Deck and fence staining cost in Toronto and the GTA
Updated · Our figures come straight from our own quoting engine · Dylan, owner
Staining a medium deck of about two hundred square feet costs $1,400–$2,600 in the GTA going by published prices; our online quote prices a twelve by sixteen deck at $672. A privacy fence runs $3.50–$8 per linear foot published, and $7 with us, both faces included.
Start with the minimum, because on this kind of work it decides more than the rate does. Two GTA firms publish what the smallest deck or fence job they will take costs, and for a small deck that number, not the per-square-foot rate, is what you actually pay.
The minimum is the whole story on a small job
Most staining quotes are governed by the minimum rather than the measurement. Two GTA companies publish theirs outright, which is unusual and worth taking seriously: it is the floor beneath every deck and fence quote they give. Ours is a good deal lower, and that difference is worth more to somebody with one small deck than any per-square-foot rate on this page.
| What it covers | Published GTA range | Our quote |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest deck or fence bookingthe smallest deck or fence job two GTA firms publish taking | Published GTA range$1,200–$1,495 | Our quote$350 / booking |
This is why a small deck can be quoted at three or four times what the wood alone works out to. It is not padding. It is a crew, a wash, a drying day and a return visit, and that costs the same whatever the size.
Decks by size
Priced on the area of the boards you walk on. The three sizes below are the ones our quote offers as shortcuts, and they cover most residential decks (roughly a ten by ten, a twelve by sixteen, and a sixteen by twenty). Watch what happens to the smallest one: it hits the minimum and stops falling, which is exactly the effect the section above describes.
| What it covers | Published GTA range | Our quote |
|---|---|---|
| A small deck, around ten by tena small deck, about 100 square feet | Published GTA range$900–$1,600 | Our quote$350 |
| A medium deck, around twelve by sixteena medium deck, about 200 square feet | Published GTA range$1,400–$2,600 | Our quote$672 |
| A large deck, around sixteen by twentya large deck, about 320 square feet | Published GTA range$2,200–$3,800 | Our quote$1,120 |
The rates behind those totals
A raised deck costs a little more than one at ground level because of the staging and because the sides of it are visible surfaces too. Steps are priced by area rather than by tread, and they come with the deck they lead to rather than being something you choose separately, because nobody stains a flight of deck steps as a job of its own. Railings are by the length of the run, spindles included.
| What it covers | Published GTA range | Our quote |
|---|---|---|
| Ground-level deck, per square footper square foot of sound deck, two coats, including the wash | Published GTA range$3.50–$6.50 | Our quote$3.50 / sq ft |
| Fence, per linear footper linear foot of six-foot privacy fence, both faces, two coats | Published GTA range$3.50–$8 | Our quote$7 / ln ft |
| Deck railings, per linear footper linear foot of deck railing, posts and spindles included | Published GTA range$8–$15 | Our quote$10 / ln ft |
Fence runs are counted once even though both faces get done. A hundred and twenty feet of fence means a hundred and twenty feet, not two hundred and forty.
What condition does to the price
This is the biggest single variable in staining and the one homeowners most often underestimate. Sound wood that has been looked after takes a wash and two coats. Wood that has gone grey and splintery needs sanding and brightening first. Wood with an old solid stain flaking off it needs stripping back to something that will hold a finish, and that is a different job with a different price. The published GTA figures put a strip-and-refinish at roughly half again what a straight recoat costs, which matches what our own quote does with it.
| What it covers | Published GTA range | Our quote |
|---|---|---|
| Stripping back a peeling finish, per square footper square foot where old stain has to be stripped and sanded back | Published GTA range$7–$10 | Our quote$3.50 / sq ft |
The row above compares a strip-and-refinish rate against our standard rate deliberately. Our condition adjustment is a multiplier on the quote rather than a separate rate, so this is the honest way to line the two up.
What we do not do
Everything on this page is wood you can walk up to and reach: decks, fences, pergolas, lattice and porch woodwork. We do not refinish whole-house exterior wood. It is a different job (worked off staging, at height, in a narrower weather window, and usually with a different product) and it is not what this crew is set up for, so we would rather say so here than quote it badly. If that is what you need, you want somebody who does it every week.
Every figure on this page is before HST, ours and the published ranges alike, which is how almost every painter in Ontario quotes. Thirteen per cent goes on at invoice time.
Questions about what this costs
Does booking at a particular time of year change the price?
Not the rate, but it can change what the job turns out to be. Wood left through another winter under a failing finish moves down the condition scale, and condition is the largest single variable in this kind of work, so the same deck put off for a year can genuinely cost more to do, not because anybody raised a price but because it now needs stripping rather than recoating. The other effect is scheduling rather than money: the season here is short, mid-summer is when everybody rings, and booking outside that window gets you a date rather than a discount.
How often will a deck need doing again?
Two to four years for a deck, longer for a fence, and the difference is exposure rather than product. A deck takes sun straight down on it, standing water, and the abrasion of being walked on; a vertical fence sheds water and gets a fraction of the wear. Which finish you choose moves it too: the more pigment a stain carries, the longer it lasts and the less of the grain you see, which is a genuine trade rather than a better and worse option.
My deck has gone grey and rough. Is it too far gone?
Almost certainly not. Grey is weathered surface fibre rather than rot, and it sands and brightens back to something that takes a finish properly. What actually rules a board out is softness: if a screwdriver goes into it, or the board flexes underfoot, that is a board to replace rather than to coat. We would rather replace a few boards and stain a sound deck than put a good finish over wood that is failing underneath it.
Do you stain the underside of a raised deck?
No, and it is deliberate rather than a saving. The underside stays out of the weather and out of the sun, which is what degrades a finish, so a coating there rarely earns what it costs to apply, and applying it means working overhead in a confined space, which is a slow and messy way to spend your money. Where it does matter is the lattice or skirting closing the space in, because that is visible and does weather, which is why lattice is its own item in our quote.
Is a small deck worth paying somebody to stain?
That depends more on the minimum charge than on the deck, which is why it is the first thing on this page. A small deck on its own bills at our minimum booking of $350 (the staining comes to about that anyway), while the published minimums of the two GTA firms that state one sit far above it. If you have a fence or a second deck as well, putting them in the same visit is where the arithmetic changes, because the setup is being paid for once either way.
For how the work itself is done (preparation, products and what happens on the day), see Exterior Staining.
We are a Richmond Hill crew and we work across York Region and North York. The ranges on this page cover the wider GTA, because painting costs do not stop at a municipal boundary. If you are outside where we work, though, we will tell you so rather than drive somewhere we cannot serve properly. Ask anyway if you are close; we answer honestly.
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