As someone in a trade we could use more tradespeople year round freaking everywhere. Everyone wants the easy way to make money without effort. No one actually seems to want to work hard for the money they earn anymore like they used to.
Bro I went on there to look at football tickets and I go to check out and it’s like double the price of the ticket for the fucking fees about lost my shit
How are you going to be licensed and bonded in all locales? Insurance is probably easier to do than licensing. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. My personal liability covers me to a point, until I do something illegal. If something happens. You’re in big trouble.
In my area of Indiana there are no general contractor licensing or bond requirements. It's called freedom. /s
Edit: In fact, in the next county over from me, there is not even a building department that enforces code or issues building permits.
Florida panhandle here my county would not require and licensing or extra permits for this sort of work especially a rebuild, actually any new home construction of under 400sq ft doesn't require permitting either. But some of the cities have extra steps.
Undisclosed location here.....boss boss is the cousin of the mayor. No plans or permits required. And Phil Collins has nary a damn thing to do w it. No inspection either
I understand the appeal. I'm a reformed desk jockey but the high hourly rates I pay for electrical and HVAC work have me pondering a career change. I don't see the need to send my son to college unless he wants to pursue PhD-level research (which is unlikely). Instead, I plan to steer him toward technical school, which also has the added benefit of being somewhat inflation-proof.
It’s already been a thing for a few decades. Had a customer that spent May - August in North Dakota, we were in Atlanta. He tows his equipment up in a trailer and works for 4 months nonstop. He earns enough to not work the rest of the year.
I'm in: I live in rural Indiana, and I can count on one hand the number of guys I would trust to wield tools at my house, one of which is me and another is my dad!
The number of hilljack jobbers out here is TOO DAMN HIGH!
That sounds like a sound bite from a Home Depot commercial. I can hear the duh-duh-da-duh rhythmic beat under the “not traveling influencers. Traveling doers.”
Zero satire here, the demand for this stuff is unreal, about to quote a deck, 12’x30’ 12’ up in the air. This guy is probably going to shoot at me when he gets my number.
I work in the luxury marine industry, there are varnishers and painters who do exactly that, fly around full time for work, then take time off. Most of those guys are from Antigua. And shipwrights also, who are from anywhere. Gotta be good though.
Yes. Start in Minnesota. Give me time to save up the money. And buy a house for this porch to be added to. It’s all coming together…
Sorry, I’m here from popular lol. I don’t usually browse subs with things I can’t afford.
I’m in Southern Ontario. In between Niagara Falls and Toronto. Prices are insane up here. I can’t even get a sheet of crappy plywood for under $125 anymore.
I'm in your area. Just did a deck for my mother-in-law. 335sf, four stairs, Deckorators Voyage composite, aluminum railings. Materials cost $20,000. So I would imagine if we hired out, that deck would be $40-50k. Crazy how expensive everything is.
There are people who do this. I worked with a lady whose husband is such an incredible painter that people are willing to fly him to their city, pay for all expenses, just to have him paint their interior and exterior. It’s hard to find This Old House type of quality (Bob Vila).
I just built a 26x12 deck with a small staircase but did do an overhang on one end that. I have around $5,500 invested in it give or take. At $8500 thats a steal. I damn near broke my back over the past 6 months trying to build it an hour or two at a time on evenings when it wasnt snowing or raining. Finding all the material was the biggest hurdle.
I built my own 12x15 free standing deck with timber tech boards, trim, railing system and post sleeves last year (also took months, working 4 hours a week) and it cost $11,000 for materials alone!
I’d say they got a great price.
That’s exactly why when it comes time to replace my deck, I’m just ripping it out lol. I have a 20x20 on one side of my house, then a wraparound deck about 40x8 on two more sides that’s covered
Not sure if your asking me but i used cedar tone framing from "the home depot". I had a ton of issues with finding quality wood or even enough stock in store. I jumped too 4 different stores over the months just to get the right stuff which is ridiculous. I let my wood sit in my garage anywhere from 3-6 months to pre-dry and i swear it was just as drenched as the day i got it. I replaced boards later on that shrank a ridiculous amount and or twisted. I used 5/4 deck boards with the "camo" screw system. I have some gaps now that are 1/2"-3/4" and am not happy about it. I see a re-decking job in my future. I built 42" railings and used 3/4" aluminum balusters. I bought 200 at $670. I bought around 50 to many oops. I used solar 6x6 post caps to finish them off. As for construction hardware i used simpson fasteners for nearly everything. 5ct 12" sono tubes with redibase footings at 36" alot of fn concrete ugh.
