The Cost Desk

Cost estimate

Wood deck (pressure-treated)

What building a low pressure-treated wood deck can cost per square foot, without railing or stairs, built from published wages and shelf prices.

Data last checked . Every input is dated below.

sq ft

Length times width. A 12 by 20 foot deck is 240 sq ft. This is a low deck under about 30 inches high, attached to the house, with no railing or stairs.

Adjusts labor (state wages for this trade), materials and permits (state price levels). Permit fees are a rough stand-in; towns vary.

Fine-tune the estimateoptional

Know what your materials cost or how long the crew will take? Move a slider and the estimate follows. It stays in your browser.

0.225 hours per sq ft
0.075Ours: 0.15 to 0.30.45
$6.8 per sq ft
$2.7Ours: $5.5 to $8$12

Stays in your browser. We only place it against the range.

Typical cost

Planning range $3,800 to $10,000

About $28.75 per sq ft, typical.

Where the money goes

  • Labor$2,20032%
  • Materials$1,75025%
  • Permits and inspections$2504%
  • Haul-away and disposal$100%
  • Contractor overhead and profit$2,70039%

For information only. A planning range, not a quote. We take care, but our sources can lag and so can we, so a figure may be out of date. It combines the low end of every input and the high end of every input, so it is deliberately wide. Real quotes can still fall outside it.

What moves the price

The same job can quote very differently. These are the usual reasons.

Height and railing
A deck more than about 30 inches above the ground needs a railing, and stairs are extra. Both can add a lot and are not in these figures.
Decking material
Pressure-treated pine is the lowest-cost option. Cedar, hardwood and composite boards cost more to buy and some take less upkeep.
Footings and soil
Frost depth, soft or sloped ground and rock change how deep and how many footings are needed.
Attachment to the house
Flashing the ledger board properly keeps water out of the wall. A free-standing deck needs extra posts and beams instead.
Permit and inspection
Most towns require a permit for an attached deck. Fees and the number of inspections vary.
Lumber prices
Lumber prices move through the year. The shelf prices here were read on one day.

The same job at other sizes, and in each state

Both tables use the same estimate as the calculator above. They are here to read across; the calculator takes your own size and state.

Estimate at five sizes, US average
SizeTypicalRangePer sq ft
100 sq ft$3,550$2,500 to $4,600$35.29
230 sq ft$6,650$3,650 to $9,650$28.83
350 sq ft$9,850$5,400 to $14,300$28.21
480 sq ft$13,400$7,400 to $19,300$27.89
600 sq ft$16,600$9,300 to $24,000$27.71

Small jobs cost more per sq ft because a contractor has a minimum charge, and the per-unit figure falls as the job grows until the minimum no longer applies.

