Deck pricing. Composite Deck Project Overview with TimberTech Edge Prime +

Deck projects are very expensive. Cost of labor and materials are way up. Here's our composite deck with Metal Fortress Railing. This is a DIY install with some help from friends using TimberTech.
Let us know what you think about this deck job.
Joist Tape: amzn.to/3SFHY6k
Concealoc Hidden Fastners: amzn.to/3FzNGkG
Timbertech TopLoc Fastners: amzn.to/3C99WzF
Johnson Level Tool: amzn.to/3UrPfYg
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[@that_random_dad]

With the money I saved on one quote, I upgraded all my tools and do my own work now. Thanks to some great content producers on KZbin, I get the job done right and to code. Love my weekend projects (including a deck just like yours).

[@poodledad]

Awesome. What decking did you use?

[@that_random_dad]

@@poodledad I went with TimberTech. Very happy with the product so far.

[@busterbrown1686]

The redo adds value, appeal and safety to your home. I am so happy I built my 20x25 deck using Eon (PVC) by myself in 2003 $3,500. PVC will last forever. The substructure won't, but 21 years care free and counting in a Chicago suburb. Astronomical prices today for less expensive composite wow.

[@poodledad]

That's awesome!

[@stldigitalmemories]

I wanted to build a new 740sqft deck on my house. Bids came in at $75K+. Total materials were $18K... It took me three months, but I finished it (with permits and inspections) and saved a lot.

[@poodledad]

Oh wow, that's crazy. Awesome that you got it done.

[@cjstump6406]

Incredible outcome and very informative. Updating two decks on a recent purchase and wasn't sure which way I was going. Slam dunk!! Ty

[@poodledad]

Glad you enjoyed it! We are very happy with it. I have the stairs done now and there's another video on my channel about that with costs for the stairs.

[@sherrytate7842]

Love the deck it is nice color and love your poodle

[@poodledad]

Thank you so much! He did indeed makes the "poodle" in "poodle dad".

[@kennethclinton9052]

Looks great!

[@iHazCavities]

Wow so glad I did my entire deck myself. 16x24 30 inches off the ground. Between 8-10k

[@karonugma]

Your deck looks great.

[@poodledad]

Lots of work but turned out great. Thanks!

[@Susan.I]

Good idea on your part!

[@poodledad]

Thanks. We are happy with how it turned out.

[@AlL-fw2cy]

What full profile boards did you use for the picture frame look at the two ends where the scallop profile composite boards are exposed?

[@poodledad]

You ca buy the timbertech decking with or without the side grooves. So when you are ordering, you have to know how many boards you want without the side groove.

[@troyturner6498]

same thing at my house man. Ripped off an old deck and replaced EVERYTHING. Did it all myself and it came to around $12k or so...still finalizing some items on my budget list to verify but: - concrete piles and foundational work ~$1000 - lumber framing and fasteners: ~$3000 - decking (Envision 'black walnut') and hidden fastener clips: ~$3000 - trex railing all black: ~$3000 - misc tools, joist tape, t20/t25/t15 bits: unknown $$ deck is ~530sqft, 28x19

[@poodledad]

That’s awesome. Must look great.

[@poodledad]

Better than my $47k quote

[@troyturner6498]

@@poodledad i had a quote for $35k and 28k in middle tennessee. what is shocking is the cost to furnish the deck once its done.

[@toddwidick6192]

Good job. It's the same thing in Georgia mine will be about 15,700 +_ with me doing all the work.

[@poodledad]

Awesome. Hope it goes well.

[@khmer0009]

Nice work bro…

[@poodledad]

Thanks ✌️

[@livingtherufflife]

I’m doing a small deck out front and adding a wheelchair ramp. The materials for composite deck, yes 3x the cost of reg deck board - a very low floating deck - 8x20 i’m estimating 2300-2500 in NE Tn. Not even including the wc ramp & now deck tape?! Argh this has to last longer than the old wonky ramp we had and will look nicer for the front of the house but really those handymen and contractors are ripping us all off on labor. My dad, brothers, and uncle built homes and major bridges as i played and watched growing up. I had to learn!. I grew up building stuff and this idea of making up costs is so annoying - no itemized materials or hours of labor just a random cost from nowhere. Do I look like I have money? Well they aren’t getting it! I HAVE to do this myself. KZbin and “figuring out” 🎉

[@poodledad]

KZbin is a huge help!

[@adamkrejci]

Awesome job! Have you seen and scratched from your dog on the decking? We want to go with composite but we are concerned our dog’s nail will scratch it up.

[@poodledad]

I have not seen scratches from the dog. I have seen scratching from other things but so far so good.

