Deck Building

What we build

We design and build custom decks across Los Angeles County. Hardwood, composite and PVC, along with the framing, footings and waterproofing that carry them. We do our own steel and stainless cable railing in-house, so the railing gets detailed to the deck instead of ordered to fit whatever got built.

We work directly for homeowners, and as a deck subcontractor for general contractors and architects who want the deck scope handled by people who do only decks.

How a deck actually gets built

Every deck starts with the ground. On a flat lot that means spread footings sized to the soil. On a slope it means engineered footings, sometimes drilled piers, and a setback from the descending slope that the code dimensions off the height of the slope. Get the foundation wrong and no amount of good decking saves it.

Then framing. Beam and joist spans, post sizing, and the connection back to the house. California's residential code requires a deck to be positively anchored to the building and designed for both vertical and lateral loads, and it specifically prohibits doing that with toenails or any nail that works in withdrawal. The lateral load path is the part that fails catastrophically when it's missing, and it's invisible once the decking goes down.

Then the ledger, which is where most deck failures begin. The code requires a minimum 2x8 pressure-treated ledger, and it can't bear on masonry or stone veneer. The 2025 code cycle added a new prescriptive requirement for ledger flashing: the water-resistive barrier behind the wall has to run continuous behind the ledger and lap over the vertical leg of the flashing. On an older house that never had a water-resistive barrier, that means installing a new strip of one behind the ledger before the deck goes on. Most decks built before 2026 don't have this. Ask about it on any deck that's being replaced.

Guards, and a number that catches people out

If the walking surface sits more than 30 inches above what's below it, you need a guard. In California that guard is 42 inches, not the 36 inches printed in the national model code. California amends it upward, and out-of-state designers get caught by it constantly.

A guard is a structural assembly, not trim. It has to carry real design loads, which is why we fabricate our own railing rather than ordering it in. There's more detail on that on our railings page.

One note for anyone reading older references. Guards moved from Section R312 to Section R321 of the California Residential Code in the 2025 cycle, and handrails moved to R320. The requirements didn't change. The numbering did.

Choosing material

We build in Ipe, Mangaris and Kayu Batu on the hardwood side, and Trex, TimberTech and AZEK on the composite and PVC side. Which one is right depends on where you are, how much sun the deck takes, whether you're in a fire hazard severity zone, and how much maintenance you actually intend to do rather than intend to intend to do. More on Ipe and hardwood decking and on composite and PVC decking.

We'll tell you when the cheaper option is the right one. We'll also tell you when a repair beats a replacement, which happens more often than people expect on well-built older decks.

Licensed, insured, family-owned, building in Los Angeles since 1995. CA License #896848. Call (818) 345-2866.