Labor Rates - What To Bid?

ihsolutions

I own a modular home dealership and we are beginning to offer decks, fences, patios, etc to our clients as well as outside customers.

My question is, I am not familiar with what the market rate would be for, say, building a 18x24 deck on a new home. If materials were to total $4,000 complete using something like AZEK/Procell decking, what would be a fair total price to charge for the deck including labor?

Obviously the answer to a question like this will depend on market and location.... I'm in metro-Detroit which is a horrible economy. What would you guys charge for a plain vanilla deck like this, with a couple sets of steps and complete railing?

Thanks,
John

rbsremodeling

I million dollars

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buildenterprise

Simple ground-level deck like that with Azek deck and vinyl rails, I'm getting around $35-$37 per square foot here. Your area may be closer to $30.

skylands

"I million dollars"

...... That would be the "rocky road" flavor price in my neck of the woods.

John Hyatt

A fair labor price would be for you to pay the Contractor by the hour, around $150 per would just about do it.

Of course thats not including any helpers they run around $85 per.

John Mon

concretemasonry

Since you have already selected a type of material, are you looking for a labor supplier or a real contractor that supplies a deck?

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Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

ihsolutions

Allow me to clarify.

We have construction workers on staff capable of doing the work. All the labor is in-house. I'm struggling to identify a fair price for a completed deck. We have identified a few designs we are going to offer (cookie cutter style) and I was trying to determine, for a deck this size with $4k in material costs, what is a fair market price for the complete deck.

Naturally, since this is part of a package sale many times we could charge more than the prevailing rate, but I want to be fair and I also need the added value to correspond to the homes' appraisal when complete.

Thanks for the insight!
John

philner

A deck that size would probably take 3 carpenters 3 or 4 days to build, with footings,stairs etc.. I get $50 per manhour which roughs out to 4k to 5k, add in 4k in stock and I'd be at about 9K. But deck construction is very site specific and the height and site conditions could change price by over 50%.Phil

rbsremodeling

This one doesn't smell right at all

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BuiltByMAC

Stone Mountain

Jeese, how many of these stupid "how much do I charge" posts do we have to put up with?
Sir:
Your material is $4000 at your cost.
Your actual cost of labour is $AAAA.AA
Your overhead is ($4000.00 +$AAAA.AA) x B% = $CCC.CC
Your total cost is $4000+ $AAAA.AA + $CCC.Cc = $yyyy.yy
Your markup is D%, so your sale price is $yyyy.yy x D% = $***x.xx

X-Y is your profit.

Doesn't matter what "teh going rate" or the "prevailing" rate is. What matters is that you have to make money on the sale. If you don't make money, don't do the work.

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Residential Deck Specialist: Vist our Website
www.fenceanddeck.ca

BuiltByMAC

John - if you'll look off to the left of the screen - under your user name, your trade is listed as :Decks and Additions, when, in reality, you've identified yourself as a mobile home dealer. This is what's known as a big, fat lie... so good luck getting a proper response from us!

You have "construction workers on staff" - have they built decks before? Do they know how to build structures to last outdoors? Or have they worked in a shop installing panelized walls onto a trailer bed?

Arrrgh.

Mac

John Hyatt

Actually....if I could do three mobile home decks a week I could double my gross. Not kidding guys they go fast,always with the cheepest material,the Wallet cant wait to get off the stupid little steps that come with the 189% interest rate but they are hard to land. Those sells guys work in a major bolier room so they dont want to confuse the sell with a deck.

Last week Myself and a Helper did a 20 x12 / 3' stairway 100 mile round trip way up a gravel road it took a long 18 hr day but I cleared $2000. I could get along with that just fine and forget all the fancy spancey stuff. J.

ChillaWatt

Tell 'em Mac!

deckman22

I here ya John.

Reminds me of the days I did above ground pool decks. Almost always TP plain jane slammers.

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Deckman
www.alscustomdecks.com

Danno6102

Wow! Azek/Procell on a trailer? I was thinking more along the lines of No.1 pressure treated at best. The pressure treated decks I 've seen on even the nicer mobile homes around here are crap, all nailed together, 24" o.c. joists, etc.! but they do have a roof...at least you can enjoy staring at your neighbors trailer on your crappy deck in the rain.

You have workers on staff, but do they know how to calculate the tributary area to figure, beam, joist & footing sizes?