Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - cost

I want to know if paying $800 to a lic. cont and his inlic. assnt. to build a deck that is 43" is too much. He also stated the total materials would cost about $450. What do you all think?

f4gtit,

Great question if we knew more. What are talking about for size of the deck...43" what? What type of wood? Railings?

Have you called a couple more contractors for pricing? What did they say?

Need more info.

It is an L shape add on. the outside length is 14", the width is 12', the top of the L will be 5' and the inside will be 7'x 5'. I plan on using treated pine. The railings will be regular top to bottom, nothing fancy. The total sq. ft. will be 43'. Would it be cheaper if I bought the materials from Lowes?
I haven't really checked around yet and don't know what a reasonable price would be in this area. I'm on the OK. Ark. line.

f4gtit,

Material may cost an average of $7 - $9 sq. ft. and labor would be higher than that. Based upon what you said, the fee of $800 for material and labor isn't out of line but get at least 2 more bids.

If you feel that you can get lumber cheaper, go ahead but I would rethink this over carefully. The contractor may not be able to get it any cheaper if he goes to the same stores. If they are picking up all the wood and supplies for your project, I would let them do it. If you want to pick all the supplies, and I mean ALL, this will take time. If you don't have the means to haul all this stuff, it's a headache. Also, if you don't provide everything needed, it may cost you extra for them to go pick it up.

Hope this helps!

Its 800 for labor plus the material which would be about 1300 all together. But one is lic. and the other isn't. They said the material would be about 450 but I don't think so.

f4gtit,

I'd get more bids, $1300 this seems like highway robbery for a 43 Sq. Ft. deck with railing!

Maybe Jack the Contractor can advise on this as well!

Thanks, that's what I thought. I don't know much about all this but I'm slowly learning and hearing from you guys helps a lot.

Make no mistake, pressure treated lumber (and lumber in general) IS expensive.

I'm building a 10x12 off grade deck to replace an old 8x10 porch.
JUST the foundation materials cost me $225. Deckboards will be another $200 or so, trim work around $200, roofing about $100, steps another $100.

That's $800 just in materials, materials I had to go, pick, load, haul and unload myself.

I spent 2 full days putting the foundation together, by myself, using power tools and a nail gun.

If I were working for someone, I'd be getting about $15 an hour for labor. Which means they'd be charging probably $25 an hour to have me there.

Want to see what materials will cost? Take your plans, figure out what's needed, then call up the local home center and ask.

My most expensive piece so far was 4x4x12 posts I needed, at 9.85 each, and I needed 7 of them. 2x8x10's were 6.06, 12's were 7.08.. It doesn't take long for numbers like those to add up!

I have taken my plans to Home Depot. last year and the total came up to about $800 which I think is not bad. But the guy who is going to build my add-on is going to do the deck also. I feel more comfortable with him because my co-worker goes to the same church with him and says he does a good job.

f4gtit,

Just to help us know more here, didn't you not say that the deck was 43 SQ. FT. total? The material for this came up to $800.00? Am I right on this?

What type of material was purchased/ W/T - Cedar
Rails were W/T or Cedar?

Just curious!

Yes, the deck is 5ftx14ftx12ftx7x7 in a L shape. I'm not sure how I did it last but its about 45 all together. The lumber is treated from Lowes, nothing fancy, and the price included everything from nails to railings and footings, etc. Nothing purchased yet just computer generated and priced at about 800.

How are you computing your square footage?

You say the deck is going to be "5ftx14ftx12ftx7x7 " -- I'm not following exactly which side each of those numbers correspond to, but any two I multiply together come up to more than 45 square feet. "45" is the sum total of the numbers you mentioned.

lefty,

You to..lefty? I think something is wrong with how this is figured! No way is it 45 SQ. FT.! Any ideas?

Doug, until f4gtit comes in and tells me otherwise, here's what I think he is trying to say. (I may have the house location wrong, but the numbers work)

Projection out from the house is 12'. The width (along the outside) is 14'. Out of that rectangle, a 5' (projection) by 7' (width) area along the wall of the house will not be getting decked -- thereby forming the "L" shape that f4gtit is referring to.

If this is right, the square footage is 143.

Based on the figures in his first post, that is only $3/sq.ft. for material, and just over $5.50/sq.ft. for labor.

Around here, I could buy the mat'l. and probably get as far as having the girders in place for a 143 sq.ft. deck for the $1250 he's talking about his TOTAL cost being.

OK guys let me try to explain it better. There is already a small porch and the add on is extending it 7ft to the east end of the house, going out South from there 12 ft, going back West across front total ft. 14, then down North to meet the already there porch is 5 ft then going across East up against and to match the length of the already there porch and meet the new extension is 7ft and after all that is a new L shape add on. I don't know how to figure up total ft., but this the add on. The already there porch is 7Lx5W. Lowe's quoted a price of around 800 for all material using treated lumber.

OK f4gtit, I'm following you. The east edge of the deck goes south from the house 12'.The south edge of the deck goes west 14'. The west edge of the deck goes north 7' to the 5' X 7'porch. The edge of the deck then goes east 7' along the edge of the porch, then goes north 5', back to the wall of the house.

Am I right?

If so, the square footage of your deck is 143 square feet. Here's how I arrived at that. The deck projects out from the house 12', and has a width of 14'. Multiplying 12' X 14' gives you 168 sq. ft. But, that also includes the 5' X 7' (35 sq. ft.) porch. Subtract the 35 sq. ft. porch from the 168 sq. ft., and the deck is 143 sq. ft.

Now, back to your question about the cost.

Lowes is quoting you $800 for the material, using pressure treated. You probably won't find it for much less.

According to your first post, the contractor is asking $800 for the labor to build this deck. (Based on my assumption that your deck is 143 sq. ft., that is about $5.60 per sq. ft.) Whether the $800 is a fair price or not depends totally upon where you are located. I thought you said AK, but now I see that you are saying OK. Either way, labor rates are probably about the lowest in that area of the US.

I would guess that the $800 is probably a very fair price. If you were here in Northern CA and asked me to build this deck for you, I would probably be charging $1500 for the labor. A contractor in the S.F. or L.A. area would probably charge twice that, maybe more.

Thanks a lot, you all have helped me make decisions and helped me understand a lot more.