What Affects the Price of a Timber Picnic Table in Australia

Ask three makers what a timber picnic table costs and you will get three different numbers, and none of them will tell you why.

The price of a picnic table is not really one number. It is six or seven decisions, and most of them are yours to make.

Here is what actually moves the price, in roughly the order it matters.

The seven things that move the price

• Length. The single biggest factor, and the one where longer is usually better value per seat.
• Timber. Treated pine or Australian hardwood. Expect hardwood to run at roughly double.
• Board thickness. A thicker board costs more in the same timber, and is what separates a home table from a commercial one.
• Finish. Raw is the cheapest. Oils, stains and varnish add cost up front and a maintenance rhythm afterwards.
• Freight. Distance, size and site access. Often the most underestimated line in the whole purchase.
• Custom work and volume. A one off shape costs more per table. A dozen identical ones costs less.
• How long it lasts. Not a price at all, but it decides whether the cheap option was actually cheap.
  

Length, and why the longest table is often the best value

Tables get more expensive as they get longer, which surprises nobody. What surprises people is that the cost of seating one person falls as the table grows, and it falls sharply.

A 3 metre table seats three and a half times as many people as a 1.5 metre table, for less than double the price. Across that range, the cost per seat drops by roughly 45 per cent.

So if you are fitting out a venue, a school, a park or a clubhouse, and you have the floor space, going longer is almost always the better spend. The trade off is flexibility. Shorter tables are easier to rearrange, easier to move and easier to fit through a gate, and a room full of short tables can be reconfigured in a way that a room of 3 metre tables cannot.

For a backyard, the constraint is usually the space and not the budget. Measure first, including the room you need to actually sit down. Allow around 900 millimetres of clearance for someone to get in and out behind the bench.

The timber, and why hardwood costs about twice as much

This is the decision that moves the number the most after length. As a rule of thumb, Australian hardwood runs at roughly double treated pine for the same size and the same board thickness.

Part of that is the material itself. Hardwood is denser, heavier, slower to cut and harder on tooling, so the same table takes more work to build.

Most of it is supply. Australian hardwood has become steadily more expensive and harder to get hold of. According to Wood Central, reporting in December 2025, blackbutt rose 46.5 per cent and spotted gum flooring 39.8 per cent over the five years to June 2025, and 47 per cent of the hardwood used in this country is now imported.

The reason is that a lot of the resource has come out of production. Victoria and Western Australia both ended commercial native forest logging in 2024. New South Wales placed 176,000 hectares of state forest under a harvesting moratorium in September 2025 for the Great Koala National Park. Queensland is now one of the few places still selectively harvesting native hardwood, which is part of why we can still build in it here.

None of that makes hardwood the right answer for every job. Treated pine, looked after, does a genuinely good job outdoors, and it is what most of our tables are built from. Hardwood is what you choose when you want the weight and the grain of it, or when the table is going somewhere that will punish it.

Board thickness, and the difference between a home table and a commercial one

Two tables can be the same length, in the same timber, and price differently because of what the boards measure.

A standard build uses a thinner board. A heavy duty build uses a thicker one, and that extra timber runs through the whole table, so the cost difference is not trivial. It is also the single clearest signal of whether a table is built for a family of four or for a beer garden that seats strangers every night for a decade.

If a quote does not tell you the board dimensions, ask. It is the fastest way to tell whether you are comparing like with like, and it is the thing most commonly left vague.

The finish, and the upkeep that comes with it

A table can be left raw or finished, and a finish adds to the price. It also scales with the size of the table, because a longer table has more surface to cover, so the finish on a 3 metre costs more than the finish on a 1.5 metre.

There is usually a tier to it. A single oil or a colour costs less than an oiled and varnished top, which is doing more work and takes more coats.

Worth knowing before you decide: a finish is about appearance and upkeep rhythm rather than survival. A raw table will grey off over time, and some people want exactly that. If you do finish it, oiled timber wants recoating roughly every three months and a painted or stained finish roughly every six, so there is a small ongoing cost in product and in your own time. Our timber care and maintenance guide sets out what that actually involves.

Freight, the line most people underestimate

A picnic table is a heavy, awkward, non stackable object, and getting it to you is a real cost rather than a rounding error. Anyone quoting you a flat national delivery rate on furniture this size is either averaging it or building it into the price.

What moves freight:

• Distance. Interstate costs more than across town, and remote costs more again.
• Size and weight. A 3 metre hardwood table and a 1.5 metre pine table are not the same freight job.
• Site access. Whether a truck can get in, turn around and unload, and whether special equipment is needed.
• Whether it arrives assembled or flat packed.
• Whether someone is there to help take it off the truck.

Two things worth doing. Ask for the freight number before you commit, not after, and ask what the delivery actually includes, because kerbside and into position are different services.

If you are close enough to collect, that is the cheapest option there is. Pickup from our Jimboomba workshop is free by appointment. Otherwise freight is either calculated at checkout or quoted before your order is confirmed, and delivery is typically one to five business days across South East Queensland or three to ten interstate once the table is built.

Custom work and volume

A standard size in a standard build is the cheapest way to buy, because it is the thing the workshop is set up to make. A one off shape, an unusual length, a specific timber or a modification costs more per table, and that is true of any maker.

Volume works the other way. A dozen identical tables is a more efficient run than a dozen different ones, and that usually shows up in the price. If you are buying for a site, ask about it rather than assuming the website price is the only price.

Questions we get asked about price

Why are timber picnic tables so expensive?

Most of the cost is material and labour. A picnic table carries a lot of timber, it is built and finished by hand, and the timber used outdoors has to be either treated or naturally durable, which costs more than framing pine. Freight on something this size and weight adds to it again.

Why does hardwood cost about twice as much as treated pine?

Denser timber that is slower and harder to work, plus a genuine supply squeeze. Australian hardwood prices have risen sharply over the past five years and almost half the hardwood used in this country is now imported.

Is a bigger picnic table better value?

Per seat, yes, and by a wide margin. A 3 metre table seats three and a half times as many people as a 1.5 metre for less than double the price. The limit is usually your floor space, not your budget.

Does the finish add much?

Yes, and it scales with the size of the table because there is more surface to cover. An oiled and varnished top costs more than a single oil or colour. Raw is the cheapest option and is a legitimate choice.

Why can nobody give me a delivery price up front?

Because it depends on where you are, how big the order is and whether a truck can get in. A flat rate on furniture this heavy would be wrong for most people. Ask for the quote before you order.

What should I spend the extra money on?

Board thickness, galvanised hardware and solid joinery, in that order. They are what decide whether the table is still there in ten years. Finish and timber species are more about how you want it to look.

Is it cheaper to hire?

Up to about ten days of total use, yes. Past that, buying costs less and you still own the tables at the end.

Where to start

If you know roughly what you are after, current prices for every size, timber and finish are on the product pages. Start with our picnic table range, or go straight to the standard treated pine table, the heavy duty build or the hardwood range.

If you are still working out what suits the space, the picnic table buying guide covers sizing and seating properly. For kids and early learning spaces there is the kids and sensory range, and for venues, parks and sites, our commercial page.

And if you have something in mind that is not in the range, we build custom. Tell us the space, how many people you need to seat and what the conditions are like, and we will tell you honestly what it takes and what it costs.