Construction training

This article gives tips on training the members-only Construction skill.

A player building a larder using the Construction skill

Introduction

Construction is generally an expensive skill to train. There are very few methods to train without losing money. At low Construction levels, players typically make their own planks, use clay or limestone, and explore different rooms and furniture. To advance, most players use oak, teak, or mahogany planks to build and remove doors, wardrobes, or tables. These methods award only experience in return for used materials. Even if the planks are made by the player, money is still lost by paying for use of the sawmill or Plank make spell.

Typical costs for Construction experience vary from 5.5 (using player-made oak planks) to 17 coins per experience point (using mahogany planks bought from the Grand Exchange). Sacred clay hammers cut costs in half. Clan Avatar xp boosts can be used to cut costs a little more.

Understanding Experience Earned

Most built items require multiple construction materials to make. The experience gained is calculated from the experience per construction material used. For instance, the experience gained from making two of an item that requires 2 Oak planks gives exactly the same experience as a single item that requires 4 Oak planks, making the single item (in this example) faster for the same experience and cost.

Cost of Earning Construction Experience

Most materials used in Construction cannot be made with skills and must be bought from suppliers or the Grand Exchange. Wooden planks are made by handing over logs and money to the Sawmill operator. Construction materials that can be made by the player are soft clay, molten glass, limestone bricks, and steel bars. Even these items are normally used in combination with other bought Construction materials, except for a very few, low experience items such as clay fireplaces (3 soft clay for 30 experience). Specialty items such as gold leaves, marble blocks, and magic stones can be bought from a specialty shop in Keldagrim.

To reach high levels of Construction, millions of coins are required. A source of income, such as farming or merchanting, is required to pay for materials.

After completing the appropriate Morytania Tasks, one may receive 30 normal planks, 20 oak planks, or 10 teak planks daily from Razmire Keelgan, potentially worth 990, 1200, or 900 construction experience respectively.

Balancing Time Spent "Spending" vs. Time Spent Earning

To gain construction experience you need to spend money, and therefore any training regime must include time not earning experience but earning money. There are many options available (outlined in the rest of this article) to balance speed of earning experience vs cost of earning experience. The optimum balance for any player depends on the players ability to earn money in a given time. This ability changes with time and general advancement through RuneScape.

Therefore to maintain the optimum balance, a player must constantly re-evaluate any marginal time-consuming processes, weighing any tiny amount of lost time against the probable money they could have earned in the lost few seconds.

One decent plan is to train farming at the same time. During the time it takes for your plant to grow, you can train construction. When your product is ready, there is a great chance that you have lowered the gap from money loss or maybe even earn some extra money.

The fastest possible practical plan is probably making Mahogany tables, using Mahogany planks bought from the Grand Exchange, not traveling but using a Demon Butler to bring the planks, constructed with "make all" on a workbench and dropped to the ground after making while having the Demon Butler bring more planks, without using a Sacred clay hammer. A player can not drop items while seated at a workbench. The Demon Butler will deliver planks to a player's inventory while the player is seated at a workbench if he is aligned properly. However even small tweaks to this plan would save millions, and significantly cheaper plans would save as much as a hundred million coins before the player earned his or her skill cape. Alternatively, if the player has several billions to spare, there are even faster plans possible!

Building mahogany tables gives one of the fastest experience rates in RuneScape and uniquely this method is available from a relatively low construction level.

Costs for Different Materials

The cost to get from level 80 (1,986,068 experience) to level 99 (13,034,431 experience), using grand exchange plank price and not including the cost of travel or servants, is:

Material	Number	Experience	Cost per material	Total cost	Coins/xp
Wooden planks	368,279	30	coins	57,451,488 coins	5.2 coins/xp
Oak planks	184,140	60	coins	87,097,928 coins	7.883 coins/xp
Teak planks	122,760	90	coins	105,204,968 coins	9.522 coins/xp
Mahogany planks	78,917	140	coins	174,800,886 coins	15.821 coins/xp
Marble blocks	22,096	500	coins	7,283,301,857 coins	659.22 coins/xp

Using servants to make the planks cheapens teak and oak considerably relative to mahogany planks and marble blocks.

Special logs

Special logs are another method of lowering the cost of training. They are obtained randomly when chopping down teak or mahogany trees. If a player has two special mahogany or teak logs in their inventory and 26 "normal" teak or mahogany logs, then the Sawmill Operator will exchange 2 special logs for 26 free planks. This may be a great method of obtaining teak and mahogany planks if a player wants to train woodcutting as well. Special logs cannot be traded.

