is it CHEAPER to build a DECK, DIY style or to HIRE a contractor?

Is it

cheaper

to

build

your own DIY

deck

or

hire

a

contractor

? Let's find out, but why go small when we can go big and save more money? Oh yeah, and the space, this is where we'll

build

it, starting with the design. lines, let's get this baby nice and square before we go over

contractor

price quotes and cost breakdowns for going the DIY route. I wanted to take a moment and explain why I've been doing so many outdoor projects lately. Look, we bought this house last year and it was a boring builder quality house, although we loved it, but it's basically a fancy way of saying it's a blank canvas and I want to personalize it, at least the artist in me says that and with inflation. the roof I plan to DIY my entire house to turn it into a place we will never want to leave.

I mean, that's the goal anyway and since summer is right around the corner and the weather is warming up, let's turn my backyard into an oasis, one project at a time, that's literally it. What I keep telling my wife now is that I don't mind investing money and Sweat Equity in my house. I mean, why not? I'd rather do that than spend money on travel, traveling is fun, but lately if you haven't noticed, it's kind of the nightmare in the world, if you want to take a family trip to Disney or somewhere like that, it's going to cost you between 5 and 9,000 dollars for a few days and we're not even talking about food, fuel or plane travel.

I never understand this time of year, literally everyone I know immediately starts planning trips and holidays and I always wonder why you are going to spend a fortune on a holiday only to be crammed in and sandwiched between others on a flight or worse trip. for several hours on a miserable car ride and then I stop and take bias selfies like it's some amazing destination. I mean, it's a gas station. I'm not messing with bias. I've never been there, but I'm sure it's amazing. By the way, if you've been there, let me know. I have to know what's important.

What's so cool. Do not misunderstand. There is nothing wrong with traveling. If you love to travel, that's great for me. Personally, I would like it. invest my time and money in my house, so it's a place I never want to leave and with inflation and mortgage rates and everything it is. I mean, our house payments are like a vacation, right? Expensive, why would I spend all this money on this house just to try to leave every chance I get? Call me old-fashioned, but that's how I see it. Oh, and did you see these little stop blocks I put on top of the beam?

They're making sure everything is flat that way I won't have ups and downs and the lag screws, this is what I've been using, my son supervised, but I mean off camera, I came back with some big lag screws. just to reinforce the structural soundness of these floors, after all we don't want the

deck

to sink and I know I'm just a DIYer but I'd like to look as professional as possible, okay, okay, will you? let's talk numbers, I know, let's go over some, so for contractors to make a deck this size with pressure treated lumber, concrete, nails, screws, composite decking, whatever, it would cost about $50 to $60 per square foot, so the cost is about $5 to $116,000 for a counter trctor to go out and do this and this technique here is called blocking what this does is it helps stabilize the deck laterally with the movement that You see sometimes when you're framing he gets up like a deck of card thrower building a tower he's out of cards and he wants to swing from side to side that blocking guarantees he won't and this tape now was crazy.

I'd rather go makeup shopping with my wife than do that again, but the pro deck guys are playing this tape. everywhere and it's basically waterproofing the top layer of the pressure treated wood and I know I get it you're thinking like me but it's pressure treated wood it's going to last a long time and that's true but this is just a measure additional. and it's the latest in woodworking to do so, so why isn't there anything that can help mitigate water? I think it's the best way to do it. This is my first terrace construction. I've built a lot of things before but I've never done this and I've definitely never used composite decks, this is amazing, it's a little heavy now but the final look doesn't compare to it, it's really legit and will last a long time.

The only drawback I have noticed while building is that it is prone. to scratches, so it's a shame, especially with kids running everywhere, but we'll see how it holds up. The platform is going very well. It has these hidden fasteners that are between each board and you have to screw them in, which makes it really cool and comfortable for the floor, but the only bad thing is that you have to squat, so your lower back kills you all the time , so if you're a deck guy, I definitely want you to chime in and let me know if building a deck again, is there any technique or way to do it without having to bend over and stay hunched over like that?

It was terrible, okay, let's talk about my cost. I bought my materials at Lowe's and because I grew big, I was able to save almost $1,200 in material costs. Wow, that's a big savings if you ask me, but I guess since you're not, we'll just move on, but because the materials were wholesale, I was able to save 10% and got a military discount for another 10%. discount, I mean how can you beat that? And by the way, I compared purchases from other large companies and they were almost $2000 more expensive just in the cost of the material. My total cost with all materials included was $4400, that's incredible right now.

I got a big 20% ​​discount like I explained before, but I still think it's fantastic, this deck is huge, it's almost 400 square feet, just a little less, actually, it was a good miter joint, and you see these seams here, They look pretty rough, but I always intended it to be like this, you see, I didn't want two butt joints to meet, so I decided I was going to run an edge right down the middle and I used my chain saw to cut this, which came out really well now I just have to see if this edge is going to fit into place and see if I took my measurements right because if I'm wrong that won't be good oh yeah add a little pressure on the foot and before You realize, I think it's beautiful.

I got lucky to be honest, but we have to drill these things from the top, but they come with these really cool plugs, look at this, it's just going to disappear, how cool, man, they really thought of everything, but yeah, I left this back. I've told you before and I'll say it again. I have ADHD and I just wanted to stop and see what the edge of the picture frame would look like so you know what it looks like, but I went ahead and went back to I did it, worked on those corners and wrapped the picture frame around this platform.

This was really satisfying and if I had to say, it was the most fun part of the entire project. Let's summarize the numbers. The cost was $4,400 and a professional contractor was $15, $1,000 on the low end, but I know what you're thinking. I didn't count my time or labor and that's because this project was for me, not a client, and I did it after hours and in my free time I didn't take anything away from my work, so crafting like that It is the way to go. I mean, I saved almost $1,000. I would say it's a huge savings, but at the last minute I decided to wrap the entire deck with a board and I wanted to close the bottom where the slope went down.

I was a little worried about snakes or rodents, they just wanted to nest down there. Now what would I do? I have no idea. I don't want to hurt any creatures or any snakes but I would like to deter them so if you have an idea about that please let me know because I know this extra blocking I made won't help but it did help with the look of the platform so I would not do it. It looks unsightly with the slope going down, take a look at this and tell me what you think. It is a very good platform for a first time.

It is completely flat. All seams are perfect. Looks great. I love it. I'm researching it and more. I hope my family really enjoys it. I know my wife will enjoy trying to pick out some furniture, but this was legit. I literally had a great time without the rear AES and living on ibuprofen for 2 weeks while building it, but Here it is and it's time to take a nap, could you do it yourself?