Most insane contractor estimate

I have a neighbor replacing a rotted 300sf deck …Covered with a elastomeric membrane…I thought it should cost $5k…will probably end up up at $15k.?

Labor is $50k/hr for skilled carpenters in Tahoe

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It’s $75/hr here. My bigger issue is with the number of hours they say to get it done. They are clearly milking it.

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Yes, see thread of about teaching lil Johnny to use a hammer…

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I’m learning on how to use a pressure washer, just grabbed one from homedepot for 149 :smiley:

pressure washers… the only things that make me want to clean something. so satisfying.

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What are you working on? I thought you were done…

cleaning concrete, lotta algae from watering down the dog urine…

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Man… Pressure washer is so much fun… best $149 spent

Here’s some demo photos. The 2x8 on the end is completely rotted out. Instead of replacing the rotted plywood, they just put down 2 more layers on top of it. Maybe the best part is that instead of replacing the rotted 2x8 joists then simply attached 2x6’s to them. That literally does nothing, since the 2x6 isn’t touching the wall that’s designed to bear the load. The whole thing would have collapsed at some point.

The deck railing before demo.

Welcome to rainy wet Seattle…dry rot central

You might have a case against the seller if he was the one who put lipstick on a pig in the repair…

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The design was terrible. They literally had flashing so the deck would hold water like a bowl and thought two drains (neither at the lowest point) would be enough drainage. Everyone designs decks here for the water to flow over the side. I could have made a hockey rink on it if it got cold enough.

Speaking of insane quotes I got a $47 k quote to create a 50 sq ft bathroom from an existing walk in closet which was next to a master bath so all plumbing / electrical / mechanical was fairly straightforward …$3000 for paint … …go figure

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@marcus335 - any after pics :slight_smile:

I will post some progress ones. There’s definitely more replacement work needed than any of the contractors thought. They would have killed me compared to their bids, because everyone specified any additional rot repair would be charged based on time and material.

That’s a good one. You can see the new portion of the wall I had to replace, new joists, and new roof on it. The other portion of that wall needs replaced too. I have it all framed out. I just need the weather to do it, then do the joists and roof on it. I also need to replace about 4 ft of the wall on the left which is the front of the garage. No one thought there’d be that much wall replacement. They assumed just a few studs would need replaced.

That’s the center beam where the joists from both sides rest in the middle. That is why the old roof leaked. A flat roof should slope 1/4” per foot. It had zero slope. I noticed it right before I started to nail the new joists in. I ended up nailing 2 2x6s flat on the beam to raise the center 3” to get the required slope. That means I have to tear and and lift the joists on the other side. If I’d have know that, then I’d just torn off the whole roof as fast as possible and built it new. I thought I’d be able to keep 80% of it.

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Some photos of how much rot there was.

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The PVC pipe was the drain on the roof. The bigger size PVC went to the drain. That went to to a smaller diameter PVC and it was sloped the wrong way. Water literally went down the drain then would leak out.

Wow, thanks for the pictures. That is quite a bit of work needed. We would gladly take all of the rain from you for awhile so that you can finish it up.

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You can hire a few laborers and paying them by hours. It should not cost much as long as you know what to do. Does the county require building permit and worker’s comp etc?