Just brainstorming but is anyone just building decks exclusively (I’m sure someone is) and if so, is it lucrative?
I ask because when I browse the two big magazines I read, they’re a ton of adds for high end decking material and I’m thinking a guy might just be able to make a good living just doing decks.
Would be very easy to estimate which is one of the headaches we face daily from getting all the subs we use on board.
Mike
From building boxes and fitting face frames to installing doors and drawers, these techniques could be used for lots of cabinet projects.
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Replies
I don't build decks exclusively, but I once sub'd for a company that did. They seemed to be doing quite well and I always got paid well. I would have stayed with them but I moved 25 miles away from them and the commute was too much.
knowledge without experience is just information.... Mark Twain
http://www.cobrajem.com
Mike, I agree completely.
If I had a even a slight clue about how to market a business and bring in steady work on just decks, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I love building decks, especially higher end ones. You get to do a little bit of everything which keeps things interesting. I like the low risks involved too. It's pretty tough to screw up a deck.... even though you see it done all the time.
Another nice thing is you rarely have to bring in other subs who can blow your schedule or generally disappoint you. Maybe an electrician to add or move a couple outlets on occasion, but for the most part I could keep all labor in house. It can be done with a two man crew and there's rarely any crazy heights involved. No heavy equipment needed. If things really took off, I could probably justify a skidsteer for spreading stone and an auger attachment for footings. I can think of a million reasons why I think it'd be a great business.
Yeah, I'd do it in a heartbeat if I thought I could keep the schedule filled. Unfortunately I'm the worst salesman I ever met. If you figure out how to keep the schedule filled, let me know. ;)
There's a guy here from time to time named Bob who goes by Pro-Dek on the forum. He seems to have a killer operation going on out west.
dieselpig,
My sentiments exactly! You stated all the same reasons why I would WANT this to work.
Not sure if it would work in my area (Central Florida) but might be worth looking into...
Mike
There's a company here in Chicago called Just Decks. I don't the guy's business but he keeps several crews going all the time, and they ain't cheap. I'm guessing he's raking in the profits. I think the biggest problem he runs into is sometimes the crews he subs make a few minor mistakes, which he has to go back and fix. I guess that's to be expected when subbing out work. But his business is thriving. -----------------------------------------------------------
FT Job Wanted: Chicago, north side/North Shore burbs. http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=70809.1
Mike-
Lawrence here on BT owns gardenstructure.com, and markets a business opportunity for companies to specialize in decks and other outdoor structures. I've seen his stuff, and it's top-notch. I'm sure he'll be around as soon as he sees this thread.
Bob
it's possible but U have to sell sell sell ...
I have a fraternity brother that was a business major that's doing pretty well with his deck company. Not sure if they're a franchise ... or if he's trying to franchise his own company.
But he's been a constant go getter/salesmen ... as back in college ... he spent his senior year on probation after the Fed's searched his illegal license photo shop ... ie his apartment ... and found several grow lights too.
always a money maker, that guy.
he turned out nice fake ID's too ...
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Hey Diesel, We just set a guy up in Boston West--will let you know how that goes as we get into the spring market. He told me he doesn't see himself as a salesman--but he has teamed up with one to enable him to concentrate on installations.
He's easy to find...
Just type in Boston decks in google.
LGardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!
There are few companies locally that sell only decks. They stay busy enough, but they are slowly ruining there reputations with bad sub work. I've bid against them a couple times. They have salesman that they send out, price/sell the job, and then it gets passed off to a sub crew. Lots of advertising, marketing, and big showrooms.
I've thought about it a couple times, but works gets difficult when the ground is frozen.
Hug it out.
Hey Oak River Mike,
As someone with similar talents, (competent carpenter/poor salesman) I subed decks and porches from Archadeck of Charlotte for 4 years. The money was decent. But it would have been a whole lot more decent had I received all the money. Some clients slipped up and told me how much they paid for the work.....I was shocked.....Sometimes as much as double what I was being paid. The funny thing is, when I tell a potential customer how much the job is going to cost, it doesn't sound as firm as it does coming from a real salesman. They start haggling and that is when I collapse and drop the price to salvage the work and then, or course, there goes the profit. You need to partner up with a sales minded person and pay the commision. I think there would still be a fair amount left for profit.
Another thing that I encounterd was bad soil. I don't know where you are located. But, here in Charlotte, we have sections of town that have what we call Bull Tallow. Rotten Soil. It's real wet grey clay that compresses under load. You have to dig footers past this junk and sometimes it can be 8 feet down. Archadek has a "Unforseen Condition" clause in their contract to cover for this condition. The cost for the heavy equipment and concrete, down here, is about $2500.00 extra.
There are a million stories in the deck building bussiness. I'm just one of them.
InTheCleftOfHisHand
ford
I did it as a side gig back in my early 20's, called it "Deck in a Day". Advertised standard deck sizes, any combo of off-the-shelf lumber lengths; 8x8, 8x10, 10x10, etc. & I would take on ground level decks only, no elevated/2nd floor jobs and no custom work. I had to be in and out in one day. My fulltime job wasn't in the trades, so after work I'd shoot over and set the sono tubes and do any site work - usually take just the one night - then another night I'd prep everything and lay it out in my shop. On Saturday I'd show up with a helper and we could have the deck put together in 3-4 hours; virtually no cutting. Done. Great money. But, got bogged down renovating my house, got married, had kids, side biz gone. This was in the Boston area so the potential customer base was huge.
