Floating Dock Floats

[ghebert1111]

Anyone have any knowledge of the cost to install floating dock floats or can point me to a forum? We've had a couple of ours get water logged and "pop out".

We just got an estimate of " whatever the cost of the floats is, is the cost of labor", So if the floats cost $1000, labor is $1000. Seems like an odd way to price labor to me.


This is an example of one:
https://www.amazon.com/PermaFloat-Dock-System-Float-Drum/dp/B00G5K81IM?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_6

[mikenehrkorn]

Tell em you got a deal on the floats and they were only $50 ;)

[ghebert1111]

Tell em you got a deal on the floats and they were only $50 ;)

Well that is a question, if I provide the floats, what will he charge then?

[mikenehrkorn]

Good question.......sorry, I was just joking and a bad one at that.......I have done my share of dock building over the years and have always done the mounting/installing myself so I have no idea what they charge.

If you have a local dock building company (or preferably more than one to get multiple estimates) then I would think they would give you an estimate for that type of work.

[sandm]

it sounds like your quote has more work than what they really want to take on right now or has not ever done float replacement and unsure of what they will be getting into. that kind of quote is a sure sign to run far away to another contractor.

[ghebert1111]

Well it going to be 1600 to install 4 48x48x16 inch floats on the swim platform. I have a couple of spare floats that he will install for me as well. We'll see how it goes.

[Nathan-James Perry]

Nice! Let us know how it went.

[ghebert1111]

It turned out OK. The installer said he couldn't use my spare floats because they were water logged. They were floating 95% out of the water so I'm not sure why he said that, I think he thought I wanted him to use my floats in place of his floats, thus reducing the price. I had wanted him to use them in addition to his floats. That's what I get for not being there.

The four floats he installed on the outside edge of the swim deck are working great, however, they are working so great that that edge of the swim platform is now about a foot higher than the rest of the swim platform, so I have an inclined swim platform. I'll probably have all the floats on the entire dock replaced in the fall but I anticipate that running between 4 and 6 thousand. I'll also have to have my hydrohoist lift adjusted to account for the additional foot the dock is above the water.

And finally he left the old floats for me to dispose of. They were full of water and heavy as s$%t. I was able to partially drag them on land, drill drain holes and after draining some water, drag them up some more and drill and repeat. Finally after a couple of hours of that joy, I got em on the trailer and took em to the dump. My wife had been dealing with the guy and she said he had told her that we would have to dispose of them but that information never got to me so I was a bit POed.