Timber Calculator (Malta)

Worked example 1: pricing a sawn timber cut list, per m³ and per length side by side

Say you are quoting a pitched-roof job in Naxxar and need red deal boards and rafters. A Marsa timber merchant gives you two prices for the same 25 × 150 mm red deal board: €450 per m³, or €5.80 for a 3.6 m length. Before you can compare them, you need the volume of one board:

Volume of one 25 × 150 mm × 3.6 m board = 0.025 m × 0.150 m × 3.6 m = 0.0135 m³.

At €450/m³, that board costs 0.0135 × 450 = €6.08. The merchant's per-length quote of €5.80 is actually slightly cheaper once you do the conversion — a difference you would never spot comparing the two headline numbers directly. This is exactly the calculation the tool automates for every row in your cut list, so you can enter whichever price basis a merchant gives you (per m³, per piece, or per linear metre) and still see a like-for-like total.

Now build out the full cut list for the roof job, mixing sizes and price bases exactly as a real quote sheet would present them:

• Red deal board 25 × 150 mm, 3.6 m, quantity 40, priced per length at €5.80 → volume 40 × 0.0135 m³ = 0.54 m³, cost 40 × €5.80 = €232.00
• Red deal 50 × 150 mm rafters, 4.2 m, quantity 16, priced per m³ at €450 → volume per piece 0.050 × 0.150 × 4.2 = 0.0315 m³, total volume 16 × 0.0315 = 0.504 m³, cost 0.504 × €450 = €226.80
• Red deal post 100 × 100 mm, 3.6 m, quantity 6, priced per piece at €19.50 → volume per piece 0.100 × 0.100 × 3.6 = 0.036 m³, total volume 6 × 0.036 = 0.216 m³, cost 6 × €19.50 = €117.00
• CLS stud 38 × 89 mm, 2.4 m, quantity 30, priced per m³ at €480 (CLS commands a small premium over plain red deal) → volume per piece 0.038 × 0.089 × 2.4 = 0.008117 m³, total volume 30 × 0.008117 ≈ 0.2435 m³, cost 0.2435 × €480 ≈ €116.88

1. Raw cut-list volume before waste: 0.54 + 0.504 + 0.216 + 0.2435 ≈ 1.5035 m³
2. Apply the standard 10% waste allowance for offcuts and rejects: 1.5035 × 1.10 ≈ 1.654 m³
3. Raw material subtotal before waste: €232.00 + €226.80 + €117.00 + €116.88 = €692.68
4. Adding 10% to cover the waste allowance on the material actually consumed brings the realistic budget to roughly €762 before delivery, and before VAT if the merchant quotes net

Worked example 2: cubing a round log with the Huber formula

Round, unsquared logs are unusual in the Maltese market — almost everything sold is already sawn to a metric section — but they do turn up, most often as reclaimed hardwood logs bought whole by a furniture maker or joiner who wants to mill their own boards, or occasionally as a carob or olive trunk salvaged from land clearance. For these cases the calculator uses the Huber formula, the standard method for estimating the volume of a round log from its mid-length diameter:

V = π/4 × D² × L, where D is the diameter measured (inside bark) at the exact midpoint of the log's length, and L is the log length. Squaring the mid-diameter accounts for the natural taper of a log far more accurately than averaging the two end diameters.

Worked example: a salvaged hardwood log with a mid-length diameter of 0.32 m and a length of 2.5 m.

1. Convert the mid-diameter to metres if it was measured in centimetres: 32 cm = 0.32 m
2. Square the mid-diameter: 0.32² = 0.1024 m²
3. Multiply by π/4 (≈ 0.7854): 0.1024 × 0.7854 ≈ 0.08043 m²
4. Multiply by the log length: 0.08043 × 2.5 ≈ 0.2011 m³ — that is the estimated solid volume of one log
5. For a batch of, say, 4 logs of that same size, total volume ≈ 4 × 0.2011 ≈ 0.804 m³, which the calculator will then price at whatever €/m³ rate you enter for that timber species

