How Long Does It Take to  Build  A Deck

Building is one of those things that humans have been perfecting over the years and it’s safe to say that we would never actually get to the point of perfection because our needs continue to grow and new building styles and forms have to be employed to cope with this growth.

At least the wood building style is dominating the construction world at least for now and nothing gives more awe than a well-crafted deck. Which triggers the question, how long exactly does it take to build a deck.

The times vary but it is estimated that it takes roughly a week or two for a deck to be complete but this depends heavily on a lot of factors which we are going to be considering below.

Factors Affecting How Long It Takes to Build a Deck

Materials

Many materials can be used for building your deck and each of them can either prolong or shorten the deck building. These materials can also add a huge chunk to the amount of money used in building the deck. Generally harder materials require much more time to build as they require more effort to drill through. Hence Quality expensive decking materials such as exotic woods like teak or ipe take much more time and money if they are to be used as the base materials for making the deck. For this reason, most people tend to use cedar or pine for their deck building as it is lighter and requires less manpower.  If there would be metal constructs and steel in your deck, it’s understandable that the building of the deck would take more time too.

Design factor

The design of the proposed deck is another key feature that determines the time and effort it would take to build. A lot of owners have rather complex design demands and whims, which take much more time to build than typical standard decks. The customization that may be required by the client or by you is limitless and the more stylish things you add, the more expensive and time-consuming it’s going to become. This is more noticeable and acute when Constructing a ground level deck which involves excavating and some concrete work, designs here are longer and harder to pull off and extra days have to be considered to wait for the cement to dry.

Depending on your budget and deadline, building a deck with a complex design is a relatively time-consuming thing, so it is necessary to factor in your timeline and how much you are willing to spend. 

Weather conditions

Man proposes, Nature disposes. This is the unwritten rule of the universe, especially when it comes to building in a rather disaster-prone environment like the States where tornadoes, wildfires and rather massive rain are rife. In such environments, your deck building can be seriously hampered as the weather can force you to put construction on hold indefinitely or if serious enough destroy already constructed work.

If you desire a deck build that doesn’t take too long, plan for the weather conditions in advance and pick a season that you are best suited for its weather. The most popular is summer for most people.

Location

The location of the deck matters a lot and should be your primary concern before embarking on the project. Depending on the location, levelling or grading the soil or ground may be necessary and this could affect the building time too, this is why site selection is heavily important. The location also plays a factor in weather which was the previous point I mentioned. The materials that must be used are also dependent on location, a standard environment can assure you of an event-free and speedy construction.

Organisation

Factoring the organization and the necessary manpower required is integral to speeding up the process and getting a hassle-free building process. If you want the perfect build, a professional contractor is recommended who can give you a proper valuation and proper range on the time of build with respect to the design and materials required. You should be paying attention to the availability of workers before the build starts to avoid stranding the contractor or negotiating with the contractor to provide the labour. You can also build it yourself with access to the right equipment and tools but you may have to hire labour to assist you.

The latter option helps minimize costs and saves time but only if done efficiently.

City Permits

Depending on where you live, there is an assortment of laws that determine what you can build and what you can’t build and, construction is about to commence, you have to submit certain documents for it to be accepted. The application is not that hard to fill out with Filling out the application no longer than an hour but you may have to wait days, weeks, or even months before the local government grants you a permit. And that’s if you are even lucky, most people get rejected because they unintentionally broke some city laws in the proposed construction or use of material or location. Once you submit, you have to follow them up quite well to avoid your application being ignored.

It typically gets approved after close to a month, this delay can be corrected by hiring a professional contractor to handle the whole project.

Conclusion

In conclusion, construction is an amazing feat of man and the desire to improve it has grown stronger in recent years.

Housing decks depending on many facts take three days or a week on the average to complete but there are extremes.

Ultimately, it’s necessary that you take this very maturely to reduce time as much as possible.