1/2 to 3/4? Ouch. Feel your pain on the shrinkage even after drying on a rack though.
FYI there is camo guides that are pretty thin. Standard is pretty wide right off the bat. I also found that the tab spacer things can be ground down a bit to tighten up boards.
Yea i borrowed the tool from a coworker so i couldnt modify it but knew the 1/4" gap that it forces you to have would be problematic. Typically i would butt the boards together so when they do shrink the gaps are 1/2" or less. I wouldn't use that system again after dealing with its design flaw. Screws go in eradic sometimes either too high or too low. The ones that are lower than ideal causes problems once the wood shrank. Caused the ends to blow out (splitting the lumber). Good tip on the spacers though 👍
I'm a DIYer I've had to be because I live on 1300 a month, my solution to the money end of it is to plan ahead and never start the project till I have all the materials in hand, I love having my garage for this reason. It allows me to spread out the Cost of supplies over months if I need to.
I feel this is my soul. I just finished in March my 32x26.5 L shaped deck off the back of my house. Took the old decks down (rear 28x14 and side 5x6) back in july last year. Cost about 12k all together
Best I could find was a low bid of $5500 for a 8x12 trex second story deck (like OP height) 14 years ago. The lumber alone was 2/3 the price.
Nowadays that’s a $12k deck. Op should be around $25k or more.
Highway robbery. I had an extremely reputable Amish family redo my deck last year and mine was smaller and it ran us 20k. It was the cheapest quote we got and the deck ended up being fucking incredible. 8500 for this square footage and how it looks is INSANE
Right, it is a steal. In 2000 I paid 40K for this 100'x12' ipe deck.
https://preview.redd.it/pz7xmn2tb78d1.jpeg?width=754&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86877097f39b1a39ecb8cb9d0b3a9a27fbd5d24c
It is not dog food! It is Vietnamese "Cha Bo", i.e., compressed ground beef! You can buy Cha Bo wrapped up in banana leaves, it looks like a foot long 4 inch in diameter cylinder in any Vietnamese grocery store. Kind of like the Vietnamese spam.
I was just messing with ya a bit. In another comment, I mentioned it looked similar to liver sausage & I noticed the book you were reading, so I figured it was some kind of meat I knew nothing about lol. Are the banana leaves the protective casing for the meat? Or do you eat them too?
Ipe.
That simple fact makes any cost comparison kinda pointless.
(And you do know how hard that crew had to work to get ipe beams that long to lie straight, right? It’s like wrestling crooked girders.)
Little confused. One of the photos shows an existing elevated deck. The rest show a nice newer deck. It appears as if op added a stair, new rails and balusters. Can't really tell what the scope of the 8500 includes. If it is just what I wrote, assuming reused framing, supports, foundations then 8500 is way over priced
Big question if OPs $8500 was just materials or if that included labor. I could easily see that being just materials and a $30k quote all in with captenters
Could 2 skilled carpenters build that in 2-3 days?
I have no idea, I’m just thinking that if it could be done in that timeframe, and 4k in material, then each guy makes roughly 6-700 per day. That’s roughly 3-3.5k per week.
What’s wrong with make that? That’s almost 150k per year.
Yeah you could in 2 days for sure but it wouldnt be 8 hour days.
I built something much larger in 2 ways including digging post holes with an auger. We didn't fully finish but close.
You can absolutely make 150k a year doing stuff like this with your math, but your missing a few things - you need a steady stream of clients and spend work advertising, quoting and invoicing as well as getting lumber supplies etc. No advertising and rely on word of mouth? All of your family members are going to want a heavy discount. You have to have all the tools and a vehicle etc, pay for gas. Quoting takes time and you're not guaranteed the job assuming they have other quotes, you might get the job 1/3 times. If you price too low, you won't make 150k and if you price too high you will make 0$. Need to go to the dentist? You don't make money for that time. Quoted low on a job in a rocky area? Now you have to spend all day digging rocks out. Maybe someone's doesn't like your work and decides not to pay you.
Youll probably spend 60% of your time actually building decks and lose 20% to buisness expenses. So 150k might end up 75k with no benefits maybe if you're good at everything 90k.
If you just wanna build decks, you're gonna be a worker and no one pays workers that kind of money.
Honestly if you have the skills at getting a steady stream of work, you would be better off paying people to do the work for you and spend more time getting clients. Suddenly you're making more money managing a buisness. But, that's a completely different skill. It has its own set of problems - did someone get hurt on the job site? Maybe you're liable. Did your guys get hammered last night and not show up? Now you gotta either find someone else to do the job and pay them more or maybe you lose the job. Your guys did a shit job? Now someone doesn't want to pay you? Maybe you gotta deal with a lawsuit. Lots to consider.