Experience and Cost per Construction Material

Planks

Item		XP Given	GE Log Cost	Sawmill Fee	Total Cost	Cost/XP	GE Plank Cost	Cost/XP
	Plank	29		100
	Plank & Bronze nails	29	+ nail	100
	Oak plank	60		250
	Teak plank	90		500
	Mahogany plank	140		1500

Notes:

• Slightly different experience, cost, and cost/experience point is given for different metal nails.
• The cost of any extra transportation methods to get to the Sawmill are not included.

Non-Planks

This chart shows the experience given per object when each object is used. The cost per experience point is based on Grand Exchange prices. The cost of "free" components (i.e., the components that can be made with effort only) shows the price one could sell those items for, if you had not used them on Construction.

Item		Experience given	NPC Cost	Cost/xp	GE Cost	Cost/xp
	Molten glass	1	n/a	n/a
	Clay	10	n/a	n/a
	Soft clay	10	n/a	n/a	174	17.4
	Bolt of Cloth	15	650	43.33	1032	68.8
	Iron bar	10	n/a	n/a
	Steel bar	20	n/a	n/a
	Limestone	20	10 or 17	0.5 or 0.85
	Limestone brick	20	21	1.05
	Gold leaf	300	130000	433.33
	Marble block	500	325000	650
	Magic stone	1000	975000	975

Notes

• You can turn clay into soft clay by adding water to it. This can be done in a player-owned house using a garden or kitchen water source.
• You can turn limestone into limestone bricks using a chisel on it. This gives 6 Crafting experience.

Travel Costs

Run to Bank

Running is free, but Construction requires large quantities of materials, and generally player-owned house portals are not in particularly convenient locations for running to and from banks, save Yanille and Taverley. See the Player-owned-house portal page for information on choosing a house location. It is recommended to have a house at Taverley.

Teleport to House

Generally, after advancing beyond lower levels, players teleport to and from their house to a bank, which consists of teleporting to the house via runes (1 Law rune, Earth rune, and Air rune.) To save an inventory slot, use a staff. To save two inventory slots use Law staff and Dust rune or a Teleport to House Tablet spell at greater cost.

Teleport to House costs 179 coins for each cast with all the runes above; 157 coins when using dust runes, 155 coins when using a staff of air, or 173 coins when using an earth, lava, or mud staff, with Law staff and Dust rune 142.1 coins on average. A teleport tablet costs 528 coins

Teleport to Bank

All teleports built into the house are free once built. The closest teleport to a bank is Edgeville, from an Amulet of glory mounted in your Quest Hall. Portals to Varrock, Falador or Kharyrll can also teleport you close to a bank. Alternatively, use a Ring of duelling to teleport to Castle Wars bank - this then allows you take a balloon to the Sawmill. A free way for users to teleport close to a bank with no level or quest requirements is with the Ring of Kinship which teleports you a few clicks south of a Fremennik banker.

Teleport to Sawmill

• A Digsite pendant cannot be bought, but can be made by enchanting a Ruby necklace with Ruby enchant which costs 1 Cosmic rune and 5 fire runes for a total cost of for 5 teleports if you buy and enchant a Ruby necklace. This works out to be coins each teleport. You could bring a Beast of burden such as the Spirit terrorbird to carry additional resources.

• If players transport to Castle Wars bank (using a Ring of duelling to teleport from the house - tradeable at a cost of 1038/8= coins per teleport), then Balloon transport system can be used to the Sawmill for the cost of one willow log - another 21 coins. Because of weight limitations you cannot carry a complete inventory of logs without at least 3 weight reducing items, but a beast of burden can be taken on the balloon trip.

• The cheapest, but easily most time-consuming way to the Sawmill is to run from the Grand Exchange (north and then east along the outside of the wall) or Varrock east bank.

• Players can teleport to the earth altar by using a wicked hood, and then walk just a few steps north. (Only twice or thrice a day.)

Two-Way Teleport

A two-way teleport is going to the bank (withdraw necessary items), then to the house and then to the bank, repeating the process indefinitely. The most efficient route is:

• Teleport to Castle Wars (due to the one click bank option), bank in there, withdraw necessary items
• House teleport.

Using a combination of either elemental staves and runes can save inventory spaces, and reduce costs.

Ancient Magicks allows you to bank and return for one of the fastest, and most free methods. Start at bank, stock up on supplies, house tab to house, build stuff on workbench, Edgeville home teleport back to bank.

Additionally, one can use a ring of kinship to teleport to Daemonheim and bank there.

