folded up nice and neat. I put it in my car. I thanked him and he said, "Oh, we're not done yet." He walked around the corner and returned with a good sized box. It was more plastic, still in the box. I asked him if they could use it on his next job. He said it was part of the bid on this job, and they couldn't use it elsewhere. It had to go in my trunk or the dumpster. I thanked him again and drove off with a whole lot of expensive ($300.00 for that box) plastic. My greenhouse came out to 14'x20'. I had enough plastic to cover it 3x over. I spent $12.00 on nuts and bolts to build it. It was great going in there on a sunny day in January, where the wind chill outside was just above 0°f, and I was in a t-shirt sweating as I pulled weeds.

Trespassing can get you hurt. I'm a builder 👷. Never, never, never just help yourself. And always better to ask in the morning.

I'm a commercial construction inspector (one of the guys in a white hard hat carrying around a clipboard). My job is to make sure the contractors are building to plans and specifications. My current job has 3 30 yard dumpsters that get emptied every other day. Anything that goes into the dumpster is free game. The number of 10 foot 2 by 4's that have been tossed is amazing. There were a number of triple pane, tempered glass, tinted and reflective windows that went into the dumpster. I got 1, and am going to build a side table with it.

I’m a developer and have built 124 houses all with wood taken from job sites. It has helped me tremendously to maximize my profits.

I've been digging in construction dumpsters for over 6 years and I've built many things with it from planters, music box, compost toilet, couch framing, to wooden box on wheels to put away all my finds. The most shocking find? a contractor's box of construction screws valued at about $72, now that was a jackpot!

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.

Several years sgo, when i wanted lumber, i stopped at a construction site and asked. I was told i could have anything 3' or under, which suited my needs ! 😊

I work in a cabinet shop and we throw out a few dumpsters worth of scrap. Different oaks, birch, alder, wallnut, cherry, mahogany, you name it

I worked for several builders and I can confirm every thing in this video is 100 true.

I’m a police officer and we get calls to new construction all the time. Worst thing I’ve ever seen was about a 1/4 bundle of 2x4 studs in the dumpster and two unopened boxes of framing nails. I asked the guy if I could come back and pick it up and he said no, it was going to the dump. I asked him that if he were going to dump it then why call when someone is just get what he considers “scrap” or trash. His answer is, it’s my site, I’ll do what I want and I want that guy arrested. Complete bullshit. I let him go and filed the case and it was dropped which was fine by me.

I'm an Electrician for 12 yrs now and I definitely come home with awesome cutoffs and even full length boards. I always ask my project manager on site for permission, but I have acquired 1000's of dollars in good usable building materials over the years. It's especially good when we are on some bigger money longer projects (1 or 2 years) those yield the best. Items I've acquired are, 2x4's, 2x6's, 2x8's, 2x10's, maple plywood, white oak boards, tongue and Grove pine boards for ceilings, exterior doors with glass, brand new French doors, mortar, tile, water proof membrane, blue stone. That's just a small example of my free material grabs.

I love wood, often I will walk in to a store to see the wood scraps available at discounted price. Thanks for the tip.

Got thousands of dollars in premium lumber over the years. Even 100 year old lumber from old buildings being torn down board by board. Never went looking for it. Just driving by, stopped , asked and loaded up the truck. Yes, so sad how much goes to the landfill. Good vid. Thx bro.

A mate of mine built his own home, mainly from collected timber from framing houses over three years True story 😇☺

Amazing appliances & cabinetries that are dented/crushed in a corner are trashed, too...Companies don't always take returns, so they just send new ones. Our site truck is known as the Blue Dumpster...it collects lots of left-over goodies! I love when we do kitchen/bath remodels! We have acquired an incredible collection of tiling, fixtures, lighting...Lord, Thank you for Construction & Demolition industry! :D

I live in a new neighborhood and there are still plenty of houses being built. With the builder's permission I have raided multiple lumber piles and this have saved me *a lot* of money on my garage projects. I only had to resort to the Depot for full length pieces at 8 and 10'. All the rest was sourced from the scraps.

this really encourages people to care more about our planet -- GOOD JOB!

