Outdoor Living
Deck Builder in the Twin Cities
A deck in Minnesota has to do two jobs: give you somewhere to be from May to October, and survive the other six months without moving. Most of what decides that is buried before anyone sees a board.
Decks, patios and porches
We design and build composite and cedar decks, from a single-level deck off the kitchen to a raised deck over a walkout. Where the ground sits close to the house, a paver or concrete patio is often the better answer: it costs less, needs no guard, and puts you on the ground rather than above it.
Covered and screened porches put a roof over the deck, so it stays usable in the rain. On a raised deck, an under-deck drainage system does the same for the space below — add a ceiling, lighting and a fan, and it becomes a dry covered patio. It has to be designed with the deck, so it is worth raising at the first visit. Glazed three- and four-season rooms are additions, and sit on our additions and sunrooms page.
Two decks of the same size can look completely different, and the difference is detail: post wraps, a fascia board around the edge, picture-frame borders, lighting, and railings in balusters, cable or glass. Several of these are framing decisions rather than finishing touches, so they are settled at the drawing stage.
Built for a Minnesota winter
Footings are set below the frost depth your city requires — 42 inches across most of the metro — because a footing that stops short will lift. Depending on the ground, the load and the access, we use poured concrete piers, driven-pin footings or helical piers.
Framing is designed against a 50 psf ground snow load. Where the deck meets the house, the ledger is flashed and the joist tops are taped before the decking goes down, so water that gets through the boards runs off the framing instead of sitting on it.
Composite decking is rated against rot, splitting and insect damage and needs no annual sealing. Cedar costs less at the outset and is cooler underfoot in direct sun, but wants cleaning and sealing on a schedule. Boards go down with hidden fasteners where the profile allows it.
How we price this work
You get a written scope of the work. Where it is well defined we quote a fixed price. Where it genuinely is not — an old structure, an unknown behind a wall — we work cost-plus, and we tell you which model we are using and why before you sign anything. Any change to the scope or the price is written up as a change order and agreed before the work happens.
Two things move the number more than anything else: how big the deck is and how high off the ground it sits. After those come the footings and framing, the decking material, the railing — often the choice that surprises people most — and the stairs.
Questions we get asked on site visits
- How long does a permit take?
- That is set by your city, not by us, and it ranges from a few days to several weeks depending on the municipality and the season. We file it and follow it up, and we tell you what your city has typically been running when we scope the job.
- Composite or cedar in a Minnesota climate?
- It depends on the deck and on how you want to spend your time. Composite needs no annual sealing, which suits an owner who would rather not give a weekend to it. Cedar costs less at the outset and is cooler underfoot in direct sun, but wants cleaning and sealing on a schedule. Compare them over ten years rather than at the delivery price.
- Does a deck need structural engineering?
- Most do not. A conventional deck built to prescriptive span tables is usually approved on the drawings alone. Engineering comes in when a design leaves those tables — a long span, a cantilever, a roof or a hot tub adding load. If your design needs it, we say so at the estimate and quote it as its own line.
- How long does the build take?
- The build itself is usually a matter of days rather than weeks once we start, with footings needing time before framing goes on them. The longer part is drawings, permit approval and inspections, which are paced by your city. We give you a schedule once we have the permit.
- When should we book for a spring deck?
- Winter. Drawings, permits and material selection all happen indoors, so a job scoped in January can start as soon as the ground allows.
More on this from our blog
- Composite vs Cedar in a Minnesota Freeze-Thaw Climate Composite and cedar fail differently in roughly a hundred freeze-thaw cycles a season. Movement, fasteners, maintenance and ten-year cost, compared.
- Deck Permit Requirements in Woodbury: What the City Actually Wants What a deck permit in Woodbury involves: the drawings the city needs, how fees are calculated, frost depth, when engineering is required, and the inspection stages.
- What Decides What a Deck Costs in Minnesota Why we do not publish deck price ranges, and what actually moves the number — size, height above grade, footings, decking, railing and stairs.
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