Three-Way Teleport

A three-way teleport is going to the bank, then to the sawmill, then to the house, and then back to the bank, etc. The most efficient route is:

• bank in Edgeville via a mounted Amulet of glory or using the Edgeville Lodgestone.
• teleport to Sawmill via worn Digsite pendant
• House teleport via wielded earth staff, air and law runes, or using a Teleport to house tab.

Servant Use

Instead of teleporting, many players use a personal servant to fetch items from the bank, or get logs converted at the Sawmill. The servant will charge a fee for every 8 trips (higher level servants charge more), but this is generally faster than teleporting yourself. The fee is reduced by 25% after completion of the Love Story quest.

Techniques

Trip Time

Note: This section does not apply if the player is using Servants.

With the correct choice of teleport techniques, very little running is required to make a round trip (either two-way or three-way). This means that the total trip time is very largely dependant on how fast the player can click and select various options. To maximise the XP earned per hour depends on balancing the fastest possible round trip (i.e. least clicks) vs. a slightly slower round trip maximising the XP earned per trip. Players therefore vary in their precise technique - fast clickers tend to prefer the fastest possible trip. Players on slow PCs or laggy connections tend to prefer maximising the XP per trip. Note that because of the relatively low cost of teleport compared to the cost of an inventory, the teleport trip cost tends not the be a factor in an optimised trip plan.

Plan Round Trip to Optimise Inventory

• To maximise experience per trip, you need to maximise the number of planks/logs you transport per trip.
• If you are making flatpacks, you do not need two spare slots to take tools at all, because you do not need to be in building mode and can therefore can drop 2 planks, and pick them up again later.
• If you are using a beast of burden, you need at least one spare slot to swap logs/planks between the two inventories at the Sawmill. A technique is to drop one or two planks to make this space and pick the planks when done. Alternatively you may decide that it is quicker to have a spare slot or two.
• Bring materials in amounts equal to the highest multiple of the required materials to construct your items that is possible per trip (e.g., carry a multiple of 8 for larders, or 10s for Oak doors) as this reduces weight by not bringing extra material that won't be used. Alternatively, build something else to use the remaining planks (e.g. if you are carrying 26 planks, build two oak doors and then build two oak armchairs to use up the last 6 planks). With careful planning this does not need to slow down a round trip very much.
• Making Flatpacks can be a very fast way of using up almost any "left-over" planks. For instance "Make All" Oak drawers will use up any even number of oak planks.
• If you are three-way teleporting, always maximise your inventory of planks. Bank your unused planks and when you have enough planks, skip the sawmill teleport for a cycle.

You cannot bring a summoning familiar in your house when you're in building mode.

Experience per Trip

For number of planks carried. Higher numbers require a Beast of Burden.

Plank	XP per item	24	28	30	44	58
Plank + Nails	29	696	812	870	1276	1682
Oak Plank	60	1440	1680	1800	2640	3480
Teak Plank	90	2160	2520	2700	3960	5220
Mahogany Plank	140	3360	3360	3600	5280	6960

Servants

An alternative to travelling between your house and a bank is to use Servants to bring things from the bank to your house. This is faster than travelling yourself because you can build while the servant is making the trip. Better servants make the round trip faster.

To give instructions, speak to the servant. However it is quicker if you "use" noted items on your servant - you will be asked whether you want it to be banked or to be unnoted. If you use an unnoted log on the Cook or the Butlers, they can take a specified amount to the sawmill.

Servant Cost

Servant		Cost	Cost after Love Story	Level	Sawmill	Items	Cost/Item	Cost/Item after Love Story
	Rick	500	375	20	No	6	10.4	7.8
	Maid	1,000	750	25	No	10	12.5	9.4
	Cook	3,000	2,250	30	Yes	16	23.44	17.58
File:Butler head.png	Butler	5,000	3,750	40	Yes	20	31.35	23.44
	Alathazdrar the Demon butler	10,000	7,500	50	Yes	26	48.01	36.05

Note. To make planks via a servant costs two trips per load - one trip to the bank to get logs, and a second to the Sawmill to make them into planks.

Servant Plank Cost Before Love Story

Material	EXP Given	Sawmill Plank Cost	Cost/XP	Cost (Cook)	Cost/XP	Cost (Butler)	Cost/XP	Cost (Demon)	Cost/XP
Logs	30.5
Oak logs	60
Teak logs	90
Mahogany log	140

Servant Plank Cost After Love Story

Material	Cost (Cook)	Cost/XP	Cost (Butler)	Cost/XP	Cost (Demon)	Cost/XP
Logs
Oak logs
Teak logs
Mahogany log

Flatpacks

Flatpacks used to be very rarely used for training because they were slow experience. It was much faster to build and remove furniture instead. However, after an update they have a "build all" option that means they can be faster than using hotspots.

