This year, for the first time, Archadeck of Charlotte in North Carolina mailed questionnaires to every person on the company payroll. Barry Klemons, president of the deck-building franchise, says he sent the questionnaires to get suggestions from employees and subcontractors for making departments and jobsites run better. Those who responded by a set date received something else in the mail: a check for $100. More
Wood-plastic composites are steadily chipping away at the pressure-treated wood market. More
Many do-it-yourselfers learn upon encountering insurmountable obstacles mid-project, and as many Peter Pickup-type contractors discover in the process of going out of business by the thousands each year, making money designing and building decks isn't all that simple. More
Many deck builders use composite deck planks. The small suppliers Shamblin uses don't stock vinyl railing systems, and it would be impossible for him to install it at less than $35 a running foot and still make his margin. More
Hidden substructure damage often turns a repair job into a full-blown makeover. The deck's far from new, but the client's only interested in having some boards replaced. What now? More
The EPA has found, citing numerous published studies, that over time the arsenic component of CCA, an insecticide, leaches into soils at a rate determined by climate, acidity of rain and soil, age of the product, and quantity of CCA used in treatment. More
It's surprising how good you can get at ballparking," says Tom Resek, owner of Archadeck of Minneapolis, a deck-building franchise. "If you feel like your chances of getting the job are slim, that's a good reason," Resek says. Because Resek can't afford to build a deck for less than $5,000, yet another reason is to "find out if I'm speaking the same language as the customer," when it comes to price. More
