Wood deck cost in Georgia

When Georgia weather lets you build

Season matters for wood deck. For each Georgia metro below we took NOAA's 1991-2020 monthly normals from the nearest suitable station and counted comfortable months for exterior installation.

Gainesville has the longest comfortable season of the metros we cover in Georgia at 12 months; Albany has the shortest at 9 (September through May). Rainfall runs from 45 inches a year in Augusta to 55 inches in Dalton.

We do not adjust prices by month, because we have no reliable published data on seasonal pricing. Timing is still worth raising when you collect bids.

Other Georgia jobs that often go with wood deck

The table prices neighboring jobs at their usual sizes using statewide Georgia wages and prices. Against national midpoints, detached garage comes out highest (−9%) and composite deck lowest (−11%), because each job leans on different trades.

How Georgia compares with nearby states

Georgia ranks 41 of 51 (the 50 states plus DC) for wood deck, where 1 is the most expensive. The costliest is Hawaii at $14,300 and the cheapest Oklahoma at $9,900, both for 300 sq ft at the midpoint. Georgia sits at $10,400. The five states closest by workforce center are listed below.

Wood deck cost by metro in Georgia

2 of the 10 metros sit above the statewide midpoint of $10,400, and the top-to-bottom gap is 15%. Each row prices the default size with that metro's own BLS wages and BEA price levels, so the gap between rows is real local variation rather than a flat markup.

Optional extras in Georgia

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Georgia by the average of the local wage index (0.82) and goods index (0.99), a factor of 0.90. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Wood deck: what moves the price in Georgia

• Wood species

  Pressure-treated pine is the cheapest at $25-$50 per sq ft installed. Ipe runs $50-$70 and bamboo $27-$52 (HomeGuide).

• Height and stairs

  A second-story deck needs more structure. New stairs run $1,400-$2,600 installed.

• Railing

  A wood or vinyl railing adds $20-$60 per linear foot.

• Replacement versus new

  Deck replacement costs $30-$55 per sq ft because of demolition and haul-away.

• Permit

  Deck permits average $50-$150. Many cities skip the permit for small, low, freestanding decks.

Quality levels and sizes in Georgia

The cited range is cut into three overlapping bands (basic, standard and premium) and scaled to statewide Georgia wages and prices. The grid prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Wages behind the Georgia number

Statewide wages come from BLS's state-level estimates, which blend big cities with small towns and rural areas. 2 trades drive the labor line for this job, and the weighted ratio against the national wage level is 0.82 for Georgia.

For carpenters (47-2031, weighted 80%) the local median is $23.72 an hour, which is 19% below the national $29.12. The middle half of them earn between $20.29 and $28.00 an hour. BLS counts 9,190 of them working in the state, 18.8 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 43.1), so the local bench is thinner than average.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 20% of the weighting: a median of $18.74 an hour, 17% below the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $16.93 and $22.57 an hour. About 27,800 work in the state. That is 56.9 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so expect fewer local crews to bid.

A crew paid at the 75th percentile for carpenters ($28.00 an hour) would add about $580 to the statewide midpoint; one at the 25th percentile ($20.29) would take off about $470. Use that as a rough guide to how far a bid can sit from our midpoint on wages alone.

BLS counts 4,889,170 jobs across Georgia (May 2025), which is 3.1% of US employment.