How much for a deck in Brisbane?

[wylie]

I'm keen to get an idea of how much we could expect to pay for a covered deck in Brisbane.

It is 8.6m x 4m with zinc custom orb with 50mm thick blanket insulation, new rear stairs, 10mm green board to ceiling including insulation. Hang french doors, $500 allowance for electrics, excavation for four (maybe more?) posts at back, removal of existing stairs and removal of concrete pad and skip bins to take it away.

It will require removing part of the back of the roof and joining in the new deck roof to the existing roof, and also building it around an existing hip, so not simply a straight-forward "slap it on" roof.

It includes certification of plans and frame and final inspections, engineer design and inspection and soils test.

We are looking at $38K which allows for hubby to do some of the grunt work. Without his grunt work we would be looking at closer to $45K.

It seems high but we've not built a deck for several years. I was thinking $30K would cover it, but clearly it is either a high quote or I'm out of touch. This is our first quote from a builder we know quite well.

Does it seem high? Or am I just out of touch with what costs to build a decent deck these days?

 

[Jamie M]

Hi Wylie

We just had a 25m2 deck built out of composite timber with aluminum rails - it's not covered but looks great.

It doesn't really compare to what you're doing because it's quite basic in comparison.

All up it was probably around $12k with mates rates labour.

The composite decking boards were around $3.5k delivered. The railing was $3k. The rest of the materials were probably around the $1k - $2k mark with the rest of the money going towards labour and beer

Cheers

Jamie

 

[Nemo30]

Wylie - have you got a picture of what you think it might look like finished?

I cant help with the quote, but curious as I want to put a deck on as well.

 

[willair]

I'm keen to get an idea of how much we could expect to pay for a covered deck in Brisbane.

It is 8.6m x 4m with zinc custom orb with 50mm thick blanket insulation, new rear stairs, 10mm green board to ceiling including insulation. Hang french doors, $500 allowance for electrics, excavation for four (maybe more?) posts at back, removal of existing stairs and removal of concrete pad and skip bins to take it away.

It will require removing part of the back of the roof and joining in the new deck roof to the existing roof, and also building it around an existing hip, so not simply a straight-forward "slap it on" roof.

It includes certification of plans and frame and final inspections, engineer design and inspection and soils test.

We are looking at $38K which allows for hubby to do some of the grunt work. Without his grunt work we would be looking at closer to $45K.

It seems high but we've not built a deck for several years. I was thinking $30K would cover it, but clearly it is either a high quote or I'm out of touch. This is our first quote from a builder we know quite well.

Does it seem high? Or am I just out of touch with what costs to build a decent deck these days?

Very simple way is get the plans drawn up,then price the materials delivered to your site then compare,but be very carefull the way you tie in the deck roof with the roof as you may have to step down the deck to gain the right fall on the deck so the water runs,or you set a box gutter in between the house and deck,myself if the complete materials are in hard wood and steel then 38k is a bit on the high side but that's only my opinion..

 

[wylie]

I don't have a photo from the back yard, but I have this photo take from one corner of the deck on another IP.



We were not there when the balustrades went in. We like wide boards and narrow gaps. These are narrow boards, wide gaps... yuck! But we weren't going to rip them out.

Proposed new deck will be similar, except the quote we have for this proposed deck will have insulation under the zincalume and then a waterproof plasterboard with even more insulation. It will look more finished, less rustic. We will probably do the same for this one one day to hide the rafters and zincalume. This deck in the photo from memory cost us about $20K (little less?) probably ten years ago, but the proposed one is slightly smaller (not much) and has the extra layer to finish it so you don't see the zincalume (as mentioned above).

The proposed one is slightly more tricky to roof as there is a hip at the back that is exactly the same as this back view (except our house doesn't have the stove recess. So, this is what it looks like now (almost identical) and our quote includes removing the existing roof on the left hand side to where the last sheet comes in and making it flatter so it spans the new 4m deck. We have to change the angle or the back of the deck will be too low. This also means the new roof must be fitted around the kitchen with hipped roof, so a bit more work required and tarps required whilst this new roof is attached to the current. The one in the photo above was a much easier roof to build as it just attached under the straight across gutter at the back of the house. No cutting, just slotted in skillion style. No removal of any of the original roof, so there is money involved in this part of the job.



This is one I prepared earlier ... this is the same house that we have but our front verandah was closed in with sliders years ago



I'm thinking of keeping our front veranda closed in but making it less ugly so we keep the extra "rooms". Opening it up will be prettier but the loss of living space is a big detraction, especially if we do the back deck. Nobody will want to sit at the front anyway.

And this photo is that deck built ten years ago taken from inside the living room. You cannot see much really. I need to update my photos.

 

[Nemo30]

Wow - looks fantastic. Very relaxing.

Love the french doors too. I'm very jealous. My proposed outdoor area is very boring in comparison.

 

[wylie]

Thanks Nemo. It makes a huge difference in Brisbane climate to the rentability and is like having a huge living room for nine months of the year.

I've just heard back from someone whose deck I've been on. Beautiful deck 10 x 4m and her costs were $27,600 for the roof, $14,250 floor and footings etc (in 2009) and new steps last year for $5,700.

This deck is very different in style, but well made, similar size and this one has a very high angled (architect/y) roof but separate from house roof, so the work required to get our roof attached and angled right and fit around the kitchen makes me think this price might not be too high.

Builder (of course) must make a profit too.

 

[NBS]

Hi Wylie,

This deck you are looking at is this on the house I had a look at Mt Gravatt way?

If it is, I must have been looking at something else I don't remember a hip that would impede a roof for a deck. Of course age and my memory could be acting up again.

Brian

 

[wylie]

Hi Brian. You and me both... getting old .

This house is in Coorparoo. I don't think you've seen it.

The second photo in my post No 5 is exactly the same house style, but ours doesn't have the stove recess off the back of the hipped section. It is a typical worker cottage, one of the "spec" houses of the times. I kept this photo because the house is exactly the same as ours and they've done some reconfiguring of kitchen/bathrooms that could work for our house.

 

[Hypnotic Cat]

Hard to compare apples for apples, but I had a quote this week for a similar size 8m x 5m Merbau deck and pergola which came in at around $23k. Knocking out walls and adding French doors was about another $7k.

My advice to you would be to get more quotes – but it's not always about who is the cheapest. I mentioned in another thread my experiencing of talking to 6 or 7 builders before I found the right bloke to work with for renovations.

 

[NBS]

Hi Wylie,

That is not a difficult extension to do and the hip is not an issue. A fair amount of $$$ will go into soil test, engineer, certifiers, council fees, plan, etc. I feel this would be in the range of $4500 - $6000.

Brian

 

[wylie]

Thanks Brian. What do you think about our quote price?