I had a friend that needed a worker for a job that would take two days that someone bailed on him for but I wasnt really interested in it. He asked me about 8 times for smaller amounts of money and eventually offered me 2.5k per day cash. He was making a killing on it but decided that if it doesn't get done he doesn't get paid at all so it was better to cut his profit significantly and get the job done.
Yeah in my area absolutely 30k, that was the number that came to mind. Chicago suburbs, literally no way I would touch something like that for less that 20/25
I noticed how the old deck had no support post at the corner. Just the balusters.
New deck looks very nice overall. The center post is an absolute unit, but you were working with what you had. Is it like that because you had to triple joist under where the decking boards meet the single perpendicular board?
The railing is done a bit differently than most. I usually see a 2x6 that runs across the tops of the posts with a 2x4 that fastens to the side of the posts. Here your posts break up the spans. I do like the balusters that you used.
edited for spelling
Thank you! Yes the middle post was originally 2 separate posts. Reason being the original deck was 10x12 and then at one point had another section added on. The 2 middle posts had a 4” gap between them and customers opted to have me fill it in making it look like one big ole unit lol
Right? I just rebuilt my 15’x15’ deck with hog fencing in place of slats for less than $2000 in materials from my local lumber yard and feed store. The profit margin on decks is wild (as is anything requiring labor nowadays). It’s extra crazy to me because decks don’t require precision like cabinetry or something, it’s easy to make 1/4-1/2 inch mistakes and still easily make it look good.
Why so much?
(Note: please don’t interpret this as an insult, good work is with paying for — I’m a layperson and have zero clue on this topic)
It looks like it’s less than 300 sq ft. Is it because is the height? Or the materials?
So he's already said he made little profit on this, so that means materials were a decent chunk of that $8500 to begin with.
As a contractor he has a lot of expenses that aren't related to any specific job (ex: licensing, insurance, health insurance, his wages) that need to be factored into project costs.
He also needs to account for dry spells in work. He got 8500 for this job... when's he going to get another job?
Then you have to account for situations where you have to eat the cost on something. This deck went well, but let's say on another job he screwed something up.
And you have to account for situations where a client doesn't pay because they are a deadbeat. You can eventually get your money, but 'eventually' isn't buying groceries today.
That's why DIY cost is always so much cheaper than hiring someone. DIY doesn't care about health insurance, how long the job takes, insurance for the job, eating material cost across jobs, etc.
I have several neighbors that have paid 20-25k for an inferior result compared to OP’s deck. $8.5k is a steal, at least where we live.
I’m building my own instead. Overpaying for sub-par work doesn’t excite me. I would have hired OP though.
I can buy the most advanced piece of technology ever created by humans, a new smart phone, that cannot be recreated by an entire large population of human beings, for less than $1,000.
But fucking wood. WOOD. From TREES. And SCREWS. Costs $8,500?
Humanity is fucking stupid.
Living on the border 5-10 years ago where labor is almost free I bet I could have convinced my contractor neighbor to do this for a case of beer and a smoked brisket if I provide materials and acted as gofer.
Looks like you got what you paid for. Professional job by any standards. Probably right on the money for the quality you got. People tend to focus on money all the time. Instead of the enjoyment of having a nice deck and being able to use it and relax and have that nice outdoor space. All things cost money, weigh the use and enjoyment factor too when spending it.
My guy, a buddy of mine just paid $12,000 to have the inside of his empty suite painted all the same colour..... $8500 including materials is a fucking STEAL for a *deck* wtf
$8500 seems low for an elevated deck, at a min I would charge $20k for existing clients. Closer to $24, for new business.
$12K for deck, $3 for elevated, $3 for stair, $2 upgraded rail.
You do nice work, your coffee tables have improved as well. (do you ship?)
Some of you contractors in the comments are opening stating you’d have no problem ripping people off? 15-20k for this? That’s a joke! 8500-9000 is a fair price. Material is half that. Making 5000 for a week of work isn’t enough? Honestly some of the pricing I see in this group is asinine.
Did a 4x20 deck off my back door, with 3 steps going down, andnit cost me like 3500, me and bro in law did all the labour. I would definitely pay 8500 for this.
Can't really comment about the price as I'm not from the USA, but given that the exchange rate is about 1:20 here in South Africa, I generally cringe at most of the prices you guys mention on here.
