On Deck

Choosing the Right Contractor

Choosing the right contractor begins with a search. I recommend first asking family and friends. This has always been the way I initially went about it and I believe it's a natural response...you want to find someone who has done a good job for another. Family and friends tend to give an honest opinion and you could be helping them receive a referral fee at the same time. Outside of that, I'd recommend going to your homeowner's association or local organization to see if they have a preferred contractor’s book. If you don't have a homeowner's association (or similar), then try a local building supply house.

Now that you have a lead or two, the next step is to schedule some appointments to see which contractor you feel will best serve your needs and wants. Remember this is a partnership for years to come, so I advise you to take your time. These are basic, but very important things that you need to cover when meeting with them:

• Do they have a state contractor’s license?
• Do they carry General Liability Insurance, is it up to date? Is the policy enough to cover your house in case of an accident? Make sure that you get an update proof of insurance from their insurance company before you start your project.
• Do they carry Workers Compensation on all their employees and their self? Make sure that you get an updated copy of Workers compensation.
• Some projects (larger) should to be bonded. Are they adequately bonded?
• What are their warranties?
• Will they give you a lien waiver?

These are very important items you need from whichever contractor you choose. Sometimes these basic steps are left out and end up costing a homeowner dearly. So take your time and make sure you cover these basic points. You will be turning to your contractor for guidance and his experience in many decisions throughout your building process, so choose one that you trust and feel comfortable with.

Thomas-Black Project: Final Pics #2

And here are some more-

Thomas-Black Project: Final Pics #1

Here are a few pics of the final. You can also view these by going to the Gallery and the Extended Gallery sections of our website- Atlanta deck 

 

Professional Pics of the Thomas-Black Project: Before

We've finally gotten the professional Thomas-Black pictures back and they look great! I guess I keep forgetting the difference between an amateur pic and a professionally done one... it's like night and day...or composite and TailorWood...ha! (but that's another story!) I wish our photographer could follow us around everywhere as I believe his pictures show our work well.

Anyway, on this  post are a few "before" pics. I think they tell a good tale of a back-of-the-house space that wasn't being used and needed to be opened up.

More Amateur Pics on Thomas-Black Project

Here are some more amateur pics of the Thomas-Black project. The pictures I've taken haven't been great but they tell the general story. I've been assured that the professional pics are coming in the next few weeks.

The final picture below is of one happy customer, right? ha.

More on Thomas-Black Project: First Deck Using Solely TailorWood Line

While we’ve used TailorWood in projects past, this (same project as below) is the first project where we only used the TailorWood line.  For the past year, I’ve put a lot of time in working on the TailorWood Line.  It was worth every minute that I sacrificed once I saw the finished Thomas-Black project using the line.

I am very excited about our TailorWood Line. It has taken a lot of time and money, but I know that it is what contractors and consumers want (simple and quality). I have been a deck contractor myself now for 20 plus years and experienced a lot of different materials to work with. It’s become plainly obvious to me that most of them are too complicated and expensive for the majority of homeowners.

I hope to have the TailorWood line available to the public sometime in the near future (we're working on the new website for it now). I plan on opening the line first in the metro Atlanta deck market. Atlanta is one of the largest deck markets in the country and an ideal test market.  Enjoy the amateur pics using TailorWood.  Professional pics coming soon!

One of my Favorite Deck Projects of All Time!

After seven weeks of fun we finished one of my favorite decks of all time. I must admit that I felt like a kid in a candy store throughout!  I knew once I finished the final drawing it would be impossible to keep me away from being on the job site every day with a tool belt on.   Here are some pics of the final product for the "Thomas-Black" project.

It’s so rewarding to see a project like this come together.  When I first showed my workers the drawing they asked me what it was. I told them that it was going to be their next project. They gave me a strange look as if I was crazy or something. They had no idea that I was going to be there helping them instead of just overseeing.  Projects like this have become fewer and far between because of the economy.

Again, I've had a professional photographer on this project from the beginning and will post sharper images on the blog (as well as the website) soon.

Deck Progress

I don’t remember taking a whole week to lay decking on any project that we’ve built before. It’s nice to be able to walk on the deck surface at last…and I know the customer is excited about being able to walk on it now.  But we’re following our set process…which is what I’d to throw on a little light on while we're in the middle of this-

We buy lumber directly through our lumber supplier which delivers it directly to our mill shop. I then have the lumber milled to our specifications, stacked with ¾” sticks between each layer about 4’ apart, and placed between each layer of decking. What this does is allow air to get between each layer of decking and dry the wood out slowly. This process takes about 4 to 6 weeks to dry out once the wood is treated. After the lumber is milled and bundled up I have the treatment plant pick up the lumber, treat the lumber to our specifications and then deliver to where we have it stored to dry out. Years of experience have disciplined us to make sure the decking it dried out before installation.

For this project, we had the cedar for the screened porch delivered on Friday…and we start the installation on Monday.  The first thing I’ll do on Monday is cover the screened porch floor with ½” plywood to prevent the porch flooring from mishaps. We’ll then tear off the existing overhang on the house to allow for the roof attachment of the screened porch. Next, we’ll get the porch walls up then start the roof and at least get the rafters up by the end of the day. After the rafters are in place we’ll start the roof decking. Planning is obviously of utmost importance here.  More pictures are coming..

Large Deck and Screened Porch Project

At 1800 square feet, this is probably the largest deck/screened porch combination that Tailor Decks has built to date...named the "Thomas-Black" project after the last names of the owners. Here are a few "before" pictures. We had a demolition expert come in and take out the old structure. It was essentially a concrete patio with brick walls and stairs.  We had always done demolition ourselves…but this has turned into an unusually large project. The old patio was built on top of a wood structure. After the patio was built the builder bricked the house on top of it. This is the first time that I had run across anything quite like this.

After the entire demo was completed, we had to support the brick with temporary wood 4” x 4” post and cross members under the concrete pad that was under the brick.  We put temporary supports then had a brick mason come in to dig and pour a footer against the house walls and build a block wall to support the house brick.

Since then we’ve dug all the footers and framed the structure. This week we started to install all the decking and porch flooring. We had a total of 45 footers to support it all. I’m excited in that we’re using our TailorWood Decking for the deck floor and our TailorWood Porch Flooring for the screened porch. Our plan is to be done Friday with all the flooring.

I will take some more pictures Friday after all the decking is done. It’s difficult to get one picture to show the whole project. I did have a professional photographer come in and get some before pictures. After the project is complete I’ll have him come back and do the after shots…can’t wait to see it. It is going to be awesome!