Deck Builders in the Inner West
Father-and-son builders. Terraces, semis and courtyards across Balmain, Newtown and Marrickville.
- 4.8★ from 20 Google reviews
- TrexPro® Partner since 2019
- 10-year workmanship warranty
- Lic 238750C
Tony and Dean here — a father-and-son team with 20 years of trade experience. We’re the deck builders Inner West homeowners call when the block is tight and the paperwork isn’t simple. And that’s the thing about this part of Sydney: the deck is rarely the hard part. It’s everything around it — no rear access, sandstone one street and old fill the next, a sewer main through half the back gardens, and more heritage conservation areas than any other council in Sydney. The deck is the easy part. Knowing what you’re walking into is the job.
Recent decks we've built in the Inner West
Drummoyne — Millboard, castellated screens and an awning that made a small yard attractive and usable
Before, this was a long strip of bare concrete between the house and the boundary. Steps to nowhere, an old corrugated fence, a dead tree in a patchy bed — the sort of space you walk through rather than sit in.
The deck is Millboard Enhanced Grain in Golden Oak, framed with an Antique Oak border so the edge reads as a deliberate line rather than a cut. The screens and fencing are castellated cladding — NewTechWood in Ipe and Woodevo in Beach — run vertically to lift the eye and make a narrow block feel taller than it is. Over the top, powdercoated aluminium posts and beams in Monument with EZGlaze translucent grey sheets, so it stays usable in the rain without going dark underneath.
The lighting is what finishes it. Uplights washing the battens, LED strip under the deck edge and the steps. After dark the screens stop being a fence and start being the walls of a room.
Haberfield — a Trex Transcend Lineage pool deck in Jasper
This one started as a kidney-shaped pool ringed in pebblecrete and sandstone flagging — the standard Sydney pool surround from about thirty years ago. It had done its time. Pebblecrete gets hot, it chips, it’s rough underfoot, and the flagstones had started to move.
We decked the whole surround in Trex Transcend Lineage in Jasper, on an H4 treated substructure. H4 is rated for wet and in-ground exposure, which is what you want anywhere near a pool — the frame should outlast the boards, not the other way round. The pool fence went back in frameless along the rear boundary so nothing cuts the garden in half visually.
Composite makes more sense than timber around water. It won’t splinter under bare feet, chlorine and salt don’t touch it, and there’s no annual sand-and-oil to stay on top of, which matters when half the deck is wet for three months of the year. Colour matters more than people expect, though — the darker the board, the hotter it gets underfoot in February. Worth talking through before you pick one.
One thing to know if you’re decking over an existing pool surround: raising the ground level changes your pool fence compliance. The non-climbable zone is measured from the finished surface, so a deck that lifts the level by 150mm can put a fence that used to comply straight out of it. We work that out before we set the deck height, not after.
Haberfield is one of the most intact Federation streetscapes in Sydney and most of it sits inside a conservation area, so anything visible from the street draws more scrutiny than it would two suburbs over. A pool deck behind the house is usually well clear of that — but it’s worth knowing which side of the line your job falls on before you start, and we’ll tell you at quoting stage.
Berore and after of the Trex Lineage pool deck build
Decks built for Inner West conditions
Inner West blocks are small, old and awkward, and that shapes everything about how a deck gets built here.
Access is usually the first problem. Terraces and semis in Balmain, Newtown and Petersham often have no rear lane and no side gate wide enough for a wheelbarrow. Every board, bearer and bag of concrete comes through the house or over the roofline. We plan that before we quote it — floor protection, delivery staging, and a build sequence that keeps your hallway usable — rather than discovering it on day one and asking for a variation. terrace side-returns and split-level rears are the region’s defining stair problem. Terrace side-returns and split-level rears are the region’s defining stair problem.
The ground changes street to street. Balmain, Rozelle and Birchgrove sit on sandstone, sometimes only a few hundred millimetres down, so piers get cored instead of dug. Marrickville, Tempe and St Peters are the opposite — reactive clay and old fill, where footing depth and drainage matter far more than most people expect. Same suburb group, completely different substructure.
Then there’s what’s already under the yard. A lot of Victorian and Federation terraces have a Sydney Water sewer main running straight through the back garden. Building over or beside one isn’t a dead end, but it does mean an approval and, sometimes, a redesigned pier layout. We find that out with a service search before design, not after the piers are marked.
And the deck is usually the whole backyard. On a 4-by-6 courtyard, level changes, built-in seating and where the boards run make the difference between a space that feels bigger and one that feels full. That’s a design conversation, not a materials one.
