Deck Cost - Buyer Experiences and Price Information

As to "deck lady in baltimore" you state you have a masters degree and don't make $80 an hour. Well as a contractor my experience is equivalent to a master degree for my trade and I don't make $80 an hour either. I CHARGE $60 an hour, I make $20 an hour, $20 an hour goes to insurance(health, disability, liability, auto, building for shop), taxes (which self employed pay a lot more than you), accounting, licensing, etc. $20 an hour to the business for vehicle and tool replacements, office expences (computers, paper, printers, fax, heat and cooling, electric bill, phone bill, advertising, charitable donations (business is always hit up for that), membership dues NFIB,ADBA, etc. and then hopefully there is enough left over to show a profit. I bet the company you work for charges more than $80 an hour for what you do and you did not include your benefit package value that self employed does not get. We also don't get paid vacation, no work, no pay.
As to the guy that used to build in the 80's, a new truck cost $12,000 and gas was $.80 a gallon, now a "work" truck is $30,000 and gas is $3.50 a gallon and your surprised at what we charge?
Contractors work extremely hard in harsh weather and environmental conditions and put in a lot of office time (with no pay) that no one sees except his family. We make a "good" living but not getting rich by any means. The people I find that complain the most about our fees are the people living in a house twice the size of ours and driving cars that cost 3 times as much and doing projects that we can't afford to do to our own home when labor is free.
I heard this years ago but it is true, there ae 3 ways to have a job done, fast, cheap, high quality but you can only choose 2. If cheap and fast it won't be high quality. If fast and high quality it won't be cheap. If cheap and high quality it won't be fast.

Central Pa.. Getting a crappy deck replaced- we already ripped out the old decking. A guy who works full time in contracting will be doing this as a side job. The deck is 12x16 and is a ground level deck- no steps, no railing. His labor charge is 1500..does this seam fair? Building materials are around 1000 pre-tax and pre-delivery.

I went around a few places to get other material estimates and one place was surprised that he was using rafter ties instead of Joist Hangers. When I asked about this, he said that there isn't much space to work with.. which is true, as the deck is basically at ground level and will require some digging.

I would let some guy friends do it- however I want to sell within a year and would rather not experiment at the risk of screwing it up and having to fix things at settlement.

Does $28,000 seem high for a t shaped deck, 46x12 and 22 x 5 timbertech evolution with radiance railing

We are looking for contractor to build a brand new deck for a new town house.

I am a contractor, these prices are that high because of materials, fuel, insurances, employees, tools and experience. I dont know if youve gone shopping lately or just stopped by the gas station everything is going up in price. I charge in upwords of $32sq/ft for composite decking and vinyl railings all rim boards are always wrapped in composite or vinyl and stairs also. This is how we make our living. If something took you two weeks to build abd you only make $1000 dollars you would never stay in business. This is how we as contractors feed our families and pay our bills. Just get a couple estimates make sure they are giving you a full scope of work so you can make sure all contractors are giving you the same products. Then choose what one you like the best. And understand that we too have to feed our families and make a living. Don't complain, its taken many of us contractor years of blood,sweat and tears to master our trades. Good luck to all, on all of your projects.

Some of the previous 'handymen' who put up decks without professional knowledge of construction techniques are asking for a possible disaster. Unless you are trained and have knowledge of how the deck is supposed to be fastened to the existing structure (if it is) or you know the lateral forces on a free standing deck, the deck could collapse and injury or death could occur. Leave the deck building to capable professionals...

What are you guys getting per square foot on pressure treated pine? We are around 10-15 a sq. ft. here in Louisiana. That's using screws and 2x6 framing with 5/4 standard grade decking.

$14,000 quote for:
1) 18'x33'size (10' off the ground); two tier stairs 6' wide; qty 9 - 6x6 posts
2) Pressure treated framing and railing
3) Composite decking and top railing -ChoiceDek brand from Lowes
4) Black Metal spindles for railing
5) Solar caps on 6x6 posts all around
6) Trex dry system underneath

850 usable square feet of Trex accents woodland brown flooring space out the back of our walkout house, deck off main level up in the air about 9-12’ due to sloping back yard. Deck is technically 4 separate areas on one plane sorta separated by the columns – main deck, existing deck, extension deck, and stair deck where the two stairs drop off of. It's elevated on 6x6 posts which are sheathed by 2' square OSB and veneer rock on top of that - there are 8 columns like this about 9-14' tall. New frame is all 2x12 PT. An existing builder built deck about 14x8 with 2x10's as frame stayed in place and was re-topped in the Trex. Two stair cases, one is about 16' long the other is 4' long. We poured 3 new caissons included in above cost. 5 caissons (2 existing and 3 newer) were already there - the 3 newer due to walkout patio concrete work the year before, not included in the price above. Also included in price is about a 20’ x 4’ small sidewalk we had to install for access to the small staircase. Price includes custom mid-grade powder coated steel railing (not Trex) around the whole thing, about 73' linear straights and 36' linear on the stairs. Contractor caulked each deck frame joint with high-end elastic caulk. Price includes about 4500 square feet of veneer rock (link-n-stick) for the columns and it’s install. Also includes wiring two post lamps with conduit, circuit breaker, and indoor mounted switch. County permit price included as well as well as engineering plans with deck and concrete. Deck is in Colorado. Contractor worked as time and materials + 10%. Deck took about 2 months to finish due to some complex issues encountered and my lack of complete planning sometimes as I was part-GC on this project along with my deck contractor. Most non deck work was contracted out as RFP bids – such as rails, electrical, concrete. May 2012 (not May 2011 as this form says)