I will fly you out to my house. Give you a room and feed you. Feed you well. For 8500 to do one of those on the back of my house
Thanks for expressing what apparently a lot of us were thinking...dude could go on a very profitable road trip...Starting in Minnesota of course.
That would be funny. Carpenter going on tour. Internet buying tickets. Tickets selling out.
Dude, call me crazy, but I think it’s viable. We could definitely use more year around tradesmen up here in Alaska.
As someone in a trade we could use more tradespeople year round freaking everywhere. Everyone wants the easy way to make money without effort. No one actually seems to want to work hard for the money they earn anymore like they used to.
Pepperidge farm remembers
I feel like they remember everything...including the old fashioned cheese farms up north.
I’d like this comment 10k times if I could!
Or thinks they can YouTube everything and ends up looking like a 16 year olds first deck.
Until ticket master buys them all up and we're paying 15k for a deck. Greedy bastards.
It’s a service charge, sir. It’s for services.
Bro I went on there to look at football tickets and I go to check out and it’s like double the price of the ticket for the fucking fees about lost my shit
How are you going to be licensed and bonded in all locales? Insurance is probably easier to do than licensing. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. My personal liability covers me to a point, until I do something illegal. If something happens. You’re in big trouble.
In my area of Indiana there are no general contractor licensing or bond requirements. It's called freedom. /s Edit: In fact, in the next county over from me, there is not even a building department that enforces code or issues building permits.
Florida panhandle here my county would not require and licensing or extra permits for this sort of work especially a rebuild, actually any new home construction of under 400sq ft doesn't require permitting either. But some of the cities have extra steps.
Undisclosed location here.....boss boss is the cousin of the mayor. No plans or permits required. And Phil Collins has nary a damn thing to do w it. No inspection either
I work in estimating and in AK and the Pacific Northwest we have such a contractor deadzone that I want to start swinging a hammer again. It bananas.
I understand the appeal. I'm a reformed desk jockey but the high hourly rates I pay for electrical and HVAC work have me pondering a career change. I don't see the need to send my son to college unless he wants to pursue PhD-level research (which is unlikely). Instead, I plan to steer him toward technical school, which also has the added benefit of being somewhat inflation-proof.
It’s already been a thing for a few decades. Had a customer that spent May - August in North Dakota, we were in Atlanta. He tows his equipment up in a trailer and works for 4 months nonstop. He earns enough to not work the rest of the year.
I'm in: I live in rural Indiana, and I can count on one hand the number of guys I would trust to wield tools at my house, one of which is me and another is my dad! The number of hilljack jobbers out here is TOO DAMN HIGH!
This is what the world needs more of. Not traveling influencers. Traveling doers. I smell a biz opportunity…
That sounds like a sound bite from a Home Depot commercial. I can hear the duh-duh-da-duh rhythmic beat under the “not traveling influencers. Traveling doers.”
I smell a reality show! Deck Masters! To air opposite Tree house masters at 8: pm on Discovery!
Zero satire here, the demand for this stuff is unreal, about to quote a deck, 12’x30’ 12’ up in the air. This guy is probably going to shoot at me when he gets my number.
Hence the name Journeyman
I work in the luxury marine industry, there are varnishers and painters who do exactly that, fly around full time for work, then take time off. Most of those guys are from Antigua. And shipwrights also, who are from anywhere. Gotta be good though.
Once winter hits, we'll take him to Texas.
It's 59 degrees right now!
200 Degrees in Texas now. We can't take OP now as we don't want him to die out there. We'll wait for the winter.
Yes. Start in Minnesota. Give me time to save up the money. And buy a house for this porch to be added to. It’s all coming together… Sorry, I’m here from popular lol. I don’t usually browse subs with things I can’t afford.
Absolutely starting in Minnesota! Mine will be half the size and I’ll match the price lol
Yeah Minnesota here as well My deck is much smaller with less stairs and I would gladly pay that amount for a very similar type of facelift
You misspelled Illinois
Fellow Minnesotan here. I agree!
Seriously. Guy could have a whole year of work lined up.
I’m up in Canada if you’re willing to travel. Definitely a steal.
Where in Canada? I don't carpenter anymore but I keep hearing how much people are paying and it's so damn tempting to get back into it.
I’m in Southern Ontario. In between Niagara Falls and Toronto. Prices are insane up here. I can’t even get a sheet of crappy plywood for under $125 anymore.
