Deck Building & Installation in Arvada, CO

Usually yes to the permit, and often yes to the HOA as well. Most front-range jurisdictions want a permit once a deck is above a certain height or attached to the house, and requirements vary between them — Lakewood, Jefferson County, and the mountain towns don't all read the same. I'll tell you what your specific address needs before we design around something that won't get approved. If you're in an HOA, expect to need board sign-off on materials and colour too, and it's worth starting that early because approval timelines, not construction, are usually what delays a deck.

Neither wins outright, and anyone who says otherwise is selling one of them. Wood costs less up front, can be refinished, and looks like wood — but at this altitude it wants staining every two to three years or it greys and checks. Composite costs more at the start and never needs stain, which is why it usually wins on ten-year cost, though cheaper boards can get genuinely hot underfoot on a south-facing deck in July. I'll give you real numbers for your deck and let you pick; I don't get paid more for either one.

Size matters less than you'd think. Height drives it hardest — a deck more than a few feet off the ground needs bigger footings, more posts, and guardrails, so cost climbs faster than square footage does. After that it's the surface material, whether stairs are involved, and how the ground sits. On timeline, the build itself is usually the shortest part: permits and any HOA approval are what set the date, which is why I'd rather start that conversation in February than in June when everyone wants a deck by summer.

Sometimes the frame stays. If the footings, posts, beams and joists are sound and the ledger is properly attached and flashed, a new surface on the existing structure is real money saved and I'll say so. What rules it out is rot at the post bases, undersized or over-spanned joists, or a ledger that was nailed on and never flashed — all common on decks built in the eighties and nineties. Composite is heavier than the wood it replaces, too, so a frame that was marginal under cedar can be genuinely under-built once you put composite on it. I'll open up enough to know before either of us commits to a number.