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Old 07-21-2010, 01:09 PM
 
22 posts, read 31,345 times
Reputation: 17

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Need to build a new deck for my house. Any suggestion about good deck building contractor? Thanks!
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Old 07-30-2010, 07:18 AM
 
Location: Washington County
6 posts, read 13,215 times
Reputation: 10
Gent Construction in Washington County (close to Allegheny County). Family friends of ours that do EXCELLENT work at great prices. Give them a call @ 724-328-0080 to get an estimate. They do a great job!
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Old 07-30-2010, 07:43 AM
 
Location: Hooterville PA
712 posts, read 1,966,093 times
Reputation: 304
There is a problem here - you did not say where you lived or what kind of deck you wish to have built.

There is many variables to building a deck, including the price.

Composite vs all wood.

Height of deck

Size of deck.

I just got out of a deck job that was a total disaster - because the homeowner wanted to be the general contractor and she didn't know anything about carpentry and her only concern was to put it up as fast as possible, and don't spend a lot of money.

So my suggestion to you would be for you to measure everything, go to a Lowes or Home Depot store, go to the contractors desk and give them your dimensions. Have them show you the proper building materials, including the railing. Have them make you a blueprint - as per what it will look like when it is done. They will be able to itemize all the building materials and will even be able to suggest what they will need to do to build this deck to code.

Pennsylvania Uniform Building Codes requires anyone building a deck, be it a new deck or doing repairs to any deck more then 32 inches off the ground, that you have to have a building permit, you have to have all phases of construction inspected and it has to be approved before you can use it. The contractor - if you go that route, has to have a license.
That is the reason why you see the license number on the top of the screen when you see a television commercial for most building contractors or landscapers today.

The building codes are there to help you, not to cost you more money.

When you get a good estimate for the materials and you pick which materials you wish to use, you can pretty much double that price and that should be about how much it will cost you to build your deck.

Now if the deck is multiple story, if the deck is situated high off the ground, if the deck is built in a area that has a lot of stone and requires heavy equipment to excavate, then you an plan on spending an additional 50% on top of that.

The thing that I like to see on any deck that is built is for it to be held together with 1/2 inch carriage bolts, everything in the structure screwed and glued and lag screwed to the side of the house with storm spacers - with the proper flashing and the proper wood treatment applied about 90 days after the deck is built - due to the fact that the wood will probably take that long to dry and due to the fact that you want to apply several coats of good stain to a wood deck to preserve the wood for many years - after all - who wants to spend all this money on a deck, only to have to replace it in 15 years.

You almost have to make sure that the contractor does a good job and you almost have to make sure that the wood on the deck surface - if you go with real wood, almost touches each other. With the new type of pressure treatment for the wood, the wood shrinks about 20% in the first 6 months.

With the composite decking, you need to make sure that the builder uses the proper screws and hardware - mainly stainless and that they pre drill all their holes when they assemble your deck. The one thing that I hate doing is going to a job that someone else built it and screwed it up and then I have to come back and fix it and everything was done wrong.

You got to think of it as an investment.

You need to interview several carpenters and you need to check their references. Ask for about 20
Call those people and ask them how pleased they were with that persons work. GO TO THE HOUSE AND LOOK AT HIS WORK!
Don't just take someones word for it.
Check with the better business bureau and see if there is any complaints against this carpenter. Investigate everything before you hire them.
If when the time comes to build the deck, that contractor does not show up and sends a sub contractor - send them home.
Basically the sub contractor - at times will sell their name and reputation - to make a quick buck, and will arrange jobs on his good name and then will hire sub's to do the work - cheaper and then they will take the money and run.

It's a dog eat dog world out there.
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Old 07-30-2010, 07:57 AM
 
Location: Hempfield Twp
780 posts, read 1,380,225 times
Reputation: 210
Listen to Honest Bob....he covered just about everything.
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Old 07-31-2010, 03:04 PM
 
15,633 posts, read 26,183,088 times
Reputation: 30922
Damn, Bob -- you willing to commute?

Listen to this guy... he's got it covered.

Out here they are getting strict about unpermitted work. I've heard of some things having to be torn out on the sellers dime because of unpermitted work being so shoddy. And if the person doesn't have the cash to do it right there's no chance of selling unless the buyer is coming in with all cash and doesn't get an inspection....

So it's far cheaper to do it right the first time, than to do it right the second.
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