The deck
Start from a common job, then replace every figure with your takeoff. Changing prep, finish, or access never overwrites a rate you already typed. This prices a stain — not a new deck build, and not a house paint job.
Your crew rates
A $38/h painter loaded at 30% is $49.40. Quoting the raw wage on a published $2.50/sf special is how a 12x16 with picket rails that looked fine turns into a two-day loss after the first stair. Zero walking feet still prices — stain hours are the surface, not an error. Picket rail defaults to 9 stainable sf per lineal foot (both sides of the pickets plus the rails).
Your bid
- Prep, finish, access
- Stainable surface
- Crew hours
- Loaded labor
- Stain + extras
- Travel + equipment
- Overhead
- Total cost
- Profit at this price
- Effective hourly rate
- Price / walking sf
- Walk-away price
Where the hours go
Where the cost goes
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. Starting hours and material rates are common ballpark figures, not an industry standard or a coating warranty — replace them with your own takeoff.
Hand the customer a proposal
The price above is for you. This is the page you print or save as a PDF and give to the customer — your details, their details, the scope, the deposit split, and a line for them to sign. Your business details are saved on this device so you only type them once; the customer’s details are never saved.
Everything on the printed page is text you typed or a number this calculator worked out. It contains no warranty, lien, or cancellation wording — those depend on your jurisdiction and your contract, and this tool is not the place to invent them.
Common questions
Why can a competitor advertise “$2.50 a square foot”?
Usually because the special is written around one specific job, and that job is a preset here: a 200 sq ft platform with no rail, wash-only prep, and one coat of water-based stain. It really does price low. What the per-square-foot number cannot see is rail, stairs, prep level, coat count, and second-story access. Price your actual deck beside the special and the gap becomes a list of line items instead of an argument about who is honest.
Why does 40 linear feet of picket rail add so much time if it isn’t walking-surface square footage?
Because rail is stainable surface even though it is not deck square footage. A picket rail has far more surface area per linear foot than the flat decking it sits beside — every spindle has four sides to brush — so it is priced separately from the deck square footage rather than folded into it. Stair runs are treated the same way for the same reason: risers, treads, and stringers are surface a flat-sqft number never sees.
What is the real cost difference between “wash only” and “strip peeling stain”?
About 5× the labor and 7× the material. A wash-and-brighten starts at 0.55 hours and $3.50 of material per 100 sq ft. A wash-and-sand starts at 1.35 hours and $6. Stripping failed, peeling stain before washing and sanding starts at 2.7 hours and $24 per 100 sq ft — because old finish has to come off before the new coat has anything sound to bond to.
Can I stain a composite deck the same way as a wood deck?
No. Composite decking does not absorb a wood stain the way real lumber does, so the finish preset for composite is a clean-and-seal service rather than a stain, with its own coverage and hours starting point. Selecting composite as the finish is what tells the calculator to price the cleaning service instead of a stain job — picking “oil” or “water” on a composite deck would price a job that doesn’t match what actually happens on that material.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No account and no network requests — the calculator runs entirely in your browser. Your bid is saved in this browser’s local storage so it is still here next visit, “Copy share link” encodes your inputs into this page’s own URL hash so a partner or the office can open the same bid, and the optional usage counter records only which features were used and the day, never your deck size, wages, or prices.
What’s the difference between the bid price and the walk-away price?
The bid price already includes your target margin on top of labor, materials, and overhead. The walk-away price is the total cost underneath it — prep, coats, rail, stairs, access, and a furniture move — the point below which the job stops being profitable at all. Typing a price you are considering shows you the margin or the loss before you send it.