Treated pine
The cheapest way to get a sound deck out of the ground. Softer underfoot wear, and it wants oiling on a cycle.
Lowest upfrontMelbourne & Victoria / 2026 rates
Deck construction calculator: your range, your breakdown, before anyone quotes you.
Thirteen questions, no forms, no sales call. It prices the structure, the ground underneath and the compliance chain , not just the boards on top. GST included.
Your estimate
$0Move any slider to begin.
Where every dollar goes
The boards, the structure holding them up, the ground underneath, and the compliance chain nobody can opt out of , laid out the way a building surveyor would read it, not the way a per-square-metre ad reads.
That’s the maths. Now let’s stand in your backyard.
A calculator can’t measure your side gate, tap the wall to hear whether the bottom plate is sound, or tell you how far down the basalt is. Half an hour on site turns this range into a fixed-price contract with the footings, the permit and the access already inside it , not bolted on as a variation in week three.
Book a site visitWe’ll check your height above ground, your access, your boundary setbacks and whether your title carries an overlay before anyone signs anything.
02 Behind the number
What the range is actually pricing
Height above ground, what the ground is made of, what can physically reach the backyard, and the wall you are bolting to. Every one of those moves the total more than the board you pick.
13Questions, no forms
2 minTo a real range
NCC 2025Current Victorian rules
03 Recent work
Decks built to the numbers the calculator gives you
A deck is 20% boards and 80% everything holding them up.
04 Materials
Timber or composite changes the price twice
Once at the board, once at everything you do to it for the next fifteen years. The calculator asks you to pick a decking surface because the two choices pull the total in opposite directions.
Merbau & hardwood
Dense, holds a fixing, takes Melbourne summers well. Still a coating job, and the boards move before they settle.
Most common choiceComposite
Higher at the board, close to nothing after it. Needs tighter joist spacing, which the calculator accounts for in the frame.
Lowest upkeep
05 About us
We built the calculator because quoting blind helps nobody
We build decks across Melbourne and regional Victoria , attached, detached, raised over slopes, and the awkward ones that sit half a metre from a boundary. Registered builder, major domestic building contract, permit and inspections handled.
Most people asking us for a price had already been told a number that ignored footings, access and compliance. So we put the whole cost stack into a tool anyone can use before they speak to us.
RegisteredDomestic builder
PermitLodged for you
WarrantyHome warranty cover
06 FAQ
The questions that change the price
Do I need a building permit for a deck in Victoria?
Yes. Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018 (Vic) contains no deck exemption. Attached decks require a permit irrespective of size, and detached decks serving a dwelling require one too. The widely repeated “under 800 mm and under 10 m²” line is a planning figure, not a building permit exemption.
What is the building permit levy?
0.128 cents in the dollar, charged on the cost of works including GST. It is not payable at or under $10,000 of works.
When do I need a barrier or balustrade?
NCC 2025 applies in Victoria from 1 May 2026. A barrier is triggered by a 1 m fall, must be 1 m high, must not pass a 125 mm sphere, and the no-climb zone only applies above a 4 m fall.
What cover applies to the job?
The first-resort Home Warranty scheme replaced Domestic Building Insurance on 1 July 2026. The threshold moved from $16,000 to $20,000 and cover from $300,000 to $400,000.
How accurate is the calculator?
It returns a range, not a quote. It cannot measure your side gate, test the wall it attaches to, or tell how far down the rock sits. Half an hour on site turns the range into a fixed price.
07 Book a site visit
That’s the maths. Now let’s stand in your backyard.
We’ll check your height above ground, your access, your boundary setbacks and whether your title carries an overlay before anyone signs anything.