This is true. I have worked construction for 25 years. I have seen so much money thrown in a dumpster. Countless projects worth of good material! Bricks wood metal. Flooring everything! Just a while back I was given brand new 46 2×6×8's and 27 2×6×16's and 8 sheets of 3/4 marine grade plywood for free just to haul it off. Its insane how much is wasted every day no matter the current cost of the material. It really shows the mark up of building

Back in the late 90's I worked for a guy in the summer while I was off school doing tile and masonry work. We were doing some jobs in a community being built and they were burying whole pallets of bricks and landscaping stones. Being a guy in high school and having the energy I had back then me and my buddy drove back home got my truck and trailer and had the guys load the stuff on my trailer and we brought it home and sold all the stuff we could get that summer. I kept a bunch of stuff for myself and have for all intents built the home I live in still for free. I was also able to buy a truck with the proceeds. Still have it and love it to this day. Don't go on weekends and do get written permission if you do go.

As a retired Garbage Hauler allow me to add that “The Landfill” sorts construction waste for recycling. Those rolloffs coming from the Housing Tract dump in a designated area. Concrete generally winds up pulverized for reuse and the Lumber mostly winds up ground and commingled with Green waste and composted. I just wanted to add this so ya don’t think they’re burying it. Cheers.

I’ve been a commercial roofer for 26 years. You wouldn’t believe the waste on the new construction job sites blows my mind, but I always got permission from the GC to get the discarded wood out of the dumpsters. off the ground throughout my years I probably got enough wood to build 20 houses lol.

Funny Story: A house I was driving by had tons of Floor board lumber, so I asked if I could have it, the guys said "Sure if you can get it home" They were Large pieces & I had a small car. So I looked at my flat car roof, got some bungee cables & tied them to the roof. They were so shocked I actually got it to work they gave me all the Leftover Floor Board they didn't use. (They probably thought I couldn't actually pull that off) 👷🏿‍♂️

Yep this is how every bit of lumber we used. to built forts was sourced in my youth. The joy of being among the early homes in the neighborhood! 😎

Good tip! Always save lumber, and store it by size and length. Once a piece is shorter than about 18”, it (and all the sawdust) becomes fuel for the Franklin Stove. Before too long, you’ll have a pretty good inventory of building mat’ls. It helps if you have a barn!!!

👍 nice advice. I was just posting that on another vid. You have to be a nice guy and trustworthy. The builders and crew do not just let anyone up in the site. 👍🤠

Great idea! I used to do this when I was a kid, and they were building new houses right behind our house. Great stuff.

As a framer i would suggest, if you want full length pieces, get your self a good framing hammer and a catspaw rather than get the short scraps from new construction sites, go to remodel/ demo sites where the entire structure or area is removed and the full length often totally reusable lumber is piled in a dumpster and all new material is used. The catch is this is largely because guys dont like to pull a bunch of nails. But if you lay down a couple 2xs a few feet apart on the ground and toss your lumber onto them with the nails sharpside up, hammer them to push the head out, flip em over, stand on the board and yank the extruded nail heads with the claw of your hammer with both hands, it makes easier work of it. Have a circular saw to chop of the ends if thata where the nails are. And cut a wide or shim/ wedge 5-8" long that goes from a point to a 2-3" surface on the back. This is the best tool to separate two pieces of wood nailed together longways just hammer the wegde between the boards utill the gap os big enough to pry open or easily cut the nails with a sawsall. You can stack a nice orderly pile of full length lumber on your truck and will have done the company doing the work a favor bu freeing up space in the dumpster that has to be hauled and paid to dispose of when it gets full. Definitely bring a broom and a magnet sweep to clean up after yourself, if you make those items prominently displayed, the chances of the crew agreeing to your salvaging the dumpster and prepping the lumber on the spot more likely.

As a cut man, my boss expected my done-age pile to be sawdust. Always pushing for tighter deadlines and lower cost to get the bid. Even had me regularly return unused materials for a credit on his account. No freebies in my world.

Genius!!!!!!! That's why I dumpster dive! I find so many treasures that people throw away.....sometimes new things!

I live in a fairly new development and have a large, walk-in attic that was almost entirely open framing for the floor. I used this method of rescuing material from the worksites around my home to deck the entire attic space. It was a lot of work getting the nails out, sanding the dirt off and getting a smoother surface. But, it didn’t cost me a cent. I am also a hobbyist woodworker, so I have also sourced lumber for projects this way. Mostly just for shop furniture, but it's definitely cheaper than buying if you don't mind putting in the work to clean it up. I get some weird looks when digging through the piles of scraps, but I just stay very clear of the stacks of good lumber and only take stuff that has obviously been trashed by the workers.