Cost by state, at 240 sq ft
Estimate by state and the District of Columbia at 240 sq ft
StateTypicalRangeAgainst the US average
Alabama$5,850$3,300 to $8,400−15%
Alaska$7,900$4,200 to $11,600+15%
Arizona$6,400$3,550 to $9,250−7%
Arkansas$5,850$3,300 to $8,450−15%
California$7,850$4,200 to $11,500+14%
Colorado$6,900$3,800 to $10,100about the same
Connecticut$7,000$3,800 to $10,200+2%
Delaware$6,650$3,650 to $9,600−4%
District of Columbia$7,150$3,900 to $10,400+4%
Florida$6,150$3,450 to $8,800−11%
Georgia$6,000$3,400 to $8,600−13%
Hawaii$8,500$4,500 to $12,400+23%
Idaho$6,250$3,500 to $9,000−9%
Illinois$7,850$4,200 to $11,500+13%
Indiana$6,700$3,650 to $9,750−3%
Iowa$6,250$3,450 to $9,000−10%
Kansas$6,350$3,500 to $9,200−8%
Kentucky$6,150$3,450 to $8,850−11%
Louisiana$5,900$3,300 to $8,500−15%
Maine$6,700$3,650 to $9,700−3%
Maryland$7,200$3,900 to $10,500+4%
Massachusetts$7,650$4,100 to $11,300+11%
Michigan$6,600$3,600 to $9,550−5%
Minnesota$7,150$3,900 to $10,500+4%
Mississippi$5,850$3,300 to $8,350−16%
Missouri$6,700$3,700 to $9,750−3%
Montana$6,450$3,550 to $9,300−7%
Nebraska$6,100$3,400 to $8,800−12%
Nevada$7,000$3,800 to $10,200+1%
New Hampshire$6,800$3,750 to $9,850−2%
New Jersey$7,500$4,100 to $10,900+9%
New Mexico$6,300$3,500 to $9,100−9%
New York$7,700$4,200 to $11,300+12%
North Carolina$5,950$3,350 to $8,500−14%
North Dakota$6,300$3,500 to $9,100−9%
Ohio$6,500$3,550 to $9,450−5%
Oklahoma$5,800$3,250 to $8,300−16%
Oregon$7,350$4,000 to $10,700+7%
Pennsylvania$6,750$3,700 to $9,750−2%
Rhode Island$6,750$3,700 to $9,800−2%
South Carolina$6,200$3,450 to $8,950−10%
South Dakota$5,950$3,350 to $8,500−14%
Tennessee$6,100$3,400 to $8,800−11%
Texas$6,000$3,400 to $8,650−13%
Utah$6,200$3,450 to $9,000−10%
Vermont$6,600$3,650 to $9,600−4%
Virginia$6,450$3,600 to $9,350−6%
Washington$7,800$4,200 to $11,400+13%
West Virginia$6,200$3,450 to $8,900−10%
Wisconsin$6,700$3,650 to $9,750−3%
Wyoming$6,400$3,550 to $9,250−7%

Each state's wages for this trade, material price level and permit level are applied to the same job. They are statewide averages; towns within a state differ, and an expensive city and a rural county can sit far apart.

How we got these numbers

Labor, parts, overhead and permits, added up. Each assumption below says how solid it is.

Checked sourcePublished, secondhandOur estimate
  • Our estimateLabor hours of 0.15 to 0.30 a square foot (for 240 sq ft, 36 to 72 hours across the crew, covering footings, posts, beam, joists, ledger, decking and cleanup) are our estimate: we found no time study.
  • Checked sourceMaterials of $5.50 to $8.00 a square foot are our parts list priced at Lowe's shelf prices on 5 Nov 2026 for a 12 by 16 ft deck: 2 x 8 joists at 16 inches, a doubled 2 x 10 beam, three 6 x 6 posts on concrete footings, 5/4 x 6 deck boards at $10.33 to $13.98 a 12-ft board, joist hangers, screws and flashing tape. The quantities are our arithmetic and the top end allows for larger lumber and extra hardware.
  • Our estimate8% waste covers cuts and warped boards.
  • Checked sourcePermit fees of $100 to $400: Albany NY charges $100 plus $8 per $1,000 of cost over $5,000, which is about $116 for a $7,000 deck; the other schedules do not list decks, so the top end is our allowance for plan review and higher-priced places.
  • Checked sourceWages are for carpenters.
  • Checked sourcePayroll costs of 21% to 27% of wages follow the Census 2022 figure for finish carpentry contractors (fringe benefits 23.0% of payroll).
  • Checked sourceOverhead and profit of 50% to 70% is added on top of wages with payroll costs, materials, permits and disposal. Census 2022: these contractors' receipts were 60% above direct cost; NAHB's remodeler study gives 43%.
  • Checked sourceCross-check: the Census figure of $176 of work per field labor-hour for finish carpentry contractors (the group the NAICS 2022 index puts deck construction in). Our typical figure works out within a factor of two of it. No federal cost database covers decks.
  • Not includedRailing, stairs, built-in benches, lighting, composite or hardwood boards, a roof or pergola, grading, and engineering for tall or large decks are not included.

Sources

Where each input comes from, and when we last looked.

Related project costs