Price

[the_GUNN_man]

Cannot even get a $1 a sq. ft. in my area. I am forced to do a super fast job and use cheap stain. I tried bidding at $1 a sq. ft. a couple years ago. Out of 30 bids I got 0 jobs. I tell people up front what I will be doing and they are fine with that. I will do no sanding. If stain doesn't come off first time I will just go over it unless they want to pay for a second stripping. I have to use stain that is less then $20 a gallon. I give them the option for better stain and the have chosen that 0 times. It is either do that or lose a lot of other work. Most people want the house and deck washed. I lost a lot of houses because I priced the deck so high. So now I price the house a little higher. I am in a real catch 22 because I would like for once to do a deck the right way. I have noticed that in my area if I go over 80 a sq. ft. for a wash and stain I will not get the job. I also tell people that with cheap stain it will fail quicker but yet they still don't care. I guess what it comes down to is if they are happy I am happy(kinda).

I know people think I am crazy for taking on that work but being in Michigan and only being able to work 7 to 8 months of the year, I have to accept most jobs. Everything else my dollar per hour is where it should be and even higher on some things. What else can a guy do?

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by the_GUNN_man

Cannot even get a $1 a sq. ft. in my area. I am forced to do a super fast job and use cheap stain. I tried bidding at $1 a sq. ft. a couple years ago. Out of 30 bids I got 0 jobs. I tell people up front what I will be doing and they are fine with that. I will do no sanding. If stain doesn't come off first time I will just go over it unless they want to pay for a second stripping. I have to use stain that is less then $20 a gallon. I give them the option for better stain and the have chosen that 0 times. It is either do that or lose a lot of other work. Most people want the house and deck washed. I lost a lot of houses because I priced the deck so high. So now I price the house a little higher. I am in a real catch 22 because I would like for once to do a deck the right way. I have noticed that in my area if I go over 80 a sq. ft. for a wash and stain I will not get the job. I also tell people that with cheap stain it will fail quicker but yet they still don't care. I guess what it comes down to is if they are happy I am happy(kinda).

I know people think I am crazy for taking on that work but being in Michigan and only being able to work 7 to 8 months of the year, I have to accept most jobs. Everything else my dollar per hour is where it should be and even higher on some things. What else can a guy do?

Its tough, around here there isnt that many decks because most houses are built on slabs or are just painted. some of the stilt homes have stained decks but most stilt home neighborhoods you can drive around and see that well over 90%-99% just let the decks weather and at most put some crappy watersealer on them. I just cant be bothered with them much at all, you have to make 2 trips to do these decks and it just not worth doing them, for me.

Its nice when you see someones house that has a nice stained deck that is maintained, its just a rare sight around here

JL

[Matt in Dallas TX]

I like to do the job right or not do it at all.

My business depends and thrives on our reputation for good QUALITY work.
I dont want to half ass a job just because the Homeowner wanted to. AND THEN...people who see that job think thats the best we can do.

Would rather not do it at all.....or find another line of work. But thats just me...

.02 cents

[Jarrod]

Steve, you need to call me! 248-961-0800

[jon chapman]

I have never had anyone try to get me down on price. They either accept my estimate and they call me or I never hear from them again. Usually the ones that accept my estimate understand the amount of work that goes into it,(every one of them have moved from up North,) and hire me with out getting other estimates. The ones that get other estimates never call me back and its obviously a price issue.
I have only had one person get an estimate that was higher than mine. I had the feeling they had never done a deck before and had no clue how to price it.

Now that being said, ive done only 7 decks in 2 years and one multiple deck job at a condo complex. Not big business down here, but I love doing them. But with the ammount of work that goes into them, I aint about to do them for less than $1-$1.25 sf

[jrwood]

I charge between $1.25 per sq - $3 depending on degree of difficulty ( stripping, 2 story etc) I charge each linear foot of rail system as 3 sq ft. My goal is to make $60-$80. per hour. On the easy ones you can make quite a bit more. $60 minimum per hour.

[CLASSICPW]

I charge .80 sq ft wash, $1.25 sq ft strip, .40 sq ft clear, .60 sq ft semi and $1 sq ft solid, But I price every single job different. Every single deck is different, there are so many factors such as a previous clear applied to an easy prep wash for an application of a solid. I try to feel out the customer, get into their demographic. Using these techniques with my sales background II'd have to say I get 60% of my estimates and I never lowball. I explain every single step I take to the customer and provide a color chart with every estimate.

[Advanced P and GC Inc.]