I've actually used wood pallets as they are for several things. Notably gardening, because I use large storage tubs, old wading pools, and the like to grow my produce in my backyard. Wood pallets are used to keep them as far above the ground as possible as well as put my garden work area up so I don't have to bend over or get on the ground, that's getting harder to do as I get older. I also found some hard plastic pallets in a scrap pile and with those I made a hack. My Futon's had recently fallen apart, but the mattress was still in excellent condition, so rather than buy a whole new one or even find a replacement frame, I used the plastic pallets for the frame, which I found to be a lot sturdier than a regular Futon frame. A few whole ones and for the remaining below space, others were cut down to size, so it's like a big black puzzel under the Futon. Another time I was stuck having to walk home from my work when a disaster struck and driving wasn't an option, not a fun 22 miles to walk, even with a well prepped EDC/GHB backpack. One area I had to stop for the night, I had to improvise shelter, and I used six wood pallets that I used as part of an improvised A-Frame shelter.

Do NOT take anything without clearing it with the builder and having a way to contact them when - not if - the police show up and ask you what you’re doing. There’s a lot of materials theft going on these days and rummaging around by yourself on a construction site is an absolute red flag for any passing patrol car. If you can’t get someone to verify it’s ok for you to be taking scrap you might spend some time in custody before the police can confirm you had permission. Especially on a weekend. Also, be prepared to be told “no” since there are liability issues builders have to worry about since insurance companies won’t be too thrilled knowing their policyholders are allowing non employees to be wandering around their building site. Those ‘authorized personnel only’ signs and yellow tape are there for a reason.

I buy mine straight from the mill. Buying truckload at 1/3 of what the big box stores pay.

I just built 2 storage shelves from lumber and plywood that roofers was throwing away, and most of it was in pristine shape. The few short pieces I got, came in handy for the shelving.

I was warned by the boss one time . He told me the homeowner changed her mind 7 times on the architect and the plans were incomplete. During the course of building we were also remodeling because after we would complete something she would say , " i didn't know it was going to look like that " . That became a running joke on that job . Our waste pile was 3 times bigger than any job i had ever done . I brought alot of lumber home because it had nails in it and we didn't have time on site to pull them . I was on that job so long the mailman delivered my mail there jkjk

"...just good enough to pass inspection" so true!

Thanks Dave!! I didn't know this. I love free and absolutely HATE waste!

This is excellent information but as many are stating, a cautionary tale as well. Tons of builders are constantly victims of shitrat thieves and extremely frustrated by them so their tolerance is understandably zero. When you get stopped and asked who gave you that so called permission you better have a solid answer AND proof. Lawful permission has to come from the owner of the property, not someone just working there, and retain documented proof such as an email. That means permission from the builder/property owner, or in their absence the site supervisor. It’s an excellent way to aquire lumber and even help avoid unnecessarily sending it to a landfill but be smart about it. Great video.

Great content, Dave! I actually obtained almost all the wood I needed to build my generator shed in this exact way. The guys at the build site would actually direct me to where they were building other houses as well.

When I framed, I would bring this wood home from every job and I had a mountain of it.. and I used it for 5 or 6 years as free firewood. It's an endless supply as long as you keep building houses. :)

Thanks Dave! Great tips.

I NEVER thought about this! THANK YOU!!

The video is good and the comments are even more helpful. We all appreciate free stuff and some may not realize they are actaully stealing. Talking to the GC or site manager is the right thing to do. Having an accident and getting hurt on a site effectively hurts everyone. Timing is everything, and most lawyers aren't available on the weekends. Like the idea of the lumber pricing.

My dad worked for Lennar Homes and I can confirm that this is 100% accurate. He goes on a weekly basis to get lumber. He once got about $1,000 worth of lumber for free. Another time he said they were throwing out an entire staircase of lumber because they needed a temporary staircase to get to the second floor

I've been slowly but surely fixing things around my mom's house and I've realized sometimes I need some scrap wood. My cousin does construction and contracting so I asked him what he usually does with his scraps and he said he normally takes it to the dump. I asked him if he could save some for me since he's currently working on building a deck and he said it'd actually be great because it'd save him the hassle and money of having to haul a bunch of stuff to the dump.

