Founder · FieldRate
Connor Menges
Working residential deck contractor. Founded FieldRate to give deck builders the structural takeoff and on-site estimating tools the industry has been missing.
Why FieldRate exists
The deck-building industry was stuck between two kinds of software that did half the job each. Generic construction estimating tools (PlanSwift, STACK, JobNimbus) priced jobs per square foot and never touched the structural engineering — no joist span sizing, no beam check, no IRC compliance. Field-quoting tools (Joist, HousecallPro) generated quotes fast but did no takeoff at all. Neither matched how deck contractors actually estimate and build.
FieldRate replaced both. The platform draws polygon-shaped deck footprints — rectangular, L-shaped, wraparound, multi-level — automatically subdivides them by joist span and beam placement, sizes every structural member to IRC 2024 span tables, and generates a cut-optimized lumber list that reduces waste by up to 15%. A residential deck takeoff that used to take 90–120 minutes back at the office now takes 4–10 minutes on a tablet at the curb.
Background
Connor runs his own residential contracting business, Outdoor Impact, and brings every change he wants in FieldRate from his own job sites — how picture-frame breaker boards lay out, how cascading stairs land at grade, how to walk a homeowner through a quote in a way that doesn't kill the close. FieldRate ships features by the week, not the quarter, because the founder is on a job site the day after a release noticing what's still off.
Expertise
- Residential deck framing
- IRC 2024 residential code (decks)
- Structural takeoff
- Joist and beam span sizing
- Composite decking (Trex, TimberTech, AZEK)
- Pressure-treated lumber pricing
- Cut-list optimization
- Cable, panel, and wood railing systems
- Cascading and multi-level stairs
- Picture-frame and breaker board layout
- Field estimating and on-site quoting
Contact
Email: main.outdoorimpact@gmail.com
For press, industry comment, or quoting Connor on deck estimating, contractor pricing, or residential structural code — same email.