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Definitely ring around for timber, most timber places won't put their prices on the Internet, but some will - I tend to partronise them to reward their honesty. A few phone calls are a lot easier than driving all over the place, and can give you a surprising difference in price. In Sydney the yards I've been to charge about $1 per cut.
Another route is to ask the people at the club you go to where they buy from - you should find out who the gougers are too.
Diana,
Welcome to the forum. It's a great place to get good advice and sometimes watch an argument generate between opposing viewpoints.
On the timber prices I use Mathews and while is a trifle expensive, the quality is good. Studley's reject packs are excellent value and I suggest you take advantage of them if you can.
I would suggest that a thicknesser/planer would be a very useful addition to the workshop. As for scrap -second hand timber it's OK providing you are extremely thorough in hunting for stray metal it plays havoc with finely sharpened edges.
Jerry
Considering the cahir you are making, did you consider using decking boards. 70x19, 90x19, and 140x19 are all readily available.
at $3.50/m for 90 mm you could have had 128 metres
at $6/m for 140, you could of had 75 metres.