What we build in the Inner West
Composite decks
Trex, Millboard and TimberTech AZEK. No oiling, no splinters, and a good answer for shaded courtyards where timber stays damp and goes grey fast.
Hardwood timber decks
Spotted gum, blackbutt, ironbark and merbau. The right look for a Federation or Victorian rear, and still the most common choice in conservation areas.
Courtyard & small-space decks
Where the deck is the entire backyard. Level changes, built-in seating and board direction that makes a small space read bigger.
Custom external stairs
Split-level terraces, steep rears and awkward changes in level. Built to code, finished to match the deck.
Balustrades & handrails
Glass, aluminium and timber. Required once you’re over a metre — and the detail that makes or breaks how the finished deck looks.
Pergolas & privacy screens
Neighbours are close in the Inner West. Screens and pergolas that give you back some privacy without blocking the light.
What a deck costs in the Inner West — 2026
Installed prices, per square metre — the same ones we quote in every suburb we work in. Check out our Deck Cost Calculator for approximate pricing for your deck project.
Wondering what decking costs per m²? The table below shows indicative installed prices per square metre for the materials we build with most in Sydney, on a level site with a finished deck height under 500mm. Use it as a starting point, then run your own numbers through our deck cost calculator.
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Treated pine $915 - $965
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Merbau $929 - $1,022
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Australian hardwood (spotted gum, blackbutt, ironbark) $980 - $1,239
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Trex Transcend (Tropicals / Lineage) $1,017 - $1,199
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Trex Select $950 - $1,050
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TimberTech AZEK Prime+ $933 - $1,026
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TimberTech AZEK Vintage $1,232 - $1,355
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Millboard Enhanced $1,197 - $1,317
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Woodevo Home WPC $905 - $995
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Woodevo Advanced PVC $928 - $1,021
Prices are indicative Sydney installed rates for 2026 and include the subframe, piers, fixings, boards, under-deck oiling, deliveries, waste removal and a final clean — not just the boards. That’s why they sit above the $350–$500 per square metre quoted elsewhere, which is usually materials only, or supply-and-lay by an unlicensed installer. Sloping blocks, difficult access, elevated decks, stairs, balustrades and pergolas add to the rate, and a quote that’s $200/m² cheaper usually means those things come back later as variations. Every deck is measured on site — request a free consultation for a firm figure.
Council approval in the Inner West
Most of this area is Inner West Council — Balmain through to Tempe. But not all of it: Drummoyne and Five Dock are City of Canada Bay, and Glebe and Pyrmont are City of Sydney. It matters, because the rules and the lodgement process differ, and we’ve seen quotes written against the wrong council.
A rear deck is generally exempt development — no DA needed — when it sits behind the front building line, is no more than 1 metre above ground level, and is set back at least 900mm from each boundary.
Where the Inner West gets complicated:
- Heritage conservation areas. Inner West Council has more than 100 of them, covering large parts of Annandale, Balmain, Haberfield, Leichhardt, Petersham, Stanmore and Summer Hill. If your property sits in one, the exempt pathway generally falls away and you’re looking at a DA — even for work at the rear that nobody can see from the street.
- Trees. Council consent isn’t required for a tree within 1 metre of the house, and you can prune branches under 100mm up to about 10% of the canopy in a year. Beyond that — and for anything structural inside a mature tree’s root zone — you need Council’s say-so first.
- Sydney Water assets. A sewer main under the yard needs a build-over or build-adjacent approval before anything gets poured.
- Flood-affected land around the Hawthorne Canal and the Cooks River, which changes both the approval pathway and the substructure.
We handle all of it — the service search, the approval pathway, the paperwork. It’s part of the job, not an extra.
Why Inner West homeowners choose UrbanArch
There are plenty of deck builders Inner West homeowners could call. Here’s what’s different about us.
We’re a father-and-son business. Tony quotes your job and prices it himself, a dedicated site supervisor runs the build and stays your point of contact from check-measure to final inspection, and the trades on site are teams we’ve trained to our standards — not whoever was free that week.
Twenty years of trade experience, company established 2017. TrexPro® Partner since 2019 — one of a small number in Sydney, listed on Trex Australia’s own installer directory. Licence 238750C. Every job carries a 10-year workmanship warranty, issued in writing after the three-month inspection.
We don’t build decks. We add a room to your home — and we look after you like family while we do it.
