Currently our courses are only available to members, but later this year they will be publicly available as well. We have both member and non-member pricing, so anyone who wants to learn will be able to register for a course.

While PLIB’s online grader training courses will teach you the basics of how to grade lumber, successful completion of the online courses will not earn you your lumber grading ticket or make you a PLIB qualified lumber grader.

Becoming a PLIB qualified or ticketed lumber grader requires one on one instruction from a PLIB lumber inspector. This in person training period, where inspector and student review actual pieces of lumber by hand, allows the student to demonstrate their grading proficiency on actual pieces of lumber.

The most common way for a student to receive this hands-on training is by working as a grader trainee at a sawmill or lumber remanufacturing facility. This allows the grader trainee to be exposed to hundreds, even thousands, of pieces of lumber during their working hours and provides the opportunity for the PLIB inspector to work directly with the trainee over several months while the inspector conducts their routine inspections.

In Canada, PLIB also offers in-person grading classes at member mills that allow trainees to earn their grading ticket. During these in-person classes, the trainee will be able to handle lumber and receive feedback from the instructor. When all classes are completed, the trainee takes both a written and a practical (hands-on) exam. A passing grade on both the written and practical test is required to receive a grading  ticket. Depending on the number of grades and species, a full grading course at a mill can take between six to twelve classes.

PLIB continuously monitors the performance of every qualified and ticketed grader during our regular mill inspections to verify that each grader is meeting the performance standards set by PLIB and the national regulatory body.

Successful completion of the online courses does not give you the ability to possess PLIB grade stamps.

For more information on how to become an approved grade stamping facility, click here.