Two quotes for what looks like the same oak staircase or door can differ substantially, and the raw cost of the timber is rarely the reason. The variables sit in grade, machining time and what's been quietly substituted.
Reading a quote line by line rather than looking at the total figure is the only way to see where the difference actually sits.
Grade and character
Oak is graded by the amount of character it carries — knots, sapwood streaks, mineral staining and shakes. Prime, near-clear grade costs considerably more than a rustic or character grade with the same structural strength, and the choice is purely visual.
A quote that specifies a lower grade than you expected from the sample you were shown is one of the most common ways a price gets pulled down without the client noticing until the material arrives.
Section size and wastage
Larger structural sections and long clear lengths cost disproportionately more than small sections, partly because they're harder to source without natural defects and partly because more of the log is wasted cutting them out.
Any design with curved or tapered elements increases wastage further, since the timber has to be cut oversized and then shaped down, and that waste is priced into the quote whether it's itemised separately or not.
Machining and jointing
Traditional mortise-and-tenon or dovetailed joints take far longer to cut than a screwed or biscuit-jointed equivalent, and that labour time is where a large share of an oak joinery price sits, not the material itself.
A quote that reads suspiciously cheap for a hand-cut joinery item has often substituted a simpler, faster joint that won't perform the same way over decades of oak movement.
What a cheaper quote has usually substituted
The two most common substitutions we see when a rival quote undercuts ours significantly are a lower timber grade than shown in the sample, and mild steel fixings instead of stainless — both invisible on day one and both storing up a problem for later.
- Grade
- Prime clear vs rustic/character — largest single price swing
- Section size
- Larger and longer clear sections cost more per unit volume
- Jointing method
- Hand-cut mortise-and-tenon vs mechanical fixing
- Fixings
- Stainless/bronze vs mild steel — invisible at quote stage
Common questions
Why do two oak staircase quotes differ so much for the same design?+
Almost always grade, joint type or fixings, rather than a different amount of oak. Ask each quote to state the grade and fixing specification explicitly and compare those lines, not the total.
Does wastage really affect the price that much?+
Yes — curved or long clear-run sections can waste a large proportion of the log, and that cost has to be recovered somewhere in the quote even if it isn't shown as its own line item.
Is it worth paying more for hand-cut joints over mechanical fixings?+
For anything structural or exposed that has to move with oak's seasonal shift over decades, yes — mechanical fixings loosen under repeated movement in a way a well-cut traditional joint doesn't.
Get a written, itemised oak quote
Ask us for a quote that states grade, section and fixings explicitly, so you can compare it against anyone else's line by line.