Building an oven for $ Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Building an oven for $ in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; I have someone that wants me to build an oven for them. They have the money, but not the time ...

[smuth10]

I have someone that wants me to build an oven for them. They have the money, but not the time or skills.

Has anyone ever built an oven for someone else?
What price range did you give them?
Any other considerations you had or problems you ran into would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

[pwcoppard]

Well, i don't know if this helps, but when i was building my oven the local brick supplier told that it would have cost $20,000 for someone to do it for me, including labour and materials.

And if you figure it is about 5 - 6 weeks work, it works out to about $75 an hour - assuming $5,000 of materials.

[Modthyrth]

I got a quote of $17k for a brick oven--could bring that down to $12k or $13k if I went with a prefab dome. But that didn't include any finishing work, not even stucco (and certainly not the stone veneer I used), and none of the additional masonry like the granite work surface, or the wall surround for the grill. Just for a basic, unfinished but workable oven.

[smuth10]

I was thinking between 15k and 20k depending on the fixin's, so that helps. Were those prices for a 36" or 42" oven?

Some of my other concerns are the city and any possible permits\fees. The city where this person lives is a little stuffy and may be an issue. If I could get enough business I may just be able to keep from going back to the desk.

Thanks for your help,

[Modthyrth]

I didn't specify and they didn't ask when I got the quote. The labor and materials difference between the two is pretty negligible compared to the entire cost and time of the project, though.

[pwcoppard]

Permits is a funny story for me.

When I built my oven, I didn't look into permits. I removed an old garden shed that had a concrete pad underneath, and then centered the stand on the pad. My wife convinced me to move the stand right to the side of the pad, a bit closer to the house. Grumbling, I took down the stand and rebuilt it.

A few weeks later, while I was curing the finished oven, I finally got around to wondering about the building code. There really is nothing published here in Calgary that applies to outdoor ovens, the closest was outdoor fireplaces. It stated that they needed to be 2 meters (about 80 inches) from the nearest flammable thing.

So I measured the from the opening of the entrance to the neighbor's wood fence. 79 inches. But the fence was leaning over because of their wood stacked on the other side. One big push on the fence later, and I am 81 inches away, and conforming to code.

Good thing I listened to my wife and moved the stand. (And that is a lesson I seem to need to continually relearn.)

To your earlier question, a 42" oven.

[Les]

Originally Posted by pwcoppard

Good thing I listened to my wife and moved the stand. (And that is a lesson I seem to need to continually relearn.)

I don't know how long you have been married but after 26 + years, I have found that my wife is ALWAYS right.

Back to topic. My neighbor told me he charges 10 to 15 K for a barbecue island. An oven like ours has to warrant every bit of that if not more.

Les...

[pwcoppard]

Les, 19+ years. Still in a bit of denial.

[mfiore]

Originally Posted by smuth10

IThe city where this person lives is a little stuffy and may be an issue.

Sounds like an city just a little North of you on Woodward Ave! Good luck!

[splatgirl]

Holy crap, that much $$? really? What I do day to day is much more skill-specific and much more technical and exacting than masonry, and I can't pay myself anywhere NEAR $75 an hour. I guess I need to get into the oven building business, and I guess I'm reminded of why I built my own house. I was thinking it's really about a 2-3 week project if you can work on it full time, meaning I'd be pretty darn happy with ~5K plus materials.