floating · piling · pipe
The studio dock builders use to quote the water, not guess it
Enter the site — depth at low and high water, bottom, exposure, and which water you are on. Get the dock in 3D over real water, a complete priced takeoff down to the float drums, and a branded proposal with the permitting disclosure already written, naming your waterway authority wherever we hold its published rules.
No card required.
drag to turn
There is no national dock code. So we name who governs your water — and where every number came from.
A deck has the IRC and a published span table. A dock has no national standard at all, which is why dock software can print any number it likes and never be wrong out loud. Ours names the document and the section where one exists, names the manufacturer where the practice is theirs, and says plainly where nothing is published — pile embedment, anchor spacing, and pipe-leg and frame cross-spacing — so those get reviewed instead of trusted.
What the dock studio does
Site-first estimating
Water depth at low and high water, bottom type, exposure — the takeoff starts from the site, because on the water the site IS the design constraint.
Three dock systems
Floating (float drums + anchoring), fixed on driven pilings (bents + embedment by bottom), and pipe / roll-in (adjustable legs, seasonal removal).
Flotation you can check
Drums are counted to the worst of three criteria: the dock’s own weight riding no deeper than 45% of the drum, the reserve-buoyancy rule (2 in of drum still above water at dead plus full live load), and the published floor — and the takeoff names the one that governed. Catalog buoyancy is a full-submersion rating, so it is never compared with the load at face value.
UFC 4-152-07, Design: Small Craft Berthing Facilities §6-3.3.2
3D waterfront preview
The dock rendered over your site’s water depth — orbit it and show the customer their floats, pilings and gangway to scale, before anything is ordered.
Complete takeoff
Floats, pilings, pipe legs, frame, decking, cleats, bumpers, connector kits, anchor kits, gangway — priced, and on a plan editable line by line and CSV-exportable.
Problems get caught here
Floats that would ground at low water, pipe docks past stable depth, gangways too steep for the seasonal swing, deadweight anchors in muck — flagged while you are still quoting, not after the barge is on site.
DOCK-BP-* · rung named on each site-condition check
Who governs your water
Pick the state and the kind of water and the estimator names the authority and checks the dock against its dimensional caps — width, footprint, how far out you may go. Where we hold no verified rules for your water it says so and tells you who to ask, because a cap we cannot cite is worse than no cap.
Wisconsin DNR · WDFW · FDEP · NYSDEC · MnDNR · TVA
site checks
Problems get caught here — not at the water
These are the checks as the engine actually writes them. A site-condition check names its rung on the ladder, a jurisdiction cap names the agency and the document it comes from, and each one comes with the fix — because a warning without a way forward just stalls the quote.
A floating dock where the water drops to 1.5 ft at seasonal low.
Only 1.5 ft at low water — documented manufacturer practice (Tier 3, EZ Dock: 2–3 ft minimum) wants ~2.5 ft so floats stay off the bottom, and some states restrict float grounding (Tier 1, WA WAC 220-660-140(3)(c)(ii): approved in reservoirs and impoundments only when the water level is dropped).
What to do: Consider a pipe dock in the shallow span, or extend the run to deeper water.
A pipe / roll-in dock reaching out into 7 ft of water at seasonal high.
7 ft at high water is inside documented manufacturer practice for pipe docks (Tier 3, DockinaBox: water "less than 8 feet deep" on a fairly solid bottom) but past our conservative 6 ft default — a judgment call, not a citation. The legs below are counted by the same trade-practice rule as a shallower dock; bracing at this depth is not sized here.
What to do: Have your marine contractor confirm the legs and their bracing at this depth, or switch the deep-water end to floating or piling sections.
A 4 ft gangway spanning 2 ft of seasonal water-level travel.
