PARR Lumber MLK

I use Parr for a majority of my pergola and fence builds. The lumber is 95% better and more consistent than any box store. You pay a premium price for quality lumber and everyone on here telling you that it’s too expensive compared to the box stores clearly hasn’t worked with or purchased a lot of wood. The customer service can be hit or miss but sometimes it’s amazing. They are used to dealing with contractors and not homeowners so they will be short with you if you are an entirely sure what you’re looking for. Plan and prepare before you call them. Be ready with a list of materials that you want to get pricing and they will be tremendously helpful. I continue to go back to them for their amazing delivery times and quality wood compared to home depot/lowes.

Glad I found these guys.

- They stock Kiln-dried lumber.
- Minimal wane, slightly more than what you would see at big box, but less than I've seen at other places.
- They often stock #2 & Btr grade, as opposed to Std & Btr that most places stock.
- Easy, quick, and cheap delivery
- Easy quoting (via Email or website) and purchasing (via Phone)
- Competitive pricing. Slightly more than big-box for most of my items, but it's also hard to compare pricing when you struggle to find the same quality. I'd guess I went with Big Box for about half of my project, and Parr for the other half.

I'm not a fan of working with lumber. It's dimensionally unstable and imprecise. Give me steel any day. That said, any future lumber projects of mine will be made only from Kiln Dried, #2 (or #1) and Btr.

If you are sick of buying anything "green", or wasting a lot of time sifting through a Std & Btr grade, then Parr Lumber may be a good fit. You are still gonna get the occasional disappointing piece of lumber, but less so than two other places I tried.

Update: I dropped a star (now 4/5) because the window rep was a pain to work with. I actually paid $100 more for the same exact windows at another place just so I didn't give him the sale.