Porch Railing Project

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

As we all just lived through MPL's porch project, here's the proposal for our front porch railing. The last two bullets are not part of the deck rail. 
I'm vehemently against the tv going in. I'll put a picture of the current railing in the next post. 


We hereby submit specifications and estimates for:
 Removal of all guard rail on front (south facing) porch at above address.
 Installation of new satin black powder coated guard rail consisting of three horizontal “beams” and
vertical balusters 4” O.C. between the two lower “beams”. Between two top “beams” will be ornamental
steel flowers chosen by customer. Top of the guard rail will be capped with a granite stone closely
matching the interior kitchen countertops. The counter top material will only be on horizontal guard rail
and not on the sections going down the stairs. The counter top material will be 6” wide in all sections
except for the two approximately 10’ sections on the east side of the deck which will be a wider 16” to
create a “bar” area. These sections will also have an additional bar down low for a foot rest going along
the entire two sections. All of these will be installed between the existing posts. All of the railing will be
approximately 42” tall. 4” off the decking, 32” of vertical bar section, 4” of floral section and 2” for stone
caps. All of the previous measurements are approximate.
 Installation of Television mount near “bar” area on ceiling in approximate location customer has chosen.
Television will be installed and plugged in by extension cord to closest outlet.
 Repairing under house ducting for dryer vent.
 Replacement of ½ bath light fixture purchased by customer and hanging of customer supplied mirror.
Not included in this bid: permitting, unforeseen circumstances
Total amount of proposal is: $25,525

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Jun 28, 2024 13:45:38 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

As we all just lived through MPL's porch project, here's the proposal for our front porch railing. The last two bullets are not part of the deck rail. 
I'm vehemently against the tv going in. I'll put a picture of the current railing in the next post. 


We hereby submit specifications and estimates for:
 Removal of all guard rail on front (south facing) porch at above address.
 Installation of new satin black powder coated guard rail consisting of three horizontal “beams” and
vertical balusters 4” O.C. between the two lower “beams”. Between two top “beams” will be ornamental
steel flowers chosen by customer. Top of the guard rail will be capped with a granite stone closely
matching the interior kitchen countertops. The counter top material will only be on horizontal guard rail
and not on the sections going down the stairs. The counter top material will be 6” wide in all sections
except for the two approximately 10’ sections on the east side of the deck which will be a wider 16” to
create a “bar” area. These sections will also have an additional bar down low for a foot rest going along
the entire two sections. All of these will be installed between the existing posts. All of the railing will be
approximately 42” tall. 4” off the decking, 32” of vertical bar section, 4” of floral section and 2” for stone
caps. All of the previous measurements are approximate.
 Installation of Television mount near “bar” area on ceiling in approximate location customer has chosen.
Television will be installed and plugged in by extension cord to closest outlet.
 Repairing under house ducting for dryer vent.
 Replacement of ½ bath light fixture purchased by customer and hanging of customer supplied mirror.
Not included in this bid: permitting, unforeseen circumstances
Total amount of proposal is: $25,525

for only 5k more we had our entire 48x6’ porch dismantled, all new 6x6 PT posts, the stairs relocated, trex deck, cable rails in aluminum posts, and inclusive of labor.

ETA, I just noticed you want a “bar” area and that changes the aspect of the cost.

[CCL]

Where would the bar area be?

Sounds like a lot of money to me, but I'm kinda cheap.

[busymom]

Holy cow!  I can remember when we could've finished the basement of our first house for under $10,000.  (No, I'm not retirement age yet.)


My contractor did say that the cost of materials has gone way up, but with that kind of money I'd be getting multiple estimates.  


BTW, I love the view from your porch.  Beautiful!  

[jerseygirl]

So it’s just the railings? I’ve never seen granite on a deck/porch rail
That’s a lot of $$
Maybe just granite on bar section
Is this the back or front of your house, private? Usually bars tiki type areas are in back of house for privacy
For that amount of money I’d have an outdoor kitchen put in

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jun 28, 2024 15:26:25 GMT -5 busymom said:

Holy cow!  I can remember when we could've finished the basement of our first house for under $10,000.  (No, I'm not retirement age yet.)


My contractor did say that the cost of materials has gone way up, but with that kind of money I'd be getting multiple estimates.  


BTW, I love the view from your porch.  Beautiful!  

It's the second estimate. The first one was $28k. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jun 28, 2024 15:32:39 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

So it’s just the railings? I’ve never seen granite on a deck/porch rail
That’s a lot of $$
Maybe just granite on bar section
Is this the back or front of your house, private? Usually bars tiki type areas are in back of house for privacy
For that amount of money I’d have an outdoor kitchen put in

This is the front porch. Looking at the third picture, the counter for eating (bar) would only go on that corner where the Adirondak chairs are. 
The granite is only for that corner where the counter would go. The remainder of the rail will have a normal top. 
I already have an outdoor kitchen on the other side of the house. 