4 ft gangway over 2 ft of water-level travel is steeper than the 3:1 slope CA DBW 2005 §F2.9 holds at or above 0.0 MLLW (coastal, §F2.9.1) and for at least 90% of the time inland (§F2.9.2) — the Tier 2 threshold this engine checks. §F2.9 does publish a 2½:1 relaxation, but only BELOW 0.0 MLLW or for no more than 10% of the time, and neither can be evaluated from a hand-entered seasonal high and low.
What to do: Use at least 7 ft of gangway (about 3.2× the level variation: a 3:1 slope with the shore end at high-water deck level), or have a marine contractor size it against measured water-level data for your site.
A gangway 2½ ft (30 in) wide.
A 2.5 ft (30 in) gangway is narrower than CA DBW 2005 §F2.4's "Recommended minimum clear gangway width is 36 inches" (Tier 2) — and clear width is measured between the handrails, so the walkway is narrower still.
What to do: Specify a gangway with at least 36 in clear between its handrails.
A 3 ft × 10 ft floating walkway on a pressure-treated frame with composite decking.
Not every drum the flotation needs fits under its section: section 1 (3 ft × 10 ft) needs 3 and has room for 2, laid lengthwise or crosswise in the 24 in × 48 in footprint the drum publishes (Tier 3). The takeoff bills what the flotation requires, never fewer — but that count cannot be mounted under the section as drawn.
What to do: Widen or lengthen the section, or choose a float with more buoyancy for its footprint, and have your dock supplier confirm the float layout before ordering.
A floating dock on an open, unsheltered shoreline.
Open exposure — wind and wave loads will work the anchoring hard. Marina design guidance (Tier 2, CA DBW 2005 §C2.4.1) designs for ≥15 psf wind; sheltered-water rules of thumb no longer apply.
What to do: Add anchor kits, consider wave attenuation or a more sheltered layout — and have a marine engineer review the anchoring.
A floating dock anchored over a soft muck bottom.
Muck bottom holds deadweight anchors poorly (trade practice, no published standard — verify anchoring with your marine contractor).
What to do: Upsize deadweights or switch to helical/auger anchors.
A piling dock over a rock bottom.
Rock bottom — piles must be pinned/socketed rather than driven (trade practice, no published standard — verify the anchorage detail with your marine contractor).
What to do: Budget for rock anchoring hardware and drilling time.
A piling dock on a lake the owner expects to pull out each fall.
Piling docks stay in year-round — ice sheets can jack unprotected piles (trade practice, no published standard — verify ice conditions with your marine contractor).
What to do: Confirm ice conditions; consider pipe or floating sections where ice-out is required.
An 8 ft-wide pier on a Wisconsin lake.
Wisconsin DNR exempts a pier no more than 6 ft wide, with one loading platform wider than that if the platform’s surface area does not exceed 200 sq ft (Tier 1, Wis. Stat. 30.12(1g)(f)); on this dock sections 1–2 are 8 ft wide and cover 320 sq ft, over the 200 sq ft a loading platform may cover. Over that line the dock is not exempt — it becomes a permit conversation with Wisconsin DNR, not a violation.
What to do: Bring the wide parts to 6 ft, or into a single loading platform of 200 sq ft or less, or take the design to your county’s Wisconsin DNR water management specialist. We do not tell you that you are permitted — that word belongs to the agency.
A 5 ft-wide gangway to a floating dock on a Washington lake.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife limits residential ramps to 4 ft wide and requires grating over the entire ramp surface (Tier 1, WAC 220-660-140(3)(c)(iv)(D)); the gangway is 5 ft wide. That is a ceiling in the rule as written, not a review threshold — take the design to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife before you quote it; whether an exception reaches this site is theirs to say.
What to do: Either bring the gangway to 4 ft or take the wider design to the WDFW habitat biologist for your county (Hydraulic Project Approval). We do not tell you that you are permitted — that word belongs to the agency.
A TVA-reservoir dock whose sections need a 1,200 sq ft siting rectangle; TVA does not count the access walkway.
