Building a Deck (work, house, contractor)

[MamaBear75]

I'm new to adding a deck onto our home. On average how much would I have to pay someone to have them design and install it (basic raised deck around 300 sq feet)? Should I expect them to deal with permits? Cost of materials? Any references? Should I dare tackle this project myself?

[steve54]

Originally Posted by MamaBear75

I'm new to adding a deck onto our home. On average how much would I have to pay someone to have them design and install it (basic raised deck around 300 sq feet)? Should I expect them to deal with permits? Cost of materials? Any references? Should I dare tackle this project myself?

I built my own , or rather dismantled and rebuilt the existing one and built an addition at a lower level - It wasn't particularly difficult but you have to think it through and plan ahead. It was considerably cheaper than getting someone in to do it
There are plenty of DIY deck books at the stores

[HappyNCGirl]

Originally Posted by steve54

I built my own , or rather dismantled and rebuilt the existing one and built an addition at a lower level - It wasn't particularly difficult but you have to think it through and plan ahead. It was considerably cheaper than getting someone in to do it
There are plenty of DIY deck books at the stores

MamaBear - we have a very challenged lot. The back yard is bi-sected by a 6' retaining wall and backfillled from the house to the wall. Below the wall, there is a drop of 6' or more down to the lower half of the yard. Sounds awful, huh? Not any more....

We had a 40'x16' free standing deck built out over the retaining wall. The deck has a beautiful arbor over 1/3 of the deck. We used the Deckorator black metal pickets with a lovely design in the middle of the sections.

Because of the massive size, and the complexity of building out over the wall, our deck cost us around $15,000. This included engineered footings for the deck supports, permits, materials, labor etc.

We are extremely pleased with the way the entire project turned out. Our deck contractor is absolutely top notch. He carefully considered the difficult site, listened to what we had in mind, then designed the project. With a couple of tweaks to the original drawing, he got started this summer. He and his helper worked two weeks straight. They would get started around 8 am and work until 5:30 - 6 pm. This was during those days of unrelenting heat when the temperatures got up into the upper 90's and hit 100 a couple of days. Regardless, they kept working until they were 100% complete.

He also designed and built a beautiful wood "screen" to hide our hvac units, and installed a lattice skirting under the screen porch. His prices were very reasonable for the quality and size of the project. He was thrilled to be able to do something out of the ordinary and came up with some creative ideas for us to incorporate into the design.

PM me if you want his name and number for an estimate. We have photos too if you want to see the work he did.

[NewUser]

Originally Posted by HappyNCGirl

Because of the massive size, and the complexity of building out over the wall, our deck cost us around $15,000.

He and his helper worked two weeks straight. They would get started around 8 am and work until 5:30 - 6 pm.

$15K for 2 weeks of work. Man, I'm in the wrong business