Deck-Porch-Gazebo

Consulting Services & Custom Building Plan Prices

(Please be sure to read the entire page, including the Important Notice at the bottom.)

Building a deck yourself?
Or hiring a contractor to do it?
Perhaps you want us to build it?
Need a set of Custom Building Plans?

Then we can help...

We offer two different custom design services to help you come up with the right design and a clear set of comprehensive and code compliant Custom Building Plans for your deck, porch, sun room or gazebo:

**"Design-at-a-Distance"** Service
For the homeowner (or Builder) who will become interactively involved with the Design work (see "Design-at-a-Distance"), Virginia Decking will work with you via phone, fax, email and (if you like) online real-time NetMeeting designing. We will:

Provide a custom Preliminary Plan, tailored to fit your house, your terrain, your lifestyle, and your budget. Once this Preliminary Plan is just the way you want it, we will...
Generate a detailed set of (CAD) Custom Building Plans which will be used not only to construct your project, but also these Custom Building Plans are necessary to obtain a Building Permit. Also, we will...
Submit a bid to you for one of the fine deck firms we represent to build your project. This bid will include several prices:

1) If one of our deck firms build it and they buy the materials. This is the full service "turnkey" approach that every deck firm offers.
2) If the deck company builds it and you buy the materials. This is a service whereby you act as your own General Contractor. (Please read the "Save a Bundle" page on how this service saves an average of $4000 on the typical project.)
3) An estimate of the current market price for those materials... what you should expect to pay if you purchase materials directly.

But you may also want to use these Custom Building Plans to secure bids by other contractors which should lower their bids considerably. Why? They will not need to pay a Designer's commission (typically 10% of contract price or about $1440 on the average deck). Neither will they need to employ the services of a Draftsman to generate the Custom Building Plans which typically saves another $500.

"Design-at-a-Distance" Design Fee Retainers**
Custom Deck Plans	*$500
Custom Screen, Glass or Front Porch Plans	*$600
Custom Gazebo Plans	*$600
Custom Shed Plans	*$550
Custom Deck and Porch Plans	*$650
Custom Deck and Gazebo Plans	*$650
Custom Deck, Porch, Gazebo Plans	*$800
Custom Deck and Shed Plans	*$600
Custom Deck, Porch, Shed Plans	*$750
Custom Deck, Porch, Shed, Gazebo Plans	*$900

*This Design Fee Retainer is simply credited
toward your initial payment when you contract with us.

Important: Work with our Excel Price Worksheet and then call us for a free estimate first. We can confirm over the phone what your labor and materials will run. Just be sure to have a realistic idea of the size of your deck and/or porch, height and materials you might like to use.

Or... better still...

As if you needed more information to confuse you, now I'm going to give you a smart and accurate way to figure labor, materials and "turnkey" prices for your new deck and compare the costs in pressure treated, composite (like Trex or GeoDeck®) or Ipe (Pau Lope). Just click the link for the new

"Comprehensive Deck Cost Calculator"
["Where are the bugles and trumpets?"]

"On-Site Design" Service
For the homeowner (or Builder) who wants to use our On Site Design Service, our Designer will make an appointment to personally visit your home where he will:

Take a photograph of the back of your home.
Make a careful sketch on 11x17 grid paper of the area in question, using measurements to draw your house windows, doors, heat pump, trees, etc to scale. He draws what most folks would call a cross sectional "blueprint" of your house.
Provide you with hundreds of color photographs of work that we have done for folks all through Virginia and Maryland.
Work with you, incorporating his expertise and your ideas, always mindful to stay under the budget you give him, drawing (and erasing), until you both have developed the deck or porch of your dreams... for the price you want to pay!
Provide a bid to you with several prices:

1) If a deck firm we represent builds it and they buy the materials. This is the full service "turnkey" approach that every deck firm offers.
2) If the deck firm builds it and you buy the materials. This is a service whereby you act as your own General Contractor. (Please read the "Save a Bundle" page on how this service saves an average of $4000 on the typical project.)
3) An estimate of the current market price for those materials... what you should expect to pay if you purchase materials directly.

If you decide to contract with us, the Design Fee Retainer (fee schedule below) is simply deducted from your initial payment. Our Drafting Department then generates a detailed (CAD) set of Custom Building Plans from the Preliminary Plan your Designer drew up at your home. This set of Custom Building Plans is then used to obtain a Building Permit.
If you decide not to use one of our fine deck firms for construction of your project, the Design Fee Retainer (fee schedule below) has purchased both the Custom Preliminary Plan and also the detailed and complete set of Custom Building Plans used in construction and necessary for obtaining your Building Permit. If this is the case, and you use another contractor, we stress that you should still save approximately a $1440 salesman's deck commission (approximately $2880 for deck and porch combination) and a $500 Drafting fee.