Tennessee Valley Authority sites docks within a 1,000 sq ft rectangle at the lakeward end of the access walkway, not counting the walkway (Tier 1, 18 CFR 1304.204(a)–(b)). This dock needs a 20 × 60 ft rectangle, 1,200 sq ft, reading the gangway as the access walkway, which the rule does not count — between Tennessee Valley Authority’s two maximums: 1,800 sq ft in an area of preexisting development, 1,000 sq ft elsewhere. Which applies depends on whether the lot is in an area of preexisting development — a subdivision recorded before November 1, 1999 in which TVA permitted a facility before that date or, with no subdivision, within a quarter mile of a facility TVA permitted before then, which we do not hold.
What to do: Ask TVA’s Section 26a permitting office for this reservoir whether this lot is in an area of preexisting development. If it is not, this dock is over the 1,000 sq ft maximum as drawn.
A TVA-reservoir dock reaching 180 ft out to find water.
Tennessee Valley Authority holds docks and walkways to 150 ft from the shoreline, or ⅓ of the waterway (the distance to the opposite shoreline), whichever is less (Tier 1, 18 CFR 1304.204(c)); this one reaches 180 ft from the shore end of the drawing. That is a ceiling in the rule as written, not a review threshold — take the design to Tennessee Valley Authority before you quote it; whether an exception reaches this site is theirs to say.
What to do: Shorten the run, or take the reach to TVA’s Section 26a permitting office for this reservoir. The one-third-of-the-waterway test also needs the distance to the opposite shoreline, which we do not hold.
A fixed piling dock 12 in above high water on a TVA reservoir.
Tennessee Valley Authority sets fixed piers and docks at least 18 in above full summer pool on Pickwick, Wilson, Wheeler, Guntersville and Nickajack Reservoirs, and at least 24 in on all other reservoirs (Tier 1, 18 CFR 1304.204(d)); this fixed deck is 12 in above the high water entered, under the 18 in minimum on every TVA reservoir if that high water is full summer pool. We read the deck as 12 in above the high water entered; TVA measures from full summer pool, so confirm which level that is.
What to do: Raise the deck, or confirm full summer pool for this reservoir with TVA’s Section 26a permitting office for this reservoir.
A floating dock on a Washington lake.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s rule requires piers to extend far enough from the shoreline that floats do not impact juvenile salmonid migration, feeding and rearing areas, and approves grounding of floats in reservoirs and impoundments only at times of the year when the water level is dropped (Tier 1, WAC 220-660-140(3)(c)(ii)). A float that grounds here is a permit question, not the nuisance it is elsewhere. Your entered low-water depth is 3 ft.
What to do: Confirm the depth at your lowest recorded water, not seasonal low, and raise it with the WDFW habitat biologist for your county (Hydraulic Project Approval) if the floats could touch — or if this lake is a dam-regulated impoundment, ask how the drawdown allowance applies.
A dock on a U.S. Army Corps reservoir in Minnesota.
We applied Minnesota DNR’s rule (Tier 1, Minn. R. 6115.0210 subp. 4(A)) to this dock. On a U.S. Army Corps reservoir, the lake’s own Shoreline Management Plan also sets dock limits, lake by lake, and we do not hold per-lake plans — ask the Corps lake office that operates this reservoir as well.
What to do: Confirm which rule governs this water with your Minnesota DNR area hydrologist before you quote.
A dock with no state or water body recorded yet.
No state or water body recorded, so no dimensional cap has been checked on this dock. There is no national dock code, so the Tier 1 caps that govern width, footprint and reach come from your waterway authority — and we only publish caps we have verified against the agency’s own document.
What to do: Tell us the state and the water and we will check the dimensional caps we have on file (5 states plus TVA reservoirs today). Name your U.S. Army Corps district (Section 10 / 404), your state waterway agency, and your local shoreline zoning office before you quote — and if this is a TVA or Corps reservoir, say so, because the reservoir operator’s rules govern there.
Site → 3D → signed
Measure the site
Dock type, sections, gangway, water depths, bottom, exposure. Live takeoff updates as you type.
