If there are two extremes, one would be building a dock entirely from scratch (maybe with hand tools, by the sweat of your brow), and the other extreme being buying a dock and hiring professionals to install it for you as you sip lemonade from the back porch.
Well first of all, we need to know if you are secretly Al Bourland and could whip this thing out over the weekend. If you are, you probably aren’t reading this, you are busy crafting mahogany masterpieces in your garage.
Our guess is you’re probably somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Not wanting to cut down your own trees and make plans of wood… but also wanting to be somewhat involved and have the feeling of accomplishment (not to mention save money). Let’s talk through some options!
Building : Pros and Cons
Pros
You will have made it with your own brain, and your own hands! No one will have a dock like yours and it will have come from that wild imagination of yours. There’s a decent chance this option will be cheaper than buying an expensive dock and paying for an install. We all know how weird problems and hidden costs show up with DIY-ing, but if you’ve thoroughly done your research you’ll come out on top in theory!
Cons
Building your own dock, we aren’t going to lie, is going to be research intensive. You’ll want to know your water depth at every place a post will go down, which may be severely impacted by the rising and lowering of the water level over time. Its a head-scratcher for many folk, but not impossible to figure out if you research and ask experts in your area! However, there’s also the type of lake bottom you’ll be setting your posts on, and the ability to remove or raise your dock up out of the water before a potential winter freeze. Between knowing water depth, lake-bottom-configuration, and accounting for the winter… you’ve got your work cut out for you. If you are up for the challenge, great! But you will need a fair amount of knowledge and ability if you want your dock reliable and safe through the years.
Buying : Pros and Cons
Pros
Buying docks in show rooms or online means you can see the dock and picture how it will look from the planning stages. Research with buying is much simpler because you can see all kinds of docks and dock kits that exist and pick what is right for your set up. The huge, huge pro of buying is this: Many companies have dock kits that are super easy so you are still saving money not having to pay someone to come do it for you. Jack Docks, for instance, has easy to follow instructions and a simple set up that you can was
Getting All Decked Out