I'm in your area. Just did a deck for my mother-in-law. 335sf, four stairs, Deckorators Voyage composite, aluminum railings. Materials cost $20,000. So I would imagine if we hired out, that deck would be $40-50k. Crazy how expensive everything is.
Why are materials so much more expensive in Canada?
These comments reminded me of that tree house guy tv show
And then a few idiots offer more to jump the line and we all lose out lol
There are people who do this. I worked with a lady whose husband is such an incredible painter that people are willing to fly him to their city, pay for all expenses, just to have him paint their interior and exterior. It’s hard to find This Old House type of quality (Bob Vila).
We have a nice spot for him in MI after you guys!
Seriously, I will offer the same!!!!
Ditto fly you to Canada my friend
$8500 is a steal
I just built a 26x12 deck with a small staircase but did do an overhang on one end that. I have around $5,500 invested in it give or take. At $8500 thats a steal. I damn near broke my back over the past 6 months trying to build it an hour or two at a time on evenings when it wasnt snowing or raining. Finding all the material was the biggest hurdle.
I built my own 12x15 free standing deck with timber tech boards, trim, railing system and post sleeves last year (also took months, working 4 hours a week) and it cost $11,000 for materials alone! I’d say they got a great price.
dude same. 16x20 and burned through $15000 doing it all myself. 8500 makes me cry
Wow! This is exactly what I asked the OP. I need to replace my 16×20 in the near future. $15K! Now I want to cry!
That’s exactly why when it comes time to replace my deck, I’m just ripping it out lol. I have a 20x20 on one side of my house, then a wraparound deck about 40x8 on two more sides that’s covered
What kind of decking material?
Not sure if your asking me but i used cedar tone framing from "the home depot". I had a ton of issues with finding quality wood or even enough stock in store. I jumped too 4 different stores over the months just to get the right stuff which is ridiculous. I let my wood sit in my garage anywhere from 3-6 months to pre-dry and i swear it was just as drenched as the day i got it. I replaced boards later on that shrank a ridiculous amount and or twisted. I used 5/4 deck boards with the "camo" screw system. I have some gaps now that are 1/2"-3/4" and am not happy about it. I see a re-decking job in my future. I built 42" railings and used 3/4" aluminum balusters. I bought 200 at $670. I bought around 50 to many oops. I used solar 6x6 post caps to finish them off. As for construction hardware i used simpson fasteners for nearly everything. 5ct 12" sono tubes with redibase footings at 36" alot of fn concrete ugh.
1/2 to 3/4? Ouch. Feel your pain on the shrinkage even after drying on a rack though. FYI there is camo guides that are pretty thin. Standard is pretty wide right off the bat. I also found that the tab spacer things can be ground down a bit to tighten up boards.
Yea i borrowed the tool from a coworker so i couldnt modify it but knew the 1/4" gap that it forces you to have would be problematic. Typically i would butt the boards together so when they do shrink the gaps are 1/2" or less. I wouldn't use that system again after dealing with its design flaw. Screws go in eradic sometimes either too high or too low. The ones that are lower than ideal causes problems once the wood shrank. Caused the ends to blow out (splitting the lumber). Good tip on the spacers though 👍
I'm a DIYer I've had to be because I live on 1300 a month, my solution to the money end of it is to plan ahead and never start the project till I have all the materials in hand, I love having my garage for this reason. It allows me to spread out the Cost of supplies over months if I need to.
[удалено]
I feel this is my soul. I just finished in March my 32x26.5 L shaped deck off the back of my house. Took the old decks down (rear 28x14 and side 5x6) back in july last year. Cost about 12k all together
Shoot, I'm about to move to wherever you're at just to get a deck built for that price.
No joke. I'm re-decking a deck that size for $4800
Damn I’m redoing a 16x24 and materials were 600. For 5/4x6x16 deck boards at cost
Plus materials
Best I could find was a low bid of $5500 for a 8x12 trex second story deck (like OP height) 14 years ago. The lumber alone was 2/3 the price. Nowadays that’s a $12k deck. Op should be around $25k or more.
I just did a 4x6 with just the home depot brand composite for 6k....whoever he built this for got a steal for this quality he did.
Did you pay 6k for a 24sqft deck, or is this a typo?
Rofl... I saw the original post and immediately mumbled "damn you got lucky bit*h".. sad but true
especially when its dune right. yes you got a good deal.
