The Buildsavr blog
How to plan a build, price your materials, and buy them for less. Straight talk for pros and DIYers.
Why lumber prices are rising
The honest answer is that lumber is not rising everywhere. Statistics Canada has Ontario below its 2017 base while Quebec sits 18.8 percent above it. What moves the number, and what to do with that.
September 19, 2026Save money building a house
The same 2x6 can cost 25 percent more one exit down the highway. On a full house that gap is the difference between on budget and over. Here is how to buy against it.
September 19, 2026Save on renovation materials
Five rules for buying a renovation list, starting with the one nobody follows: compare the whole list, not one item at a time.
September 19, 2026Robertson screws
The square drive is a Canadian invention and still the default here. Which one to use, why the coating decides whether it survives treated lumber, and the same box at $4.18 in one store and $11.28 in another.
September 19, 2026Deck screws
One box was $19.99 for 1,750 screws. Another was $20.39 for 700. Same shelf price, two and a half times the cost per screw. Here is how to actually compare them.
September 19, 2026Interior door prices
Hollow core, solid core or solid wood, prehung or slab. What each actually costs, and why the cheapest door is often the most expensive install.
September 19, 2026Exterior paint cost
Three price tiers, a 2.5x spread between them, and a coverage calculation most people get wrong by three gallons. What exterior paint actually costs.
August 18, 2026 · 5 min readSeven weeks after launch
More than 7,800 users, 22,000 Google clicks in four weeks, and I am leaving my full time job. The first post in our building in public series.
July 3, 2026Home Depot vs Lowe's
Neither Home Depot nor Lowe's is cheaper on everything. Here is why the real answer is per-item, and how to find it automatically.
July 3, 2026Estimate deck materials
A clear way to estimate every material a deck needs, then price the whole list across every store to buy it for less.
July 3, 2026Lumber takeoff
How to do a lumber takeoff, then feed it to an AI plan reader that prices every item across every store in about 30 seconds.
July 3, 2026Building material list
How to make a complete building material list, then turn it into a store-by-store buying plan that actually saves you money.
Save on every build. Wherever you build.
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