Pick a plank, then a route
Every serious Construction route is the same loop: buy planks, build something, remove it, build it again. What changes is the plank. Oak planks are the cheap option and give the best XP per coin among the standard methods. Mahogany planks cost far more per XP but give the fastest rates in the skill. Teak sits in between and only really earns its place at a few specific levels.
| Method | Level | XP each | XP/hr (good play) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak larder (8 oak planks) | 33 | 480 | up to 480,000-500,000 |
| Mounted mythical cape (3 teak planks) | 50 | 370 | about 430,000 |
| Mahogany table (6 mahogany planks) | 52 | 840 | about 900,000 |
| Teak garden bench (6 teak planks) | 66 | 540 | 500,000-600,000 |
| Oak dungeon door (10 oak planks) | 74 | 600 | 500,000-550,000 |
| Gnome bench (6 mahogany planks) | 77 | 840 | just over 1,100,000 |
For a rough feel of the trade, getting about 1.1 million XP with oak takes around two hours, and doing it with mahogany takes about one. The extra hour costs millions of coins at normal plank prices, so the right answer depends on how much an hour of your time is worth. Check today's oak and mahogany plank prices in the construction calculator before you commit to either.
Levels 1-33: getting started
Buy a house from any estate agent for 1,000 coins, then do the Daddy's Home miniquest. It gives 944 Construction XP, enough to go from 1 to 8, and a crate of supplies you will use straight away.
From there, build what the furniture guide allows. Regular planks need steel nails, so stock a couple of hundred. Crude wooden chairs and wooden bookcases in the parlour carry you to 9, wooden larders in the kitchen to 15. At 15, oak planks take over and you no longer need nails: repair benches and crafting tables in the workshop, then oak dining tables from 22 and carved oak tables at 31. The whole 1-33 stretch needs roughly 94 regular planks and 270 oak planks.
Before you have a servant, use the house portal in Rimmington. Phials, just outside, unnotes planks for 5 coins each, which is faster than banking.
Levels 33-52: oak larders
The oak larder is the workhorse. Eight oak planks, 480 XP, built in the kitchen. With tidy clicks it reaches 480,000-500,000 XP/hr by 50. Nothing cheaper per XP is anywhere near this fast, which is why most players build larders until at least 52 and many keep going to 74.
At 40 hire a butler from the Servants' Guild in East Ardougne, and at 50 swap to the demon butler, who carries 24 planks a trip. Your house needs at least two bedrooms with beds. Servants ask for payment every eight trips until 58, when the servant's money bag pays them for you.
Levels 52-99: choosing your finish
Fastest: mahogany tables from 52 to 77, then gnome benches in the superior garden from 77 to 99. Mahogany tables run at about 900,000 XP/hr, and a focused player can go from 52 to 77 in about an hour and a half. Gnome benches top the skill at just over 1.1 million XP/hr. This is also by far the most expensive way to 99.
Cheap and still quick: oak larders to 74, then oak dungeon doors to 99 at 500,000-550,000 XP/hr. Same plank, same cost per XP as larders, slightly faster at high levels.
Cheapest of the fast methods: mounted mythical capes from 50, if you have Dragon Slayer II done. Each needs three teak planks and a mythical cape, gives 370 XP, and runs at about 430,000 XP/hr. Oak larders are faster for a similar cost, so capes mostly suit players who already own spare mythical capes or prefer the simpler build.
Middle ground: teak garden benches from 66. Up to 700,000 XP/hr with perfect play, 500,000-600,000 for most people. Useful if you want to spend a little more than oak without going full mahogany.
Getting the rates people quote
The top figures assume a tight loop. Build with the number keys rather than clicking the menu, remove with a single right-click option, and send the demon butler for the next load the moment he hands over the last one, so his trip overlaps your building. On mahogany tables a good cycle is about 22 game ticks per inventory on a low-ping world, and 23 or 24 on a laggier one. Two or three ticks lost per inventory adds up to a lot of hours by 99, so play on a nearby world. If you are building larders, put the kitchen next to the entrance portal to shorten every trip.
Mahogany Homes: cheap, steady contracts
Mahogany Homes sends you to repair furniture in four towns for Amy, Marlo, Ellie and Angelo. It is much cheaper per XP than building in your own house and pays you in carpenter points for the carpenter's outfit, the plank sack and supply crates. Clients also refill your run energy.
Rough rates: Beginner contracts at 35,000-50,000 XP/hr, Novice (20) at 80,000-95,000, Adept (50) at 130,000-150,000 and Expert (70) at 185,000-210,000. With a plank sack the Expert figure rises to 240,000-280,000. You also need steel bars for some repairs. The Mahogany Homes calculator works out contracts, planks and steel bars for your target.
The carpenter's outfit adds 2.5% XP. That rarely saves real time on the house route, but on Mahogany Homes, where you are doing contracts anyway, it is worth grabbing.
Sailing-era Construction at the shipwrights' workbench
Since Sailing arrived, the shipwrights' workbench (after Pandemonium) gives a properly AFK Construction method. You turn planks into repair kits or hull parts, at roughly half the XP per plank of house building, but with up to 29 seconds of idle time per inventory. Mahogany repair kits run at about 210,000 XP/hr and mahogany hull parts at about 350,000 XP/hr when done at Deepfin Point. Repair kits are also needed on your boat, so it pairs well with Sailing training, and you can check the repair kit price before deciding whether to sell any surplus.
Other ways to pick up XP
- Fishing crane repair (30+): needs 30 Construction and Crafting, a hammer, 3 planks and some bronze nails. Each repair gives 4 times your current level in both skills, so it gets better as you level. Among the cheapest XP in the game, if slow.
- Wintertodt: fixing braziers gives Construction XP based on your level. Strongest from about 4 to 27.
- Fishing Trawler: 5 XP per patched leak, around 11,000 XP across a full angler's outfit grind.
House unlocks to aim for
| Level | House upgrade | Why you want it |
|---|---|---|
| 47 | Mounted amulet of glory | Free Edgeville, Karamja, Draynor and Al Kharid teleports |
| 65 | Superior garden | Room for pools, a spirit tree and later the gnome bench route |
| 72 | Portal nexus | Many teleports from one portal |
| 75 | Spirit tree (83 Farming) | Spirit tree network from your house |
| 82 | Mounted digsite pendant | Digsite, Fossil Island and Lithkren teleports |
| 85 | Fairy ring | Fairy rings without leaving home |
| 90 | Ornate rejuvenation pool | Full restore of Hitpoints, stats, run energy and special attack, and it cures venom |
| 91 | Ornate jewellery box | Every jewellery teleport in one object |
| 95 | Spirit tree and fairy ring combined | Both networks in one garden spot |
A maxed house is one of the best time savers in the game. You can build above your level with a crystal saw (+3, invisible) and spicy stew, so you do not need 95 before you start placing late items. Plan the layout early and keep the pool, nexus and jewellery box close to your entrance portal, since you will walk that path thousands of times.