Selco timber stock lengths: trade sheet goods, plywood and OSB prices

Selco Builders Warehouse is a trade sheet-goods specialist, not a DIY shed: the range and the branch layout are built around full sheets of plywood, MDF and OSB in volume, alongside CLS and structural timber. The tables below list what they stock with prices verified from selcobw.com, shown ex VAT (Selco's own convention) with the VAT-inclusive figure alongside. One thing to know before you plan a trip: Selco sells to trade and business account holders only, covered in the next section. At the end, a worked cut list for a workshop shelving bay shows why two sheets of 18 mm OSB are needed, not the one a quick area estimate would suggest.

Selco is trade only: what that means for you

Selco's own FAQ is explicit: "Selco is exclusively for Trade & Business, so to buy from us you need to have a trade card," and "you'll need to show your trade card before you can pay for your goods." Prices on the website are visible to anyone browsing, which is how the figures on this page were verified, but completing a purchase requires an account.

The trade card itself is free to apply for, and Selco's own description of who qualifies is broader than "professional builder only": a "bona fide tradesperson or business owner," with proof accepted in several forms (a business card, VAT certificate, CSCS card, liability insurance, or a company website). Approval is described as instant, with online and in-branch access available straight away. If you are working self-employed or run any kind of small business, it is worth checking whether you qualify before assuming Selco is out of reach. If you are a hobbyist with no business at all, Selco's own FAQ is clear that its prices "are not available to the general public," and Wickes, B&Q or Travis Perkins are the more straightforward route.

Plywood

Plywood is Selco's deepest range: general purpose FSC-certified sheets across six thicknesses, a separate structural sheathing grade, and marine plywood, all in the standard 2440 × 1220 mm sheet.

Source: selcobw.com plywood category and product pages, accessed 2026. All sizes 2440 × 1220 mm. Selco also stocks a smaller 1829 × 607 mm "handy" panel size in the general purpose range (18 mm at £22.28 ex VAT), useful when a full sheet is more than a job needs. Stock varies by branch; confirm before travelling.

Sheathing plywood is the WBP-bonded structural grade: use it for site hoarding, roofing and anywhere strength matters more than face appearance. General purpose is the better choice for shelving, jigs and cabinet carcasses where the face is visible. Marine plywood, at roughly three times the price of general purpose 18 mm, is worth it only where the extra void-free core and water-resistant glue actually matter, such as boat fit-out or permanently damp locations.

MDF

Selco's standard MDF range is CaberMDF Pro, in the same 2440 × 1220 mm sheet across five thicknesses.

Source: selcobw.com MDF category page, accessed 2026. Prices as listed; the 18 mm and 12 mm happened to be within pence of each other at the time of writing, which looks like a typo but is reproduced as shown on the site. Moisture-resistant CaberMDF Pro (from around £29.96 ex VAT for 12 mm) and veneered options (oak, sapele and ash faced 18 mm, roughly £75 to £119 ex VAT) are also stocked. Confirm current pricing before ordering.

OSB

Selco's core OSB range is SterlingOSB Zero, a formaldehyde-free structural board. Check the sheet size as well as the thickness here: the 9 mm board is a different, slightly smaller sheet than the 11 mm and 18 mm boards.

Source: selcobw.com OSB category page, accessed 2026. Selco also stocks an 18 mm tongue-and-groove SterlingOSB flooring board at 2400 × 590 mm (£12.50 ex VAT) and smaller 1220 × 606 mm and 1829 × 607 mm panels in some thicknesses. Confirm current sizing before ordering: a 20 mm difference in either sheet dimension changes how many parts nest onto it.

CLS timber

Selco stocks CLS under its Contract range, labelled by nominal (rough-sawn) dimensions rather than the finished size, similar to how Travis Perkins and Jewson label their sawn ranges. Selco's own product page confirms the 75 × 50 mm nominal size finishes at 63 × 38 mm. The 100 × 50 mm nominal follows the same regularisation and finishes at approximately 89 × 38 mm, the standard UK CLS size also stocked (under different nominal-versus-actual labelling) at Wickes and Travis Perkins.

Source: selcobw.com, Contract CLS FSC product pages, accessed 2026. Prices ex VAT (multiply by 1.2 for inc VAT: £2.88, £4.33 and £3.89 respectively). Selco also lists a Premium CLS Softwood Studding range at "from" pricing covering multiple lengths on one product page; that starting price is not reproduced here since it is not tied to a single confirmed length.

The free sheet-cutting service

Selco's sawmill service is more specific than most merchants publish: the first two cuts on a sheet are free, and additional cuts are £1 each. It runs seven days a week, whenever the branch is open, straight after you buy the sheet. It handles hardboard, chipboard, OSB, MDF, kitchen worktops, plywood, sundeala board, door blanks, pegboard and T&G flooring.

Two limits worth knowing before you rely on it. First, size: the smallest offcut the saw can handle is 500 × 230 mm if the workpiece stays attached, or 500 × 400 mm as a standalone piece, and the largest sheet it will take is 3100 × 1644 mm up to 60 mm deep. Second, and more important for a cut list: Selco is explicit that the service is not for cutting "to specific measurements for your project." Read alongside the free-cuts allowance, this points to what it is actually for: turning a full sheet into two or three manageable pieces to get it in a van or car, not cutting your finished parts list. Plan to do the parts-list cutting yourself once the sheet is home.

Worked example: workshop shelving bay in 18 mm OSB

A single shelving bay for a garage or workshop: two full-height uprights and four shelves, all in 18 mm SterlingOSB Zero.

Total part area: 2 × (1800 × 400) + 4 × (900 × 400) = 1,440,000 + 1,440,000 = 2,880,000 mm². One sheet is 2440 × 1220 = 2,976,800 mm². By area alone, 2,880,000 mm² looks like it could almost fit on a single sheet (97% of one sheet's area). It cannot, once the parts are actually laid out.

Sheet 1: both uprights placed side by side along the sheet's 2440 mm length (each 400 mm wide, 1800 mm long, with a 3 mm kerf gap between them) uses an 803 mm-wide strip. That leaves a 414 mm-wide strip running the full length of the sheet, wide enough for shelves laid 400 mm across and 900 mm long: two fit end to end (900 + 3 mm kerf + 900 = 1803 mm, within the 2440 mm length). A third shelf does not fit anywhere else on the sheet: the remaining 637 × 803 mm corner is too small in both directions for a 900 mm-long shelf. Sheet 1 holds 2 uprights and 2 shelves, 72.6% utilisation.

Sheet 2: the remaining 2 shelves go on a second sheet, using just 24.2% of it.

Total: 2 sheets of 18 mm OSB, 2 × £18.56 = £37.12 ex VAT (£44.54 inc VAT), even though the area sum alone suggested it might just fit on one. This is the gap between "will the area fit" and "will the shapes actually pack", and it is exactly what a cut list calculator is for: sizing a job by area is a quick sanity check, not a buying decision.

With the free cutting service, the two full-height uprights are a natural first free cut each (halving each 18 mm sheet down to a size you can carry to the car), with the parts-list cuts for shelves and final upright widths done once you are home or on site.

Plan your own cut list

The lesson above holds for any job, not just this one: area alone tells you the best case, not the real sheet count. SawReady nests your actual parts onto full 2440 × 1220 mm sheets (or whatever size you set), so you get the real number before you are at the trade counter, not after.

Plan my Selco cut list