Deck height and crew hours per square foot
The labour box is where two decks of the same size split apart. In the example, 0.415 crew hours a square foot covers digging and pouring three footings, flashing the ledger, framing, hidden-fastener decking, the fascia wrap and picture-frame border, the stair, the railing and the final walk. It also carries the daily drive, yard runs, a weather day and the trips back for inspections.
Height changes everything under the boards. A second-story deck needs longer posts, bracing, more ladder and staging time. If the same 240 sq ft takes 0.55 hours a square foot, the price goes from $18,653.60 to $21,124.10, or $88.02 a square foot. Quote it at the ground-level number and the crew works the difference for free.
Where $30.28 of materials per square foot goes on a composite deck
The materials box is every board, bracket and screw divided by the deck area. On the example that means footing tubes and post bases, pressure-treated posts, beam, joists, rim and stringers, joist tape, capped composite boards with hidden clips, fascia wrap and nine sections of aluminum railing.
The decking and the railing are most of it. Swap capped composite for pressure-treated boards and wood rails and this number drops hard. Keep the 15% markup either way: you order it, haul it, store it and replace the boards that arrive warped.
From a 100 sq ft platform to a 400 sq ft deck
The permit, stair pad and haul-away are paid once. That keeps small decks expensive per foot:
| Deck | Crew hours | Price | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft platform | 41.5 | $8,129.63 | $81.30 |
| 240 sq ft, example | 99.6 | $18,653.60 | $77.72 |
| 400 sq ft | 166 | $30,681.00 | $76.70 |
The gap is smaller than on most outdoor jobs because a deck's cost grows with its area. The bigger catch is the stair: the calculator spreads one stair across every size. A 100 sq ft platform with the same stair really carries more stair per foot, so nudge its hours up.
What the deck spreadsheet adds to reach $21,061
Every deck price above assumes $61 a crew hour, the example builder's own number. Run your wages, truck, insurance and building season through the true hourly rate tool, or follow how the example lands on $61.37 on the deck builder hourly rate page.
The spreadsheet charges the truck, auger and saws by their running hours, adds waste on boards for border cuts, fuel on every day on site and a small cushion, and lists each material from a price list. It prints a customer quote with your terms for rock in the holes and product swaps, and logs whether the deck made money. That is why its version of the same deck is $21,061 instead of $18,653.60. The deck pricing guide walks through that quote.