Dock Construction in Jacksonville, Florida

Everything about a dock in Northeast Florida is harder than it looks from the shore. Tidal range on the St. Johns and the Intracoastal means the structure has to work across a moving water level. Brackish water attacks timber and steel. Boat wake works at the structure continuously. Storm season occasionally tries to take the whole thing somewhere else.

Barefoot Marine Construction has been building docks here since 2009. Certified General Contractor #1533461, Jacksonville-based, and carrying Workers’ Compensation and USL&H (Longshore & Harbor Workers’) coverage — federally required for maritime work outside state workers’ compensation, and the insurance that applies when crews work over water. Plenty of outfits bidding dock work do not carry it.

What we build

Custom docks — designed around your lot, your water depth and the boat you actually own.

Residential docks — private docks for waterfront homes, from a simple walkway to a full platform with lift and boathouse.

Commercial and municipal — commercial, municipal and military marine structures, including the dock and marine wall at the St. Vincent’s pavilion in Jacksonville.

Dock repair and restoration — repair, restoration, staining and leveling of existing structures.

Custom decks — waterfront decks, multi-level structures and observation platforms.

Handrails and railings — single rail, double rail and full guard, built in or retrofitted.

Gazebos and covered structures — shade over water, and the wind uplift a roof has to resist.

Boathouses — design and construction of covered vessel structures.

Dock accessories — dock boxes, benches and fish cleaning tables.

The things that decide a dock project

Reaching usable water. The single biggest driver of dock cost and layout. How far out you have to go to get the depth your boat needs determines walkway length, pile count and most of the budget. Two lots on the same street can differ enormously here.

Tidal range. The structure has to be usable at low water and not submerged at high. This drives deck elevation and, where the range is significant, points towards a floating section.

Pile depth and soils. Piles have to be driven to adequate penetration for the loads and the soils. This is not a place to save money, and it is not visible when the dock is finished.

Exposure. Fetch, wake and storm exposure drive how the structure is framed and connected.

Materials. Decking choice affects cost, maintenance and how the dock feels underfoot in a Florida August. Framing and hardware choices decide how long it lasts.

Permits. Normally the longest item in the schedule — see dock permits.

What goes on the dock

A dock is a platform, and most of what makes it worth having sits on top of it. These are the four we are asked for most, and all of them are cheaper and better resolved at design stage than bolted on afterwards:

Two of those — gazebos and boathouses — put a roof over open water, and that is the single biggest change you can make to a dock’s structural and regulatory picture. Both pages explain why.

Docks and walls go together

Most docks tie into a bulkhead or seawall at the shore end, and the junction between the two is a detail that gets done well or becomes a problem. If both structures need work, doing them in one project is almost always cheaper than two — one mobilisation, one permit process, one disruption, and a tie-in that is designed rather than worked around.

It is worth asking about even if you were only thinking about one of them.

Keeping it

A dock that is maintained lasts dramatically longer than one that is not, and the maintenance is not difficult — see dock maintenance. When something does need attention, dock repair is usually a fraction of replacement.

Start here

Free estimates. Call (904) 327-3931 or tell us about your project. If you are early in the process, cost and permits are the two pages worth reading first.