OSRS Construction Guide 1–99: Fastest Route, Planks Needed

Overview

The fastest way to 99 Construction is oak larders from 33 to 52, mahogany tables from 52 to 77 and gnome benches from 77 to 99, with the demon butler fetching planks from level 50. The OSRS Wiki puts gnome benches at just over 1,100,000 XP an hour and mahogany tables at up to about 900,000, so the hours are short: about 12 from 52 to 99. The bill is the hard part: that stretch burns about 92,200 mahogany planks, roughly 179M coins at 14 October 2026 prices.

If that is too much, Mahogany Homes is the cheaper route. Expert contracts average about 346 XP per mahogany plank, while a mahogany table gives 140 per plank, and the plank sack lifts Expert contracts to 240,000–280,000 XP an hour.

Construction pays the money back in convenience. A finished house gives you a gilded altar for Prayer, a rejuvenation pool and a teleport nexus in one place. Below: oak larders against Mahogany Homes for the first 50 levels, a method table with GP per XP, hours to 83 and 99, the Ironman and UIM plank routes, and which rooms to build before you chase 99.

Oak Larders vs Mahogany Homes: Cheapest vs Fastest to 50

This is the first real choice in the skill. Both routes start with Daddy's Home for the first 944 XP, then split: buy planks and build furniture in your own house, or carry planks to Mahogany Homes contracts in Falador, Varrock, East Ardougne and Hosidius. Plank counts and GP per XP are from the wiki's Construction training and Mahogany Homes pages, priced on 14 October 2026.

Verdict: pick oak larders if you have about 900,000 coins and want 50 in one short session; pick Mahogany Homes if you would rather pay about a third of that, start earning carpenter points toward the plank sack and do not mind teleporting between four cities.

Two things tip it. An oak plank is worth about 200 XP in a Novice contract and 60 in a larder, so Ironmen who make every plank themselves should take contracts. And at 50 the larder route hands straight over to the demon butler and mahogany tables, while Mahogany Homes keeps paying points for Amy's saw, the plank sack and the outfit.

Pick Your Method

Every XP rate below is the wiki's figure for efficient play: good clicks, the demon butler where the method uses one, and planks bought before you start. Most players land a little under them. GP per XP uses Grand Exchange prices on 14 October 2026; where there are two figures, the second includes the demon butler's wage.

Short version: oak larders, tables and gnome benches if GP is not the limit; mounted mythical capes or oak doors if it is; Mahogany Homes if you are an Ironman or want the lowest GP per XP and can live with slower hours.

Quest and Diary Unlocks That Change the Route

Construction needs less questing than most skills, but a few unlocks change either the cost or the usefulness of what you build.

Recommended Equipment and Boosts

Construction gear is mostly about plank logistics. Nothing you wear affects build speed except the outfit bonus.

Level-by-Level Training Table

Three builds carry almost the whole skill. The numbers below are from the OSRS Wiki Construction training page: XP per build, planks for each stretch and the best-case hourly rate.

Hours to 83 and 99

Hours below are XP needed (from the wiki's Experience table) divided by the Construction training rate, rounded. Level 83 is a common stopping point because a +8 boost then lets you build the ornate jewellery box.

That gap is the whole decision. Tables and gnome benches take 52 to 99 in about 12 hours for roughly 179M coins of mahogany plus about 4.8M in butler wages. Expert contracts need 44–51 hours for 70 to 99 alone, but at 5.77 GP per XP that stretch costs about 71M.

Fastest Route

The fast route is a tight loop: butler fetches planks, you build and remove the same object, repeat. Cost is the constraint, not XP.

1. 1

   Buy your planks in bulk before you start; running out mid-session is the main time sink.

2. 2

   Build a kitchen and run oak larders from 33 to 52.

3. 3

   Hire the demon butler the moment you reach 50 Construction.

4. 4

   Build a dining room and run mahogany tables from 52 to 77.

   With good attention the wiki expects 52 to 77 inside 2 hours.

5. 5

   Skip the Carpenter's outfit unless you already do Mahogany Homes:

   2,000 carpenter points is 400 Expert contracts for +2.5% XP.

6. 6

   Build a superior garden and run gnome benches from 77 to 99, removing one bench and building on the other hotspot in turn.

7. 7

   Keep coins on you to pay the butler every eight trips; at 58, build the servant's money bag and he pays himself.

8. 8

   Learn the build-and-remove click pattern so each cycle is muscle memory.