• Flatpacks can be sold on the Grand Exchange, however the return is very poor. The volume traded is also very slow. Not every flatpack is worth selling. Flatpacks can also be sold to shops for even poorer prices.
• Flatpacks can be alched, but the return is less than the cost of the runes.
• Flatpacks may be sold to Advisor Ghrim in exchange for coins in the treasury of your kingdom, after completing the hard Fremennik Tasks. In principle he gives 10% of the material costs. How this is calculated is not clear, but the value of a flatpack is less than 10% of the GE price of a log plus the Sawmill fee. Since the Sawmill fee is fixed, this suggests that he values the logs at less than GE price but greater than the max store price.
  • Advisor Ghrim will not take noted items.
• Flatpacks can be traded in at the Mobilising Armies activity for Investment credits. These credits are used to get reward credits which can be used to get money or other rewards. If you choose money, you can get a refund of the cost of the flatpacks.
• Because flatpacks can be made while not in building mode, items can be dropped. This may be the most convenient way to get rid of flatpacks.
• Flatpacks are rarely stored if using a Servant, because the return is marginal or worse given the additional cost of using a servant trip to bank them. However, if you value the flatpacks at Advisor Ghrim rates, higher value flatpacks can be worth banking. Use a BoB to accumulate enough flatpacks to make the servant journey efficient.

You need a Workbench to make Flatpacks, requiring a Workshop (Level 15 Construction)

	Workbench	Level Required	Required Materials	FlatPacks Able To Build
	Repair Bench	15	2 Oak Planks	Broken Arrows and Broken Staves (No FlatPacks)
	Wooden Workbench	17	5 Planks, 5 Steel Nails	1-20 Furniture (Level)
	Oak Workbench	32	5 Oak Planks	1-40 Furniture (Level)
	Steel-Framed Workbench	46	6 Oak Planks, 4 Steel Bars	1-60 Furniture (Level)
	WorkBench with Vice	62	2 Oak Planks, 1 Steel Bar	1-80 Furniture (Level)
	WorkBench with Lathe	77	2 Oak Planks, 1 Steel Bar	All Furniture

Flatpack Return Value

The following table shows the return on an example flatback item used for training (note all items with the same plank requirements will have different GE Sell prices but the same Advisor Ghrim return). The poor return should be compared with the total loss if an item is removed or dropped.

	Flatpack	Planks	GE Sell Price	Nominal Advisor Ghrim Return	Return coins/XP
	Oak magic wardrobe	4
	Carved oak magic wardrobe	6
	Teak magic wardrobe	4
	Carved teak magic wardrobe	6
	Mahogany magic wardrobe	4

Note: Advisor Ghrim will value slightly less than the nominal 10% value. As a snapshot, on a particular day he offered a return on some teak items that valued the teak log at 63 coins, assuming he gives full credit for the Sawmill fee. On the same day, the GE teak log price was 148 (plus 500 sawmill) and a teak plank 766, giving a real return of 9.7% or 8.2% respectively.

Sacred Clay Hammers

One way to decrease the cost of Construction is to use Sacred clay hammers. A Sacred clay hammer is a reward from the Stealing Creation mini-game. It is used to double the XP earned from each item constructed. However, it takes time to get the hammers, and if you count the time it takes to get the hammers, the overall construction experience rate decreases. Because training Construction costs money, any training regimen must include doing something else, earning money to spend on construction. In this context, spending time playing Stealing Creation can be considered a valid part of construction training. See later section for a time/cost breakeven analysis of Sacred Clay hammers.

Returnable Item Construction

There are a few decorative items that can be built that require a special construction item (e.g. a Mounted sword requires a sword as well as two teak planks to build). Building these gives more XP than the planks alone, but if the item is then destroyed, the construction item is returned. This can be repeated continuously, effectively increasing the XP given per plank.

