Free tools 20+ years on the water 8 states served
Get a fast, honest ballpark for your shoreline project. Our live seawall, bulkhead, retaining-wall, pier, dock, boardwalk and pile-driving calculators estimate your cost by material and size — price per linear foot for walls and driven piles, per square foot of face for retaining walls, deck area for piers, docks and boardwalks — then let you download a branded PDF estimate. The numbers come from real Shore Protect projects; your firm price follows a site review.
Marine construction runs $150–$650+ per linear foot for a shoreline wall, $40–$150 per square foot for a pier, dock or boardwalk, and $15–$70+ per square foot of face for a retaining wall. Use the seawall calculator for coastal, wave-exposed or high-wake sites and the bulkhead calculator for calmer freshwater or sheltered banks.
Those baselines describe residential work with land access for equipment — about 100 linear feet or more of wall, or 300 square feet or more of deck. Short runs, barge-only access, deep water, saltwater exposure and demolition of an existing structure all price above the range, because permits, engineering and mobilization cost the same on a small job as on a large one and are spread over less work.
The ranges come from quoted jobs, and we publish the individual numbers: a 100 ft Houston timber bulkhead at $180 per linear foot, a 140 ft Michigan riprap seawall at $231, a 170 ft Texas timber retaining wall at $249. Each one has a case study with the line items behind it.
$150–$650+ / LF · freshwater baseline
Vinyl, wood, steel, concrete or riprap — freshwater or coastal, with a wave-exposure adjustment.
$150–$650+ / LF · freshwater baseline
Vinyl, wood, steel, concrete or riprap — freshwater baseline with an optional saltwater adjustment.
$20–$130 / SF · deck area + water depth
Pressure-treated, composite, hardwood or concrete piers — all-in price by deck area, decking material and water depth.
$20–$130 / SF + roof · deck area + cover
Open or covered docks — all-in price by deck area, decking material, water depth and a lean-to, gable or hip boathouse roof.
$20–$130 / SF · over land, water or both
Shoreline walkways & over-water boardwalks — all-in price by deck area, decking material, height and how much of the run is over water.
$10–$90 / LF · timber, steel & concrete
Driven piles only — all-in price per linear foot by pile type, size, count and driven length, plus rig mobilization and a work barge for over-water access.
$15–$70+ / SF · face area
Timber, gabion, composite, stone, concrete block, riprap, metal or brick — priced per square foot of face by material and wall height.
Every Shore Protect calculator follows the same three steps, so you get a planning ballpark in under a minute:
Each estimate covers the structure itself. Demolition of an old wall, backfill, permits and mobilization are quoted separately because they depend on site conditions — so your final, firm price comes after a site review.
| Calculator | Best for | Inputs | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seawall | Coastal, wave-exposed & high-wake shorelines | Material, length, wall height, water type | Price / LF + PDF estimate |
| Bulkhead | Calmer freshwater & sheltered banks | Material, length, wall height, water type | Price / LF + PDF estimate |
| Pier | Piers & walkways over the water | Deck area, water depth, pilings | Price range + PDF estimate |
| Dock & boathouse | Open or covered docks & boat slips | Deck area, water depth, roof / cover | Price range + PDF estimate |
| Boardwalk | Shoreline walkways & over-water boardwalks | Deck area, height, over land / water | Price range + PDF estimate |
| Pile driving | Foundations, docks & heavy structures | Pile type, size, count, driven length | Price range + PDF estimate |
| Retaining wall | Soil retention & grade changes | Material, length, wall height | Price / SF + PDF estimate |
Every number below is the installed, all-in baseline our estimators quote from, before site-specific adjustments for access, water depth, saltwater exposure and demolition. Two different units are in play: shoreline walls are priced per linear foot of shoreline, decks and retaining walls per square foot.
Two habits make these numbers useful rather than decorative. Compare quotes on the same unit — a per-foot rate that excludes pilings is not comparable to one that includes them. And read the exclusions: demolition, backfill, drainage, permits and mobilization are quoted as separate lines by every honest estimator, which is why a job total is rarely the per-foot rate times the footage.
Explore detailed pricing guides: bulkhead cost, seawall cost, pier cost, pile-driving cost, retaining-wall cost, or browse our completed waterfront projects.
Honest answers about our free calculators — what they cost, how accurate they are, which one you need, and what's coming next.
Yes — every calculator is completely free with no obligation. Estimate your price per linear foot by material, then download a branded PDF estimate to keep. If you'd like an exact quote, you can send us your project details and photos right from the tool.
They're a planning ballpark, not a binding quote. The ranges come from real Shore Protect projects and are adjusted for your material and wall height. The firm price comes after a site review of soil, access, water and wave conditions — estimates are reviewed by Roman Ross, Marine Construction Estimator at Shore Protect Construction.
Both are hard vertical shoreline walls. A bulkhead mainly retains soil on calmer, low-to-moderate energy banks, while a seawall is built to take a beating — coastal bays, the open Gulf, busy boating lakes and storm surge. If your site sees real wave or wake action, use the seawall calculator; for a sheltered inland bank, the bulkhead calculator is usually right.
Yes — all of them are live. The pier cost calculator, the dock & boathouse cost calculator and the boardwalk cost calculator price by deck area and decking material (the dock calculator also adds a lean-to, gable or hip boathouse roof, and the boardwalk calculator factors in height and how much of the run is over land or water); the pile driving cost calculator prices driven piles per linear foot by type, size and length; and the retaining-wall cost calculator prices walls per square foot of face by material and wall height. For deeper detail, see our retaining-wall cost guide, or contact us any time for a tailored estimate.
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