How to measure, what to send, what happens next. Ask the helper below, or read the common questions. It does not quote prices, and a real number always comes from the estimate form.
Ready for a real number? Send plans or a sketch, or call (810) 280-9008.
Measure the width and the length in feet along the outside edges, then multiply them to get square feet. A 12 by 16 deck is 192 square feet. Note the height from the ground to the top of the deck, because anything over 30 inches needs railing and changes the framing. Count how many sets of stairs you want and roughly how many steps each one drops. If the shape is not a rectangle, break it into rectangles, measure each one and add them up. Bring those numbers to the estimate form and we can price it.
A square is 100 square feet of roof surface, not floor area. Start with the footprint of the house, which for a two story is roughly the finished square footage divided by two. Multiply by a pitch factor, about 1.05 for a low slope, 1.12 for a typical roof and 1.20 for something steep. Add about 10 percent for waste, then divide by 100. A 1,800 square foot ranch with a normal pitch works out near 22 squares. The roofing page will do this for you if you would rather not.
It is one foot of wall measured along the floor, not the area of the wall. Walk the perimeter you want framed and add up the lengths, then add any interior walls that divide rooms. A typical 1,200 square foot basement runs about 150 to 200 linear feet once you include the partitions. Height matters separately, because a 9 or 10 foot ceiling takes more material and time than an 8 foot one. Give us linear feet, ceiling height, and whether you want soffits and a bathroom, and that is enough to price.
The builder or general contractor runs the whole job, holds the contract with the owner, pulls the permit and schedules every trade. A framing subcontractor does one part of it, the structure. We set the floor system, stand and sheath the walls, set trusses or cut the roof, and hand it over ready for the next trade. We work under the builder or owner permit, not our own. If you are a homeowner without a builder, you would normally hire a general contractor who then brings us in.
Yes, in almost every Michigan municipality a new deck needs a building permit, and attaching it to the house or going above a certain height makes that certain. The permit is pulled by the owner or by the contractor of record on the job, not by us, because we work as a labor only subcontractor under that permit. Your building department will want a simple plan showing size, footing depth and how it attaches. Frost depth around here is usually about 42 inches, so footings have to go below that.
Plans are best, even a partial set. A PDF of the floor plans and elevations lets us take off walls, headers and the roof without guessing. If you do not have plans, a sketch with dimensions and a few photos of the site will get you a real number for most small jobs. Tell us the address or at least the city, whether the material is coming from you or from us, and roughly when you want it framed. Send it through the estimate form and we come back within a day.
It depends on the size and the weather more than anything else. A straightforward single story house is usually a matter of days rather than weeks once the floor system is down, and a large two story with a cut up roof takes longer. Basements are quicker because there is no roof and no sheathing. The honest answer is that we give you a schedule with the quote, based on the actual plan, and we tell you before we start if weather is going to move it.
It is a wall or roof panel with the weather barrier already bonded to the face, so you sheath and seal in one pass instead of sheathing and then wrapping. The seams get taped with a matching tape and the whole wall becomes the air and water barrier. It costs more per sheet than plain OSB plus housewrap, and it goes faster and is harder to get wrong on a windy day. Either approach is fine with us. Tell us which one the plan calls for and we will price it that way.
It means we price the work and you supply the material. You or your builder orders the lumber, trusses and hardware through your own supplier, it gets delivered to the site, and we frame it. Most builders prefer this because they already have supplier pricing and they control the package. If you would rather we handle material as well, say so and we will quote labor and material separately so you can see both. Either way the labor number is the same work by the same people.
Yes. A lot of our work is one piece of a bigger project, for example setting a floor system, standing an addition, framing a basement, or cutting in a bearing wall and setting the beam. If you have a crew of your own and you are short handed on one phase, that is a normal way to use us. Tell us exactly which part you want covered and where our work starts and stops, and the quote will say the same thing so nobody is guessing on the day.
Often yes, and your building department decides. If you are removing a bearing wall, spanning something unusual, or carrying load from above, most inspectors will want a stamped calculation before they approve it. Our header and beam calculator gives you a preliminary size so you know roughly what you are dealing with and what it will cost, but it is not a substitute for an engineer or your inspector. Get the plan approved first, then we install what the drawing calls for.
Look at what is above it. A bearing wall usually runs perpendicular to the joists or trusses overhead, or sits directly over a beam or a wall on the floor below. Exterior walls are almost always bearing. If the wall lines up over the main beam in the basement, treat it as bearing. That is a starting point, not a verdict, and getting it wrong is expensive, so have your inspector or an engineer confirm before anything comes out. Send us photos and we can tell you what we are looking at.
A site we can get a truck and a lift to, material on site or scheduled to arrive, the permit posted, and the foundation or slab ready and square. For a basement, the floor should be clear and dry and any plumbing rough in should be marked. For a new build, we want the foundation checked for square and level before the first plate goes down, because everything above it inherits that. If something is not ready, tell us early and we move the start rather than sitting on your job.
We work Genesee, Oakland, Lapeer and Livingston counties out of Grand Blanc. That covers most of Mid Michigan, including Flint, Grand Blanc, Fenton, Clarkston, Novi, Troy, Berkley, Clawson and the towns around them. If you are just outside that and the job is worth the drive, ask anyway, because we do travel for larger projects. Put the address or the city in the estimate form and we will tell you straight away whether it is something we can take on.
Trusses arrive built, get set with a lift and go fast, which is why most production builds use them. Stick framing means cutting and assembling rafters and ridge on site, which takes longer but handles vaults, dormers and odd shapes that trusses cannot. Trusses also eat the attic space unless you order attic trusses. We do both. If the plan is not settled yet, tell us what you want the ceiling to look like and that usually decides which way the roof should go.
We can either way. Most builders and remodelers hand us the material package because they already have supplier accounts and they want control over the order. Homeowners often prefer that we handle it so there is one less thing to manage. If we supply it, we quote labor and material as separate lines so you can see exactly what is what, and you can still cut the material out later and buy it yourself. Nothing about the framing itself changes based on who bought the wood.
Not a real one. We can talk through what a job usually involves and point you at the ballpark tool for a rough range, but a number we would actually stand behind comes from seeing the plan or the site. The estimate form is the fast path: send plans, a sketch or photos and we come back within a day with something firm. If you would rather talk it through first, call (810) 280-9008 and we will tell you what we would need to see.
You get an automatic confirmation straight away so you know it arrived. We read the plans, take off the framing and put a real number together, and you hear back within about a day. If something in the set is unclear, we ask rather than guess. The quote spells out what is included, what is not, and whether the material is on us or on you. Nothing gets scheduled until you say yes, and nothing is sent to you automatically except that first confirmation.
Yes, fully insured, and we are SAM.gov registered for public work. Builders and general contractors usually want a certificate of insurance naming them before we start, and we can have that to you the same day you ask. If your project has specific coverage requirements, send them with the plans and we will confirm we meet them before you commit to anything. Ask through the estimate form or call (810) 280-9008 and we will get the paperwork moving.
It is a 60 second range built from the same rates we quote from, so it lands in the right neighbourhood for a normal job. It is not a quote. It cannot see your site, your access, what the last contractor left behind, or anything unusual in the plan, and any of those can move the number. Use it to find out whether a project is roughly in your range before you spend time on it. When you are ready for a real number, send the plans and we will price the actual job.
Send plans, a sketch or a few photos and we will come back with a real number.