TedsWoodworking Outdoor Furniture Plans Review

What you actually get in the outdoor furniture section

TedsWoodworking is marketed as 16,000 plans across every category, but this review focuses on the part most people search for: outdoor and patio furniture. Inside that category you'll find the usual crowd-pleasers — classic Adirondack chairs, porch swings, gliders, garden benches, picnic tables (both traditional A-frame and detached-bench styles), potting benches, raised planter boxes, cold frames, arbors, pergolas and full gazebo builds.

Each plan is a downloadable PDF. The strong ones give you a labeled materials list, a cut list with exact lengths, a hardware/fastener breakdown, and step-by-step assembly diagrams shot from several angles. For a beginner, that's the difference between confidently buying lumber and guessing. The weaker plans — and there are plenty — give you a rough drawing and expect you to fill in the gaps.

You also get DWG/CAD files for a large share of the library, which matters for outdoor pieces because deck and patio dimensions are so site-specific. Being able to stretch a bench to fit a 6-foot deck wall or resize a planter to your railing is genuinely useful if you own the software or a free viewer.

Plan quality: the honest breakdown

Here's the part most affiliate pages won't tell you: the plans are not uniform. A meaningful chunk of the outdoor collection is excellent — clean vector drawings, sensible construction order, realistic lumber (standard 2x4, 2x6, 1x6 cedar or pine dimensions). Another chunk looks like it was scanned from an old magazine, with fuzzy text and measurements you'll have to double-check with your own math.

For outdoor furniture specifically, this matters less than you'd think, because patio pieces are forgiving. A garden bench that's an inch off won't ruin your day. But if you're building something that has to be square and weather-tight, like a storage bench or a large pergola, budget time to verify the cut list before you commit expensive cedar.

My practical advice: before starting any build, read the whole plan, sanity-check the cut list against the diagram, and search the material total. Two minutes of verification saves a wasted trip to the lumber yard.

Beginner outdoor projects that actually work

If you're new to woodworking, start with the simplest outdoor plans and you'll get a fast confidence win. A basic planter box, a slat-top garden bench, or a small side table can each be knocked out in a weekend with a circular saw, a drill/driver, exterior screws and some sandpaper. These plans tend to be among the better-documented ones because they're so popular.

The Adirondack chair is the classic 'second project' — it involves angled cuts and a curved seat, so it teaches you templates and patience without needing a full shop. TedsWoodworking includes several Adirondack variations, so you can pick one matched to the tools you own rather than the tools you wish you owned.

Skip the gazebo and large pergola plans until you've built a few smaller pieces. Those are multi-day builds with real structural loads, and a vague plan there costs you far more in wasted lumber.

Tools and materials you'll need

Most beginner-to-intermediate outdoor plans assume a modest tool kit: a circular saw or miter saw, a drill/driver, a jigsaw for curves, clamps, a tape measure and a speed square. A random-orbit sander makes outdoor pieces feel finished. Nothing here requires a table saw, though it speeds up rip cuts.

On materials, the plans generally spec pressure-treated pine, cedar or redwood for weather resistance. Expect to add your own finish choice — exterior stain, spar urethane or paint — because the plans focus on construction, not weatherproofing strategy. Factor lumber cost into your decision: a single cedar Adirondack chair can cost more in wood than the entire plan library.

Pricing, guarantee and the upsells

The list price sits around $83, and the checkout frequently drops it to roughly $67 through a discount prompt. That's a one-time payment, not a subscription, and it includes free lifetime updates as new plans are added. Compared to buying individual magazine plans at $8–$15 each, the math works out fast if you build more than a handful of projects.

It's sold through ClickBank, which means a standard 60-day money-back guarantee — if the outdoor plans don't meet your expectations, you can request a refund. Be aware that after your initial purchase you'll see one or two upsell offers (bonus plan packs, DWG/CAD add-ons). You can decline them and keep the core product; they aren't required to use what you bought.

How it compares to free plans and alternatives

You can absolutely find free outdoor furniture plans online — sites like Ana White and countless YouTube builds cover Adirondack chairs and benches for zero cost. The trade-off is time: free plans are scattered, quality varies just as much, and you assemble your own library one search at a time.

TedsWoodworking's pitch is convenience and volume in one place. If you value having hundreds of outdoor options bundled with cut lists and CAD files without hunting across dozens of sites, the price is reasonable. If you only plan to build one specific project, a free plan or a single $10 premium plan is the smarter spend.

Against paid competitors, TedsWoodworking wins on quantity and loses on polish. Some boutique plan makers sell fewer, meticulously edited plans. Ted's is the Costco of woodworking plans — enormous, cheap per unit, and you sort through some filler to find the gems.

Who should buy it — and who shouldn't

Buy it if you're a hobbyist who wants a big, one-time-cost reference library, enjoys browsing project ideas, and is comfortable double-checking a cut list now and then. For someone planning to furnish a deck or garden over a season or two, the value is easy to justify.

Skip it if you need a single, guaranteed-flawless plan for one build, if inconsistent quality frustrates you, or if you expect a slick searchable app — the interface is basic. Professional builders who already work from their own drawings won't find much here either.