I am new to the professional construction world, but have loved dabbling all my life.
I have a drafting course under my belt along with CAD. My question is how much should I charge for a deck I am designing? I obviously won’t charge as much as a professional, but don’t even know if it goes by hour, or by job. If any one has any answers, that would be great.
Replies
Varies by locale. Range from 6-15% maybe of the project cost. If you're starting, that puts you more at the 6%. I assume you're talking about doing the CAD work.
I'm bidding a deck, I want 5K for it, I have to assume I'm paying you maybe $350 if this is something I need blueprints for.
Kid,
A couple things to consider.
The experience and reference may be worth more than the money to you. Especially if you want more of this kind of sidework.
Before you know what to charge you must know thew scope of the project. A straight forward project can be done in half the time of a complicated one regardless of the size. You must also know your clients (the best that you can). Consider: What are they willing to pay? Do they know what they want? Are they indecisive? Who is doing the work? Are you responsible for determining structural members and connections?
Detail a scope of design and attach it to your contract as "Exhibit A" or include it right in your contract. HAVE A CONTRACT, EVEN IF YOUR CLIENT IS A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER.
dl
WHOA!!!! Sorry, little red flag went off in my head on this one.
Are you a PE (Professional Engineer)? Have a design background for the load and use required? Or only doing the "top deck design" (artistic on how the wood is laid out, letting the HO figure the structure underneath?).
For my 30' x 50' shop, I paid a PE $275.00 for the foundation plan. Quite reasonable, as the requirements were simple and he knew the area's soil. He stamped it, so that also means he assumes liability.
So if you design a deck, and it FAILS, who is liable for any damages? Recently a friend's father FELL two stories when the deck he was leaning on gave way. The fellow broke his arm, leg, and has other damages. Little irony is he is a lawyer who deals with Personal Injury. Oh, something tells me everyone involved with that will end up in deposition (not fun, sitting there and getting questioned for 8 hours is not my idea of how to spend a day!)
Don't mean to toss cold water on you, but just giving you an idea of what you might be getting yourself into. No, I don't think you have to be a PE to design a deck, but might be wise to back up with common sense on the design, loading, building materials and what to reasonable expect. It is very easy to "over engineer" it, but for value added you need to specify just what is required with reasonable thought with a 2x safety factor to it. This gives your clients good value for the money, and also is great satisfaction when you can figure out how to build that deck for $2000 in material, versus $4000 in material. For that type of savings.... your fee soon pays for itself.
Oh my, just realized when reading this back to myself... I sound just like my father! I guess he would be proud! Also remember how I HATED his (usually sound) advice as a kid!
Tom
I can agree with most all that's been said, but I want to talk to you about your attitude. You are putting yourself down when you say "not as much as a professional".
You are doing a pro job aren't you? If not, you shouldn't be doing it or someone will get hurt. If the job is pro, charge a pro rate. If amature for the experience, do it for free and make sure they understand that it is worth what they are paying for it.
I find that basic design runs 6-8% of job cost. If detailed working drawings and job supervision are needed, it goes to at least 15% - These are for larger jobs thatn decks. I charge Hourly for my design services, from 38-75/hr (I knock down price for easy customers and neighbors)
Kid, who exactly are you doing the designing for? Is it for: for a homeowner to do his or her own construction or go shopping for a builder, a builder, or your own design/build?
When you say new to construction but dabbled all your life we could take that as anything. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances that have dabbled too but wouldn't know the first thing about structural loads and making a design WORK (I hope you are modestly understating your experience). Unless you have some structural engineering education or hands on experience working under an experience builder, I would say zero. I seen plenty of NICE looking designs not worth any more than the paper it was printed on. Consider this, if this design is for a homeowner that contracts me to build, how P.O.ed do you think they will be when I have to charge a re-design fee because it's wrong? They will not be ticked at me. If you lack the experience I mentioned and you feel confident in you abilities go ahead and use the previous fees listed as your guide but prepared to buy plenty of aspirin.
Ps. I would not rely 100% on those deck computer programs for accuracy. And approval by the building department does not release you from structural liability.