We’ve all become used to the luxury of being able to price much of what we want to purchase by doing a few quick searches with keywords online. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could do the same thing with a major construction project such as a new porch? The good news is consumers are finding they have increasing numbers of choices to allow customization of their Kansas City porches and decks. The bad news is that each new choice makes pricing a little more complicated.

I wrote about this phenomenon as it applies to estimating the cost for Kansas City decks and most of the same points apply. If you think of a porch as a souped-up deck, that makes perfect sense. For instance, permitting costs for any significant home improvement project will vary by municipality. Everything I said in that article about materials costs for decks applies to porches too. Porches also have additional factors to consider that make a standard per-square-foot estimate impossible.

Screen porch with exposed shed style roof

What kind of roof?

Roof selection is driven by three factors: how it will tie-in to the rest of the home, how much it costs, and what style the customer prefers. The first of these trumps the others. In most cases, a single-slope roof is the least expensive, but it might not be possible to use with the existing architecture. Hip and gable roofs are usually more costly. Some cities require a licensed engineer or architect to design the roof. We have full resources to meet all city regulations and requirements, even if your city requires an architect or engineer to approve the roof.

Include a fireplace?

Just as a fireplace makes a huge difference to the design, feel, and use of a screened porch, its presence or absence will substantially change the cost of adding  this amenity to your home. Wood-burning and gas-fueled fireplaces and the materials chosen for the fireplace surround will be important cost factors as well.

Don’t forget electrical.

While you may not be planning on adding an outdoor fireplace to your new porch, you probably are planning on having lights, perhaps a few speakers, and several outlets for a whole host of devices including laptops, table lamps, cell phone chargers, and possibly even coffee cup warmers or the Keurig machine. We work with the various subcontractors such as gas, electrical or plumbing so you don’t have to.

Everything else…

There are a lot of pieces and parts of your porch that either aren’t the first design considerations evaluated or perhaps they are important components that you don’t notice or don’t see. For example, what sort of trim makes the most sense for your porch? This answer may depend heavily on the degree to which you want to do maintenance. Do you have special requirements about your screening? Depending on your configuration, different types of wall posts may be needed. What about interior ceiling trim? Custom lighting? How many ceiling fans? Where will they be mounted. If you’re a Microsoft Excel expert, you’re probably wondering if there are enough columns in a standard spreadsheet to list the options and associated pricing. That’s where Archadeck comes into play. We’ve built screened porches with a whole host of different combinations of styles, roof types, trims, posts, ceiling types, and amenities. We will help recommend the best configuration based on how you want to live on your new porch.

Your porch will be part of your home

We’ve never built two porches that are exactly alike. We partner with every client to design the addition to their home that uses the design, materials, shape, size, layout and amenities that are best for them. The moment we connect the porch to your house, it becomes part of your home and that’s something that’s more important and personal than anything that can be pulled out of a table of numbers.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

If you’re considering the addition of an outdoor fireplace – or a deck, porch, patio or other outdoor living structure – give us a call at (913) 851-3325 for a design consultation or email us at kansascity@archadeck.net. We look forward to your call.