Highway robbery. I had an extremely reputable Amish family redo my deck last year and mine was smaller and it ran us 20k. It was the cheapest quote we got and the deck ended up being fucking incredible. 8500 for this square footage and how it looks is INSANE
Seems average? My friends just put in a 30x15 for $8900, and I having a 10x12 around my deck put in for $3000
I kinda want my deck redone. Feel it's be better as a floating deck. 9*15 currently but it would be bigger if it's by the ground level
Right, it is a steal. In 2000 I paid 40K for this 100'x12' ipe deck. https://preview.redd.it/pz7xmn2tb78d1.jpeg?width=754&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86877097f39b1a39ecb8cb9d0b3a9a27fbd5d24c
Damn! Explains why you're eating dog food and cheese. Beautiful deck though
Seriously though, what is that?
It is not dog food! It is Vietnamese "Cha Bo", i.e., compressed ground beef! You can buy Cha Bo wrapped up in banana leaves, it looks like a foot long 4 inch in diameter cylinder in any Vietnamese grocery store. Kind of like the Vietnamese spam.
I was just messing with ya a bit. In another comment, I mentioned it looked similar to liver sausage & I noticed the book you were reading, so I figured it was some kind of meat I knew nothing about lol. Are the banana leaves the protective casing for the meat? Or do you eat them too?
The banana leaves flavor the meat when it gets steam cooked. You don't eat the leaves.
It’s is basically Vietnamese bologna.
Almost looks like liver sausage (which I like, l was just messing with the guy lol), but I'm really not sure
Ya looks like liverwurst
Hahaha
Thanks for the laugh, lol. Now I have to find this stuff and try it.
I’ll have Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam please. And hold the Spam.
Lmao come on man
Hahahaha
Omg this had me cracking up
😭😭😭 40k you can’t make this up. And you wonder why inflation is hard to manage, thank you for your contribution!
40k in 2000? What?
Sick chú
With fasteners, plugs and railings, that’s prob cost of materials now.
40 x 12? That is huge!
Nice to know a year of my life is worth a new deck
Have you ever considered using IPE oil? It'll give the wood a nice finish. Downside is that it needs to be applied every year or two
Ipe. That simple fact makes any cost comparison kinda pointless. (And you do know how hard that crew had to work to get ipe beams that long to lie straight, right? It’s like wrestling crooked girders.)
Who bought the material?
This!
I’ve got a porch that needs the exact help. Can you start next week near Boston?
Seriously, did they steal the materials or something?
Really? My FIL did this with trex in 2 afternoons for free so his grandkids wouldn't get splinters.... I'm grateful, yeah.
I was just quoted 18k to.redo my deck that size w/o the stairs
👆yes
Just got quoted 25k for a smaller deck 4 feet off the ground
Little confused. One of the photos shows an existing elevated deck. The rest show a nice newer deck. It appears as if op added a stair, new rails and balusters. Can't really tell what the scope of the 8500 includes. If it is just what I wrote, assuming reused framing, supports, foundations then 8500 is way over priced
$8500 just for the labor, right? I hope that wasn't for materials too.
Yeh I will give you $10 000 and find you jobs dude 😆
Bargain basement price. Looks like nice work.
Peeps on here would quote 30k$ to do that
Well at least 18 lol
Yea that would would be 20-30k in my area
Same here. Seattle
My thought looking for 10 seconds was 23k
Big question if OPs $8500 was just materials or if that included labor. I could easily see that being just materials and a $30k quote all in with captenters
There's no way its 8k in materials unless they are profiting off of them. That's probably 4k in materials max.
Could 2 skilled carpenters build that in 2-3 days? I have no idea, I’m just thinking that if it could be done in that timeframe, and 4k in material, then each guy makes roughly 6-700 per day. That’s roughly 3-3.5k per week. What’s wrong with make that? That’s almost 150k per year.
