From a deck builder, you will want copies of their builder's license, their insurance, and their bond.

You can check any professional license in Georgia by going to www.sos.ga.gov under the license tab and then searching for a licensee, facilities, and business. Then type the company name. If they are a licensed company, they will come up.

Yes. Building permits are required of deck builders by all local counties and municipalities in order to build or replace an existing deck.

Sometimes. A permit may be required by a deck builder depending on the scope of the repair. In most areas replacing the handrails and/or stairs does require a building permit.

If you are going to perform the work yourself then you can apply for the permit yourself. If you are paying a deck builder to do the work, then that person/company is required to take a copy of their license and insurance in to apply for the permit.

For most projects, you will only need the land plat of your subdivision which can be obtained from the county clerk's website. Otherwise, your deck builder can handle the legalities for you.

Yes. Deck builders are required by state law to have a builder's license. The state does background checks and has a series of testing and continuing education for persons and companies they license to help protect consumers.

No. Georgia Law requires that the contract match the license. They don't want people who can not get a license because of background or lack of knowledge to use a friend's license to get work. Give us a call today for more information on deck builders!

Make sure that your deck builder is licensed, bonded, and insured. Licensed contractors run the risk of losing their license if they don't take care of their customers. Bonded means that the contractor has an insurance policy that covers homeowners if the contractor doesn't finish the job or does a bad job.

Unless there is a serious problem, don't do anything until you get an inspection report from the buyer. We get deck inspection reports all the time from homeowners and real estate agents. Each inspector has their own "pet peeves," so you'll spend more money than you need to trying to fix everything they might find ahead of time.

Georgia State Amendments to the Prescriptive Deck Details

No. The deck boards themselves can be 3, 4, even 5 times the cost but the framing, and labor costs are the same, so they typically run 40-50% more than a pressure-treated deck. But they also don't require staining and the newest products really are pretty much maintenance-free.

The builders use the lowest quality products they can get their hands on. Just about anything will last longer than what they put on your deck. Stay away from the big box stores too. They carry on hand what sells well and that tends to be the low end. True lumber or deck supply companies will carry a much better product usually for a similar price. A good quality old-growth pressure-treated pine will still last 20+ years.

If you could still buy arsenic-preserved old-growth pine and find a person to put it together with all hand-driven 12- and 16-penny nails, then probably not. Today the wood is softer, coming from younger trees and it no longer contains arsenic to help preserve and harden the wood. The nails are smaller and softer nail gun nails that get destroyed quickly by the higher levels of copper in new wood. The new codes are there to provide safe installation of the materials that we have today.