Planning your order

How much firewood do I need for winter?

It depends on how you heat and what you're heating with — but here are sensible estimates you can plan a first order around. And because we deliver across Melbourne year-round, you can always top up rather than over-buy.

A quick guide by how you use it

Firewood use varies a lot household to household, so treat these as starting estimates rather than exact figures:

How you heat	Rough estimate per winter
Occasional fires — ambience, weekends, taking the chill off	about 1–3 cubic metres
A slow-combustion heater as a main source of heat	about 4–8 cubic metres
An open fireplace used regularly	more again — open fires are far less efficient (see below)

As a reference point, Sustainability Victoria's heating-cost modelling for an average Melbourne home suggests a slow-combustion heater warming a main living area gets through roughly 3 cubic metres of hardwood over a season. Bigger homes, whole-house heating, colder or draftier houses, and open fireplaces all push that number up.

Fireplace type makes a big difference

The single biggest factor is what you're burning the wood in. According to the Australian Government's YourHome guidance:

An open fireplace loses up to 90% of its heat up the chimney — the least efficient way to heat with wood.
A metal fireplace insert still loses around 70%.
A modern slow-combustion heater can be up to 85% efficient.

Practically, that means a home heated mainly by an open fire can need several times as much wood as the same home with a slow-combustion heater, for the same warmth. If you have an open fireplace, plan toward the higher end. Our Red Gum guide has tips for getting the best out of an open fire.

What else changes the number

How much of your heating is wood. A fire as the main heat source uses far more than one lit a couple of evenings a week.
House size and insulation. A large or draughty period home needs more than a small, well-sealed one.
How warm you keep it, and how long the cold snap lasts.
How dry the wood is. Green wood wastes up to 60% of its energy, so damp wood effectively means burning more — another reason to buy properly seasoned Red Gum.

For context: Victoria caps how much firewood a household may collect from State forest at 16 cubic metres a year — a figure that comfortably covers even heavy wood-heating use, and a reminder that collecting your own is capped and hard work compared with a delivered, stacked order.

Our advice: start sensible, top up as you go

Most of our customers start with 2–3 cubic metres and reorder if the winter turns cold — our minimum is one cubic metre, and we deliver year-round, so there's no need to over-buy and store more than you have room for.

Not sure where you land? Tell us your fireplace or heater type and how you heat, and we'll help you pick a first order. Call or text Jake on 0414 103 255.

Order the right amount, delivered & stacked

$499 per cubic metre, minimum one metre, top up any time. Inner and middle Melbourne.

📞 Call Us — 0414 103 255 Order Online →