Looking at the first picture,you can see the circle drive. All of that is our private property; on the right side of the maple tree at the far end of the circle is our gate. 
I'll go get another picture, but my point is this is flag lot that is exceptionally private. The level of privacy is one of the top four reasons we purchased this property. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jun 28, 2024 15:20:45 GMT -5 CCL said:

Where would the bar area be?

Sounds like a lot of money to me, but I'm kinda cheap.

It is a lot of money especially since I just had two fences re-done for $10k. 

The breakfast bar/counter top will be on the corner in front of the chairs in the last picture. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Panorama from opposite side of driveway. The gate for the easement driveway is in the upper left of this picture to the right of the house with whom we share the easement driveway. 



From the side walkway. The bar/counter will be right on the other side of those bushes

[souldoubt]

Beautiful house and property I'm happy for you but also jealous .  

While the quote may sound pricey to some 2.5 years ago it cost us about 1/5 of that just to spruce up our staircase inside which is substantially smaller.  We kept the old railing which they sanded and stained then they installed new balusters and matching shoes.  Had we wanted them to build a new handrail the cost would have almost doubled.  I talked to one of my neighbors whose a contractor and he said that was in line with what he would have charged.  My father in-law just got a new roof on his single story house and he paid more than what it cost our association 7 years ago to replace the roof that covers 6 of our adjoining town houses.  Considering what's happened to prices since then the quote for this project seems like a good deal.

[Bonny]

Hi Chloe,

Another fan of your view! I forget, what is your closest metro area? Portland OR?

Materials have gone up and so has labor. I think our contractors are over $100/hr... if they will even bid your job. A lot of them won't take small jobs or throw out a big figure to see if you bite. Have you worked with this contractor before? You can always get two more bids for peace of mind...if they show up!

[CCL]

Hubby and I are used to doing almost everything ourselves. I think he could do a job like this, except for cutting the granite.

One thing he won't do anymore is roofing. Last fall our insurance company paid $21k for a new roof and gutters on my house after it was torn apart by last year's tornado.

[susana1954]

Lol. I just had my back patio screened in for $2500.  While it is a tenth of the size of yours (if that much), it is also a tenth of the price.  I love sitting out there.  The large posts, roof, slab, and ceiling fan were already part of the patio.

I am definitely not in your league, Knee Deep in Water Chloe!

[CCL]

Love it Susana!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Finally started installation today.

[finnime]

It's going to be beautiful, Knee Deep in Water Chloe.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Well, everything is stalled.
The railing fabricator didn’t make the rails to the contractor’s specifications. They’ve come up with an acceptable solution to solve that.

The rails are poorly powder coated, and the contractor Didn’t want to accept them that way when we’ve paid what have. Without telling me about that part he and DH had me look at one of the rails, and I immediately noticed the flaws. They’ll be re-coated.

Then, after removing the railing around the stairs, the contractor found dry rot. That’s going to cost me $1700.

Completion is now pushed out to September 30.
We’re getting the fun orange fencing put up tomorrow for safety purposes.

[toomuchreality]

It's going to be so nice when it's done.
Sorry for the delays!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Supposedly the railings are ready. The contractor is going to inspect them today.

There was a lot of dry rot in one of the sets of stairs. The contractor ended up ripping most of it out and re-building it. That cost me another $1700.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Welp, we’re getting closer.

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Gorgeous!

[Pink Cashmere]

When is the best time of year to visit you and sit outside in your lovely outdoor space and just enjoy the view? I wanna say I’m asking for a “friend”, but I am really asking for me, I am the “friend”.

And as long as you don’t have the kind of pests and critters that are abundant where I live, I might not even need an indoor space, besides facilities to bathe and somewhere private to change clothes after. I can bring a sleeping bag and just sleep outside on one of the porches, IF it’s not likely that a big scary bug or a slithery thing might crawl into my sleeping bag lol.

Seriously though, everything you are doing and having done, looks great. 

[seriousthistime]

It looks fantastic, Chloe!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Okay, it’s finally done. $25k total. The railing needed to be replaced for safety reasons. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to justify the level to which we upgraded it.

[jerseygirl]

Lovely!
We put white railing on our Trex deck. Big mistake. The white gets covered with green scum over the winter and needs power washing every spring

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oct 7, 2024 18:08:24 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

When is the best time of year to visit you and sit outside in your lovely outdoor space and just enjoy the view? I wanna say I’m asking for a “friend”, but I am really asking for me, I am the “friend”.

And as long as you don’t have the kind of pests and critters that are abundant where I live, I might not even need an indoor space, besides facilities to bathe and somewhere private to change clothes after. I can bring a sleeping bag and just sleep outside on one of the porches, IF it’s not likely that a big scary bug or a slithery thing might crawl into my sleeping bag lol.

Seriously though, everything you are doing and having done, looks great. 

Oh, you are that friend I’d want to come sit here!
I’d say it’s not pleasant December- March.
I won’t lie to you and say we have zero bugs, but I don’t think you’ll be upset by any bugs here.
I do promise I’ve never seen a snake on this property. We had lots of garter snakes at our last house.

[seriousthistime]

That's a fantastic looking porch railing, Chloe.

It is obvlous why it cost you as much as it did.