Cleveland Custom Decks designs, permits and builds outdoor structures throughout Cleveland, OH and Greater Cleveland. This page sets out how a project actually runs here, and names the handful of specifics we will not leave off an estimate simply to win the job.
The work itself
Composite and PVC decking, pressure treated pine, cedar, screened rooms, covered porches, guard systems, stairs, pergolas, drainage beneath a raised deck and paver hardscapes. Every one of these gets detailed on paper before it ever gets a price attached.
A meaningful share of what we build starts life as a repair call. Ravine terrain on the east side and bluff conditions along the lake punish a structure that was set on shallow piers or graded to drain toward the house instead of away from it, and years spent underneath other people's failures is exactly what teaches you which details actually matter. It is why our own builds look the way they do.
How a project actually runs
A written scope before anything is cut
Every material named by brand and line, the framing schedule, the fasteners, the railing profile, stair count, dates and total cost. Anything that shifts once we start gets written down and signed off before we act on it, since a spoken agreement is exactly how a smooth build turns into a disagreement on the last day.
We say when repair genuinely beats a rebuild
If the lumber underneath is still sound, it stays. New surface and guards over an intact frame usually run close to a third of what a full rebuild costs, and it is often the right call, so we bring it up unprompted rather than waiting to be asked.
Where the frame genuinely will not hold, we say so directly and show you the decay, the pulled joist hangers or the footing that has shifted from underneath, rather than expecting you to take our word for it standing on top.
Every permit, every time
We handle the application, prepare the framing drawings and attend the inspection ourselves. In this market that means working out the correct office for each specific address: Shaker Heights adds an Architectural Board of Review step ahead of its building permit, Lakewood exempts a low freestanding deck from the process altogether, Avon Lake answers to Lorain County rather than Cuyahoga, and the remaining suburbs each run their own department.
A deck that skipped inspection tends to surface again the day a house goes up for sale, and resolving it then costs considerably more than the original permit ever would have.
Some things we simply will not build
Pressure treated lumber for a household that has no intention of ever sealing it. A dark composite tone on a sun blasted, treeless lot. A hot tub set on a frame sized only for people and furniture. A fire feature sitting on a surface it could ignite. Saying so before the build costs everyone less than discovering it after.
Your crew does not split across other jobs
The thing that actually frustrates homeowners on a bad build is rarely the materials, it is going quiet for a week while the crew works somewhere else. Once your project starts, that crew stays on it until it is finished. If weather or an inspection pushes the date, you hear it from us ahead of time, not on the morning it was supposed to begin.
The property looks untouched when we leave
Cut offs, old boards and packaging go in the trailer at the end of each day rather than building into a pile for the final cleanup. Before handover we run a magnet over the lawn and wherever an old structure used to sit, because a stray fastener left in the grass eventually finds a mower blade or somebody's bare foot.
The three things a lower bid usually drops
Footing size and depth, how close together the joists actually sit, and what the guard posts are physically bolted into. Those three specifics decide whether a deck is still solid at twenty five years or needs real work inside ten, and every one of them disappears from sight once the surface goes down, which is exactly why a cheap quote tends to quietly drop them first.
If another number comes in lower, ask that builder to put all three in writing. The gap between the two quotes usually explains itself the moment you see them side by side.
Where we work
We serve Cleveland and Greater Cleveland, including Shaker Heights, Lakewood, Rocky River, Avon Lake and Beachwood. Four of those five sit in Cuyahoga County and one in Lorain County, each with its own approval route, and we manage whichever one covers your address. The service areas page carries the specifics.
Why homeowners pick Cleveland Custom Decks
Footings below the frost line
Cuyahoga County ground freezes and thaws through a long lake effect winter. Every post we set lands on a poured footing below the local frost depth, which is what keeps a deck level through a decade of heave and thaw.
Permits and inspections handled
We work out which department your address answers to, pull the permit, meet the inspector and hand you the signed card. An unpermitted deck becomes your problem the day you sell the house.
Written scope before we start
Materials, framing spec, hardware, timeline and price in writing before anybody swings a hammer. No verbal change orders.