Preview in 3D
The dock over the real water depth — floats, pilings and shoreline drawn to scale.
Send the proposal
Priced takeoff to branded PDF with site conditions and permitting disclosure built in.
Structural quantities follow published guidelines and documented practice for light-duty residential docks, and are fully editable — your engineering judgment, and the authority that governs your water, always has the last word.
One platform. Docks, decks, or both.
Every plan is available dock-only or as a decks + docks combo — one account, one customer list, one pipeline. Build both? The combo beats two subscriptions.
Solo Builder
For owner/operators.
- 1 user · 3 active projects
- Floating, piling and pipe takeoffs
- 3D waterfront preview
- Branded PDF proposals + CSV order sheets
Pro Builder
For a single dock crew.
- Everything in Solo
- 3 users · +$79/seat · unlimited projects
- Unlimited active projects
- Shared project library
- Priority support
Company
For shops running multiple crews.
- Everything in Pro
- 10 users · +$99/seat · unlimited projects
- Room for the whole crew
Enterprise
Marinas, multi-location and white-label.
- Everything in Company
- Unlimited users
- White-label
- SSO
- Dedicated onboarding
Pays for itself in one dock. Secure card checkout by Stripe.
Questions dock builders ask
Is there a dock code?
There is no national dock code. A deck has the IRC and the AWC DCA 6 span tables; a dock has nothing equivalent — no national prescriptive standard, no span table, no document to certify a dock against. What governs a dock is a three-rung ladder. Rules with legal force come from your U.S. Army Corps district (Section 10 / 404), your state waterway agency, and local shoreline zoning. Below that sit published design guidelines — the Defense Department’s UFC 4-152-07 small-craft berthing criteria and California Boating & Waterways’ 2005 marina guidelines are the two public design documents, citable by section, and they are guidelines, not law. Below that is documented manufacturer practice: published flotation methods, minimum water depths, pipe-dock limits. We name which rung every number stands on, and we never claim a dock complies with anything, because there is nothing for it to comply with.
Does deckpro.studio estimate docks?
Yes — docks are a second vertical on the same platform, for residential dock contractors. Enter the site (water depth at low and high water, bottom type, exposure) and the dock (floating, piling, or pipe; sections; gangway) — it produces a 3D waterfront preview, a priced material takeoff, and a branded PDF proposal.
Which dock types does it handle?
Floating docks (float drums sized to the worst of three published flotation criteria, plus deadweight or auger anchoring), fixed docks on driven pilings (bents sized to the run, embedment by bottom type), and pipe / roll-in docks (adjustable legs with a depth stability check).
Does it size flotation and pilings automatically?
Yes, and here is the exact basis. Float drums are counted to the worst of three criteria. The dock’s dead load alone rides no deeper than 45% of the drum’s height, the middle of the Dock Builders Supply published flotation method: design near 40% submergence, never past 50% (Tier 3 — documented practice). At dead load plus the FULL live load, at least 2 in of the 16 in drum stays above water — the reserve-buoyancy rule (Tier 2 — published guideline: UFC 4-152-07, Design: Small Craft Berthing Facilities §6-3.3.2). And total flotation never drops below the published floor for the load basis: 28 psf residential (Tier 3 — documented practice: Dock Builders Supply) or 40 psf marina (Tier 3 — documented practice: American Muscle Docks). The live load comes from the basis — 20 psf residential (Tier 2 — published guideline: Ameren Lake of the Ozarks Permit Requirements, Appendix B §7.7.1, permit-mandated on that lake only) or 25 psf marina (Tier 2 — published guideline: CA DBW, Layout and Design Guidelines for Marina Berthing Facilities, 2005, §C2.2). Catalog buoyancy ratings are measured at total submersion, so no rating is compared with a load at face value. One 8′ × 20′ aluminum-frame section on the residential basis needs 4,571 lb of catalog buoyancy — 10 drums rated 500 lb, set by the reserve buoyancy at full live load. Build the same section in pressure-treated wood and its 13.36 psf dead load raises what the reserve-buoyancy rule asks, from 28.6 to 38.1 psf: 14 drums. The free dock flotation calculator runs the same sizing on your dock and names the criterion that governed. Pile lengths come from high-water depth plus embedment for the bottom type; pipe-leg counts from the run length, inside a conservative depth limit. Sourced numbers name their document and section. Where nothing is published — pile embedment, anchor spacing, and pipe-leg and frame cross-spacing, and the per-unit hardware counts — we say so on the line item and tell you to have it reviewed, rather than inventing a citation. On a plan, every quantity is editable line by line before you quote.
