HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BUILD A JETTY?

First up, please use this information in the context that it’s provided. The figures below are not definitive, quotes or even estimates; just a rough guide to help you get started. We can help you from there if you give us a location and your wishlist.

If you’re looking for a fixed quote or an estimate, please give us a call, or email us, ideally with your jetty location marked on a map, a rough outline of what you are hoping to construct, any existing resource consent information, and your current thoughts on the project. We can then get back in touch to discuss your plans and provide you with an estimated price for the programme of works.

Anyway, how much does it cost to build a jetty?

Unfortunately there are no simple ‘rules-of-thumb’ like $900 per square metre. This is because your job might quickly get into deep water (seriously – this would mean much longer piles and strong cross-braces), it might be remotely located, or perhaps you require a floating pontoon/linkspan (walkway) – components that are higher priced than a simple straight 1.8m x 20m jetty reaching out into the soft sands of a close-to-Waikawa site.

Also, remember that your carefully costed jetty might not even get consented, maybe due to high water traffic or swing moorings in close proximity, or perhaps other jetty facilities exist nearby that are deemed to be able to serve you and your neighbours adequately. So consider all that stuff first.

We work with local Marlborough engineers to jointly develop plans that maximise the building site  where we will build your strong, beautiful wharf. The final construction price is highly reliant on the engineer’s plans so it’s a good place to have strong collaboration and our early input.

But that’s not very useful for your early budgeting. So …. if you want to get a really rough idea, crack out your colouring pencils and let’s have a doodle.

You’ll need good foundations – piles closer than 3.6m or so, on the corners, at the start, and at 1.2m spans across your jetty. Depending on depth and diameter, your H6 SED Piles might cost between $350 and $700 each. To drive these piles might be a full day, or more likely two days, with a barge, skipper, pile driver, excavator, builder, etc on site and all the steaming costs. Potentially upwards of $11,000 a day is a rough guide for your pile driving.

If you install a 1.8m, you’ll likely only need two rows of piles. Any wider and you’ll need a third middle set of piles, raising the cost for piles and pile driving.

Then there’s the H4 bearers, joists, stringers, and deck boards. Dressed 200x50mm deck boards might be up to $10 a metre. If you’re looking for a distinctive look, consider moving to a sustainable hardwood like ironbark sourced from old Australian telephone poles. H6 stairs, handrails, cross braces and low tide platforms all add more timber to the job.

Current timber specifications are more robust than for the old jetties. 250×50 bearers could be as much as $35 a metre for H4, or $60 a metre for 200×100 H6 cross-bracing, but your timber requirements will be dependent on the plans provided by your engineer. We can help advise on who to use and what to ask for. 

We only use 316 Stainless Steel to affix stuff where possible. We liberally smear bolts with marine grease to avoid any reaction with tanalised timber. It’s normal to install $5,000 of bolts/washers/nuts/anchor bolts/screws/nails/multigrips/joist hangers/more bolts into an average modern Marlborough Sounds jetty.

Labour costs are generally around $65 to $75 per hour and have risen by around $10 in the past year. It might take 25-30 days onsite for the build, or more. Travel costs for the building team can often be over $150 a day, depending on the travel time. You can extrapolate these in your budget calculations.

Hopefully your rough sketches and calculations are helping you get to a place where you can start to settle on a budget for your build. So let’s talk rough total costs now.

 

Some Ball-Park Totals

Generally speaking, it’s rare to be able to build a decent-sized jetty for under $65,000. It’s now common for jetty-only jobs to cost over $120,000. But somewhere in the middle is a good place to start.

Add another $95,000+ for boatsheds, but that will depend on the size, building materials and complexity of the build. You’ll need to budget for aluminium roofing materials if over or near water – budget around $15,000 for boatshed ‘fitted roof cladding’ alone.

A 9×3 floating pontoon and 7×1.3m aluminium link-span (the walkway that connects pontoon to shore and moves up and down with the sea’s tidal height) might collectively be $35,000-$45,000 by the time it’s attached to the seabed and signed off. To get a rough pricing guide on a floating pontoon jetty, read our page on ‘how much does a floating pontoon jetty cost?’.

You’ll need to factor in designing detailed structure plans, engineers’ fees (worth every penny), site inspections, Council consents, plus a decent bottle of bubbles to celebrate your new pride & joy, of course.

Your engineer might quote you $5,000 to $10,000 to draft the plans, file your building consent and oversee the job, but it’s worth it when the Code of Compliance is finally signed off. Or they might be upwards of double that – if boatsheds, floating pontoons and slipways are added to the site.

Every job is different and expert help is critical to the job progressing smoothly to completion. We can draft and lodge your Resource Consent application and the engineer we’re working with will help prepare and file your Building Consent application. So don’t forget to allocate some budget towards the consent process!

 

Marlborough District Council – Consent and Other Fees

These can vary depending on the complexity of the Permit/Consent/Code of Compliance being sought. Council fees may be charged for factors such as re-submitting or providing additional information, recurrence of inspections, changing your requirements partway through, lapsed consents and some inspections by boat for zones 4(a) and 4(b), plus a myriad of other stuff.
Here’s a starting point:
Resource Consent – currently (as at Oct 2022) it’s $1,064 including GST to file with MDC. Their fees table is here.
Building Consent fees depend on zone and value of your jetty build. Best to refer to this page for current fees. Jetties are in the Band F fee structure. Expect your building consent fees and levies to cost over $3,000 incl GST. 

 

Don’t Overpay.

Probably the best thing to remember is our Pier Two Pricing will ensure you don’t pay more than you need to. Get a couple of quotes if you like and try us out!

Check out our Pier Two Guarantee on every new jetty build. This gives you FREE periodic checks to tighten up jetty bolts (and there are plenty to tighten!) and to double-check timber fit and our workmanship throughout your first two years of new jetty ownership.

These commitments from us ensure:
(1) you don’t overpay, and
(2) you get what you pay for.

What you will get is a beautiful jetty you can be proud to pull up to at every visit. It’s a cliche, but that joy will be celebrated long after the construction, engineering and consent costs are forgotten.