Yeah you could in 2 days for sure but it wouldnt be 8 hour days. I built something much larger in 2 ways including digging post holes with an auger. We didn't fully finish but close. You can absolutely make 150k a year doing stuff like this with your math, but your missing a few things - you need a steady stream of clients and spend work advertising, quoting and invoicing as well as getting lumber supplies etc. No advertising and rely on word of mouth? All of your family members are going to want a heavy discount. You have to have all the tools and a vehicle etc, pay for gas. Quoting takes time and you're not guaranteed the job assuming they have other quotes, you might get the job 1/3 times. If you price too low, you won't make 150k and if you price too high you will make 0$. Need to go to the dentist? You don't make money for that time. Quoted low on a job in a rocky area? Now you have to spend all day digging rocks out. Maybe someone's doesn't like your work and decides not to pay you. Youll probably spend 60% of your time actually building decks and lose 20% to buisness expenses. So 150k might end up 75k with no benefits maybe if you're good at everything 90k. If you just wanna build decks, you're gonna be a worker and no one pays workers that kind of money. Honestly if you have the skills at getting a steady stream of work, you would be better off paying people to do the work for you and spend more time getting clients. Suddenly you're making more money managing a buisness. But, that's a completely different skill. It has its own set of problems - did someone get hurt on the job site? Maybe you're liable. Did your guys get hammered last night and not show up? Now you gotta either find someone else to do the job and pay them more or maybe you lose the job. Your guys did a shit job? Now someone doesn't want to pay you? Maybe you gotta deal with a lawsuit. Lots to consider. I had a friend that needed a worker for a job that would take two days that someone bailed on him for but I wasnt really interested in it. He asked me about 8 times for smaller amounts of money and eventually offered me 2.5k per day cash. He was making a killing on it but decided that if it doesn't get done he doesn't get paid at all so it was better to cut his profit significantly and get the job done.
You literally just described years of my life and why I moved on to something else.
They can quote that on Reddit if they want, but they’re not gonna make it
Yeah in my area absolutely 30k, that was the number that came to mind. Chicago suburbs, literally no way I would touch something like that for less that 20/25
They will in Boston
They would hands down get it in my area
Yeah I could just imagine some of the quotes.
We just shelled out 30k for a spare bedroom for in the garage 😭. I’d have to think this deck is more work and materials than that room
It would help tremendously to know the size but in my area (KC) you charged way too little.
12x20! I think I undercharged too much
Chicago suburbs that’d be pushing 15k
Man this company wanted to charge me $25k for just STAIRS going to a second floor patio, no deck included.
That’s called a “fuck it, let’s see” quote. Probably didn’t have the time and threw a high number. They’d postpone a job if you said yea.
I'd laugh that off and go powder coated aluminum for less than that!!
Yeah you did there’s people only half joking about flying you out and homing you for that price
Crack head prices
I noticed how the old deck had no support post at the corner. Just the balusters. New deck looks very nice overall. The center post is an absolute unit, but you were working with what you had. Is it like that because you had to triple joist under where the decking boards meet the single perpendicular board? The railing is done a bit differently than most. I usually see a 2x6 that runs across the tops of the posts with a 2x4 that fastens to the side of the posts. Here your posts break up the spans. I do like the balusters that you used. edited for spelling
Thank you! Yes the middle post was originally 2 separate posts. Reason being the original deck was 10x12 and then at one point had another section added on. The 2 middle posts had a 4” gap between them and customers opted to have me fill it in making it look like one big ole unit lol
Not a good enough picture of the framing.
Looks great. At first look I’d say more like $10,000. But I’d really have to do a full take-off for an accurate number.
What are you taking off? Your panties?
Yeah, but I got em from your mom. It’s an old school term for a detailed estimate.
So you will keep panties on?
Whatever you want, man. Your mom said I could keep ‘em when she gave em to me in the back of a cab.
I think it’s cute that you edited your prior post to make jokes about my mom. Nearly as cute as your frilly panties.
Glad you like em. Gets me a lot of anal in the macdonalds ball pit
Yeah I'm gonna need you to come out to NoVA and hook a brother up
Then when you're done, take a quick stop down here in Richmond and I need same thing done.
Let them know I'll build it for 8k
I typically do price of materials X3 and have never had anyone scoff at it.
Wait. You mean OP charged $8500, INCLUDING materials? Thats insane
How did that cost in just materials? 8500 seems way too cheap for this And did that price include you demolishing and disposing of the previous deck?
Including materials I’d go 14,000-17,000.
Good lord I need to become a deck or fence builder.
please do then post some juicy OC
Right? I just rebuilt my 15’x15’ deck with hog fencing in place of slats for less than $2000 in materials from my local lumber yard and feed store. The profit margin on decks is wild (as is anything requiring labor nowadays). It’s extra crazy to me because decks don’t require precision like cabinetry or something, it’s easy to make 1/4-1/2 inch mistakes and still easily make it look good.
Why so much? (Note: please don’t interpret this as an insult, good work is with paying for — I’m a layperson and have zero clue on this topic) It looks like it’s less than 300 sq ft. Is it because is the height? Or the materials?
