A deck in the foothills has to deal with things a deck on flat ground never will. Ground that falls away from the house, decomposed granite that decides where a footing can go, sun that works on the boards all summer and snow that sits on them up around Pollock Pines. We build custom decks throughout Placerville, Camino, Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills and the rest of El Dorado County. Every one of them is laid out for the lot it is going on rather than pulled off a stock plan.
Some jobs are ground level and step straight out of a slider. Some are raised with a run of stairs down to the yard, some wrap two sides of the house, and some are covered so you can sit out there in August. A few start as a rebuild on an existing footprint and the rest start from bare dirt and new footings. Decks are the work we are known for around Placerville, and they are what most of our year goes into.
Most decks take one to two weeks on site once we start, and you will know the week before we turn up. Anything more than a step or two off the ground has code to meet on railing height, guard spacing and footing depth, and it gets inspected. We pull the permit and handle that inspection as part of the job. We will also talk about where the water goes, because a deck that traps runoff against the siding creates a problem that costs more to fix than the deck did. None of that shows up in a number quoted over the phone, which is why we come out and stand on the ground first. The quote comes in writing after that visit, and it is free.
What Goes Into a Deck That Lasts
The frame is the part nobody sees and the part that decides how long the deck lives. We flash the ledger properly, set the posts on footings sized for the slope, and space the joists for the decking that is going on top. Composite boards will hide a weak frame for a season or two, then the whole deck tells on itself. Around here the ground makes that harder than it sounds, because decomposed granite, buried rock and a grade that falls away from the house all argue with where a footing wants to go. We would rather move a post and dig deeper than build over a problem, and that decision gets made on day one rather than discovered later.
Choosing the Boards and the Railing
As a Trex Platinum contractor we build across the full Trex range, from the entry line up to the deeper grain composites that hold their color through a foothill summer. We bring samples to the site so you can see them against your house instead of picking from a brochure, because a board that looks right in a store rarely looks the same under pines. Railings, skirting, stair lighting and bench seating get settled at the same time, which is how they end up in the price from the start rather than added on later. Cable and metal railing keep a view open where a wood guard would close it down, and on a deck that looks out over the canyon that choice matters more than the decking does.
What Is in the Job, Beyond the Boards
The decking is the part you see, and it is roughly half of what you are paying for. The rest is underneath it or bolted to it, and it is the reason one deck is still solid at twenty years while another has gone spongy at eight. We would rather write down everything that is in the job than leave you guessing at what a line item covers. This is what comes with a deck we build, and if you want something that is not on the list, say so and it goes in the quote with a price beside it.
- Footings and posts sized for your ground and your slope
- A properly flashed ledger where the deck meets the house
- Framing and joist spacing matched to the decking you choose
- Trex composite or wood decking, laid out to keep seams tidy
- Railings, guards and stairs built to code
- Skirting, fascia and trim so the edges look finished
- Deck lighting and bench seating if you want them
- The permit, the inspection and a clean site at the end
The only thing not on that list is what we cannot see yet. If we pull an old deck off and find the ledger has been leaking into the rim joist for years, you get a photo, a price and a decision to make that same day. That is the only kind of surprise we have, and you will never find one of them waiting at the bottom of a final invoice.