Level	Item	Image	XP	Items Needed	Cost/XP GE Log Price	Cost/XP GE Plank Price
28	Basic armour stand		135	2 Oak Planks, 1 Basic decorative helm, 1 Basic decorative platebody, 1 Basic decorative shield	5.08	7.01
28	Detailed armour stand		150	2 Oak Planks, 1 Detailed decorative helm, 1 Detailed decorative platebody, 1 Detailed decorative shield	4.57	6.31
28	Intricate armour stand		165	2 Oak Planks, 1 Intricate decorative helm, 1 Intricate decorative platebody, 1 Intricate decorative shield	4.16	5.73
28	Profound armour stand		180	2 Oak Planks, 1 Profound decorative helm, 1 Profound decorative platebody, 1 Profound decorative shield	3.81	5.26
28	Mithril armour stand	File:Mith armour stand.gif	135	2 Oak Plank, Mithril full helm/body/skirt	5.08	7.01
28	Adamant armour stand	File:Addy armour stand.gif	150	2 Oak Planks, Adamant full helm/body/skirt	4.57	6.31
28	Rune armour stand	File:Rune armour stand.gif	165	2 Oak Planks, Rune full helm/body/skirt	4.16	5.73
42	Mounted Silverlight	File:Mounted silverlight.gif	187	2 Teak Planks, Silverlight
42	Mounted Excalibur	File:Mounted excalibur.gif	194	2 Teak Planks, Excalibur
42	Mounted Darklight	File:Mounted darklight.gif	202	2 Teak Planks, Darklight
47	Mounted anti-dragon shield	File:Mounted anti dragon shield.gif	280	3 Teak Planks, Anti-Dragon Shield
47	Mounted Amulet of Glory	File:Mounted amulet of glory.gif	290	3 Teak Planks, Uncharged Amulet of Glory
47	Mounted Cape of Legends	File:Mounted cape of legends.gif	300	3 Teak Planks, Cape of Legends

Notes:

• Armour stands are rarely used for training because of the disadvantage of needing 3 spare inventory slots for the armour each time you remove the stand. However, using servants to hold the planks, this technique is viable.
• Mounted stuffed fish trophies do not return the stuffed fish.
• Profound Armour Stands have the distinction of being the cheapest reasonably made construction training (limestone fireplaces are the cheapest at 1.05 gp/xp without a sacred clay hammer if you buy the bricks from the store at 21gp a brick).

Recommended Training Methods

Training Items

Image	Constructed object	Room	Planks/nails required	Level	Butler?	Sacred Clay Hammer?	GP per XP	Notes
	Crude wooden chair	Parlour	2 planks and 2 nails (Recommended: Mithril nails)	1-33	No	Unadvised	Approx. GP/xp, plus the price of nails.	630 planks required for 1-33. A lot more than 630 nails required for 1-33 (you bend a lot of nails at low levels).
	Oak larder	Kitchen	8 oak planks	33-52 or 74	Butler, at level 40	Possibly	Approx. GP/xp. if using Sacred Clay Hammers.	Players should stop making oak larders at level 52 if they wish to start using mahogany planks.
File:Mounted cape of legends.gif	Mounted Cape of Legends	Quest hall	3 Teak Planks, Cape of Legends	47-99 (Cheap method)	Demon butler or Butler	Possibly	Approx. GP/xp, excluding price of one Cape of Legends. GP/xp if using Sacred Clay Hammers.	Fair price, the cape make the teak plank xp go to 100each and never vanish. 45-55K xp/hour (no butler). 100xp/plank
	Oak dungeon doors	Dungeon	10 oak planks	74-99 (Cheaper method than below)	Demon butler or Butler	Possibly	Approx. GP/xp. GP/xp if using Sacred Clay Hammers.	This is cheaper than making mahogany tables. 250-300k xp/hour. 60 xp/plank
	Mahogany table	Dining room	6 Mahogany planks	52-99 (Expensive method)	Demon butler or Butler	Possibly	Approx. 15.82 GP/xp. 7.91 GP/xp if using Sacred Clay Hammers.	Fairly expensive. 450-700k xp/hour. 140xp/plank