[@atvsteve2021]

looks good for diy im a deck pro from trex did you frame 16in on center or 12? can make a big difference in the long run with timber tech.

[@poodledad]

I believe I said this in the video but I had a contractor do the actual framing and then I did the decking and the railing install. He did 16 inch per the instructions on the timbertech install guidelines.

[@atvsteve2021]

@poodledad yeah in a couple years please update us.would love to see always have seen timber tech sag between joists at that spacing if it does easy fix nail 2x4 to each side of joist

[@ddent22]

Nice video, I am getting quotes for 30 and 40k for 12x14 Timbertek pecan. Cable railing is really expensive too

[@poodledad]

dang, that's brutal. Yeah the railings are expensive for material and install. My fortress railing was quite pricey but looks great and is sturdy.

[@qza3]

How are the timbertech boards holding up against scratches? Specifically from dog nails?

[@poodledad]

I haven’t noticed any scratches from the dog. There are a few spots where it has scratched from various things like tools. Have to be careful with pushing chairs back with your weight on them. overall pretty impressed with the durability.

[@ericturner2477]

I'm designing a deck for my house (old one is a complete tear down), and this was helpful. If you had built the structure yourself it would have been $13k, so it really does pay to DIY. But it's definitely a tradeoff between time and money. I have more time than money, so I'll be figuring that all out. Fortunately my deck height will only be 26", so I feel a lot better about building the structure myself. Oh, and that coconut husk decking looks nice.

[@poodledad]

Awesome. Good luck! I would have done myself if it wasn’t so high. I also finally got the stairs done but that was also a chore due to height.

[@208pain]

Thanks for the video. My wife and I picked that color also. We are building a 19 x 12 and connected on the side 7 x 16 . To a 21’ pool. The labor is costing me 6800 I dug the 17 posts holes. 42” deep. 66 bags of cement by hand.💪 total cost with timber tech aluminum rails 16,000

[@poodledad]

Dang that sounds pretty reasonable. What part of the country?

[@208pain]

@@poodledadin Illinois. There are people that charge a lot more.

[@poodledad]

@@208pain yeah in theory the south has better prices. What prices are you seeing? My area has a ton of demand for building and so the prices are going up and up.

[@ncvman]

Nice job man. What is the spacing you have there per board? 3/16?

[@poodledad]

Thanks. So the deckmate spacer tool has a 1/8 and a 3/16 side and per the timbertech install guides I did 1/8.

[@ncvman]

@@poodledad great. I like 1/8 and will use Cortex screws instead of the clips for this reason. Fusion lock Clips are spaced 3/16 so that must be how yours is spaced. saved 5k to 7k doing myself. Do you hear any squeaking when you walk in it with the clips?

[@acarpentersson8271]

There's a rule of thumb in the construction business that says your labor should never be cheaper than the materials. The reason why it's because the contractor may have to eat some materials and even replace materials. It wouldn't take much if you just dubbed the cost of materials and used second half as your earning (not profit, just hourly earnings) for that to dwindle down when the materials cost so much. Also, decks are labor intensive. Contractors don't get jobs done by inviting their friends over to work for free. All of those people are feeding families. Imagine if someone looked at your job and said, I can do it cheaper for myself because this guy is actually charging money for his time, tools if you use them, and labor. It's great that you did this yourself. It's great that you are educating people on the cost and how to. You are saving the contractors time and money. They made nothing for their time and labor coming out to YOUR HOUSE to GIVE you a quote. That's a loss that you employees of a company never have. Your boss isn't going to get you to come to work and devote your time and labor to assessing a task and figuring up cost and materials, and not pay you. But you did that to the contractors and then talked trash about them (nameless but still putting them down for daring to want money).

[@poodledad]

Agreed. Hopefully I didn't talk trash about them, that was not my intention. It's supply and demand. They can charge a lot due to the demand in my area and there is a shortage in supply of quality laborers. I had no desire to waste anyone's time. If you watched the whole video, I did have one of the contractors do part of the work where he and his crew of 2 made over $5,000 for a day and a half of labor (I paid materials). Many homeowners like me are going to be forced to do thing themselves and with friends as many projects are just getting priced out of reality.

[@user-zy4cq6vo3q]

Timbertech website seems to show Prime+ is not fully capped. Can you clarify your statement that it is? Maybe I'm looking at the wrong product. Thx.

[@poodledad]

Where are you seeing that? I know the ones I bought are. You can compare samples if you got to a bigger store. The lower lines of trex have the cap that stops along the side and doesn't cover the bottom.

[@spelunkerd]

I'm a little surprised he jumped at the chance of installing material you purchased from a box store. In general some of the income that tradesmen make is from purchasing raw materials at wholesale prices, then charging customers full price. Effectively he gets side income that the big box store would be getting, and from your perspective the price for material is the same. Installing customer supplied parts comes with the complexity that the material may not be the same as he is used to, warranty is questionable, and there are always small parts he may want that the customer didn't buy. Good video!

