[AT] Crazy pricing on construction job

Fri May 14 10:44:29 PDT 2021

My daughters boyfriend installs a lot of Trex decks. I have a buddy that
had a Trex deck installed in their vacation house in FL. I showed my him
a picture of the new deck, and he just shook his head, they surface
screwed it like a wooden deck. He said those are going to pop, and he
was right, they weren't even countersunk.

Mike M

On 5/14/2021 9:11 AM, szabelski at wildblue.net wrote:
> Last year I redid our deck using Trex and clips. Has a 25 year warranty. It’s not the one that’s fully clad, only top and sides. I believe they do have the four sided clad but we were looking for a mid range product so I can’t say anything about cost. Keep in mind that the ends of a board clad on all four sides will still have exposed ends on each board. I have a few long scrap pieces that I cut lengthwise and they do develop a bend from moisture over night, however when they dry out in the sun for an hour of so, they’re perfectly flat.
>
> Carl
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dean VP <deanvp at att.net>
> To: 'Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group' <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Fri, 14 May 2021 00:27:47 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: [AT] Crazy pricing on construction job
>
> I've now had some additional quotes come in I can now say that the inflation
> of at least one quote from the lowest I got last year is 320%.The housing
> and remodel market in the Seattle area is soooo hot right now the
> contractors have developed a serious case of GREED.  Apparently there are
> enough suckers out there that will pay these inflated prices that they can
> cherry pick very high margin jobs. Two contractors that have come out of the
> Seattle area are the ones with the 300% plus bids. We are 30 miles plus from
> the center of Seattle.  I suppose what they are doing is they are willing to
> travel for a job if they have found a sucker.  I'm trying very hard to not
> be one of their victims. It's an insane world trying to get something
> related to construction done in a reasonable time at a reasonable price.
> Greed is a very attractive concubine.    As my father said in these kinds of
> times:  This too will change!  Oh by the way.... Concrete work is $18 a
> square foot with a $2800 minimum.   If I was a few years younger I'd build
> the damn thing myself. Building a deck is not rocket science.  I get a kick
> out the sales people that throw around that material costs have gone up by
> 300 plus percent.  They get very quiet when I mention, I've been to the
> local lumber yard and was told the price of a 16 foot 2 x 8 has gone up 40%
> in the last year.
>
> I do have one question.  As most of you know it is very wet and damp here
> for at least 7 months a year and where I am installing my deck is in the
> shade all afternoon and evening. The SE corner of the house but is in the
> worst possible place for the weather which we often get  rain from the East
> or SE.  I intend to use composite wood for the flooring. I have developed a
> fear of what a constant moist environment under the deck will do to the
> underside of the composite wood.  So I am looking at composite flooring that
> is clad on all four sides so the moisture cannot get in. A intend to use
> clips rather than screw the boards down so I don't penetrate that seal.
> Anyone with experience in this area I sure would appreciate hearing from
> you.  The 4 sided sealed composite flooring board is considerably more
> expensive.   Am I being over cautious?  I know almost anything will last as
> long as we live here which probably will be between 5 and 10 years.   But I
> don't like building crap.
>
>
>
> Dean VP
> Snohomish, WA 98290
> "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of
> envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
> ..Winston Churchill...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Steve W.
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2021 8:25 PM
> To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Subject: Re: [AT] Crazy pricing on construction job
>
> Stephen Offiler wrote:
>> My rental property is a prefab built in 1989.  I purchased the
>> property in 2015 so obviously I had nothing to do with selecting who made
> it.
>> What I have done is renovation work that has shown me they really,
>> really like their construction adhesive!  No matter who the
>> manufacturer is, they all have to be built to handle the
>> transportation from factory to job site.
>>
>> SO
>>
> Transport is part of it but most of it comes from the regulations on them.
> The standards on a prefab are really interesting to see. I worked in the
> cabinet shop at a local plant for a year before getting fed up with it.
> There are different specs for the various parts of the country and even
> different ones when you shipped to Canada. They actually have crash test
> standards for them!
> It was a real blast watching them being built though. We started with a set
> of axles and bulk frame steel and built from there. My boss at the time was
> also my fire chief and he ordered a new place while I was there. He spec'd
> it out as a Canadian unit (that gets you a larger breaker panel with
> breakers for each room instead of the common US designs where the front
> bedroom, bathroom and outdoor lights are all on one breaker style) It also
> has increased snow loading, better insulation and closer spacings on studs
> and joists.
>
> We also had different materials for items, from real solid oak/cherry/maple
> to pressboard with paper facing. His was built with all the top line
> materials. From start to finish it took us one week on the line. That was
> for a double wide 62X32. The weigh them as they go out the door to be sure
> the permits are just legal and his was a bit on the heavy side, roughly an
> extra ton of weight in better materials and insulation over the normal
> version.
>
> --
> Steve W.
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
> http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
> http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
> http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus