On Deck

Building During the "Best" Economic Times

Some of you homeowners may not be ready to hear this, but this is the BEST time to make an addition to your home.  Amidst all the challenging news you hear and read, how can I possibly say this?

I say this based on a couple of things.  First, supplies and labor costs have never been lower.  As with a lot of things, due to a general lack of demand, material prices have lowered...as low as I've seen in a long time.  Deals are being done to move inventory, which means a passing of the savings to you.  And frankly, even the most experienced atlanta deck contractors have lowered prices to keep their crews working.

There's another dynamic too that's interesting to me.  I know in finance, the best time to invest is when most others aren't and the best time to sell is when people are generally buying.  In terms of investment, this is typically true whether it's finance or otherwise.  In this case, most people are holding back.  When times are much better, they'll join others in bumping up the price.  The smart homeowners are the ones who are looking for a good investment opportunity now.  And what could be better than improving the value of your home?

Atlanta Deck Contractor

In the last post, I mentioned our intention to help our fellow deck builders through consulting and an instructional website.  But that was obviously meant for contractors. 

What about for you homeowners? While I believe the quality of workmanship will continue to improve, it's still critical to be vigilant in your selection of the right builder.  The following are some basic steps you should consider.

After checking your budget, I think the first step is doing some research on the internet as it's a great tool to gather information.  I personally think Home Reports (www.homereports.com) is a great service as they're an independent resource that evaluates the quality of area building contractors.  Yes, we're ranking highly in that and I might be biased, but I still think it's a great service.  For a Google of Yahoo search, you might want to type in "atlanta decks" or something like that.  You'll get back many deck builder listings, and from there you can visit their sites and accomplishments.

I'd probably narrow down to three or so from these, then set up appointments to discuss what you'd like.  I've found over the years that most homeowners know they want a deck, but don't have a specific vision.  Some deck builders are better than others in helping you with a plan/vision.

When setting the appointments, ask about their certification and experience.  I hate to exclude newer contractors here, but it's best to go with someone with practical experience.  When meeting with them, ask about references, then check them.  And when calling references, ask them to step through their experience rather than just taking their "they were great" testimonial.  When digging a little further, I tend to pick up more insight.  One of the intangibles too when weeding down is how well you interact with the builder.  In a lot of cases, you'll be talking to them quite a bit over the period, so you really need to feel comfortable with them.

I think those are some basics and if you follow, you'll generally avoid problems.  Have any other suggestions that I might have missed?

Deck Atlanta, Part 2

In the last post, I shared my thoughts on the the market and where we are.  I mentioned that I thought the market would weed out those deck builders who weren't doing it right.  I want to expand on that a little bit.  Times are tough right now for everyone.  If I had it my way, all homes in the Atlanta metro area would have a beautiful deck and/or screened porch (can you imagine?) and the area deck builders would all have plenty of business.  But that's just not case, right now anyway.

The general slowdown and certification will probably weed out the "weekend" builders and those that aren't serious.  Because this profession is important to me, I like to see homeowners get a good product.  And this means a minimum level of professionalism by the builders.  In addition to building decks, we promote a high level of professionalism and worksmanship by deck builders through consulting.  Up until of late, we haven't done a great job of promoting these services.  But that will soon change.

We will have a new site up soon (domain is www.screenedporchesanddecks.com) that will be about helping fellow deck builders become successful. There will be how-to videos and building supplies all drawing from our long experience in building decks.  Whether you're an atlanta deck contractor or you operate in another part of the country, it won't make a difference.  Give it a couple of months then be sure to visit.  And we'll be looking for your feedback then.

Deck Atlanta, Part 1

The market sure has changed for decking in Atlanta over the years. In the 80's and 90's, decks were going up all over as almost an assumed extension of living in Atlanta.  I mean, who wanted to be without the backyard parties with the grill and the Jimmy Buffet music and the citronella burning?  It was almost a "right" of Atlanta homeowners.

That's not to say that it isn't today.  Living in Atlanta means generally good weather and the big social aspect I think will always be here.  But the decking landscape has changed.  Fortunately a lot for the better.  First, technology has helped atlanta deck contractors both in terms of the supplies and equipment.  For the most part, this has lowered pricing and improved the overall quality of the decks.  We continue to rebuild and repair decks from this period (and I doubt that will change), but the newer decks are typically more sound (of course there are exceptions).

The second is the certification of deck builders in Georgia. We haven't really seen the effects yet of this rather recent phenomenon, but I suspect that it will limit poorly built decks and screen porches going up through builder education.  Finally, the tightening of the overall market has and will continue to weed out poorly managed builders over time.  While I don't like anyone to struggle, I think over the long-haul that the field will be stronger.