Last updated October 31, 2026

How much to charge for deck work in 2026

The hourly rate a one-truck deck builder needs to charge, built from what deck builders actually earn, a price list for 14 common jobs with the arithmetic shown, what moves the number, and the mistakes that cost the most.

Short answer: a one-truck deck business that pays its owner what the median carpenter earns, carries normal overhead, and keeps a 20 percent margin needs about $80 an hour. To pay yourself like the top quarter of deck builders, charge about $90. Top ten percent, $105. Below $70 you are subsidizing the customer with your own wages. Every number on this page is built from published wage data and a model you can see, and the price list further down uses the $90 rate.

Decks are priced by the square foot of deck surface, and the decking material sets the price more than anything else: treated pine is the floor, cedar is above it, and composite is two to three times the material with easier maintenance the customer is paying for. The framing underneath is the same treated lumber whatever is on top, which is why a bid should separate the frame, the surface and the rail, so the customer sees what the composite upgrade actually buys.

Deck builders are carpenters in the BLS data, and the wage is the right floor. The money is in the rail, the stairs and the details: a composite rail system can cost as much per foot as the deck costs per square foot, stairs are slow, and a ledger attached wrong is a collapse with your name on it. The bid prices the rail per foot and the stairs per step and names the ledger and footing method, because inspectors ask and customers should.

What deck builders earn, and what that means for your rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 670,090 people working as carpenters in its May 2025 survey and published what they are paid. That is the wage an employer pays an employee, which is the floor for what an owner-operator should pay themselves. A rate is built on top of it: the hidden cost of an hour of labor, the overhead of running a truck, the hours you cannot bill, and a margin. The model here uses a 22% labor load for payroll taxes, workers comp and the liability share, $30,000 a year of overhead for the truck, insurance, phone, software, tools and licenses, 1,100 billable hours a year, and a 20% margin. Change any input and the rate moves; the hourly rate calculator runs it with your numbers.

If you pay yourself like the	BLS wage	Loaded	Overhead per hour	Rate to charge
Bottom quarter	$23	$28	$27	$70
Median	$29	$36	$27	$80
Top quarter	$37	$45	$27	$90
Top ten percent	$48	$59	$27	$105

Rate = (wage × 1.22 + $30,000 ÷ 1,100) ÷ (1 − 0.2), rounded to $5. Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, carpenters, national.

The $30,000 overhead covers a truck, a trailer, an auger or post-hole equipment, saws and nailers, and insurance. Lumber prices moved through 2024 and 2025 and composite decking prices change by brand and season, so the material lines are quoted from this week's supplier price and the bid expires in 14 days. The rate is per person; a deck crew is two.

A deck price list, with the math

Flat prices for the jobs deck builders quote most, built the same way every time: hours at the $90 rate, plus materials at cost with a 30 percent markup, rounded to $5. The hours and material costs are example inputs for a typical job in a typical market, stated so you can swap in your own. A job with a crew of two doubles the labor line. Per-square-foot prices are for a rectangular deck up to 3 feet off grade on concrete footings, attached with a ledger, in diggable ground. Rail, stairs and demolition are separate. Crew labor is shown as total person-hours.

Job	Labor	Materials at cost	Price	What it assumes
Frame, treated lumber, per sq ft	0.12 h	$9	$25	2x8 or 2x10 joists at 16 in., beams, posts, footings, hardware
Decking, 5/4 treated pine, per sq ft	0.07 h	$4	$10	Screwed
Decking, cedar, per sq ft	0.07 h	$8	$15	Screwed
Decking, composite, mid-grade, per sq ft	0.09 h	$11	$20	Hidden fasteners
Rail, treated wood, per linear foot	0.4 h	$14	$55	36 in., 2x2 balusters
Rail, composite with aluminum balusters, per linear foot	0.45 h	$48	$105	Mid-grade system
Rail, aluminum, per linear foot	0.35 h	$55	$105	Welded panels
Stairs, per step, 4 ft wide, treated	1.5 h	$45	$195	Stringers, treads, risers
Stairs, per step, composite	1.75 h	$85	$270	Composite treads and risers
Elevated deck surcharge, over 6 ft, per sq ft	0.05 h	$2	$5	Taller posts, bracing, more hardware
Demolish and haul existing deck, per sq ft	0.05 h	$1	$5	Dump fee in material
Permit and plan, per project	5 h	none	$450	Your hours; fee as its own line
Deck lighting, per fixture	0.5 h	$40	$95	Low-voltage, transformer extra
Under-deck drainage, per sq ft	0.05 h	$6	$10	Membrane system

Price = hours × $90 + materials × 1.3. Trip or diagnostic fees, permits and disposal are extra lines.