Cubic metres, board feet, and cubic feet — the conversions you need

• 1 m³ = 423.776 board feet
• 1 board foot = 0.0023597 m³ (one board foot is a US/UK measure equal to a 1 ft × 1 ft board, 1 inch thick)
• 1 m³ = 35.3147 cubic feet
• 1 cubic foot = 0.0283168 m³
• 1 board foot = 1/12 cubic foot ≈ 0.0833 ft³
• Worked check: a 0.0135 m³ board (the 25 × 150 mm × 3.6 m example above) converts to 0.0135 × 423.776 ≈ 5.72 board feet, and to 0.0135 × 35.3147 ≈ 0.477 cubic feet
• These conversions matter in Malta specifically because timber arriving from British suppliers or older price lists is sometimes still discussed in board feet or cubic feet even though the boards themselves are cut and sold in metric sections — the calculator shows all three units on every result so you are never caught converting a UK-sourced quote by hand

How timber is actually priced and imported in Malta

Because every length of structural softwood on the island has crossed the Mediterranean (or, historically, come down from the UK), the landed price a Maltese merchant charges bakes in freight, handling at the Freeport, import duty status as an EU member state (intra-EU timber moves duty-free, but non-EU sourced stock and any onward inland freight still add cost), and the margin needed to hold stock on a small, seasonally uneven island market. As a general 2026 guide, expect red deal (Baltic redwood) construction sections to run in the region of €400–€500 per m³ delivered in Malta, with the calculator's own default of €450/m³ sitting squarely in that range as a sensible planning figure. CLS studwork typically prices a little above plain red deal, often €460–€550/m³, reflecting the extra machining (surfacing and eased edges) and the fact that it is usually imported specifically for stud-frame partitioning rather than general carpentry. Treated or pressure-impregnated sections for external use, roof battens, and fascias can run higher again, and any hardwood — oak, iroko, or similar — imported for joinery or furniture will be priced per m³ at multiples of the softwood rate, often €900–€1,800/m³ depending on species and grade.

Because shipping a full container is far more cost-efficient per m³ than shipping a part-load, Maltese merchants tend to buy in bulk on a schedule dictated by container arrivals rather than continuously restocking to demand — which is part of why the same yard may quote you per m³ one month and only have odd lengths left to sell per piece the next. When you are pricing a job, it is worth asking a merchant for both a per-m³ and a per-length figure on the same stock: this calculator lets you check both before you commit to an order, and can reveal worthwhile savings on larger orders where the per-m³ rate is negotiable but the per-length list price is not.

Local specifics: buying imported softwood at a Maltese builders' merchant

Almost all structural and joinery timber sold in Malta is imported softwood, overwhelmingly red deal (Baltic redwood, a Scots pine graded and stocked for general construction) alongside smaller volumes of whitewood (spruce) and CLS studwork for internal partitioning. These are the sections you will find on the shelf at any builders' merchant in Marsa, Ħal Far, or Qormi, typically stocked in the standard lengths the calculator's presets already reflect — 2.4 m, 3.0 m, 3.6 m, 4.2 m, and occasionally 4.8 m — because those are the lengths that pack efficiently into a shipping container from a European sawmill.

Common uses on the island track the construction methods typical of Maltese building, which relies heavily on reinforced concrete and limestone (franka and qawwi) for the primary structure, with imported timber reserved for roofing (rafters, purlins, and battens under a waterproofing membrane, since flat and lightly pitched roofs are the norm), formwork and shuttering for casting concrete slabs and beams, and joinery — door and window linings, skirting, staircases, and fitted furniture. Because timber is imported rather than locally milled, availability of an exact section can vary between merchants and between container arrivals, so it pays to check stock (and whether the size is a common one from the calculator's presets or something that will need to be specially ordered) before finalising a cut list.

When buying, ask specifically which grading standard the stock has been supplied under: imported softwood reaching Malta from UK or continental sawmills is generally graded to the same structural standards used in those source markets, most commonly the C16 or C24 strength classes defined under BS EN 338, the British and European standard for structural timber strength grading. For anything load-bearing — rafters, purlins, or lintels — always confirm the grade stamp matches what your structural drawings call for, since a merchant's cheapest red deal is not automatically graded for structural use. For non-structural joinery and battening, grading matters less and price and appearance usually drive the choice instead.