Introduction

Relax and take a few minutes to read this. It is important. The following is an extremely accurate and comprehensive tool that I personally use for bidding my company's deck and screen porch jobs. This Deck and Screen Porch Cost Calculator shows the cost of "The McKnight" deck as shown on my site.

What It Does

It shows labor and estimated materials if we do a "turnkey" job (we buy materials, get permit, etc.) or if you act as your own General Contractor and you buy materials and obtain a permit. It calculates labor to frame (L2F) if "We Frame-U Finish". It shows the extra for GeoDeck flooring, composite or vinyl railings, overhead pergolas, skirting, benches, flower boxes, lighting, spa reinforcement, beautiful lighting and a HOST of other stuff to customize your deck. You can even add a screen porch. Just figure the deck as one unit and the screen porch as a separate unit. You will have to be able to estimate the area of steps, but I will help you with that. This handy little tool will crunch the numbers and give you the bottom line. You can delete the numbers for the deck and just use it as a screen porch calculator (or front porch)... or change the deck numbers to approximate the size of your new deck. It even allows you to include the cost of an accessory of your own (like a new hot tub)!

Mike Confesses

To be real honest, one of my main reasons I am making this calculator available is so my customers will use it as a bidding tool. I spend most of my day on the phone giving free estimates to folks who are thinking about using our On Site or Design-at-a-Distance services. Well... now folks can easily use the same tool I use to determine how much their new deck and/or porch will cost. Got a question? By all means call me. Just work with the calculator first... then call. I have put a lot of time into it to make it very educational. By reading the instructional comments and by working the numbers, you will learn a lot about your project... and it will free me up to do what I really enjoy the most: Designing decks and porches in my CAD program for my clients.

What Do You Do Then?

Once you have worked out the numbers for the deck and/or porch and you are satisfied that it fits your budget and you can really get a lot more deck or porch for the money with us than with other deck firms... then you are ready to start the designing process. Just send me the items I list under "I Need 4 Things to Start". It wouldn't hurt to also include an Excel file of your Price Worksheet so I can verify the prices you worked up. You will see how all of this works shortly so don't panic.

Figuring Stair and Landing Area

To determine the area of steps, first you need to know how many steps... which depends solely upon the height from the deck to the ground at the point the steps will end. Simply multiply this height times 12 and divide the product by 7.5. Truncate the answer (don't panic dude... I'll give you an example if you keep your shirt on). That number is the number of steps needed. Just multiply the number of steps by the width (usually 4') and... viola... you have the area of the steps.

Example: Let's say the deck will be 9' from the ground where the stairs will hit the ground. Let's say you want 4'-0" wide steps with one 4'x4' landing in the middle (very typical). This is how it works:

1. (9' x 12")/7.5 = 14.4. Truncate this to 14. Now you know you will need 14 steps.
2. Therefore 14 x 4' = 56 SF (square feet). Let's add in a 4'x4' landing and you get...
3. 56 SF + 16 SF = 72 SF all together for stairs and landing

Now that wasn't too painful was it? By the way... there is a small fallacy in my above logic. Can you find it? I left it in because I don't want to confuse you anymore than you already are... and it keeps the estimate a bit on the high side which is good. I would rather be a tad too high than too low and make you mad at me.

So break out your calculator and figure the area of what will be your own stairs and landing(s). Then use that area in the spreadsheet below.

(Don't forget to scroll down past the screen porch
portion so you can get to the deck portion.)

As a reminder... once you have worked this spreadsheet and you realize that my firm gives you an awful lot of deck/porch for your money... it is time to get into my Designing Que. Email, fax or mail me the items listed under "We Need 4 Things to Start. I will work with you via our computers and the web and do a "design-at-a-distance". I can then email you a contract proposal to build your deck and/or porch!

Email me at...

But you better hurry. Spring is here and things are heating up.