Once you have purchased all of your building materials and you are preparing to start construction it is a good idea to organize the various wood materials to see what you have to work with and prioritize the best boards for the certain uses. Once you understand the ratio of high quality, medium quality, and poor quality boards you have to work with you can get an idea of how best to use them. If you are buying premium grades of lumber this should not be much of an issue. But if you are trying to save a few bucks you should definitely spend some time up front considering your best strategy for material use. First set the worst boards aside, you can probably salvage pieces of them for inconspicuous uses like blocking the frame or some other concealed use. Next you should isolate the highest quality and straightest framing boards for your ledger board and the rim boards to create a straight and rigid perimeter to work off of. You will want to concentrate on using high quality boards any place where they will be very visible. Long decking lengths will offer you many choices as to how best to use them. Try to eliminate butt joints whenever possible as they tend to separate with weathering. Applying decking diagonally can sometimes be effective in preventing butt joints and also acts as sway bracing to strengthen the frame. Proper planning and execution of material use will increase your efficiency and will reduce your waste in building the project.