Is your per-sqft number actually paying you? Free, no signup.
Presets are editable starting points, not quotes. Check your lumberyard.
Assumes every deck pays and costs like this one.
Deck quotes die on per-square-foot pricing. A single $/sqft number hides railings, stairs, tear-out, elevated framing, and permits, so this calculator builds the quote from every cost line instead. Start with your bar: the minimum dollars per hour you will work for (60), profit margin percent (20), a minimum job fee ($3,500), and a monthly take-home goal. Pick a material preset: Pressure-treated, Cedar, or Composite, each filling decking-plus-framing $/sqft, railing $/linear ft, and stair-run cost as editable starting points. Enter deck length and width. Tick the elevated-deck box for framing over 3 ft off the ground, and tear-out if you are hauling the old deck. The leaks card takes railing linear feet, stair runs, permits and drawings, plus delivery, dumpster, and misc costs. Add your build hours at your rate plus helper hours at helper pay. Results show the breakdown, the recommended quote (true cost plus margin, rounded up to $100, never below your minimum), effective $/sqft, and your effective hourly rate. Verdicts are LOSING MONEY, PRICED FAIRLY, or WORKING TOO CHEAP. The gut check grades your per-sqft instinct number, and the month planner turns your goal into decks. No signup; runs on your phone.
Example only, not typical pricing. Cedar preset, 16 x 20 deck = 320 sq ft at $14 decking and framing: $4,480. Railing is 40 x $45 = $1,800, one stair run $450, permits plus delivery $900. Labor is 60 x $60 = $3,600 plus 40 helper hours x $25 = $1,000. True cost = 4,480 + 1,800 + 450 + 900 + 4,600 = $12,230. With a 20 percent margin: 12,230 x 1.20 = $14,676, rounded up to the nearest $100 = $14,700. That is $45.94 per sq ft, with $2,470 of profit in the quote. Your effective rate = (14,700 - 4,480 - 1,800 - 450 - 900 - 1,000) / 60 = $101.17 per hour, which clears the $60 bar, so the verdict is PRICED FAIRLY. A $45 per sqft gut quote is $14,400, which is $300 under the recommendation but above true cost, so the verdict is WORKING TOO CHEAP. An $8,000 monthly goal at $2,470 profit per deck needs 3.24, rounded up to 4 decks, which is 240 of your build hours.
**Q** Why does the tool price railings and stairs separately?
Because they cost more per foot than the deck field. Railings run $34 or more per sqft of deck, and a flat per-sqft quote averages them down to nothing. The leaks card keeps them as their own lines so the math stays honest.
**Q** What does the elevated-deck toggle change?
Elevated framing adds structure, posts, and labor. Tick it and the tool adds your $/sqft adder across the whole deck. Ground-level decks skip it entirely.
**Q** How is the effective hourly rate computed?
Quote minus materials, railing, stairs, permits, delivery, and helper pay, divided by your build hours. That is what your time actually earns on this deck, measured against your bar.
**Q** Why is the minimum job fee separate from the margin?
Small decks carry fixed costs (permits, delivery, mobilization) that margin alone does not cover. The minimum fee floors the quote so tiny jobs cannot price below it.
**Q** What does the month planner tell me?
How many decks like this one reach your monthly take-home goal, and how many of your build hours that roster costs. Past 3 decks it flags the plan, because at that point you raise the margin, not the deck count.