Cost to Build a Deck in Somerville, MA: what the permits say

How much does it cost to build a deck in Somerville?

The usual deck & porch job filed with Somerville is $20,000, from 205 priced permits, October 2023 through September 2026. The middle half of firms usually file between $15,582 and $28,300. Half of jobs were filed for less, half for more. A filed value is what the contractor wrote on the permit, not a quote or the final bill. A deck & porch permit here usually takes 208 days from issue to final inspection. How long permits take →

What the spread looks like

Approximately, from each firm's own spread: every firm's range of filed values, weighted by its 205 priced permits across 149 firms, pooled into one. Half of Somerville deck & porch permits were filed between $12,500 and $34,000.

By home value

Firms split into thirds by the usual value of the homes they work on, with each third's usual filed value weighted by permits. Home values: City of Somerville FY2025 assessed values.

Busiest firms and what they usually charge

Top 10 by permits in the last 12 months. Usual is each firm's middle filed value; middle half is the range its middle half of jobs were filed in; both are shown for firms with 5 or more priced permits. Busy is not the same as careful: pick what you value to build a list.

Why filed values run low or high

• The 10 busiest firms usually file $10,075; the 149 firms with fewer than 10 permits usually file $20,600.
• Firms working on the most expensive third of homes (usual home value $1,413,600 and up) usually file $24,400, against $19,850 for the least expensive third.
• One permit type covers small and large jobs: 1 in 10 deck & porch permits is filed under $5,800 and 1 in 10 over $51,900, 9 times as much.
• 100.0% of the 205 permits carry a value; the 0 without one are left out of every figure here.

When to schedule a deck build in Somerville

Somerville files the fewest deck & porch permits in February (29 against an average month of 100) and the most in July (146). If you can choose, ask for quotes in a quiet month. We have no prices by month, so this is about crews' schedules, not a discount. When each trade is busiest in Somerville →

Guides for this trade

• Hiring a deck builder: 5 red flags and 10 questions, checked against deck permits in 17 cities
• Deck vs patio: the permit line, and what deck permits cost in 9 cities
• What can a homeowner do without a permit? Exempt work in 7 cities, and when you can pull your own
• How to check a contractor's license in Massachusetts

All guides →

Common questions

• How many quotes should I get for a deck & porch job in Somerville?At least three. In the permit record the middle half of Somerville deck & porch firms usually file between $15,582 and $28,300 a job, so two ordinary firms can sit 1.8 times apart and both be normal for Somerville. A third quote shows which one is the outlier. Filed values are what contractors wrote on permits, not quotes, so use them to judge the spread, not to price your own job.
• What range is normal for deck & porch jobs in Somerville?Half of permits were filed between $12,500 and $34,000; 8 in 10 between $5,800 and $51,900. These are approximate, pooled from each firm's own spread.
• How much do deck builders charge in Somerville?The usual deck & porch job is filed at $20,000; the middle half of firms usually file between $15,582 and $28,300. The 10 firms with the most permits in the last 12 months usually file $10,075, less than the usual. See every firm's usual job →
• Why is this different from the per-square-foot prices I see online?Online prices are quoted per square foot. A filed value is one number for the whole job on one permit, often many square feet plus the work around them, and the Somerville file does not record how many each job covered, so we can't turn $20,000 into a price per square foot.
• Do bigger houses get bigger bills?In the file, yes for the firms: those working on the upper third of homes by value usually file $24,400, the lower third $19,850. That is firms, not single jobs.
• Where does this data come from?City of Somerville permit applications (issued permits only), read October 2026. How the records work in Somerville →