This is a sample. The free price book builder prices the full deck book, 32 jobs, with your own wage, overhead and margin, and gives you the PDF for the truck and the spreadsheet that keeps the formulas.

What moves the price

Surface material. Treated, cedar or composite changes the material cost by three times. Quote the one chosen and show the others as options with the same frame.
Rail. Priced per linear foot, and composite or aluminum rail can cost as much as the deck surface. Count the feet, including the stairs.
Height and stairs. A deck off a second-story door is taller posts, bracing, and a long run of stairs. Every step is a line.
Permit and inspection. Decks are permitted and inspected in most places, with the ledger and the footings checked. The permit is a line and the inspections are on the timeline.
Demo and site. The old deck has to go, and a sloped yard or rock changes the footings. Walk it before pricing.

Hourly, flat rate, or by the unit

Per square foot for the frame and the surface as separate lines, rail per linear foot by type, stairs per step, demolition per square foot, and the permit and lighting as lines. The customer sees why the composite deck is $9,000 more and that most of it is material they chose.

Never hourly. A deposit that covers the lumber and composite order, a third to a half, with the bid expiring in 14 days. Balance at the final inspection.

A worked deck bid

A 16x20 deck, 320 square feet, composite surface and composite rail, 3 feet off grade, four steps, old deck out. Demo: 320 at 0.05 hours and $1. Frame: 320 at 0.12 and $9. Decking: 320 at 0.09 and $11. Rail: 52 feet at 0.45 and $48. Stairs: 4 at 1.75 and $85. Permit 5 hours and the fee. About 120 person-hours at the top-quarter rate from the table, a crew of two for about seven days. Materials marked up 25 percent. A third down for the order.

Most markets see $55 to $90 a square foot for a composite deck with composite rail, and this arithmetic lands there with the rail visible as the line it is. The sample composite deck estimate shows the finished bid and the deck calculator counts the boards and joists.

The pricing mistakes that cost the most

Rail folded into the square-foot price. Fifty feet of composite rail is $4,000 of material.
Stairs priced as deck. Each step is more than an hour.
No permit line in a city that inspects ledgers.
Composite quoted from last season's price.

Writing the price into a bid that gets signed

The number is half the job. The other half is a bid the customer can say yes to from their phone: the scope in lines, one price, the deposit and payment terms, the warranty, a date it expires, and a signature. The free deck estimate template is laid out that way in PDF, Word and Excel, and How to bid deck jobs covers the scope lines that keep you out of arguments. If you want the typing done for you, BidWriter Pro turns your notes into a clean bid your customer signs on their phone, with the deposit paid by card. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Sources and method

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Carpenters, national percentile hourly wages and employment.
Also: Construction laborers, median $23 an hour, 1,096,780 employed.
Rate model: labor load 1.22, overhead $30,000 a year, 1,100 billable hours, 20% margin. Hours and material costs in the price list are example inputs, not survey data. Prices are examples, not advice for your market.

Questions contractors ask

How much do deck builders charge per square foot in 2026?

Treated pine decks commonly $30 to $45 a square foot installed, cedar $40 to $60, composite $55 to $90, with rail and stairs as separate lines. Built from BLS wages, a one-truck deck builder needs about $80 an hour per person at the median wage and $90 to earn like the top quarter.

How much should I charge for deck railing?

Per linear foot by type: treated wood about $25 to $45 installed, composite with aluminum balusters $90 to $140, aluminum $100 to $150. Count the feet including the stairs.

How do I price deck stairs?

Per step, about an hour and a half of labor plus stringers, treads and risers, commonly $100 to $200 a step in treated lumber and more in composite.

Should I separate framing from decking on the bid?

Yes. The frame is the same whatever is on top, and separating them shows the customer what the composite upgrade buys and makes the options easy to price.

What deposit should a deck builder take?

A third to a half at signing to cover the lumber and composite order, with a 14-day expiration on the bid and the balance due at the final inspection.

Write a decks bid from your notes

Type the job the way you would text it. It comes back as a finished estimate in about five seconds, in your words. No account.

Type a job the way you would text it

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Free, no account: estimate checker, job price calculator, markup vs margin, hourly rate, and 84 sample estimates.