I'm in the trades full time now and love doing decks, thought of re-starting Deck in a Day again although everybody today wants something custom. And, in my area (Vermont) once mud season is gone I might have 4-5 months - tops - for ground work - not conducive to a year-round paycheck. Still, I can make just as much (sometimes more) money doing simple decks than some of the dirty pain-in-the-arse jobs I get calls on, and as someone else mentioned - no subs to babysit.
There's a guy near me who's only business is high end garden sheds. Keeps a crew going year round, they build stock sheds in his shop in the winter & custom work in the summer. He delivers them on a tilt flatbed, puts down a layer of 3/4 stone and then slides the shed into place. He recently advertised for a foreman; $50k/year plus bennies. Biz must be good.
-Norm
Hey guys,
Thanks for the replies and the honest input.
I'm looking for some way to niche our business and this might be it? We're in Florida so some of the negative drawbacks you guys mentioned may not even be bad for us (weather, soil, etc).
Definitely need to do more research and hear from some more folks with more specialized experience in this as a biz. I've built a number of decks just never thought of doing them exclusively...
Thanks again!
Mike
Oak River Builders
Hi Mike-
If you are near Stuart Florida, drop me an email I have a lead (fresh) waiting for you. It's for a 15-20,000$ pergola 24 x 12'. Florida is absolutely the best place to start a deck company in my books. Year round market, wealthy clientele, great climate--who doesn't want to live in paradise? We get 40 or 50 calls/leads a year there and we don't even market for work there.
Believe it or not we get between $20-$120.00 / Square foot for decks. (Wood Decks).
Florida, California, Virginia, Texas are all hot spots, and your largest challenge in Fla will be getting help. It's a tough climate for skilled trades that way. You will have to offer profit share or other attractive things to maintain good loyal employees--and be very picky hiring.
Specializing in Decks only is a great idea if you are near a strong urban market. If you can round it out with fences and pergolas you can pretty much build a business anywhere. We've got guys in areas with 100,000 people... and others with 1.5 million. The guy in the smaller area has to work a little harder to network and do marketing--but they have more time for fishing and enjoying life. Staying local keeps profit higher... so try to plan on that.
Sales and Marketing is exactly where most guys flounder... that's where we are putting our energies. Trying to teach that part of it is rough. We can make the phone ring very well--but turning someone into a salesman is half effort on their part and half having the right presentation and marketing materials. If we can teach someone to ask the right questions, listen and actually teach the clients a few things--they will walk with the sale 75% of the time.
In the winters most of the guys (there's 15 now), do interior work or use their other skills, some just take 2 or 3 months off. Wish I could--but things don't slow down much for me anymore.
Building decks is a nice way to make a living--wish I was still able to do more than 2 jobs a year. Victim of my own success I guess.
L
GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!
Edited 3/12/2006 10:43 am ET by Lawrence
Hey Lawrence,
I had no idea you were THE gardenstructure guy! I've been to your site dozen's of times and freely advertise it.
I just did a home show here in Minneapolis with a buddy that specializes in Garden and Storage sheds. He lost his display/fab facility and needed some exposure so we went in together. We put in one of his sheds and I build a pergola based on a design I saw in a book. Build the thing based simply on a way to spice up the booth...and had LOTS of positive response to it...signed 4 pergolas at the show! I've built a few in the past, but I would like to peruse this avenue further....drop me a line on how your business works and if you are looking for dealers in the MPLS area...
ok, done with the hijack of the deck thread...but on those lines, my buddy only does only Sheds...SHEDS?! for 8 months of the year and he isn't wanting for food or clothes. And the best thing about what he does....he's in and out in one day! No subs to worry about, no real customer complaints...and the customer is pleased as punch we were in and out so fast and the product was so well put together...
I would love to find some niche market that would take off and could sustain me such as decks or the like if only to not have such a "shotgun" approach to my marketing...
edit: Sorry for the double post's...got distracted halfway through and thought it didn't take the first time...knowledge without experience is just information.... Mark Twain
http://www.cobrajem.com
Very nice display Charlie. I'd stop by your booth for certain.View Image
Charlie,
No problem on the thread hi-jack. Its all good if numerous folks can benefit from one thread.
Just my two cents on the shed aspect. We have a bunch of guys selling pre-built sheds here in our area (Central Florida) with good results. The only problem is they actually need to be permitted according to the Florida Building Code and thus need to have a set of signed and sealed blueprints. The engineering could easily outcost the materials and labor for the shed.
That being said, the State does have a program where you can have such plans on file and not need them each time but it costs bigger money.
And no, I'm not making this up as I used to run the compliance department for Hillsborough County and it was my guys that wrote notices to the homeowners who paid someone to set that shed in their yeard yet the guy(s) never got a permit. Needless to say they were not happy and I wasn't too happy doing it thats why I'm back on this side of the building department counter!!!
Decks however are a whole different story in the FBC and are handled with alot more ease yet can still be built to meet all the codes and thus be safe and still cost effective for a homeowner and they don't have to "fight city hall".
Mike
http://www.oakrb.com
Nice work Charlie! Your friend does nice sheds too... He may find business in doing portable guard shacks and offices as well... (just a thought).
Thanks for the kind words...
Will get you off an email tomorrow.
L
GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!
Thanks, Lawrence...message on its way!