You must, of course, learn to make your estimates yourself, often a very important preliminary.

Fig. 36.

Prices vary, and you cannot always rely on other people's estimates for your own work. It is a matter of simple arithmetic and of making correct allowance for waste and incidentals.

You can always get the prices easily. Figure the amount of wood required, the number of square feet (see page 47) of each kind, or running feet, as the case may be, and multiply by the price a foot; but after this comes the allowance for waste, etc., which cannot usually be figured exactly, but must be estimated.

For instance, if you wish to make a double-runner, with a seat ten feet long, the board from which to make it will very likely be twelve feet long, in which case you must, of course, buy the whole board. Perhaps you can use the two feet left over somewhere else on the sled, perhaps part may be checked or injured.

There is almost always some defective wood (worthless, except for fuel); some pieces are too short or small to be of use; and very often some quite good-sized pieces are left over, which, so far as the particular job is concerned, are waste, - that is, you must buy them in order to get enough. Such pieces can be used on other work, and are not really wasted in the end.

Just how much to add to the number of feet to cover waste varies, of course, with every job. Some people add a fixed per cent, to their measurements or calculations, which, although not exactly correct for any one job, strikes an average for a good many. It would not be easy to state any such per cent, for the varied work you will do, but the main thing to bear in mind is that you must make a liberal allowance. Just so with the other materials. Remember to allow for waste and for unforeseen extras. Even with experienced people things are very apt to cost more than the estimate.

Make a neat schedule to take to the lumber-yard or mill, specifying the kinds and dimensions of the stock required.