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Why Sawmills Lose Hardwood Lumber RFQs and How to Reply Better
March 31, 2027
A buyer who sends the same hardwood lumber RFQ to several mills ends up with a sheet of rows and columns. Every mill is a column. A quote that cannot be put into the rows is not compared, it is set aside. That is a likely way for a mill to lose an RFQ it could have filled. This guide is for the owner or export sales engineer of a sawmill, concentration yard or exporter. It lists the rows a buyer fills in, seven gaps that make a reply hard to compare and an outline you can copy.
It is general information as of October 2026. I found no public data on how many lumber RFQs a mill wins, why buyers drop quotes or how fast mills answer, so no win rate or time benchmark is given. The seven gaps come from comparing what a buyer must write on a comparison sheet with what a reply often leaves out, using published definitions and rules. Your buyer’s own RFQ decides what to answer.
The buyer’s comparison sheet
A buyer who writes a careful RFQ, as in our guide to what to put on a hardwood lumber RFQ, will check each reply against the same rows.
| Row | What the buyer needs from you | What drops a quote |
|---|---|---|
| Species | Botanical name, not only a trade name | “Maple” with no species or sort |
| Grade | The rule and the grade, such as NHLA No.1 Common | A grade with no rule named |
| Thickness and surfacing | Quarters and rough or surfaced | Substituting another thickness without saying |
| Drying | Kiln dried with a moisture target and how it is checked | “KD” and nothing else |
| Quantity and tally | Volume and whether it is net or gross | A volume with no tally basis |
| Price | A number with its unit and currency | A price per piece with no board foot or cubic meter basis |
| Incoterms rule | A rule with a named place | “FOB” with no port or yard |
| Lead time | Days from a named event | “Two weeks” with no start |
| Validity | The last day the price stands | No end date |
| Payment | The terms you ask for | “To be agreed” |
| Paperwork | What you can issue and when | “Available on request” |
If most rows are blank, the buyer has to write back to fill them. A buyer with three other replies on the sheet may not.
Seven gaps that lose RFQs
1. Answering a different spec without saying so
A mill that cannot supply the exact spec often replies with its nearest stock: 5/4 where 4/4 was asked, No.2A Common where No.1 Common was asked, a mixed sort for a white-only request. The substitute may be reasonable. Silence about it is not. A buyer who spots the swap two paragraphs down wonders what else was changed. Say first what you can supply exactly, then what you offer instead and why.
2. A price with no basis
Hardwood lumber is priced by the board foot, often quoted per thousand board feet, or by the cubic meter. The American Hardwood Export Council gives 1,000 board feet as 2.36 cubic meters and 1 cubic meter as 424 board feet. A quote in one unit against an RFQ in the other forces the buyer to convert, and an unlabeled conversion invites a dispute. Quote in the unit the RFQ uses, give the other beside it and state the currency.
3. Hiding the tally basis
The AHEC defines a net tally as the board feet measured after kiln drying and a gross or green tally as the board feet measured before it, and says a buyer on a gross basis should expect approximately 7% less volume after drying. Two prices can be the same number and differ by that margin. State the basis in the quote, as set out in our guide to the lumber tally sheet, and do not leave the buyer to find it on the tally after loading.
4. An Incoterms rule with no place
“FOB” alone does not say where your delivery ends. The International Chamber of Commerce says that where goods go to a carrier before they are loaded on a ship, as with containers, the seller is well advised to sell on FCA rather than FOB, and that FCA lets the buyer instruct its carrier to issue an on-board bill of lading to the seller after loading. Many buyers still ask for FOB. Write the rule with a named place, such as the yard or the port, and ask your forwarder where your risk really ends. Our guide to quoting hardwood lumber for export has a worked container example.
5. A lead time with no starting event
“Three weeks” means different things from the order, the deposit or the buyer’s approval of a sample. If the lumber has to come out of a kiln first, the lead time depends on a charge being free, as in our guide to dry kiln capacity planning. Write the number of days and the event it starts from, and say whether it is stock or sawn to order.
6. Paperwork “on request”
A US importer must file a declaration under the Lacey Act that contains the scientific name of the plant, the value and quantity of the shipment and the country of harvest. The importer files it, so it needs those facts from you for every lot. An EU buyer is dealing with the EU deforestation regulation, which the European Commission says applies to wood from 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators and from 30 June 2027 for micro and small operators, and which requires operators to prove that products do not come from recently deforested land. A reply that says “documents available on request” leaves the buyer unsure whether you have the data. List what you can send, such as species and origin data per lot, the drying record and a plant health certificate, and when. Our reference page on the Lacey Act declaration shows the fields. These are typical rules, not legal advice.
