Decking... agh! help!

[phil123]

so... I've just finished quoting this job up... total including labour comes to £8404.03!?

 

bloody hell this stuff is expensive! does this sound about right? size is 9m x 6m deck 54m2

 

crazy... if someone came to me with a quote like that it would put me in hospital! and i gave them trade on the materials too.

[Ian Leach]

so... I've just finished quoting this job up... total including labour comes to £8404.03!?

 

bloody hell this stuff is expensive! does this sound about right? size is 9m x 6m deck 54m2

 

crazy... if someone came to me with a quote like that it would put me in hospital! and i gave them trade on the materials too.

If you have me that price I would burst out laughing, how long do you think it will take?? What's the materials and labour cost then.

[phil123]

I guessed 3 weeks as I'm on my own

materials - £6154.03

labour - £2250

[Ian Leach]

I guessed 3 weeks as I'm on my own

materials - £6154.03

labour - £2250

I think you have gone wrong somewhere , I think your materials are calculated wrong and it won't take you 3 weeks.

[Andrew J C]

Rough price would be £4500, I did a 40sm one which needed the old patio removed and the ground lowered. That was just over 4k, made good money on it.

[phil123]

Ok.... I've gone a bit belts and braces as i know the customer well and they have some pretty cool party's so I know there's going to be a lot of weight on it.

 

So I've gone with 133 posts (500mm centres across and 1m down) even the book doesn't really say exactly how many posts I need so I thought I would play safe than sorry.

26 6x2 (3m) Barers across the whole width bolted to every post.

76 joists 4x2 (I've gone with double joists each side of the post for extra strength and again bolted through the posts)

 

The frame work I've worked out uses 664 bolts! That in itself costs £1162.80! As I can only find exterior coach bolts in packs of 10 and there £18.00 a pack!

[Big J]

Ok.... I've gone a bit belts and braces as i know the customer well and they have some pretty cool party's so I know there's going to be a lot of weight on it.

 

So I've gone with 133 posts (500mm centres across and 1m down) even the book doesn't really say exactly how many posts I need so I thought I would play safe than sorry.

26 6x2 (3m) Barers across the whole width bolted to every post.

76 joists 4x2 (I've gone with double joists each side of the post for extra strength and again bolted through the posts)

 

The frame work I've worked out uses 664 bolts! That in itself costs £1162.80! As I can only find exterior coach bolts in packs of 10 and there £18.00 a pack!

 

Total overkill. It's better to overbuild than under, but that is too much.

 

Right, I have a reputation as someone who overbuilds, and this is how I would do it:

 

I would not put the posts in 1m - 50cm would suffice with two bags of poscrete. Go easy on the posts and overspec the joist. Breaking ground takes time and costs money. Posts ever 1.5m, with 8x2 joists. 500mm centres, so a total of 76 posts.

 

So 133 bags of postcrete is about £500 plus VAT

You have 61 linear metres of posts (presumably 100x100mm) which would be £212 plus VAT from me in western red cedar.

You have 114 linear metres of joists which would be £399

Planed all round cedar decking boards at 25mm would be around £670 for 54 square metres.

 

For fixings, I'm a great fan of the turbo coach screws from Screwfix. Great for fixing the beams to the posts. You have 76 posts, so assume four 100mm screws in each post is around 300 screws. They are about 10 pence each if memory serves, so about £30.

Stainless decking screws - I've no idea what they cost, but I guess they are fairly expensive. Budget £200.

 

So, total of £2011 in materials, plus VAT.

 

Can't comment on the labour side of it as I've not done many decks.

[muttley9050]

I recently quoted 6k for 2 yurt floors at 8m diameter so over 100 m2. This included travel 200 miles. 75 per night b and b in a pub for 2 people fir 4 nights. And the ground was 1.5m out of level over the 8m. I overpriced it as I didn't want the job and got it. I will pay my labourer 1200 for the week, pay the b and b. Probably be home on the 4th day. And make around 2.5 to 3k out of the job.

Pretty sure yours is overpriced. Big J spec is still over what I would do. 8x2 only needs sports every 3.5m

I would run 8x2 6m purlins along the short length. With a Post either end and two in the middle. So posts every 2.4m but only 8 purlins so only 32 posts.

Then 4 X 2 joists at whatever centre you need for deck boards at right angles

So 32 posts

8 8x2 x 6m

And 4x2 If 400center approx 216m or 600 center approx 144m.

This I reckon is cheapest way and plenty strong enough.

Then few extra lumps of wood for a bit of bracing and your away.

Reckon thus will cost around 1.2k for materials that brings you down to around 3.5k overall and your making excellent money too.

Not sure what prices you have been given but 6k on material at any spec is ludicrous. U could do solid oak sleeper decking for less than that.

Edited July 22, 2016 by muttley9050

[muttley9050]

Also I would assume 6 or 7 man days for the deck so would price up at 8. 15 percent on materials and labour for your profit and your away.

Steps and hand rails and anything fancy are extras on the above it required.

As j said timber screws from screwfix. And either passivated or stainless deck screws (customers choice)

Edited July 22, 2016 by muttley9050

[phil123]

Thanks so much guys, really appreciate your help on this.

I'll keep you posted with how I get on.

 

Cheers.