DIY Outdoor Fireplace Costs

How expensive is it…really?

So do you have a desire to add a DIY outdoor fireplace to your backyard? Have you been thinking about designs and placement? Anything you build on your own or have built to improve your outdoor living space will have a cost associated with it. Build costs can be drastically different when you compare a DIY built fireplace to one you pay to have built.

By saying that the build costs vary drastically, that is no overstatement in any way. Let’s break this down, starting with how much a DIY built fireplace would cost. When you get a construction plan from Backyard Flare, LLC, you will get a materials list that tells you exactly how many of each block, how much mortar, concrete, steel, etc, that you will need to build a specific design.

DIY Outdoor Fireplace Costs Broken Down

Each building material has a cost, so for ease of explanation, let’s use $1.00 as the cost for a block, $3.00 for a bag of concrete, and $4.00 for a bag of mortar. Let’s then throw in $300.00 for other build materials like firebrick, wood, angle iron, and rebar. If you have a fireplace design that would require 150 blocks, that is $150.00 to start. Let’s say 10 bags of mortar and 15 bags of concrete also, so that would be $40.00 and $45.00, respectively. With the added $300.00, the total would be approximately $545.00 for the rough building materials.

Let’s say you were able to pour your own foundation for $300.00 in materials. Also, that you found a great looking veneer for a total of $500.00. Adding these costs to the rough build, your total build materials for the fireplace would be approximately $1,345. With no labor costs, and only sweat equity and a whole lot of fun, your costs wouldn’t exceed that for the most part.

outdoor fireplace cholla veneered swimming pool
This is our Cholla design built by a DIY homeowner

Contractor Costs Broken Down

When you have a contractor build the fireplace, you need to start with the $1,345 cost for materials to get a decent calculation. Most of the time, there are additional costs associated with mark-up for the materials. We won’t add those in. At least here in the Arizona area, we have figured out that average labor costs are 4-5 times the materials cost. These calculations would be $1,345 X 4 and $1,345 X 5. These equal $5,380 and $6,725, respectively.

These two labor amounts are only approximate and they are not set in stone. When you add the two labor costs to the $1,345 cost for materials, you could expect to pay $6,725 to $8,070 for the fireplace.

Are you Convinced Yet?

When we look at the differences between the costs of a DIY built fireplace and a contractor built fireplace, there are literally thousands of dollars separating them. Most people would agree that saving money is important. This savings can be directly attributed to building your fireplace DIY style.

When you’re ready to build a gorgeous outdoor fireplace on a budget, your first stop should be www.backyardflare.com. We can offer you a step by step DIY construction plan that will guide you all the way through your build. No sense in trying to figure it out on your own. Starting at only $39.99, you will have the best and most comprehensive DIY construction plan on the market. We look forward to helping you with your DIY project.

DIY Outdoor Kitchen Build

Getting Started

Well, this 2020 spring sure snuck up on us.  Down here in the southwest, the temps are getting into the 70s already in March, so we are looking at some DIY projects.  We have decided that an DIY outdoor kitchen is what my father-in-law’s backyard needs.  He’s super excited and we started talking and discussing the build and what we would want in the structure.

DIY Outdoor Kitchen with Charcoal Grill
Getting started with the excavation.

We have a few hundred square feet to work with, so we have some different shapes and configurations available to us.  There is a gorgeous mountain view to our east, so we definitely want to keep that on our mind when we design the layout. 

Initial Thoughts

First and foremost, my father-in-law loves to cook on charcoal, so we are headed in that direction with the grill.  We picked out a Char-Broil brand structure that we’ll modify to fit the space.  That’s a real cool way to build and very economical, so we’ll be getting into that in some future posts.  Secondly, we are looking to match the exterior of the outdoor fireplace that we built last year on the opposite side of the backyard.  In order to do that, we’ll be putting stucco and outdoor lighting on our DIY outdoor kitchen, with flagstone as our counter material.  By using the same finish material on the grill and fireplace, it’ll look like we built both structures at the same time and the overall look of the backyard will look well thought out. 

We decided that a raised bar area would be a nice addition to the DIY outdoor kitchen, so the structure will have to be big enough to accommodate that extra feature.  An “L” shape is something we feel will work so the guests sitting at the bar will have the mountain view to look at while they talk to the grill chef and enjoy their favorite beverage.

Starting the Construction

We staked out the rough dimension of the “L” shape grill and then started figuring out the level of the future concrete slab.  This is important so our patio pavers are the same height of the patio to the house.  The excavation of the site started with a quick dig out of the slab dimension. 

Using a really long level, 6-footer, we laid out random pavers from the existing patio to the farthest side of the DIY outdoor kitchen structure.  This would tell us how much digging we would need to do to get it uniform and level. 

Drawing and Block Count/Order

CAD drawing of the DIY outdoor kitchen
CAD drawing of the DIY outdoor kitchen

Dan at Backyard Flare drew up the grill structure using CAD and concept and then used the drawing to calculate the type of blocks and exact number of each block needed.  Dan figured the mortar and concrete need as well, and then called Lowes to place the order for delivery.  The best part is that almost all the building materials and even the grill will be delivered right to the side of the house, which is where the gate is located leading to the backyard.  The materials purchased, including the $75 delivery fee, was only $505, and that included the grill.  Wow, how much more economical can it get?

Follow along on our future posts as we build.  You’ll be amazed at how easy and inexpensive it can actually be to build on your own.  The DIY world is yours to explore and we can help.  If you’re interested in building your own backyard paradise, let us know how we can help.  Get your construction plan today and begin building your DIY outdoor kitchen tomorrow.  Happy building.