What about permits?
Dock work on public water is regulated — but by whom depends on your water, and that is the first thing the estimator asks. Pick your state and the kind of water and it names the authority, checks your dock against that authority's dimensional caps and says which clauses it cannot check: Wisconsin's 6 ft exempt pier width with one loading platform of up to 200 sq ft, Minnesota DNR's 8 ft no-permit width, WDFW's 6 ft over the first 30 ft from mean low water and 4 ft ramps, Florida's 500 / 1,000 sq ft statutory exemptions, NYSDEC's 4 ft tidal catwalks, and TVA's 1,000 sq ft siting rectangle (1,800 sq ft in areas of preexisting development) and 150 ft on its reservoirs. Where we hold no verified rules for your water — most states — it says so and tells you who to ask, rather than guessing at a cap. Federal Corps authorization (Section 10 / 404 — the 2026 Nationwide Permits run 2026-03-15 to 2031-03-15, and NWP 2 only covers structures in artificial canals in residential developments, so most new residential docks ride a district Regional General Permit instead) and local shoreline zoning still apply on top. For a jurisdiction we hold, the proposal's permitting section then names that authority and that document instead of a generic disclaimer; elsewhere it keeps the general one. We never tell you that you are permitted — that word belongs to the agency.
Does it warn about bad site fits?
Yes. Floats that would ground out at low water, pipe docks specified past stable depth, gangways too short for the seasonal water-level swing, deadweight anchors in muck, open-water exposure, rock bottoms that need pinning rather than driving, and ice on a piling dock the owner expects to pull each fall. Every check carries a DOCK-BP code. Each of those site-condition checks names its rung on the authority ladder in the message itself, so you can see at a glance whether you are looking at a state rule, a published guideline, or trade practice; each jurisdiction cap names the agency and the document it comes from.
Where does it stop?
It is an estimating tool, not stamped engineering, and three limits are worth knowing before you rely on it. Its jurisdiction cap table covers 6 authorities — Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington, Florida, New York tidal waters, and TVA reservoirs — because those are the ones whose own rules we retrieved and transcribed: Wisconsin, Florida and New York from the agency PDFs we checksummed, Minnesota, Washington and TVA from the agency's web page or the regulation's online text. Every other state returns "we do not have your rules, here is who to ask" instead of a number we cannot stand behind. It does not check freeboard against the published bands. And a flotation count is not a marina design: the estimator sizes flotation on the residential load basis, and the free flotation calculator also runs the marina basis, each naming its document. Open exposure on a floating dock is flagged with a note to have a marine engineer review the anchoring, and the takeoff still runs. A boat lift, vehicle traffic or a crowd is not an input, so the app cannot check for one — a dock that has to carry any of them belongs with a marine engineer.
I build decks too — do I need two subscriptions?
No. Decks and docks are one platform and one account. A combo plan covers both verticals: one customer list, one pipeline, one proposal history.
Is there a free trial?
Yes — every new account starts with a 7-day free trial (one trial per business). No card required. The trial shows the priced totals and a preview of the takeoff; the full line-item sheet and its exports come with a plan.
Quote your next dock before you leave the shoreline
Site conditions in, priced proposal out — with the 3D preview that sells it.
No card required.