Cheapest and Most Affordable Route

• Mahogany Homes is far cheaper per XP than straight building. You still bring the planks, but Expert contracts get about 346 XP out of each mahogany plank against 140 for a mahogany table: 5.77 GP per XP against 13.88 on 14 October 2026 prices.
• After Dragon Slayer II, mounted mythical capes are the cheapest house method at 6.88 GP per XP; 104,865 teak planks cover 50 to 99.
• Plank Make costs 70% of the sawmill fee plus runes, and the wiki notes the rune cost often cancels the saving. Making planks gives no Construction XP, so treat it as a money maker, not training.
• Take logs to the sawmill operator yourself rather than buying finished planks when the spread is bad.
• Prefer oak builds over mahogany when prices spike; oak larders and oak dungeon doors at 74 run at 8.82 GP per XP.
• If you are running Mahogany Homes anyway, get the Carpenter's outfit early. Its 2.5% trims the plank bill slightly, though the wiki says it generally won't save time.
• Build only the house rooms you actually use before chasing levels.

AFK and Low-Intensity Route

• Construction is not an AFK skill. The build-and-remove loop needs constant clicking, and the butler needs regular attention.
• Mahogany Homes is the lowest-intensity option: contracts involve travel and multiple builds, so the pace is slower and more forgiving.
• Oak doors are the calmest house method: with menu swaps you can hold 1 and still expect upwards of 500,000 XP an hour with occasional mistakes.
• Sailing players can build repair kits or hull parts at a shipwrights' workbench (needs Pandemonium). Planks give about half the XP there, but up to 29 seconds of each inventory is idle and the kits can be sold.
• Making planks with Plank Make in bulk is a repetitive low-decision task you can do while distracted.
• If you want low attention, do your log gathering AFK and your building in short focused sessions.

Ironman Route

Ironmen pay the sawmill instead of the Grand Exchange: 100 coins per plank, 250 for oak, 500 for teak and 1,500 for mahogany. The wiki's Ironman Construction guide turns those fees into GP per XP, and the gap between house building and contracts is wide.

• Mahogany Homes is the Ironman backbone. Expert contracts get about 346 XP per mahogany plank against 140 for a table, which matters when you cut and mill every plank yourself, and the points buy the plank sack and Amy's saw.
• Cut your own logs and use Plank Make once you have Dream Mentor and 86 Magic, or run them to the sawmill operator in bulk.
• Prioritise useful rooms over XP: a gilded altar at 75 pays for itself in Prayer, and a rejuvenation pool saves endless food.
• Build a teleport nexus once you can; travel time is the hidden cost of every Ironman grind.
• Stockpile logs while doing other content rather than making dedicated Woodcutting trips.
• Accept a slower route. Construction is the skill where Ironman and main play diverge most.

Plank routes that work

• Oak, early: with your house in Rimmington, cut the oaks north-east of the portal, enter the house and send the demon butler to the sawmill. He banks the planks while you cut the next load.
• Mahogany, best banked XP: 1.5-tick woodcutting at the Fossil Island hardwood patches, then Teleport to House and send the demon butler to the sawmill. At 99 Woodcutting the wiki reports up to 110,000 Woodcutting XP and 120,000 banked Construction XP an hour.
• Bulk planks: the Auburnvale sawmill (after Children of the Sun) is now the closest sawmill to a bank; with the plank sack and log basket the wiki reports up to 8,000 planks an hour.
• Passive logs: put 5 Managing Miscellania workers on teak or mahogany, and keep Wintertodt logs and Tempoross planks for the early tiers.
• Mounted mythical capes: after Dragon Slayer II a teak plank is worth about 123 XP instead of 90, and the wiki rates capes at up to three times the hourly XP of Adept contracts.
• Sawmill fees add up fast; our Ironman money making guide covers what pays for them.

Ultimate Ironman

• A UIM cannot send a servant to the bank or sawmill and cannot take Construction materials from Managing Miscellania, so Mahogany Homes is the main route. Buy the plank sack first.
• Daddy's Home plus the X Marks the Spot and Client of Kourend lamps give 2,244 XP, level 14; Tower of Life at 10 Construction adds 1,000 more for 17.
• Solo Wintertodt from 50 to 99 Firemaking carries Construction to around 70 on its own, per the UIM Construction guide.
• Expect lower rates than a normal Ironman: about 72,000 XP an hour on Novice contracts with a ring of the elements and the plank sack, and 75,000–85,000 on Adept with casual effort.
• Construction is also where UIM storage lives (costume room furniture and STASH units); see our UIM guide for the storage plan.

Hardcore, pures and F2P

1. 1

   HCIM:

   the PvP-world butler loop is one of the fastest plank methods at about 7,000 planks an hour, but players can attack you there. The wiki points hardcores to the Farming Guild spirit tree loop instead, which avoids the PvP world.

