How much was your decking?

We just had a quote for timber decking to our alfresco. Just shy of 19 m2, treated pine stirrups/bearers/joists and merbau decking, total price just over $4,500. Let me tell you I had to pick my jaw up off the ground after reading that!

How much did you pay for your timber decking? I'd be interested to find out if people have paid a similar price to this, or if this quote is in fact expensive.

Needless to say, we won't be going ahead with the quote. I'm leaning more towards liquid limestone now!

I am 75% through DIY building a 28 square meter merbau deck.

Total cost including permit is about $3800 or about $135 per square.

Based upon this, the quote is quite reasonable, its just what a deck costs!

For the permit I needed an actual cost estimate and calling around was quoted $250-$300 per meter for a low level deck. Yours calculates at $236. Different state of course...

I quote each job on an individual cost, because every job is different, but they all end up between $230 and $270 per metre so that quote is spot on

we want a deck 58 sq meters - @ 250 per meter - we will be rethinking that one

The bigger the deck, however, the cheaper per meter it is

We recenty had a jarrah deck made.

It was approx 22.5 metres square. Secret fixing and included oiling.

Total cost was $4500

Was very impressed with the finished product and workmanship.

We've almost completed our 25m2 merbau deck.

Complete DIY job.

Total cost including all posts, bearers, joists, merbau, nails, screws and concrete came to $2500.

Ours was 36sqmt. Cost just under $10k. Going by the $250sqmt rule - that seems about right.

We had a raised bit to make a sun deck too, with stairs too though...

We love it. But yeah, $$$.

Hi Guys,

We just got a quote back from the tiler to do our alfresco area. They want to charge us

Qty Unit Cost Total Cost
Supply floor tiles 32.9 m2 30 $987
Labour to lay floor tiles 26.8 m2 42 $1125.6
Labour to lay riser 10.5 1m 22 $231
Underlay 26.8 m2 22 $589.6

Total Cost $2933!!

As we already have a concrete slab down a couple of q's for you

How much would it have cost if you took the slab out?
How much time did it take DIY?
Would you recommend to a newbie?

Thanks heaps

If your slab extends through the alfresco it may be a requirement of the slab design for it to be there.

Its no big deal, there are methods to deck on an existing concrete slab (it may even make it easier as you dont have to worry about digging out footings and pouring concrete). I would have a decker come in, quote and give you an idea on how to do it and then weight up the DIY cost.

DIY things generally take longer as your "overly" cautious and learning as you go. I would set aside 5 to 6 full weekends for a deck construction (less depending upon how much help you have).

Also consider the decking tiles you can buy from bunnings or freedom furniture. They may give you the appearance you want without a lot of the hassle.

$3k for a 30+ sq meter area might be a good option. With my limited experience a deck will come in higher.

i kinda flinched when i saw the tile labour costs.. but then again you may be right.. it is probably a decent option however the timber decks look awesome.

Wow...these deck prices are very cheap!!!

I live in North QLD and we are looking at building a 35sqm hardwood deck on the 2nd floor. I cannot get a quote that is under $1000/sqm..So for a 35sqm deck we are looking at $35,000.

A lot of people are saying that it is more expensive because it is on the 2nd floor. But jumping from $250 to $1000 is a MASSIVE jump in my opinion.

What do you guys think???

It is probably cheaper to fly a builder up from Sydney and put him up at the Grand Mercure for 2 weeks while he builds the deck

We built our deck DIY and it was around 17m2 for around $2k. The materials are quiet expensive, and alot of labour involved. I'm not surprise that it would cost quite abit for a tradie to do it.

NQ highset decks are generally more expensive due to the Cyclone wind rating applied to most constructions and most builders wont take the chance (and shouldnt) with lower wind ratings even though it may be more sheltered - I'm currently investigating building a 24m2 deck and yeah most quotes are comming in at $1000/sqm or more (with stairs and roof) I've done some pricing on the materials and reckon it can be done around the $600/sqm mark but am still looking. engineering and footings in the cyclone areas seem to be the killer.

Hi Locus, I build timber decking in the Perth metro area & will be doing all our own stuff of course once house is handed over. I charge $140.00m2 for Kapur decking providing it's ground level. That cost includes steel stirrups, treated pine subframes, cement and oiled. Merbau cost a little more because it requires more work and to purchase this timber is more expensive. I guess it depends on what you like. I have used both timbers on previous houses including Batu With Batu even though we regularly maintained it the colour went quite dark which we didn"t like at all. At the end of the day it depends on what people can afford to pay as there are quite a few different types of timber you can use including the reconstituted stuff (with hidden fixtures). if anyone tells you reconstitted doesn't fade-it does! Maintaining the deck is a big thing to keep it looking good otherwise it ends up looking crappy. Hope this is helpful for you.

For our DIY decking I'll be just shy of $1k for 21sqm in merbau.
Do you need a permit for all kinds of decking?

Wow did you build your merbau deck for only $1k? Are you sure? Just merbau alone would cost that much, then you have to add in the pine for bearers/joist, nuts bolts, post etc
If you did do it for $1k, where did you buy your timber from, its a very good price.

My deck is cost $4500 with steel frame , merbau21sqm.

We are also considering going with a steel frame, as we are in a flood zone, and thought it might be better in the long run if it ends up sitting in pools of water (it will be 1.2m off the ground though)

But it is a lot more expensive... quotes ~$5600 for frame only. (around 33 sqm)

Got my 22 sqm decking with only 169 $ per/sqm , incl. screw fixing and staining .Work was done on time and no problems at all!
Company was Calvin`s Decks and Pergolas.