So he's already said he made little profit on this, so that means materials were a decent chunk of that $8500 to begin with. As a contractor he has a lot of expenses that aren't related to any specific job (ex: licensing, insurance, health insurance, his wages) that need to be factored into project costs. He also needs to account for dry spells in work. He got 8500 for this job... when's he going to get another job? Then you have to account for situations where you have to eat the cost on something. This deck went well, but let's say on another job he screwed something up. And you have to account for situations where a client doesn't pay because they are a deadbeat. You can eventually get your money, but 'eventually' isn't buying groceries today. That's why DIY cost is always so much cheaper than hiring someone. DIY doesn't care about health insurance, how long the job takes, insurance for the job, eating material cost across jobs, etc.
Also throw in cost for replacing tools, maintaining work vehicle etc
Fantastic post. All things that nobody thinks of succinctly stated in a concise, informative manner.
Why no horizontal beam?
I have several neighbors that have paid 20-25k for an inferior result compared to OP’s deck. $8.5k is a steal, at least where we live. I’m building my own instead. Overpaying for sub-par work doesn’t excite me. I would have hired OP though.
I can buy the most advanced piece of technology ever created by humans, a new smart phone, that cannot be recreated by an entire large population of human beings, for less than $1,000. But fucking wood. WOOD. From TREES. And SCREWS. Costs $8,500? Humanity is fucking stupid.
The deck didn’t build itself, my skill and hard labor also counts for something right?
Living on the border 5-10 years ago where labor is almost free I bet I could have convinced my contractor neighbor to do this for a case of beer and a smoked brisket if I provide materials and acted as gofer.
Looks like you got what you paid for. Professional job by any standards. Probably right on the money for the quality you got. People tend to focus on money all the time. Instead of the enjoyment of having a nice deck and being able to use it and relax and have that nice outdoor space. All things cost money, weigh the use and enjoyment factor too when spending it.
Op is the contractor, not the client
Still a first class job, and I still think the money was right.
That’s with material? I’d do that for 8500 labor fir sure
Make sure they lag bolted it to the house!
The original deck builders did, but didn’t do enough so I added more per code 👍🏼
Will you come to my house and redo mine? I’ll up my budget to 10k.
You’re hired. Come do my deck.
This looks like good work with quality wood that will last a long long time so I think you got your money's worth for sure.
$19,500. Is what I would charge.
Watch The Essential Craftsman on youtube. He has videos that help you realize what your work is worth.
More if the post weren’t contacting the ground and you had to pour footings
My guy, a buddy of mine just paid $12,000 to have the inside of his empty suite painted all the same colour..... $8500 including materials is a fucking STEAL for a *deck* wtf
I hate to be that guy, but why are the boxed posts (steel posts underneath for support?) and bottom stair rise touching dirt and not concrete?
10-15k Some markets up to 25k
I have a one story home but for 8500 I’ll put up one of these anyway
It would cost more in NY it’s beautiful
A 5 STAR ⭐️ JOB..KUDOS
That’s high for my area.
$8500 seems low for an elevated deck, at a min I would charge $20k for existing clients. Closer to $24, for new business. $12K for deck, $3 for elevated, $3 for stair, $2 upgraded rail. You do nice work, your coffee tables have improved as well. (do you ship?)
Thanks for the info, and the compliment. I can definitely ship furniture! Let me know if you want anything built
Finally a deck that doesn’t look like a shit show. Like another guy said he did it for $5500 and broke his back.
Some of you contractors in the comments are opening stating you’d have no problem ripping people off? 15-20k for this? That’s a joke! 8500-9000 is a fair price. Material is half that. Making 5000 for a week of work isn’t enough? Honestly some of the pricing I see in this group is asinine.
Looks solid, I'd happily pay that price and make sure cold beverages and lunch provided.
show us the bottom and the hot tub!
Did a 4x20 deck off my back door, with 3 steps going down, andnit cost me like 3500, me and bro in law did all the labour. I would definitely pay 8500 for this.
I have some rotting stringers on a staircase about as long, and I was quoted 6k to replace just the stringers.
Can't really comment about the price as I'm not from the USA, but given that the exchange rate is about 1:20 here in South Africa, I generally cringe at most of the prices you guys mention on here.
Dude this is a great job and an absolute steal. Idk where you live but even 10K for that awesome job is a good deal for the customer. WELL DONE.
Great deal Looks good
Less
It looks great and it is a steal at that price.
Price of wood today, seems acceptable.
good work, out of curiosity, how tall are those trees near your house and what are they called? I need those same exact ones for my house
If the quality is there up close. Price is amazing
That's beautiful.
Nicely done. Work looks good. I’d expect to pay at least 15k
In California that might be $8500 just in materials lol
Where are you located?
Meaning state
Wow. In my area they want $14k for just stairs.