Anyone Have Ballpark Pricing On Trex Rail Systems?

grayresidential

I just looked at a job and need to get my bid in. Essentially I'm installing trex railing system on a new deck that has already been built. Their is about 150 linear feet of posts/railing/pickets to be installed. I'm just looking for ballpark linear foot price for the labor. Thanks

RobertCDF

Ballpark... $1-$150 LF.

If you bid it at $1 you are almost guaranteed to get the job because only the stupidest person would do it for less.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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curapa

Can't help you with that. If you have never installed a kit railing system, there is a learning curve that needs to be taken into account. It may take me 15 minutes per section and it could take Joe Shmoe 45 minutes.

Labor pricing questions are frowned upon here.

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grayresidential

Thanks but no thanks for the brilliant answer abuot $1.00 for the job. Didn't know that labor prices are frowned upon

SLSTech

First, welcome to CT
Second - please introduce yourself in the appropriate area
Third - location in your profile is helpful
Fourth - run a search on Pricing, Going Rate

So what would you say to me if I came up to you at a lumber yard & asked that question without so much as a HI?

I'll make you a deal - I will give you my price, if you tell me your markup level & how much of that is overhead & how much is profit.

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grayresidential

From the looks of both your websites you both appear that you could easily give me a pretty good answer. I'm just trying to pay the mortgage.

SLSTech

Fair enough, have you installed the product before? How long did it take?

If you haven't that is a little tougher, unless you go T&M (your first few sections you are going to be slow at - speed will increase with the amount you do) Make sure you read the Installation Instructions before you get there & don't be afraid to reference them while on site

A fair price is one that pays you a fair wage, pays for materials & permits, covers your overhead (cell phone, advertising, licensing, etc...) and makes you a profit (one man shop - no big deal, money to save for the bad times)

Go visit Michael Stones site about Markup & Profit - get the book, read the blog, it will help you out allot

Next, start going through the old threads in here - there is allot of good info to help you out.

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woodmagman

Is that the close for the sale....give me the job, I need to feed my family?
I need to feed my family, I work had, pay share of taxes, but guess what when I ask for something fee, I get what I paid for, if you wade threw the crap, you will find the answer. Nothing is free.

DecksEtc

Then you should only quote jobs that you know how to price

Like it was suggested, the contractors here don't like to divulge pricing information for free over the internet to strangers. USE the search function for the question you've asked and you'll see what people have been trying to tell you in a NICE way. Dig in your heels and get rude and you'll get nothing more than smarta$$ answers here.

Now, as to your pricing question;

Go to a lumber yard, ask how much it costs for the materials you need (if you have any carpentry skills at all you should be able to figure that out yourself) and then double that price for your quote. Hopefully, you'll be able to make your mortgage payment with what's left over.

One other free bit of advice for you, try to sell your potential customers anything else BUT Trex as it's pure crap.

grayresidential

My apologies to all for my site etiquete(and spelling). I've just joined this evening and will update my profile as soon as I figure out how. Thanks to all for any helpful advice.

neolitic

It was all helpful advice.

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curapa

Stick around, this site is full of very good content and fresh info gets added daily.

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grayresidential

The builder has already selected the material. I ussually work with wood, not prefab systems and I'm unfamiliar if trex systems are particularly time consuming or difficult to work with. Obviously I'm screwing and not blasting nails and it will be more time consuming. I'm just looking for a little guidance...I don't want to blow the quote out of the water but don't want to low ball it either. Blindly charging the same for labor as material cost is a sure way to cheat either me or them.

curapa

I believe Trex has installation info on their website, that would be a good place to look into the details of putting their rails together.

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grayresidential

Yeah, I've looked at their site and also stoped at Lowe's this evening and picked up a bunch of literature. Trying to get some comments from an experienced installer. I'm thinking somewhere around $7.00 to $8.00 bucks per line foot plus around fifteen bucks per post which honestly I'm not sure if they want notched and mounted to the outside of the band or if the decking needs to be cut to let the post into the floor system on the inside of the band.
Obviously each is a very different installation but even if I'm ten bucks low on each post I'm only talking about 15 post at the most. $150 bucks is $150 bucks but it s not going to make or break the job if I'm wrong.....I'd just prefer not to be.
The other half of the job is screening...I'm figuring for each 5 foot section about $40 for railing, $20 to install frame to attach screen and rails to and another $20 to install the screen and trim it out with 1x or similar composite. The post are already there on the screened portion.
Like everywhere else it is slow here and I'm hoping a quick response will help seal the deal. Thanks for your input.
P.S. profile is updated with a few pics too.

BreyerConstruct

you can't notch the posts. you gotta put the posts inside, make sure they're blocked well! use bolts or ledgerlocs... 5-15 a foot is prolly closer on labor...
Read the Trex directions, and think it thru carefully.

~Matt

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deckman22

If it's their artisan railing then 7 or 8 bucks a foot is too low, especially for the first time you ever did one.

If you're doing the artisan railing be sure to purchase the railing assembly tool as it does not come with the kits.

Charge extra on the stair rails, they can be a pita.

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grayresidential

Thanks Breyey Construction and Deckman for your helpful advise. I'll do some more homework today before getting my proposal in. Take care

John Hyatt

Another out of work Carpenter that cant spell, I like this Guy he reminds me of......Me!!!

Its really slow over here too but one thing I am Not doing with the few jobs that do come up for bid>>>low ball<<< I figure the last thing needed is to complete the thing and still be broke. Anyway knowing its thin money is a distraction and makes for a short fuse and in trun its very easy to make a mistake. Composite is another smoke from wood but its not all that hard just a lot of little things. Too bad about the trex material it is total junk.

Do your homework,sharpen the pencil but dont stab youself with it, give the Wallet a straight up bid, dont mention its your first time, if you get it dig in slow down and make a few bucks. John Mon

neolitic

Thanks for the smile Jon Mon.

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