This is a cool idea. As long as I can do it safely. I can collect pieces over a period of time and build me a nice backyard workshop and a patio cover

I've been doing this for Years, any construction site, I'll always ask for whatever left over materials they might have. I didn't know there was a professional way to ask. 👷🏿‍♂️

Great advice.

I had a house built a couple of years ago and I was blown away by how much scrap there was, much of it large pieces - some 16 feet long. I offered it to friends, rescued a bunch for myself and my shop and gave a bunch away to a friend who does woodworking for a business. We even had someone come by on the weekend and put a bunch of brand new trim moulding in our dumpster. You might also befriend a builder and get permission to "dumpster dive" at all his sites.

Awesome tip, thank you ! Needless to say I will be scouting the area I live in for these gems which I can use in a build. I use framing lumber to build legs on projects so this would save me a fortune

Good advice but please always ask and to be safe load it while the workers are still there working. This way no one will call the police on you thinking you are stealing so one less problem for you to deal with.

I just subscribed to your channel for the great tips and information!!!

That's AWESOME!!!, thanks for sharing.

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.

Great idea Dave. Thanks for sharing. As always, make sure you have permission (from someone authorized to give permission) before rolling away.

Been doing that for years, picking up scrap around a new house building, saved me a bunch of money

Great class of information. Thank you.

Great tips thanks for sharing

I have been salvaging old timber from a derelict farm near me . I spend the winter month's collecting and taking home and building in the summer . To date I have built myself a small storage hut , a lynch gateway for the garden and a T&G ceiling with faux wood beams in my kitchen plus several small projects . All this I have achieved from savaged timber , the only cost is my time, nails and glue .

I rarely used any scrap lumber but i got 3 pallets of brick from a job site, with the approval of the contractor of course. It was a pallet each of red and mixed color bricks and a mixed pallet of both

My dad has had a lot of jobs. One was he would haul boats across the country to deliver them. They would use carpet and wood pallets. He ended up with a bunch of "old pallets". They were the nice oak ones he bulid a bed frame for me and I love it!

Great info. Thank You 🙏🏾

I've done this a few times, they are happy to let it go because it costs them to haul it away....the less they have to haul off the more money they save. The problem is, people have gotten away with a lot of materials to be used on jobsites because they wait until nobody is there and steal materials...making it bad for those who do it the right way and ask workers on the jobsite....

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!

Cool, thanks for the info.

I am a welder/fabricator this is useful information, alot of you probably have a home workshop and occasionally need a chunk of steel or aluminum... something similar can be done at local fabrication shops. Ask if you can check out their scrap metal bins, you would be surprised at what gets tossed in there. You will have to pay scrap prices for the material, and might get charged a bit of a premium... but we are talking cents on the pound here. Opposed to buying chunks of flatbar from Home Depot for $20. My suggestion is go on a friday afternoon the attitudes on friday are usually a little more laid back and it's a good day because it's usually the day that the floor sweeper kids are told to go around and tidy up the shop. Just after spring thaw, when the snow and ice is gone is another good time when the yard gets cleaned up of all the odds and ends that were lost under the snow and built up over the winter. Show up ready to pick, wear steel toes if you have them as lots of shops have rules about people wearing safety boots on property, bring gloves as there will be plenty of sharp edges... good stuff can be found in the smaller tipper bins located near where the bandsaws take material in. Resign yourself to the fact that when it comes to the bigger bins you are only going to be able to scout the tops of the bins... steel is heavy. Clean up after yourself and don't leave a mess behind. Make a small pile of the pieces you want and ask them how much they want for it, for most of us that only need a few pieces of odds and ends the price is usually reasonable... if its not, be prepared to toss the stuff back in the bin and walk away. Sometimes some real gems can be found. Once when working at a shop the maintence guy went around and collected up all the shops heavy chain come alongs and tossed them in the scrap bin... because they couldn't be 'certified' me and a few co-workers went home that day with 3 ton come alongs, I took 3 home. Anyway something to think about.

