01
A ledger fastened through cladding
Bolts run through a wall nobody opened, into framing nobody verified, with no flashing above them. Stopped by opening the wall and drawing the detail first.
We build decks, patio covers and outdoor kitchens.
A deck is a structure people stand on, usually hung off a wall that was never framed to carry it. Footings, ledger and flashing decide how long it lasts. The railing is the part you can see.
- Scope
- Decks, patio covers, pergolas, outdoor kitchens and the utilities under them
- Where
- Reno, Sparks, Carson City and the county towns
- Order of operations
- Footings, spans and attachment drawn before a surface is chosen
- Permits
- We prepare the set, submit it, and meet the inspector
- Talk to us
- (775) 200-0648, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
01Built as a structure
A deck is framing with a floor on it.
Everything that decides whether a deck is still flat in ten years happens below the surface. Footing size and depth follow from the soil and the load standing on it, and the depth the reviewing department expects gets confirmed with that department rather than assumed from what the last crew poured down the street. Post, beam and joist sizes come from the framing material and the spacing it is laid out at, not from a rule of thumb. Guards, stairs and baluster spacing are geometry an inspector measures, so those numbers are drawn on the permit set and built to the drawing.
The surface (cedar, pressure-treated lumber, a composite board, pavers on pedestals) is the last decision, not the first. Each one wants its own joist spacing and its own fastening, so it gets pinned during selections and the frame is laid out to suit it.
02Where it meets the house
Most deck failures are water failures at the wall.
A ledger-hung deck asks a crew to open the exterior of an occupied house, fasten a beam to the framing behind it, and put the weather barrier back together so the wall still drains. Done properly there is flashing over the ledger, a drainage path behind it, and a fastener pattern that came off a drawing. Done casually, water sits against a rim joist for a decade and nobody finds out until the deck moves.
So the attachment detail is drawn before it is built, and a freestanding frame on its own posts is sometimes the better answer: on a stucco elevation, over a finished basement wall, or anywhere the framing behind the cladding cannot be verified without opening it up. It is also why this scope sits better with people already opening walls on your house under one contract than with a crew who will be gone before the first storm tests the detail.
03The sequence
Seven phases, and the artifact you hold at the end of each one.
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01
Walk the site and the use
Grade, drainage, sun, existing structure and how you intend to use the space. Then we mark the footprint on the ground so you can stand in it before it is drawn. You get a marked footprint and a scope outline
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02
Structural layout
Footing locations, post and beam sizes, joist spans, guard and stair geometry, and the choice between hanging the frame off the house and standing it on its own posts. You get a dimensioned framing plan
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03
Selections and specifications
Decking, guard infill, fasteners, lighting, and the gas, water and circuits a cooking area needs, each against a named allowance. You get a selections list with model numbers
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04
Contract and permit set
A line-item scope with draws attached to milestones, and a permit set built for the counter that reviews your parcel. You get a signed contract and an issued permit
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05
Footings and frame
Utility locates, excavation, footings inspected before concrete, then posts, beams and joists. The wall attachment and its flashing happen here, not after. You get passed footing and framing inspections
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06
Surface, guards and stairs
Decking laid to the gapping and fastening that board calls for, then guards and stairs built to the drawn geometry rather than to a photograph. You get a finished, inspected walking surface
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07
Utilities, finish, punch and close-out
Gas, water and circuits for an outdoor kitchen tied in and inspected, then lighting, trim and a walk-through where the punch list gets written down instead of remembered. You get a signed punch list and a close-out package
04The part under the deck
Ask to see the ledger detail before you look at a decking sample.
A drawn ledger detail shows the flashing above the board, the drainage gap behind it, the fastener pattern, and what the load lands on inside the wall. A contractor who can produce one has thought about the connection; a contractor who produces a decking brochure has thought about the surface. The same test works on footings: ask what the footing is sized for and whether that answer came from the building department or from habit.
05What goes wrong
Six outdoor failures, and what stops each one.
02
Footings sized by habit
A footing poured to whatever the crew always pours, on soil nobody assessed. Stopped by taking size and depth from the reviewing department and the frame above it.
03
A patio cover that ponds
A roof with no slope and nowhere for snowmelt to go except back toward the house. Stopped by resolving drainage before the posts are set.
04
An outdoor kitchen with no winter plan
A sink line and a hose bib with no way to drain them down before a freeze. Stopped by specifying shutoffs and drain points while the trench is still open.
05
Guards and stairs built to a photograph
Baluster spacing and tread geometry copied off an image, then measured by an inspector who is not looking at that image. Stopped by drawing the numbers.
06
Decking fastened the wrong way
Composite and wood boards want different gapping, spans and fasteners. Stopped by pinning the board before the joists are laid out for it.
06Budget and schedule
What actually moves an outdoor number.
Three things move the price harder than the decking board does: how far the frame sits off the ground, what the footings have to be, and whether utilities come out to the space. An outdoor kitchen is an interior scope moved outside: gas, water, drainage and circuits, detailed to survive weather and a freeze. It is usually the line item that decides whether you are building a deck with a grill on it or a project with a rough-in phase, where the pipe and wire are run and inspected before anything is closed up. Season matters too: concrete, excavation and roof-line work have weather windows, and a job that starts late waits for the next one.
We publish no dollar figures here, because a number without a scope attached is not information. Our cost calculator does not price outdoor work either: the footings, the house wall and the slope are different on every lot, so the starting range for a deck, a patio cover or an outdoor kitchen comes from a site walk.
07Questions
Three questions homeowners ask before an outdoor project starts.
Contracts, draws and change orders are answered on the services overview. These are about what happens outside.
Sometimes. It depends on what the slab is sitting on, whether it drains away from the house, and whether the loads from the new structure can land on it at all. We look at thickness, cracking and slope during the site walk, and where the slab cannot carry the frame we set independent footings beside it rather than trusting concrete somebody else poured.
We build it. It is gas, water, drainage, electrical and structure inside one small footprint, and splitting that across two contracts puts the seam in the worst possible place. Appliances are specified during selections so the rough-in is run for what you actually bought, not for a generic opening.
It depends on the parcel. The City of Reno, the City of Sparks and unincorporated Washoe County each run their own review, and a mailing address is not a reliable guide to which one you are in. We confirm the reviewing department, and what it wants to see, before design work starts, and the answer goes into the written scope rather than staying a conversation.
09Start a conversation
Send us the space. We will send back what has to go under it.
The first conversation is not a sales call. It is us working out what the ground, the wall and the utilities will allow, and what has to be drawn before anything is dug.
Fastest way to reach us
(775) 200-0648
Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. A person answers, and it is somebody who has been on a job site. The form goes to the same place, one business day behind the phone.
Request received.
We will call you back within one business day to set the site walk. If you need us sooner than that, call (775) 200-0648 now: Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.