Level 1 to 33

	Skill Level:	1-33
	Experience:	66 per chair
	Speed:	5*****
	Profit:	−344
	Requirements:	40 magic or Teleport to house tablets greatly expedite the process
	Items required:	Amulets of glory / Rings of duelling / Mobilising Armies teleport / Ring of kinship 2 planks and 2 iron nails per crude wooden chair weight-reducing clothing.
		At 1 to 33 Construction, one cannot have a butler. Train by using ring of kinship or Rings of duelling or Amulets of glory to teleport to a bank to get more planks, and using a House teleport spell or tablet to get back to your house. The Mobilising Armies teleport works too for teleporting to a bank. The Ring of Kinship is also an option, but is considerably slower than all of the aforementioned methods of banking, and is not recommended due to the ability to save Rings of Duelling with 1 charge and make them free to use. A slower way, albeit much cheaper, is by moving your house to Taverley (after the January 31st Update of Burthorpe/Taverley, the first house you buy is automatically located in Taverley) and using the bank that located a short distance south of the house portal. To help with the running, take off heavy armour and wear weight-reducing clothing. For the first levels of Construction you need to buy or make planks and iron nails. Start by making crude wooden chairs in your parlour and removing them, using 2 planks and 2 iron nails for each. Repeat this process until you are out of planks or reach level 17 Construction. It take 96 planks and nails (but make/buy more nails in case they bend) to get to 17 Construction. If you are going from 1 to 33, it will require you to make 277 crude wooden chairs, which is 554 planks, and 554 iron nails plus extras to compensate for them bending. An economic way is to wear Seer's headband and cut the logs, with the band only 14 cuts are enough for a full inventory, and they can be immediately be exchanged for planks at sawmill for 100 coins each. These planks can be banked at Varrock east bank, repeating the process would be a short trip. There is another way to train at low construction levels that is cheaper than using planks, although it is slower. Have your house at Rimmington and mine some clay in the mining area north-east of the portal. Use the clay with a well to create soft clay. Alternatively (and much more quickly) a bracelet of clay can be used. Repeat the softening of the clay until all the clay has been softened. Next, you should go into your house and build a Parlour for 1000 coins (if you have not already) and build a clay fireplace in it. Afterwards, remove the fireplace and repeat until you are at your desired level. The clay fireplace is a good choice because it gives 30 construction experience, however it requires level three to build, so follow the above process to reach level 3. This way, you can level up more quickly, and you do not have to travel as far. This is also very useful due to the expenses of gathering the materials can be kept very low. This is a highly recommended strategy for low-level and poor players to use. You may also keep on building Oak dining tables or Crafting table 1 by taking them down over and over until you reach level 33. This the fastest and cheapest way to train construction.

Level 33 to 52 or 74

	Skill Level:	33 - 52 / 74
	Experience:	480 per larder
	Speed:	5*****
	Profit:	−3,409
	Requirements:	33 Construction
	Items required:	8 oak planks
		After level 33, you can make oak larders in your Kitchen. Creating these costs 8 oak plank. It will take 1760 oak planks to go from 33 to 52 construction building oak larders and another 16,211 oak planks to get to 74 construction. To build these at the fastest speed, a butler or demon butler should be used. At level 40, you should go to the Servants' Guild to hire a Butler, and at level 50, you should hire a Demon Butler though this is quite an expensive way considering demon butlers cost 10k per 8 uses. Servants can be used to bring you planks, thus speeding up your construction training. The fastest way to do this is right click the servant and select the option to fetch items from the bank. If using the Butler, you can make an average of 2.5 oak larders per round; if using the Demon Butler, you can make an average of 3.25 oak larders per round. When making oak larders with a butler or demon butler, repeatedly request planks, then build and remove larders. With the regular butler, you can alternate 2 and 3 larders per round, whereas with the demon butler, you can build 3 larders on 2/3 of the rounds and 4 larders on 1/3 of the rounds. Carry a hammer and a saw (There is an option to pay your butler from your bank). It is possible to save money by not using a butler and/or by making the planks yourself. A possible method is to woodcut oak logs outside your house, then enter your house and send your butler to the sawmill to make planks. Then, make oak larders and leave to cut more oaks. Alternatively, do not use a butler and instead bank (teleport to Castlewars and then teleport back with Home teleport, or alternatively run to Yanille bank from your house in Yanille) after every 3 larders to get more planks. However, it will be much slower experience if you use either of these methods and the money saved may not be worth the extra time spent (remember the cost of teleports). Teak Larders may be made at level 43, but they take 2 bolts of cloth in addition to 8 teak planks, and this extra material required raises the cost significantly and slows down experience due to the need to request 2 types of materials. The fastest way to get experience from oak larders would to first come with a full inventory of oak planks (Keeping your money in the bank or money pouch, wielding a Golden Hammer to take the place of a hammer, or have a hammer in your toolbelt, and your saw in the toolbelt) and having the Butler servant. Once in your house, build the first oak larder, then remove it. Next use the 'Fetch-from-bank' right-click option on your butler and choose 20 oak planks. Now since you are able to make 3 oak larders from a single full inventory, build another oak larder, remove, build a third one and remove. This will have taken up the time it takes for the butler to get to the bank and back, thus not wasting any time. With this second inventory you will be able to make 3 oak larders if you have all tools in toolbelt and money in pouch/bank. Build the first then use the right-click option 'Fetch-from-bank' again on the butler to receive 20 more oak planks. Then quickly remove the last oak larder built and replace it with a new one, and build another and remove it. Once the butler returns you should have 20 planks, so you can only make 2 this time. (This may make the process sound very complicated but it is actually quite easy to get used to) Repeat this short process until you reach the level or experience you are going for, or your planks run out or you get bored. A quick player is often able to send the servant away as soon as the servant returns, and use all their planks within the time it takes for the servant to fetch the planks, but this can be hard work. Try out sending the servant off at different points and find which one works best for you, to maximize efficiency. Also, for the same xp, you can make carved oak tables (flatpacked or in the dining room) until the desired level. The tables use 6 oak planks per table/flatpack and you can use the two extra planks per inventory to make an oak chair. Players should stop making oak larders at level 52 if they wish to train using mahogany planks. Mahogany tables are the fastest construction experience in the game, but are not very commonly made because they cost more per construction experience than oak. Players who wish to continue using oak planks should make oak larders to level 74 before switching over to oak dungeon doors.

