Am I getting ripped off?

[dwb]

Thought I`d throw this out to the many knowledgable and reliable members out there to get your thoughts on this. I`m not very knowledgeable about this sort of stuff at all.
I have a current front deck in the front of my home. I`ve contacted a concrete company to come out and remove the deck, and put in some very nice & wide concrete steps in the front of both of the two doors at the front of my home. They will be also adding two long three feet sidewalks that will go right off of the neighbourhood public sidewalk and up to the front doors as well as a third that will go off of the driveway and run alongside the front door concrete steps. I know from previous examples that the work they do is good.

Total quote for labour, deck demolish & removal, materials and everything comes to $2,500.00.

It is brushed concrete.

Am I getting ripped off? I don`t know anything about the cost of concrete, concrete steps etc...

Anyone with any experience with this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DanSampson]

Certainly nothing is cheap today but you might want to try and breakdown some the costs this way;

Demo, hauling and tipping fees (at transfer station) for deck $500
Forming 2 set of stairs @ half day each using $45.00 labour $360
forming labour and material and excavating for each of 3 sidewalks $360 for a total of $1,080
The concrete is cheap, about $100 per metre for broomed material times 3 metres $300
extra delivery fee for small load $100
placing of concrete $300

The bill is pushing $2,400 and there is no line item included for profit, waste, or time covering the work if the weather changes and it starts to rain.

If the crew will actually show up and do the work I think you win.

Dan

 

[RedlineBrett]

I agree with Dan here - that is a good price.

QUOTE (DanSampson @ Jun 17 2008, 07:32 AM) Certainly nothing is cheap today but you might want to try and breakdown some the costs this way;

Demo, hauling and tipping fees (at transfer station) for deck $500
Forming 2 set of stairs @ half day each using $45.00 labour $360
forming labour and material and excavating for each of 3 sidewalks $360 for a total of $1,080
The concrete is cheap, about $100 per metre for broomed material times 3 metres $300
extra delivery fee for small load $100
placing of concrete $300

The bill is pushing $2,400 and there is no line item included for profit, waste, or time covering the work if the weather changes and it starts to rain.

If the crew will actually show up and do the work I think you win.

Dan

 

[dwb]

QUOTE (RedlineBrett @ Jun 17 2008, 09:33 AM) I agree with Dan here - that is a good price.

Thanks Dan & Redline... feeling much better and much more secure now. Dan, thanks so much for the breakdown, doing it that way made me realize the quote is very fair, if not very good!

Thanks again, I`ll let you know how it works out....

 

[markbrad]

I am a builder in central Ab. We never do poured concrete steps because of the cost, approx $600 for a step say 6 ft wide and 3 or 4 risers. flat work is costing us $7.50 sq ft, so by my calculations the sidewalks are costing you at least $1100, then you need to add in the steps and demolition. So... this sounds fairly reasonable to me too.

Mark

 

[invst4profit]

Multiple quotes is the best way to answer your question.
Rates will vary by contractor, area, time of year (rates can climb when contractors are busy) etc.