7. Slow or one-way replies
A reply that only asks questions sends the work back to the buyer. A reply that arrives after the buyer has already decided is not read. No public benchmark exists for lumber, so there is no number to quote. The practical answer is to send what you can confirm the same business day, label it partial and say when the rest will come. A buyer holding a clear partial quote can plan around it. A buyer holding nothing cannot.
A reply outline you can copy
Keep it short and the same every time. Replace the angle brackets with your facts.
Subject: Quote for <species> <grade> <thickness> - your RFQ <reference>
1. Item: <botanical name>, <grade rule and grade>, <thickness in quarters>,
<rough or surfaced>, <kiln dried to a moisture target, method of checking>
2. Quantity: <volume>, tally <net or gross>, packs <size>
3. Price: <number> per <MBF or m3> (<the other unit>), <currency>
4. Terms: <Incoterms rule> <named place>
5. Lead time: <days> from <event>, <stock or sawn to order>
6. Valid until: <date>
7. Payment: <terms>
8. Paperwork we can issue: <list>, ready by <point in the order>
9. Not exact: <anything that differs from the RFQ and why>
10. Attached: <stock photos, tally sample, kiln record sample>Item 9 is easy to skip. Putting the difference on the page, early, is what keeps a near match in the comparison. Our guide to lumber photos for buyers lists the pictures worth attaching, and the page on what a sawmill should publish for export buyers lists the facts to keep ready.
When not to quote
If you cannot ship the spec, say so quickly and say what you can ship. A fast no with an alternative keeps a relationship that a slow maybe does not. If the volume is above what you can supply in the time asked, quote what you can supply and when, rather than the whole amount on a date you cannot hold. A quote you cannot keep is the costliest one to win.
Keep a reply log
After each RFQ, note the buyer, the spec, what you quoted, what you left out and what happened. A short log shows which rows you leave blank most often. When a buyer goes quiet, a polite one-line follow-up asking which row decided it can tell you what to fix. Some buyers will not say. Some will, and one answer can be worth more than any guess.
Talk to us
If you sell hardwood lumber and want buyer requests that already name species, grade, thickness, drying and paperwork so your reply can answer each row, see for suppliers. Tell us your species, grades, drying, tally basis and minimum order. Talk to us if you want to go through how a reply should read for your stock. We reply within 24 business hours and we make no promise of orders.
Sources
- American Hardwood Export Council, measurement: board feet, tally and kiln dried
- International Chamber of Commerce, Incoterms 2020 compared with 2010 (FCA and FOB for containerised goods)
- 16 U.S.C. 3372, import declaration for plants (subsection f)
- European Commission, regulation on deforestation-free products
Frequently asked questions
What should a sawmill put in a reply to a hardwood lumber RFQ?
Species by botanical name, grade rule, thickness and surfacing, drying with a moisture target, quantity with the tally basis, price with its unit, the Incoterms rule with a named place, lead time from a stated event, how long the price stands, payment terms and the paperwork you can issue. A buyer fills these rows side by side, so a reply that skips one is hard to compare.
Should I quote FOB or FCA on a container of hardwood lumber?
The International Chamber of Commerce says that where goods are handed to a carrier before they are loaded on a ship, as with containers, the seller is well advised to sell on FCA terms rather than FOB. Many buyers still ask for FOB. Name the exact place either way and ask your forwarder where your risk ends.
What is the difference between a net and a gross tally in a quote?
The American Hardwood Export Council defines net tally as the board feet measured after kiln drying and gross tally as the board feet measured before it. It says a buyer on a gross basis should expect roughly 7% fewer board feet after drying. State which basis your price uses, because the two prices are not comparable.
How fast should a mill answer an RFQ?
I found no public benchmark for lumber RFQ response times. A practical rule is to send what you can confirm the same business day, marked as partial, rather than wait for every number. A short reply that states what is missing and when the rest arrives is easier to hold than silence.
Know what you need? Send the spec.
Tell us the species, grade, thickness and board feet. We pass it to up to 3 mills or yards that carry it and reply within 24 business hours.
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