Level 74 to 99 (Cheaper method)

	Skill Level:	74
	Experience:	600 per door
	Speed:	5*****
	Profit:	−4,055
	Requirements:	Level 74 Construction, a dungeon room
	Items required:	10 Oak Planks
		If you choose to continue using oak planks, you should switch to oak dungeon doors at level 74 construction. Oak dungeon doors take 10 oak planks each, whereas oak larders take 8 oak planks each. This difference makes oak dungeon doors faster experience than oak larders, because more oak planks can be used per construction action. This results in a higher experience per hour, even though the butler still only brings you the same number of planks. It is possible to get over 300k construction experience per hour with oak dungeon doors without Stealing Creation Hammers, but experience rates vary widely from person to person; some people only get 200k experience per hour, while others can get 400k experience per hour. A normal butler is recommended instead of the demon butler as oak dungeon doors require 10 planks each, you only need your butler to bring 20 planks.

It is fairly easy to send the butler away immediately and build and remove 2 oak doors in the time it takes for the butler to return, allowing you to train without waiting at all, and have your butler always doing something.

Training straight from 74 to 99 with this method would cost 94,112,439 coins

Level 52 to 99 (Expensive method)

	Skill Level:	52
	Experience:	840 each
	Speed:	5*****
	Profit:	−13,290
	Requirements:	Level 52 Construction, a dining room or a Steel framed workbench
	Items required:	6 mahogany planks
		One of the absolute fastest ways to 99 construction from level 52 is to build Mahogany tables in the Dining room, using a Demon Butler to bring you planks, building 4 tables per round, and 5 every third round. Players who are somewhat slow at building and removing tables may wish to save a bit of money by using a normal butler and building 3 tables per round and 4 every third round. Experience per hour rates for building mahogany tables vary widely among players. Some players get around 450k experience per hour (these people often use a normal butler), while some get over 600k (these people use demon butlers). Some players are even able to get over 700k experience per hour. The theoretical maximum experience per hour with mahogany tables is somewhere around 900k experience per hour, and some players can get over 800k experience per hour. (All these experience rates are given WITHOUT Sacred Clay Hammers.) Interestingly, although practice helps, it is possible to get the full experience rate- the fastest experience in construction without spending ridiculous amounts of money- right at 52, and potentially go from level 52 to level 70 in only an hour, or a bit over an hour. It is also worth noting that mahogany planks are the best planks to make using the Plank make spell, which is a very fast way to train magic, and therefore a player may find it convenient to combine this spell with building Mahogany tables to avoid a trading step.

Using this method to train from straight from 52 to 99 would cost 150,512,409 coins

Summary

It seems that the most popular way to get 99 construction is to use oak planks. The second most popular way is to use mahogany planks. Teak planks probably would be third most popular. If you are rich enough to contemplate using mahogany, you probably would not consider it worthwhile to use servants to make the planks.

Efficiency Analysis

Time/Cost Breakeven Analysis of Sacred Clay Hammers

This section is intended to help you choose exactly how you want to train construction at medium and high levels. Generally, you choose either oak dungeon doors or mahogany tables, and both of those methods can be done with or without Sacred clay hammers. Sacred clay hammers disintegrate after a certain value of XP gained.