"On-Site" Design Fee Retainers**
Custom Deck Plans	*$600
Custom Screen, Glass or Front Porch Plans	*$700
Custom Gazebo Plans	*$700
Custom Shed Plans	*$650
Custom Deck and Porch Plans	*$750
Custom Deck and Gazebo Plans	*$750
Custom Deck, Porch, Gazebo Plans	*$900
Custom Deck and Shed Plans	*$700
Custom Deck, Porch, Shed Plans	*$850
Custom Deck, Porch, Shed, Gazebo Plans	*$1000

*This Design Fee retainer is simply deducted from
your initial payment when you contract with us.

Important:

Work with our Excel Price Worksheet and then call us to confirm your prices first. We can confirm over the phone what your labor and materials will run. Just be sure to have a realistic idea of the size of your deck and/or porch, height, and materials you might want to use. This Excel Price Worksheet is accurate. And it will really give you the tools to make a much more informed and intelligent buying decision.

**Important Notice**
Incidentally, we believe it is important to point something out at this time. Virginia Decking has known for several years that charging a Design Fee Retainer is the most professional method of doing business for three excellent reasons: First, you purchase a valuable item worth much, much more than what you paid for it (a caller told me recently that she paid an architect $2000 for her deck and screen porch plans, something for which we charge $650-$750). Second, our Designers put no pressure on you to buy because they are being compensated for their time and efforts. Therefore, they concentrate on helping you find just the right plan, rather than on trying to "sell" you. Third (and most importantly), charging a retainer allows us to lower our "build" prices to you. How? We do not have to charge you for the time we spent with the folks who did not buy. When you buy from a company that does not charge a Design Fee Retainer, by default your contract price must include your Designer's expenses (travel time included) for those 2 or 3 appointments that did not buy.*

*There is actually more to it than this. Here is the full story of why and how we can afford to give away an average of $4000 on a typical deck: It is very true that the Design Fee Retainer we charge is extremely important to help defray our overhead expenses. It DOES help us so that we do not have to charge you the buyer for the two or three other people who did not buy... but it is not enough. We have to make up some of that lost profit another way.

Fortunately for our clients, we have struck deals with several very excellent Material Suppliers (GeoDeck, Fairway, Ipe) who have agreed to pay us a sales commission out of their profit whenever one of our clients buys from them. This way I make up lost profit on the BACK end instead of charging you on the FRONT end. By the way, to make it even better for you, the Material Supplier who sells the pressure treated wood, fasteners, concrete and all miscellaneous building materials, does not pay us a commission... they actually give you our Virginia Decking Contractor Discount.

But this way we are able to make ends meet so we can afford to offer you these very unusual methods of saving a lot of money. (Isn't it refreshing when someone in business tells you the truth?)

Ordering Information

To order the "Design-at-a-Distance" Service
(you can be located anywhere), we will need four (4) items:

We Need 4 Things to Start

1) Fax a copy of your House Location Survey (plat) to 540 786-3324 day or night. Just be sure not to enlarge or reduce it or cut off a portion (it must contain the round seal). If you cannot fax it without changing the scale or cutting it off, you will have to mail it to us. The local Zoning folks get very particular about this. Incidentally, to avoid a lot of possible grief, please be sure to read this very important note before you proceed any further.
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2) Two house photos where the deck or porch will go (one from the back that takes in the whole house if possible and one photo from the side). Please email house photos inside the Client Worksheet form below or mail them. Faxing photos doesn't work well.
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3) A rough sketch of the house which includes dimensions showing exact locations of doors and windows. Include the deck, porch, and/or gazebo and your ideas of what you want. Please use my Client Worksheet form below. (This is the fun part... you'll like it)
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4) Design Fee Retainer in personal check or VISA/MC/DISC.
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To make this whole process go a lot smoooooother, please download a MS Word " Client Worksheet" form (be sure to "enable macros" when asked). It walks you step by step through all of the above 4 things I need. If you are diligent and fill out everything that pertains, it will give me just about all of the answers to questions that I normally ask you on the phone (some of which I typically forget to ask). This way I can spend more time designing and less time fumbling around for answers... and you can get your deck or porch that much faster. Helpful hint: Right click and download the DOC file to your hard drive. Filling it out in Word is easier than working with it in your browser. And be sure you are online when filling it out.

One more hint: I upgraded this Client Worksheet to a MS Word interactive form. If it gives you a fit, download and use the original Client Worksheet and let me know what wouldn't work for you in the form. Thanks.

You can fax and/or email or mail the above information. See all of our contact information below.

If you wish to order the "On-Site Design" Service (if located within 75 miles of Fredericksburg, Virginia, or if 75 miles from Frederick, Maryland) for a deck, screen/glass porch, gazebo or shed (or any combination), simply call, fax or email us below. We will need your VISA or MC information. Or you are welcome to pay by check (which means I don't pay a credit card Merchant Fee).

The owner, Mike French, will call you back to discuss and clarify all of the details.

Deck-Porch-Gazebo

Consulting Services & Custom Building Plan Prices

To order the "Design-at-a-Distance" Service (you can be located anywhere), we will need four (4) items: We Need 4 Things to Start

To order the "Design-at-a-Distance" Service
(you can be located anywhere), we will need four (4) items:

We Need 4 Things to Start