I am currently building a new house. The house is all brick but features a large front porch with two wood posts and a large front gable roof centered on the front door. In this gable there will be two large post on the porch with a kings truss framed in the center. I will also have a metal shop that [bleep] close to the house with a small wrap around porch that will also have three to four matching post in it as well.

I am currently researching what to use for this wood. I have decided on either 10x10 or 12 x 12 posts. My options in my area are Cedar, which will cost me about $6500. Fir which will cost me $4200. Or Pine that has been rough sawed and lightly sanded for $2100. Prices are for 12 x 12.

The cedar is very hard to come by right now so I may be limited to 10x10 if I choose that. I have price the big chain local lumber yards and a specialty shop that sells mostly items for timber framed homes.

According to the guy I talked with the pine boards in his opinion would be just as good as the cedar. The rough sawed cut that was lightly sanded with 60 grit sand paper would look the best for what I wanted them for. All of the boards are dried lumber but have not been chemically treated. They will all need staining or sealing of some kind.

I do not have much knowledge about wood as in which lasts the longest and what and what is not worth the money. The specialty shop also offers other kinds of finishing for the wood to make it look like reclaimed wood.

I would welcome any opinions. Here is link to the finishes.

https://www.midwesttimbersupply.com/custom-textures-and-finishes/

Pine is a very broad term used by salesman. Tell me what specie of "pine" you have and I may be able to reply better.
Have you tried country sawmills?
I've done a lot of restoration work. The wood available here may not be there.

Eastern White Pine

Eastern Hemlock or red pine would be better.
I'm not sure of the others that grow in your area.
I have also used white oak and other oak. It is heavy
and not friendly for the inexperienced.

If those prices you stated are for 10'x10'??
I have some antique barn siding but we are too far apart.
I can tell you a cheaper way.
PM me if you want as I will not argue with these experts lol.

If it is exposed to direct sunlight, I would not choose pine. Cedar would be the choice here. It stands up to weather much better than pine/spruce/fir.

You might also consider a steel post faced with 5/4" cedar. Probably much cheaper in the long run and easier maintenance if you ever needed to replace the wood.

Thats what I was gonna say

My thought was a (well dried) treated post faced with cedar. Steel is probably an even better option but I have no idea how the cost would compare.

If you want something that will last a long time, look good and be rot resistant I would go with cedar (western red cedar).
The current going price for logs is about $1600 per thousand board feet, ($1.60 a board foot). So a 12x12 is one board foot per inch, so the material cost in log form is $1.60 per inch or $19.20 per foot of post (not cheap). I don't know how long your posts need to be. I wish I were closer, I could set you up with some nice stuff.

One thing to keep in mind regardless of the type of wood; for posts like you are describing you don't want anything with the heart of the log in the post or you will most likely get spiral checking as the wood dries. Sometimes this checking can be avoided if the posts are milled out of logs that have been laying around for a few years and have already seasoned.

To get good post that measure 12x12 means that you will have to start with a pretty good size log to begin with, probably a 30 inch log.

This kind of material can still be found in British Columbia and Washington. Maybe there is an economical way to ship it back your way.

sent a pm

I apologize for totally misreading the question.

this x 2

Not sure about your area, but I would be cautious about termites and rot with pine. As mentioned above, steel covered with cedar. Luck to you.

I don’t have a finished pic but when I renovated our cabin, I went with cedar 8 x 8’s on the porch entrance as shown. If I were doing it again, I would go with pressure treated and wrap with cedar- I’ve done this before and you can hardly tell the difference. The pressure treated has better strength properties than cedar and wont decay- after the woodpeckers enjoy your new posts you can easily reskin if needed. A third option, is to go with a column wrap, I’ve used Fypon products for overhead beams and you can’t tell the difference between real wood and faux. They make post wraps but I’m more of a real wood guy to the touch. The Fypon products are molded from original rough cut New England barn timbers. The beam on the porch is shown covering pressure treated . The last pic is a beam I finished for the main cabin.