For the purposes of these calculations, the following values will be assumed:

Cost/xp	Plank type		Sacred clay Hammer?
coins		Oak planks	No
coins		Mahogany planks	No
coins		Oak planks	Yes
coins		Mahogany planks	Yes

This is counting oak planks as coins each, mahogany planks as coins each, and includes the use of the Demon butler for mahogany tables, and the Butler for oak doors.

Plank type		Sacred clay Hammer?	Planks/hour average
	Oak planks	No	4333 (Note: Highly variable from person to person)
	Oak planks	Yes	3900, incl. banking time for Sacred clay Hammer (Note: Highly variable from person to person)
	Mahogany planks	No	3700 (Note: Highly variable from person to person)
	Mahogany planks	Yes	3400, incl. banking time for Sacred clay Hammer (Note: Highly variable from person to person)

• Number of Sacred clay hammers obtained per hour: 5 (This is possible in a skilling-only Stealing Creation game.)

• Sacred clay hammers last for 50750 construction experience each with oak planks, which is 25375 bonus experience, and 51415 with mahogany planks, which is 25690 bonus experience. (The experience maxes out mid way through the last mahogany table) Therefore, you will need 20.2 of them for an hour of construction with mahogany, or 7.1 of them for an hour of construction with oak.

Based on these values, experience and cost per hour for each of the four methods can be determined. These rates necessarily include the time needed to get the Sacred clay hammers for the efficiency analysis to be correct. The rates are as follows:

Plank type		Sacred clay Hammer?	xp/hour (average)	Cost/hour (average)
	Oak planks	Yes	210k	k
	Oak planks	No	250k	k
	Mahogany planks	Yes	200k	k
	Mahogany planks	No	520k	k

Again, these rates are not necessarily correct for every person. They are only approximate values assigned for the purpose of doing calculations. Some people are very slow at training, and some people are very fast. Also, prices change every day.

But based on the stated rates of the above four methods, an efficiency analysis can be performed. This is a mathematical way to find out what method is best for you, based on how valuable you consider your time to be (per hour). This is sometimes interpreted as the most cash you can make per hour- for example, by runecrafting double nature runes. However, it is ultimately your choice how valuable you feel your time should be. See the efficiency article for more details about this concept.

The results of the efficiency analysis are as follows:

• Players who value their time at under k per hour should build oak dungeon doors with Sacred Clay hammers.
• Players who value their time at between k per hour and k per hour should build oak dungeon doors without Sacred Clay hammers.
• Players who value their time at over k per hour should build mahogany tables without Sacred Clay hammers.
• Making Mahogany tables with Sacred clay hammers is never the most efficient method to train construction.

Expensive Method

It is often claimed that the fastest construction experience can be reached by using magic stones (for example, building Demonic Thrones) or by using marble blocks (for example, by building Marble walls). Marble does give 500 experience per block and magic stones do give 1000 experience per stone, which is much more than oak planks at 60 experience per item or mahogany planks at 140 experience per item. However, it costs over 650 coins per experience to train with marble blocks and over 975 coins per experience to train with magic stones.

It would cost 8.45 billion coins to get 13 million construction experience using marble blocks, and 12.68 billion with magic stones. Additionally, it is difficult to buy marble blocks and magic stones on the Grand Exchange, making buying them from the Stonemason in Keldagrim virtually a necessity; however, this takes time and could, potentially, cancel out much of the higher experience rate these items would give.

It has not been demonstrated that anyone has gotten a significant amount of construction experience by using these supplies, which is not surprising given the extreme costs involved. Another extremely expensive - although far more practical - method to train is by "building" hobgoblin guards in a dungeon. The fact that you only need money to build means that you never need to use a servant at all. In this case, the hobgoblin gives the best xp/coin ratio out of all the guards, although higher level ones give better experience/hour.

Free ways to train

• You can use Long bones or Curved bones to get 1,500 Construction xp and 2,000gp or 2,250xp and 2,500gp, respectively. This is profitable but a slow way to train and requires nothing but Combat. The combat xp earned from this method is also an extra bonus
• The Gielinor Games gave an opportunity to get xp in Construction for free daily (the amount depending on your level). Gielinor Games Preparation gave Construction xp when handing girders to Oomad. This was only available between 14 July - 23 July 2012
• You can get Construction xp from Minigames, Distractions and Diversions and Lamps as well. The skill you choose is optional (except sometimes in Squeal of Fortune)

Trivia

• When Construction was first released, it was rumoured that some of the first players achieved 99 Construction by building Skeleton Guards. This method cost nearly 3 billion coins to get 99 Construction, but only required cash.

See also

• Construction