We’ve compared prices across the country for pine, gum and other types of firewood. Here’s what you can expect to pay – as well as the cheapest supplier we could find for each type of wood in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
We also give advice on when to buy firewood and how to avoid being sold short. Plus, our firewood calculator lets you compare different quotes to find the best value firewood for your money.
Compare firewood suppliers (or skip straight to the cheapest!)
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Firewood heating cost calculator
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Burning and storing wood
Only burn dry wood
Wet wood cools the fire, creates polluting smoke and will clog up your flue. Suppliers use a few euphemisms for wet wood, including ‘green’ and ‘unseasoned’.
However, wood is cheapest when it’s still wet. If you buy in spring or early summer, it’ll be ready to use by the time cold weather arrives (unless it’s a dense hardwood). If you leave it until later, you’ll have to pay more for pre-dried firewood.
If you tell the supplier you’re buying wood to burn straight away and it turns out to be wet, the wood is not fit for purpose under the Consumer Guarantees Act, and you have a right to a refund or replacement.
A cheap moisture meter lets you check the moisture content of wood before you buy or burn it. Firewood should have less than 25% moisture when burned. At home, you can also test wood by throwing a small piece onto glowing hot coals. If it catches fire on the top and sides within 1 minute, it’s dry enough to burn well.
How to stack firewood
Stack firewood under cover or against a sheltering wall, leaving plenty of gaps for drying air to flow through. If you store wood somewhere that gets sunlight, it will season (dry) quicker.
Measuring the amount of wood
Comparing firewood prices from different suppliers can be a problem when they use different systems to measure the load.
It’s legal to sell wood by description. But how can you know the volume of one person’s trailer or another person’s ute?
Buy a measured volume
Firewood is sold as a ‘thrown measure’, unless specifically stated otherwise. This means the quantity of wood is measured as if it were thrown into a container, rather than neatly stacked. Stacking wood reduces its volume by about a third, so 3m³ of thrown wood is roughly equivalent to 2m³ of stacked.
What does 'thrown' mean?
Firewood is sold as a “thrown measure” unless specifically stated otherwise. This means the quantity of wood is measured as if it were thrown into a container, rather than neatly stacked. Stacking wood reduces its volume by about a third, so 3m3 of thrown wood is roughly equivalent to 2m³ of stacked.
Time for a new woodburner?
If you fancy burning your cheaply sourced firewood in an efficient modern fireplace, check out our woodburner reviews. We’ve compared more than 100 burners including wetbacks, ultra-low emission burners (ULEBs) and built-in inserts.