2. 2

   Pures:

   Construction never changes combat level, so any build can train it, and the altar, pools and portals help a pure as much as a main.

3. 3

   F2P:

   Construction is members-only, so a free account cannot train it. See the F2P training guide for what free accounts can train.

Common Mistakes

1. 1

   Staying on Phials or a cheap servant past 40.

   The wiki says every servant below the Butler is slower than Phials; hire the Butler at 40 and the demon butler at 50.

2. 2

   Letting the butler's wages stall the loop.

   He asks for payment every eight services. Keep coins on you, and at 58 build the servant's money bag so he pays himself and skips the dialogue.

3. 3

   Buying mahogany when the budget cannot reach 99.

   Oak larders and oak doors cost 8.82 GP per XP and mounted mythical capes 6.88, against 13.88 for mahogany. Switch tier when mahogany spikes rather than stopping halfway.

4. 4

   Ignoring Mahogany Homes, or grinding 400 Expert contracts only for the outfit.

   Contracts are the cheapest XP per plank in the skill, but the Carpenter's outfit's 2.5% only pays back if you wanted contract XP anyway.

5. 5

   Reaching 99 without the rooms that make the house useful.

   Plan the layout once, then build the gilded altar at 75, the rejuvenation pools and the portal nexus on the way up instead of rebuilding rooms and paying for the planks twice.

Useful Plugins

1. 1

   Mahogany Homes:

   highlights contract objects and tracks contract progress.

2. 2

   Menu Entry Swapper:

   makes build and remove clicks single-action, which is most of the skill's speed.

3. 3

   Custom Menu Swaps:

   gives the demon butler left-click priority over a door, the setup the wiki uses for low-effort oak doors.

4. 4

   Inventory Tags:

   keeps your saw, hammer and coins in fixed slots.

5. 5

   Bank Tags:

   one-click plank withdrawals between sessions.

6. 6

   XP Tracker:

   compares Mahogany Homes against straight building for your prices.

7. 7

   Timers:

   tracks butler trips so you notice when the loop stalls.

FAQ

What is the fastest Construction route?

Oak larders from 33 to 52, mahogany tables from 52 to 77, then gnome benches from 77 to 99, with the demon butler fetching planks from 50. The wiki gives up to about 900,000 XP an hour on tables and just over 1,100,000 on gnome benches, about 12 hours from 52 to 99.

When should I hire the demon butler?

Immediately at 50 Construction. He removes banking from the loop, which is the single biggest speed improvement in the skill. He costs 10,000 coins every eight services.

Is Mahogany Homes worth doing?

Yes, if cost matters. Expert contracts average about 346 XP per mahogany plank against 140 for a table, run at 240,000–280,000 XP an hour with the plank sack, and the points buy the plank sack, Amy's saw and the Carpenter's outfit. On 14 October 2026 prices that was 5.77 GP per XP against 13.88 for tables.

Oak larders or Mahogany Homes for 1–50?

Oak larders if speed matters: roughly 900,000 coins of planks from level 1 and a short session. Mahogany Homes if cost matters: 48 planks and 485 oak planks, about 290,000 coins, and roughly 1–1.5 hours of Novice contracts from 20 to 50. Ironmen should take contracts, since an oak plank is worth about 200 XP there and 60 in a larder.

How much does 99 Construction cost, and how many planks?

On the wiki's 14 October 2026 prices, 52 to 99 on mahogany is 92,214 planks: about 179M coins plus about 4.8M in butler wages. That is roughly 9,660 planks for tables to 77 and 82,566 for gnome benches to 99. The cheaper tiers are 104,865 teak planks for mounted mythical capes from 50 (about 89M) or 217,201 oak planks from 15 (about 115M), of which oak doors take 198,970 for 74 to 99.

Getting to 52 is small change by comparison: about 94 regular and 270 oak planks to reach 33, then 1,760 oak planks for oak larders to 52. Prices move daily, so multiply the plank counts by the live price before you buy.

Should I use Plank Make?

Only if you have Dream Mentor, 86 Magic and your own logs. It turns a log into a plank for 70% of the sawmill fee plus 2 astral, 1 nature and 15 earth runes, and gives 90 Magic XP per cast but no Construction XP. The wiki notes the rune cost often cancels the saving, so if you are buying planks anyway it saves little.

Which house rooms should I build first?

The ones you will use: a gilded altar at 75 for Prayer, a rejuvenation pool for healing, and a teleport nexus for travel. Cosmetic rooms can wait.