Back around 1967 we were building our house in Kent, Washington. At the same time, Valley General Hospital (now Valley Medical Center) was being built. It was a huge place and, compared to most hospitals, sprawled like a mid-century house in Palm Springs. Anyway, we got ALL of the plywood we used for our foundation forms from their junk pile, with the same plywood used for their foundation forms. We got TONS of other wood from them as well. BTW, my dad was so cheap we even built all our own trusses. Lots of gluing and nailing plywood pieces to the 2x4's instead of those metal things they've been using for decades.

Thanks for the useful tips.

QI had my porch redone and there was so much wood, good wood that they were just letting someone pick up. It was my wood since i paid for it and im just starting out working with wood, so i was able to get a huge supply to get started witg. I cant wait til i get my shop area set up so i can practice and hopefully make some cool signs or planters or cabinets. Trays, tables, etc.... i plan on doing what you suggested. That is a great idea. And i would always ask because you never know what people will do.

Great tip thank you!

Biggest waste of material I've ever seen on a construction site-??? Early 70's, I worked on a jobsite at Tyndall Air Force Base outside Panama City, Florida. We did the metal framing, drywall, acoustical, and computer access floors. At the end of the job, we had 10 or 11 full pallets of 4'x12'x5/8" Type-X drywall left over. Rather than send it back for credit, the base general ordered that it be buried. Me and our crew stood helplessly and cried as they used dozers to dig and bury all of it in 10' holes.

For years, I always wondered if it was OK geez good to know thank you

I never pay for wood. I wake up in the morning, and there it is.

When I was building my first house I went to constriction sights to look at and photograph how the framing was done so I could replicate in my house, it was a low cost way of teaching myself how to do framing.

I would never of though togo to a new build site and ask 😅 thanks for this, theres lots of new builds happening in my city 😊🎉

Great advise!!

Thankyou David

You're awesome. Always great info.

Tank you Dave❤

When they build my development the house across the street had a pile of wood subfloor left over. Not the best wood but I now have tons of storage shelves in my garage 😊

Nice one mate good idea

A new house was built next door to me. I was amazed.at the wood i got from them. They were thrilled that they didnt have to pick it up.

I work for a cabinet company and I go around a construction sites and measure for installs and there are tons and tons of top quality brand new lumber just thrown in the dumpster and honestly I haven't bought 21° framing nails and probably a year because I'll just find sleeves and sleeves of nails thrown around job sites and hardware of all shapes and sizes and really good quality saw blades that for some reason people just throw out. Haven't found any DeWalt in the trash yet though

Good information 👍🏽

is interesting looking at timber frame construction. from uk so never seen a house built like that.

Great idea

Thank you brother😁👌👌👌❤️

my first video of yours, I subscribed!

I started woodworking 10 months ago and it was AMAZING since day 1 it was like I developed some Spider Sense to be on the lookout for semi-decent scrap wood lieing in the street or on building sites. I ALWAYS ask first before I take anything. I don't think I have paid for any wood in the last 5 months. *I have some more advice* Some Home Improvement or DIY retailers such as B&Q (here in UK) will have a bin for off-cuts. Although you can take a couple of pieces for free they do appreciate small donations for them which I always give and it's not per item which is great. You can get wood that would've normally cost you about £10 - £15 with only a £1 - £2 donation. Over time that's a MASSIVE saving when you consider it's brand new wood.

I've done this for years. Getting harder and harder to find new house builds around here now. They are just getting to spread out. And some areas they even fence in the construction sites. As you said always take from scraps. I always go dumpster diving. Have found 2x4s, plywood and pvc pipe doing that.

That is actually a surprisingly useful and legal tip. Unfortunately, we use bricks for houses in my country, but your trick might still be possible, as wood is still used for roof support. I will be on the lookout. Thanks for the tip. It is a win-win for all: they get to haul less garbage and we get free wood.

We had an addition put on our kitchen and I went dumpster diving as often as I could. I got enough osb to repair an outdoor deck whose siding was rotting.

When I worked for a builder in the early 2000s, the different trades threw away everything extra. Raised panel doors, stacks of baseboards, countertops, toilets, fiberglass showers… you name it!! I saved up enough high grade base board to do my entire house.

Who would've thunk it? Thanks Dave! There are TONS of houses going up around our area and I'm sure I can score some great scraps of wood. Gonna try it and I'll let ya know!