what to charge for decking?

hi folks I am about to finish my first decking job tomorrow weather permitting. Unfortunately the more I look at the figures for materials and labour the more i'm worried the customer will have a heart attack. With thanks to some of the forum members I think its a good solid job which despite the customer opting for the cheapest decking boards, I have done everything I can to prolong the life of the structure. This is a two stage contract, firstly install the decking, and landscape the rest of the garden at a later date. The area covered is approximately 30 sq. I have bought all the materials to finish the job which comes in at £645, plus my labour costs at £15 per hour for 23 hours, add another 8 to finish the job (£465), that brings the final figure for materials and labout to £1,110! Is this a crazy price for thirty meters of decking? P.S. there has been a full days work done on the decking since these pictures were taken and more than half the boards are now fitted.

I don't know anything about building decking but if someone had given me a quote of £1100 to build something like that in the picture I would have snapped their hand off! Do you work near Merseyside? My garden needs doing!

£465 labour seems far too low for a proper professional job like that. Don't forgot all the planning time, sourcing materials, material markups etc.

I don't know your situation but obviously just starting out. Always give the customer a written quotation before starting work on that scale. And make sure you build in enough contingency to cover for all eventualities.

That document Craig has linked to gives prices around £100+ per m2. £3k would seem a more realistic price to me for work like that, more depending on materials and finish.

But you will learn from this and move on. Don't despair, with skills like that you will have plenty of people requiring your services. (Just double your rate or so!)

Replies

Craig McGibbon August 26, 2015 at 9:46pm

Did you not give and estimate or quotation for the work to protect yourself?

However, in this case it maybe a surprise to your client but suggest you check out http://deckingnetwork.com/page/how-much-does-deck-cost
PRO

James McKay August 26, 2015 at 10:11pm

I don't know anything about building decking but if someone had given me a quote of £1100 to build something like that in the picture I would have snapped their hand off! Do you work near Merseyside? My garden needs doing!

£465 labour seems far too low for a proper professional job like that. Don't forgot all the planning time, sourcing materials, material markups etc.

I don't know your situation but obviously just starting out. Always give the customer a written quotation before starting work on that scale. And make sure you build in enough contingency to cover for all eventualities.

That document Craig has linked to gives prices around £100+ per m2. £3k would seem a more realistic price to me for work like that, more depending on materials and finish.

But you will learn from this and move on. Don't despair, with skills like that you will have plenty of people requiring your services. (Just double your rate or so!)
Craig McGibbon August 26, 2015 at 10:25pm

The problem is because you haven't agreed a price then the client will either

- Flip out at £1110 and may at worse case refuse to pay anything.

- Or they'll be very happy with the cheap price and you have lost out some profit.

Take loads of photos for your website...
Colin Hunt August 27, 2015 at 7:01am

£1,110.00 for 30 sq m. £37.00 per sq m, looks pretty cheap to me! I would have thought it should be nearer £2,000.00
PRO

Andrew Watts August 27, 2015 at 8:46am

Ditto agreed with above. Think you've undersold on the labour rate and all the planning, product selection, collection etc etc. Plus materials should have a handling mark-up. Looks a quality job. But, be consistent with what you're quoting discussions were and chalk it up to experience for getting the next job more accurate/profitable.
Rory August 27, 2015 at 9:52am

Personally id double your labour charge but thats me talking. At £37per square meter I can hardly see anyone kicking off about it.
Dan Davies August 27, 2015 at 2:49pm

That looks like quality work.. I echo the others your price is cheap! I have just quoted for a deck that is around 20m2 and abit more than that. As for labour rates on big jobs like this I would never do a hourly rate. I always do a day rate that way if you finish abit early its a bonus. But then again if you go over it comes out of your pocket. Swings and round abouts I guess. :-)

Also with regards to giving the customer a bill at the end. I would never do a job where a formal quote and price was not agreed before I started. Especially on big projects like this where materials alone are the best part of £700.

But please post a finished pic as that is going to look lovely!
Gavin Gray August 27, 2015 at 8:21pm

that is the best deck i have seen this year!

its only a relativley new service that i offer but even i'm dearer than you lol
Chris Jackson August 27, 2015 at 8:59pm

As others have said it sounds cheap to me. Your rate of £15 per hour is low. Once you take your overheads into consideration, and some put aside for time you aren't working (due to holiday or poor weather) then you aren't on a lot.

When I'm working out costings for larger jobs I tend to base things on half days, full days or multiples there of, rather than on hours. eg. clear the site by lunchtime, have the rafters installed by the end of the next day, boards down the following day. total 3 days. It's as accurate as I need. If I think the site clearance will only take a couple of hours it still goes in as half a day. This extra goes towards contingency incase I hit any snags. I should clarify this is just in my own calculations. The client doesn't see this, they just get the resulting price.
john mcmaster August 27, 2015 at 9:28pm

Thanks for the great feedback guys, Yeah rooky mistake not talking money first, advice taken on board so won't happen again. Anyway the customer was undecided on how to finish the curved side after I advised him about using decking boards with relief cuts on the back to help them bend. Seeing as there were enough off-cuts I used these. not sure if it works or not, but its not my decision.