DeGraffreed,
If you move, what will you do with all your customers??
I am in ATL, where are you located?
Matt

[Rfitz]

I use to run into that same dilemma, price, price, price so many low ballers,
what I do is explain they have 2 choices, option A do it very cheap, and redo it every 6 months to a year, or do it right and then only need a maint. job every 2-4 years for 1/2 the original price, when you are selling to educated people they get the picture real quick, and usually opt for a high quality job, keep in mind here the decks average $25K to $75K to build so, with that type of investment do you really want it to look like CRAP..? and they usually say absolutely not, if you present yourself professionally, you will get at least 50-60% of your high dollar deck jobs, at least I do, but I sell on Fear, of what they will be getting for that low price by the low ballers, and what they will get from us, I then I always throw in the FEAR you dont want to, be sued by a low baller that has no insurance, and falls 20 feet off your deck and breaks his neck, and that always gets them worried, but at least I am telling the truth, you have to FEAR your customers into buying from you....Fear of being ripped off, Fear of using $5.00 a gallon stain, Fear of not showing Up, Fear of doing horrible damage to their deck, home, landscaping etc, I use them all and usually get the sale, Keep in mind also 4 out of 6 companies they may call for bids will never show up, Gauranteed so even if you show up and give the bid you are 10 steps ahead from the start,
Perfect example of this is I am currently rehabbing a home for a customer we did a deck for last year, basically gutting and starting new, and I am trying to get bids from kitchen and bath specialist, and remember this is a huge Job maybe worth $25K to $35K and out of 10 companies I called I got 1 call back

So just showing up sets you miles apart
It Works For Us....

[smokey51]

I think it was Jon who said "They either call me or I never here from them again'. Jon, why don't you call them back the next day or two and ask them if they have any questions and also thank them for the opportunity to talk to them. This gives the customer the thought that hey this guy really cares and wants to do the job right. Do this even for customers you think you will never have a chance to close. I believe you would see your closing ration move up and your profit margin increase also. This not only works for decks, but anything you are trying to sell.

Smokey51

[twlinks]

I know this is an old thread, but thought I'd add what we get here in Kansas. Keep in mind, I'm pretty new at this and have only done a few decks, fences and a large commercial sign (pics in gallery). The decks I have done and have scheduled to do, I am charging $2.50-$3.00 per sq. ft...plus the cost of stain in most cases. Granted, this has been part of also painting their houses, but the deck is priced out seperately and usually, I tell them I'm discounting the deck because I'm painting the house too. The rodeo entrance sign that we did was a trade out...refinished the sign for a full page ad in the four night rodeo program. I know we have received one job from this already, so the high, hard work was worth the effort so far...and we made our little town's one claim to fame a little nicer for everyone. We got a huge amount of exposure, just being up on a lift for two days cleaning and staining the sign.

The decks I've done so far have been rather small to medium in size (300-500 sq. ft), so maybe my pricing won't hold up when it comes to a large deck, but I think that most of the reason I get the job is because I talk like I know what I'm doing, have pics and references from work we've done (and I bring my fiance along wearing a really short mini-skirt)...just kidding.

For the work involved that I've experienced so far, if I had to do them for $1 a sq. ft., I wouldn't be doing them. I enjoy the work and really enjoy taking something that looks like crap and making it look nice and new again...both in cleaning, staining and painting. I guess that's why we chose "newagain4u.com" as our web site name. The site is pretty lame so far but it will get better as I have more time to work on it.

[Dale]

Man I have to move to where you live! lol. If you figure that the actual sq.ft of a typical deck is about double that of the floor space, a 500 sq.ft deck @ $3. =$3000. + materials. Easy money! 2 500 footers a week and hit the lake. Just kidding, I assume you mean floor sq. footage?

[Deck Guy]

Again, it comes down to how you calculate square footage.

When you say 300 square feet, is that the floor area, or the floor and rails? A typical deck here that is 10x30, on the ground (which is rare), would have about 50 feet of railing. I multiply railing length by four to obtain square footage, so I would base my price for that deck on 500 square feet, and would charge about $450, and spend about four hours total on the job.

I shoot for about $70 an hour on deck work after direct expenses, so I'm in good shape there with only about $60-$70 in direct expenses on that project.

So it's either 300 multiplied by your cost per square foot, or 500 multiplied by mine. That explains the big difference in what we all charge "per square foot."

I also charge less per square foot on larger decks (using the economic theory of economy of scale), with price breaks at 400 and 900 square feet.

[Tom DeFrancesco]

Larry,
Prep, strip, brighten, dry and stain all in 4 hours ???????

[dsp powerwash]

I am sure however people price works for them, but i dont understand not pricing floor and rails seperatly. I can stain 300sf of floor in half an hour under the best situation spraying and probably roll and brush it in an hour., which is equal to 75 to 100 linear ft of rail.which would take much longer to stain and also longer to wash. any more i use sq ft to estimate materials, and just estimate the job by time. you can have two decks the same size and one could take twice as long as thre other. frank