|
Labor* |
Estimated Materials** |
Porch |
$4938 |
$2972 |
Decks (2)
|
$5614 |
$3576 |
Stairs |
$ 900 |
$ 600 |
TOTALS |
$11,452 |
$7148 |
*Total labor to build project as you see it [assumes you act as the
General
Contractor,
buying the materials and obtaining the Permit (with our help)].
**Total materials including pressure treated lumber.
Note: Optional flower boxes & sunbursts are extra.
[See our new Deck Cost Calculator for
much more info on how to get the most for your money.]
So let's look at the estimated TOTALS
(based upon building this project with pressure treated):
The grand total of labor and estimated materials (assuming you act
as the General Contractor) comes to ($11,452 + $7148) $18,600.
Or..
$25,200 "turnkey" (we act as the General Contractor, buying materials and obtaing Permit).
The difference ($25,200 - $18,600) of $6,600 is
a typical General Contractor profit and represents your savings if
you act as your own GC.
|
But one of our clients is having us frame this
porch floor and deck and stairs and build the porch roof complete ready for
him to
install
the decking,
the railings,
the
screening (he is using the awesome system from screentight.com),
the trim and the flower boxes. So he is saving even more than $6,600 by
providing some of his own labor. In fact, this "We Frame - U Finish" and
the
"Homeowner General Contractor" Services of ours
is saving him so much that he can afford
to have
his decks
and porch built with a beautiful and low maintenance composite (he's looking
at GeoDeck as of this writing). Click on
the link to see the contract
that he signed with us
and
how the labor to frame prices break down for him.
My client's estimated material cost rose from $7148 to $11,563
(increase of $4415) when he builds with composite flooring,
rail caps, and fascia instead of pressure treated. But his labor dropped from
$11,452
down to $8976 (savings of $2476) because he is installing the decking, rails,
screen and trim. His total price went up but only by $1939 which allows him
to build
with a
composite
that
will
save
even
more
money
in those years down the road when he does not have to seal his deck and porch.
Made sense to him. Makes sense to me, too.
When you look at his total cost
of $20,539 for this big, beautiful
screen porch and two spacious decks with
"design character"... and all done with a beautiful and low maintenance
like GeoDeck... he really will receive a lot for his money. You can, too.
Just for fun, let's look at the estimated TOTALS
(based upon building this
project with
GeoDeck composite):
"Turnkey"
(we act as
GC and do everything): |
$32,919 |
"Homeowner General Contractor Service"
(you act as GC and
we provide complete labor):
|
$24,464 |
"Homeowner General Contractor Service"
+ "We Frame-U
Finish": |
$20,539 |
How come the above numbers were so much different from the first set of numbers
in the gray table above?
Because the labor goes up and the material cost
goes up when we use a composite like GeoDeck.
But look at something here: If you compare the cost of a traditional
project of this size done in traditional pressure
treated and
built by a traditional deck company that acts as the GC (almost every deck
company does) to the cost
of this project done in a composite like GeoDeck with our cost saving "Homeowner
General Contractor Service" + "We Frame-U Finish"... it
looks like this:
pressure treated |
$25,200 |
|
$20,539 |
Now I am not a rocket scientist, but it seems to me that an obvious
"no brainer" has been raised here: If you are capable of ordering materials
(we email you the Material List and
List
of Preferred Suppliers complete with fax numbers), obtaining a "homeowner permit"
(we provide you with everything you need), and installing the decking, rails,
screen
and
trim (you have to know a hammer from a saw)... then it makes a lot of sense
to buy one of these porch/deck combinations from me.
And by the way, even if you don't want to pick up a hammer, you
can still have this project in GeoDeck and save money over having a traditional
pressure treated project by simply acting
as your own GC.
We can do this through On
Site Design or our famous "Design-at-a
Distance". If you want the latter, be sure to check out the "Four
Things We Need to Start"
Click on the link or call me
(Mike French) at 540 786-3534 m/w/f 10-4pm
Eastern Time. We can discuss all the details about modifying "The Bautch"
to fit your house, your terrain, your lifestyle and your budget.
And don't forget this: You do not have to live in Virginia, DC
or Maryland. We can send one of our experienced crews to your location anywhere
in the continental
United
States. Click on the link to read about another Virginia Decking exclusive
service: "Have Nail Gun - Will Travel"
Now he is a rocket scientist.
Mike
uncovers Travel Industry secret: