FAQs

Most of our decks land between $887 and $1,355 per square metre fully installed, depending on the board you choose. Trex composite starts around $750–$980/m², TimberTech AZEK sits at $976–$1,304/m², and Millboard at the premium end runs $1,150–$1,365/m². Australian hardwood varies by species and current supply. The biggest things that move the price are deck height above ground, site access for materials and machinery, what the substructure needs to do on sloping or soft ground, and detailing like stairs, balustrades and privacy screens — those often cost more than the deck surface itself. You can get an instant ballpark with our deck cost calculator, then we’ll confirm a fixed price after a free on-site visit.

Many low decks don’t need council approval. Under the NSW Codes SEPP, a deck can be exempt development if it’s no more than 1 metre above ground level, has a floor area of 25 square metres or less, sits at least 900 millimetres from each boundary, and isn’t roofed. Go above any of those and you’ll need either a Complying Development Certificate through a private certifier or a Development Application through your council. Bushfire-prone land, flood-affected land, heritage listings and strata properties all change the answer, and the thresholds are worth confirming against your specific council. We tell you which path your job falls under at quote stage, before you commit to anything.

As a guide, a straightforward ground-level deck takes around 5 to 7 days on site, and a larger multi-level deck with stairs and balustrades around 2 to 3 weeks. Ahead of that, allow roughly 2 weeks  for design and a fixed quote. If your deck needs approval, a Complying Development Certificate typically adds a few weeks and a Development Application longer. Composite boards in less common colours can carry a lead time, so we confirm stock before we lock in a start date. Sydney weather is the main variable nobody controls.

Yes. Most of our clients start with a rough idea and a photo or two. We come out, look at the space, talk through how you actually want to use it — entertaining, a quiet spot off the bedroom, poolside, shade in the afternoon — and design around that. We can provide all the drawings, 3D designs, photo realistic models as well as samples.  Because we design and build, what gets drawn is what gets built; there’s no handover to a separate crew who’ll tell you it can’t be done.

It comes down to how much maintenance you want to do. Australian hardwood gives you natural grain and a lower up-front cost, but needs oiling every year or two and will move, cup and grey with weather. Composite costs more initially, doesn’t need oiling, won’t rot or splinter, and holds its colour behind a 25–50 year fade and stain warranty. If your deck gets brutal western sun, sits near a pool, or you simply don’t want a maintenance job every spring, composite usually wins on total cost over ten years. We build both and we’ll tell you honestly which suits your site — see our composite decking and timber decking pages for the detail on each.

We build in Spotted Gum, Blackbutt, Ironbark, Jarrah, Merbau and Teak. Spotted Gum and Blackbutt are the most popular for their colour and hardness. Ironbark is the toughest and heaviest, and holds up best in high-traffic and exposed positions. Jarrah brings a deep red tone, Merbau is the budget-friendly workhorse, and Teak is the premium marine-grade option. Each has a different hardness rating, natural durability class and price, and some are better suited to coastal or bushfire-prone sites than others. We’ll bring samples so you can see them in your own light before you decide.

Usually no — a deck generally costs more than a concrete slab or paved area of the same size. There’s more material, more structure and far more labour in a deck. What you get for the difference is a surface that works over uneven or sloping ground where concrete would need expensive excavation and retaining, sits comfortably at your floor level so you step straight out from inside, stays cooler underfoot than concrete or tile in summer, and doesn’t crack as the ground moves. On a flat block with an easy transition, paving may well be the sensible answer, and we’ll say so.

Yes — sloping blocks are where decks earn their keep. Instead of excavating and retaining to create a flat pad, we set the substructure on piers or posts to bring the deck out level with your floor. Steeper sites mean deeper footings, taller posts and often a stepped or multi-level design, and anything more than a metre off the ground triggers balustrade requirements and usually council approval. We work out footing depths and post sizes from your actual soil and slope, not a rule of thumb.

Often yes, provided what’s underneath is sound and drains properly. Over a solid slab we can lay a low-profile batten or pedestal system, which keeps the finished height down — useful when you’re working to a door threshold. What we won’t do is lay new boards over rotten or moving timber, or over a surface that holds water with nowhere to go, because you’d be building a problem in. We’ll pull a board or check the slab before quoting so you know what you’re actually dealing with.

Yes, and it has to be done without a single penetration. On a membraned balcony we use a pedestal or free-floating batten system that sits on top of the membrane rather than being fixed through it — one screw through a membrane and you’ve bought yourself a leak into the room below. The membrane needs to be intact and compliant, with the existing fall to drainage kept clear so water still gets away underneath the boards. If the membrane is at end of life, it needs replacing before any deck goes down; we’d rather tell you that up front than build over it.

Almost always, yes. A balcony is usually common property or has the waterproof membrane as common property, so the work needs owners corporation approval — often a formal by-law rather than a simple sign-off, and that takes time. Strata schemes normally want to see the scope, the products, our licence and insurance details, and confirmation that the membrane won’t be penetrated. We’re happy to supply that documentation. Worth starting the strata conversation early, because approval is usually the longest part of a balcony job.

It depends on your BAL rating. Several composite boards we install are tested for use up to BAL-29, which covers a lot of bushfire-prone land around Sydney. Above BAL-29 the compliant answer is Knotwood aluminium decking, which we also install. Your BAL rating comes from a bushfire assessment of your specific property, and it drives not just the board but the substructure, the sub-floor enclosure and the balustrade. Send us your BAL rating and we’ll tell you what’s compliant — the full breakdown is on our composite decking page.

A well-built composite deck should give you 25 to 30 years, and needs little more than a hose-down and an occasional wash. Australian hardwood, built properly on the right substructure and oiled every year or two, will give you 25 years or more — but skip the maintenance and you’ll be looking at greying, splitting and cupped boards inside five. The thing that actually decides a deck’s lifespan isn’t the boards, it’s what’s underneath: correctly sized and spaced joists, properly rated fixings, ventilation under the deck and drainage that works. That’s the part you can’t see and can’t fix later, and it’s where cheap quotes cut corners.

Yes — we’re fully licensed (Licence 238750C) and insured, and we’ll give you those details with the quote without you having to ask. Every deck we build carries a 10-year workmanship warranty, and on top of that sits the manufacturer’s product warranty — 25 to 50 years on most composite boards. We come back at around three months for a final inspection, and your formal warranty documentation is issued then. We’re rated 4.7 from 17 Google reviews. Worth knowing: manufacturer product warranties only hold if the boards are installed to spec — gapping, fixings, joist spacing — so who installs them matters as much as what you buy.

All of it, and it’s usually cheaper and neater done at the same time. We build custom external stairs in timber, composite and steel, balustrades and handrails in glass, aluminium, stainless wire and timber, privacy screens, and timber or aluminium pergolas. Doing them together means one crew, one set of details, matched materials and no waiting for a second trade to come back. It also means the structure is designed for the load from the start — retrofitting a pergola onto a deck that wasn’t built to carry it is a much bigger job.

From the day we start to the day we hand over, you have one point of contact on site: your supervisor. Most of the time, that’s me.

Our carpenters have worked for us for a long time and we’ve trained them ourselves, to our high standards of work. We have a supervisor on site every day the crew is working — not dropping in when it suits us. We’re not in the business of shortcuts, and the only way to know that for certain is to be there.

Your supervisor will:

1. Carry out a check measure with you before anything is ordered, to confirm every detail in your quote matches the site and matches what you’re expecting.
2. Set up your customer portal access and walk you through it, so you can follow progress, see photographs as the job goes up, and message us at any time.
3. Confirm your start date and tell you promptly if anything moves it.
4. Notify you ahead of every delivery — the date, the time of day, how it’s arriving, and whether it needs a hiab, a crane or traffic control, so you can clear access in advance.
5. Advise your neighbours in writing before work begins, so nobody gets a surprise.
6. Give you the outside works list — what needs to be clear, unlocked or moved before the crew arrives, and what access to power and facilities we’ll need.
7. Coordinate and oversee every other trade on the job, so you’re never chasing a sparky or a plumber yourself.
8. Run our own installation checks at each stage — pre-installation, subframe and structural fixing, board installation, drainage and perimeter, then surface finishing. We work to a written checklist and sign off each stage before the next one starts.
9. Meet with you on site regularly to walk you through where the work is up to and what’s next.
10. Talk through any variation before it happens — what it involves, what it costs, and what it does to your timeline. Nothing changes without your say-so.
11. Keep the site clean, safe and within permitted working hours, and deal with anything that comes out of the ground we weren’t expecting.
12. Photograph the completed installation and provide your maintenance and re-oiling schedule in writing at handover.
13. Walk you through final handover and sign-off, confirming the deck is clean, the surface is right and all packaging and offcuts are gone.

After handover. At around three months we’ll be back in touch to arrange a final inspection of the completed works. That’s when we confirm everything has settled correctly and sort anything that needs attention — and it’s when your formal warranty documentation is issued.

One thing worth knowing. Regular site meetings are part of the service and there’s no charge for them — the more we talk, the better the result. What does cost money is changing something after that section is already built. Pulling up completed work is charged at our standard hourly rate per person, plus any associated costs like waste removal, redelivery or bringing another trade back. So if you’re weighing up a change, raise it early and we’ll sort it for nothing.