[@poodledad]

So I think it functions as a small side job for him in the midst of bigger jobs. He has bigger jobs that he is spending his main time on and when they get paused due to weather or material or the home owner not being available he can do one of these smaller jobs. Only took two days for him to complete the structure. He also came back later and installed the stair railing which took one and half days. I made another video about the railing.

[@spelunkerd]

@@poodledad Good video set, thanks!

[@CR-xn5cz]

I’m getting crazy quotes for a 12x14 wooden deck

[@poodledad]

dang!

[@awc723]

looks great...but you should have picture framed it...

[@poodledad]

Thought about that. But, given the length of the deck it would have required a double picture frame to avoid any seams in the middle. That requires quite a few more joists. Would have looked nice but complicated the install.

[@DrPaladium]

Installing decking is easy...I wouldn't pay for that.

[@samu3813]

Then why do contractors charge so much?

[@DrPaladium]

@@samu3813 Because many people are afraid to be hands-on and is scared of a good cardio workout.

[@samu3813]

Decks are expensive! Better take best care of mine.

[@poodledad]

That's the best plan!

[@wayneonpark]

Hi Poodle Dad! Came across your video by accident. I have the same problem with contractors here in Palm Springs, California. Getting contractors to work or show up is almost impossible. Inflated prices and attitudes are what I've come across. I wanted some basic wooden steps made for me as an entrance to a stationary 5th wheel I have parked in the desert. Steps designed in a pancake style. You know, a box on top of a box on top of a box. No bigger than 6ft. in diameter. This is about $3500.00 to get completed. And I'll pay it! Just do it! Yet, it's too small of a job for contractors to come out and do it. I'm going to go with ready-made metal for the time being. Will it ever get back to normal? Your deck looks beautiful! Enjoy it!

[@poodledad]

yeah I wonder the same, I don't foresee prices coming down unless a lot more people getting into the home repair business. Around me, there are tons of housing being built, which means remodels and repairs take a backseat.

[@edwinbenz4671]

What is the square footage of the deck?

[@Slingblade69ss]

Any deck that's 2 story or more than 8 ft off the ground should have 2x12 ledger and 2x12 joist with hangers and 6x6 post should be every 4 ft,and you may want to check on timber tech warranty becouse they don't honor it,in addition if you did use wood decking and used a semi transparent stain,j7st add an exterior polyurethane and it's sealed forever.In addition only home builders should build decks and those prices you got were way over priced normally whatever materials cost your labor cost should be the same not doubled or tripled covid or not.over all the framing is the most important.

[@poodledad]

Yeah the prices are pretty wild, but my area is growing and therefore the demand for contractors is through the roof. Makes sense they are just going to inflate their prices with demand. Especially since a lot of them just don't want to do decks.

[@DianaDenton-ds3fj]

Yes, you might have saved money out of pocket, but you didn't save on time and it isn't DIY...it's DIYWF (do it yourself with friends). A lot of people don't have the tools, time, friends, or skills to help build a deck. And that's is what one is paying for when someone else builds it- their time, tools, and skills and knowledge. Kind of like getting a doctor...you may get 2nd or 3rd opinions, but if you want knowledge and skill to fix an ailment, you may not choose the cheapest or DIYWF

[@poodledad]

Sure, but $25k goes a long way on time and some friends. One of the reasons I think we all need strong communities. My friends at church are always up for helping or letting others borrow tools.

[@bluntmaster8035]

@@poodledad number #1 get back into church🙏🏾

[@pharaohacura3618]

sounds like you need some new friends, lol…i built my entire deck COMPLETELY alone…top level and bottom level 32x22…and im only home on Fridays & Saturdays…it’s called being DRIVEN 😂😂😂

[@duanedenisiuk2624]

You have no stairs because you want to piece work your deck and it’s obvious. Now you’re stuck. Looks like you’re going to KZbin stair school.😂

[@poodledad]

Well stairs are now done and there’s a video to prove it 😀 kzbin.info/www/bejne/ep3HY5-rd7Bpgqc

[@user-jd3ge3ps5v]

Did you order directly from TimberTech? If you have the deck dimensions, will TimberTech price it all out for your directly or did you get it all priced via Lowes etc.? I am looking at either Coconut Husk or Weathered Teak w black railing like you did. Looks good. Same thing, I got 40k quotes (For Trex, not even TimberTech!)

[@poodledad]

I ordered from a local building supply company. I think you can also get it at Lowes.

[@AbrahamsBridges]

Looks great!

[@poodledad]

Thanks!