What our clients say
Tony totally transformed the entrance to my apartment. He helped me work through my ideas to create a new outside Barbecue/eating/entertaining area which is beautiful, along with a new tiled hallway and entrance to my home. Tony took care of every detail and his team were terrific, tidying every day and going the extra mile to help me at every step with the whole project. I love my new ‘outdoor room’ and it has added real value to my home. Sally
Where we build in the Inner West
Balmain · Balmain East · Birchgrove · Rozelle · Lilyfield · Annandale · Leichhardt · Haberfield · Ashfield · Ashbury · Croydon · Summer Hill · Lewisham · Petersham · Stanmore · Newtown · Enmore · Camperdown · Marrickville · Dulwich Hill · Hurlstone Park · St Peters · Sydenham · Tempe
We also work the streets either side of the boundary — Five Dock, Glebe and Gladesville.
Also building nearby: Sutherland Shire · Hills District · Hunters Hill · Eastern Suburbs · North Shore
Deck builders in Drummoyne
We build and install decks right across Drummoyne, and through Russell Lea, Rodd Point, Five Dock and Abbotsford while we’re at it. It’s some of our most regular work in this part of Sydney.
Drummoyne sits on a peninsula, and it shows up in the backyards. Blocks fallaway toward Iron Cove or Five Dock Bay, so a lot of what we build here is raised at the back — sometimes a metre or more off the ground at the far end — with stairs down to whatever lawn is left. That changes the job. Past a metre you’re into balustrade compliance, and on a slope the substructure and the footings matter more than the boards do.
The deck at the top of this page is a Drummoyne job. Millboard Enhanced in Golden Oak, an EZGlaze pergola with aluminium beams and posts over the entertaining end, and a Castellation composite screen along the boundary so the neighbour’s windows stopped being part of the view. Composite boards, a covered section, a screen doing the heavy lifting on privacy — that’s close to a standard brief around here.
What people choose splits fairly evenly. Near the water you cop salt air and reflected sun, which is hard on timber, and that’s where composite earns its keep — Millboard, Trex and TimberTech all handle it without the annual sand and oil. Further up the hill, where a Federation or bungalow rear is doing the talking, spotted gum or blackbutt sits better against the brickwork. We’ll give you a straight answer on which way to go once we’ve walked the block with you.
We do a fair bit of deck repair work here too. Plenty of Drummoyne decks went in fifteen or twenty years ago in treated pine, and the boards routinely outlast the frame — so before anyone talks about new decking, we get underneath and check the bearers, joists and posts. If the frame’s sound, it’s a re-board and you’ve saved yourself a lot of money. If it isn’t, we’ll tell you that too, rather than screw new boards onto a frame with five years left in it.
One local quirk worth knowing: Drummoyne is City of Canada Bay, not Inner West Council. The approval pathway isn’t the same as Balmain or Marrickville, and people get caught assuming the rules run right across the Inner West. We handle the application either way.
Inner West decking FAQs
Often not — a rear deck behind the front building line, under 1 metre high and set back at least 900mm from the boundaries is generally exempt development. The catch in the Inner West is heritage: Inner West Council has over 100 conservation areas, and if you’re in one, you’ll usually need a DA even for work at the rear. We check your property before we quote.
Between $899 and $1,355 per square metre installed, depending on the material. That includes piers, substructure, under-deck oiling, boards, deliveries, waste removal and a final clean. Restricted-access sites — terraces with no rear lane — sit at the upper end of the range rather than attracting a separate charge.
Yes, and manyof our Inner West jobs are exactly that. Materials come through the house on protected floors or over the roofline where the layout allows. We work it out at quoting stage and price it in, so access never turns into a variation halfway through the build.
Almost always, yes. A conservation area doesn’t stop you building; it changes the approval pathway from exempt development to a DA, and it can influence materials and detailing at the rear. Hardwood usually sits more comfortably with a Victorian or Federation house than composite. We prepare and lodge the application as part of the job.
It depends on light. Shaded courtyards between terraces stay damp, and timber in permanent shade greys off and needs oiling more often — composite handles that better. If you get good afternoon sun and want the look of a hardwood rear, spotted gum or blackbutt is hard to beat. We’ll walk your yard and tell you honestly.
Most residential decks take one to three weeks on site depending on size, height and extras like pergolas or balustrades. Inner West jobs can run a little longer where the materials have to come through a terrace hallway or down a shared side lane — we factor that into the timeline you get with your quote, and we stick to it.
No, but it has to be dealt with properly. Building over or beside a Sydney Water main needs approval before any piers go in, and it sometimes means shifting the substructure layout. We run a service search before design, so it’s a known quantity from the start instead of a problem discovered mid-build.
Tell us where you are and what you’re picturing. Tony will go through the details with you, and talk you through what’s possible on your block — no cost, no pressure, and no obligation to go ahead.