If I added on only 5% to cover my overhead and 7% for profit I would have lost over $50,000 last year building decks. Instead I charged enough to cover my overhead and make a reasonble 10% profit by providing a great service and giving people exactly what they asked me for. You are absolutely clueless my friend. You negotiate for homeowners? Any contractor stupid enough to work for someone who hires and outside negotiator deserves to fail. Where do you get off telling anyone how to run their business and how much decks should cost? You really think it is someone's best interest to "research the type and materials you want, plan out the deck yourself, buy the materials from HD or Lowes, and reward your friends with BBQ and beer for helping you put it up."? Are you serious? Stop giving ridiculous "professional" information and get a new line of work. I am 100% certain you cause more harm than good.

had a 6x13 deck with 5 stairs and railings.the posts were dug only 16 inches,posts have longitudinal splits already.wood caps on railings dont line up.some of the wood has black on it,looks like mold,contractor said it was dirty.the top stair is way shorter than the other.contractor said thats because if he made it longer it would break.left all his debris here,i have to get rid of all leftover wood pieces.brought his girlfriend one day,his 6 year old daughter the next day.

The best option is to research the type and materials you want, plan out the deck yourself, buy the materials from HD or Lowes, and reward your friends with BBQ and beer for helping you put it up.

As for the contractors, get a quote for the work before you agree. The quote should include a bill of materials with cost, labor cost, overhead (5%) and profit (no more than 7%) on top.

Any contractor that wants to charge you for supplying their cost and a bill of materials you should not deal with. Most bidding for construction work requires this type of breakout (their are exceptions) so they should not be unfamiliar with supplying this.

I have made a good living for the past 20 yrs because bad apple contractors. Owners pay me to negotiate construction contracts and manage contractors to ensure they are getting what they pay for. If the business wasn't so shady I wouldn't have a job.

Deck Lady in Baltimore...you to contradict yourself in a major way: your contractor said that he didn't know why some contractors are so greedy yet you just paid him $80 per hour!!! Like so many people you are ignorant as what it takes to stay in business: your contractor has "no overhead" as you put it: that means he has no insurance, no vehicle expenses, no employee expenses, no tools, etc. Where do you get off telling us what we deserve to be paid? You give us no details on this "deck" you had built. For all I know it was 6' x 6' and your contractor built it directly on the grass with no footings to support it. You are so clueless I'm getting a bit sick thinking about your comments. I gotta stay off this site.

a couple of years ago I had a treated wood deck at the ground level built next to my higher but smaller deck. The deck we had was only 10x12 and we needed more space. A contractor who was working on our basement said he'd build a deck for $800 if I bought the materials. He called about a permit but one isn't necessarily needed at the ground level. He had only two days in which he could build the deck so we were told to go ahead by the dept of permits. Also, we had a permit for the original deck on record and we gave a description of the addition. We obtained a verbal okay to go ahead with the project but this took some of his time as did picking up the materials he'd told me to order and have held at the local Lowes. It took him one whole day and a few hours of the following day. He was happy to have made the $800 he said in a relatively short period of time and didn't understand the greed of some contractors. He said they may over state the price of materials to justify the high prices. If you think about it, he put a total of about 10 hours into the project which looks good and has worn well. He made $80 per hour as he had no overhead. He was already here so he didn't need to advertise and I bought everything that was needed. I have a Master's degree in my field and do not make anywhere near $80 per hour. Why do some of these guys feel that they have to make so much? He isn't available now and I wish I could find someone to build another deck for a fair price.

Looking at some of the estimates these people have gotten to build a deck made me sick. Then I saw the guy who built it himself and spent under $1000 for a 10 by 20 foot deck. This goes to show you how some contractors will overcharge for their services. I think it's a shame and people who are overpriced should not be hired.

Have a contractor qoute of $16500 for Trex with lights on all posts and riser lighting (4 risers). Also would have a gate put in place for the stairs to keep toddler in. Is this a reasonable price?

Asking what the square foot price of any major project is like asking what the square foot price of a car is. Square foot prices are just ball park prices. And ballparks are BIG.

The average price is about $18 per square foot. Some companies offer discounts for wounded warriors, etc,. However though, I heard through the grape vine the price of lumber will be rising summer 2012. So, that coupled with fuel cost may affect the price per square foot.

I would like to replace the decking on an existing deck. 5-6 ft off ground, nailed. would like 5/4 pine screwed. no stairs, rails are fine. what should I be looking at for lumber cost and labor? ballpark it.

Ken, just wondering: does you labor also cover your liabilty insurance, your health insurance, your worker's comp., your advertising, your vehicle maint., your annual equipment/tool purchases/repairs, your office expenses, your phone expenses, your self employment taxes, your building licenses, your EPA training and licensing, your marketing, etc. etc? Building a deck is not nearly as difficult as running a business and it seems to me that you know all there is to know about building a deck...but you could use a class or two about running a successful, long lasting and profitable company. ANyone can build a deck. But most can not do it day after day, year after year while keeping clients happy AND turning a profit.