I went with DIY because I wasnt satisfied with the MDF, and Composite material choices most standing desk companies were touting because: I wanted to build a new desk to get away from MDF desk i had before which was bowing heavily They were charging anywhere from 2-400 for these 1" tops I wanted something more durable for longterm use and to take a lot of weight without bowing. (200-300 lb) they wanted 600-1000 for a real hardwood top. for my use case, i was building two desks and originally had a guy who offered to build me a nice maple top at 300 each and walnut at almost 500 USD. they were meant to be stained, and sealed at this price. He needed atleast 2-3 weeks to get it done and I almost went with it until my iMovR lander arrived only 3-4 days after ordering. I became massively impatient and decided to scour the web and local places for a nice pre cut hardwood top that i could sand and finish my self. I first tried home depot and lowes but I didnt like the idea of spending more on a 39" depth top only to cut 9 inches off of each. ended up settling for a poplar "workbench" top from floor and decor. (i had never shopped there before and they had only one in stock at the two locations i went to) Poplar is considered an "economy" wood and I didnt find many folks doing what i was doing with poplar, but at $129 a top, i decided what the heck, if i messed it up, i can always use it for a while and then upgrade if i really dont like it. It is a bit "soft" compared to other woods and I was not sure how the stain and finish would turn out with there being only a few woodworking videos on this concept that i could find. I figured it would come out cheaper (and in the end it did), only by a few hundred bucks when I think about it. (still significant). I would 100% do it again because my tables turned out BEAUTIFUL. So i spent $260 on the wood itself. and another $100 or so in stain, poly, a sander, sand paper, steelwool, and tack cloths. (screws came later - as the ones provided for frame were meant for 1" top. Mine was 1.5" thick) . I stained mine with minwax dark walnut and about 3 coats of minwax satin poly on top, with one coat on the bottom. I am incredibly happy with how they turned out. before staining i also used a wood conditioner, recommended on poplar to avoid blotching. It only took me about 1 full day of work to sand stain, and another few hours between the next two days to seal it with poly (drying). I wanted to do threaded inserts but was also impatient and didnt know much about them so i bought some wood screws and called it a day. I can always add them later if i decide that i am going to move around a lot and be able to assemble/reassemble later. My desk is incredibly beautiful and would have cost me $600 just for tops had i paid some one to do it. and over $2000 from various desk companies.. It has plenty of character and gives me satisfaction that I built it myself. All in all, I learned the following skills and info: sanding staining applying poly using a drill with various bits Wood screws and machine screw measurements Overall happy with my decision. This weekend I am finally putting all of my stuff on it. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I will eventually make a post and video for everything when the time comes. Answer from BlueEyedCasval on reddit.com