"The Bitterness of Low Quality remains long after the Sweetness of Low Price is forgotten."
- Benjamin Franklin
So...
Why hire us over other contractors?
Because ... "The Quality is the Difference!"
There are actually two questions here:
1) Why should you hire us?
2) Why shouldn't you hire someone else?
You do have a choice of who you can hire to build your deck. So let's deal with the first question on this page. And, if you like, you can visit our "Competition" page to get some answers to the second question.
Everything from the About Us page is the first thing that should make us worth considering... Rooted here with family all our lives; Construction education and experience that predates this company; Our passion for Decks and our pledge to be the best.
And all the photos in our many galleries showing that our quality is second to none are the next thing that should make us your choice of Deck Builder.
But let's also go ahead and list a few other items for you to consider:
We believe every contractor should:
- Do whatever it is they said they would do. Every time.
- Prepare a contract so the customer has something in writing.
- Provide some sort of understandable drawing so the customer knows what they'll be paying for and can visualize the final product.
- Do those ↑ two things for free.
- Be courteous when meeting the customer and be willing to stay as long as it takes and be willing to answer any and all questions.
- Realize that communication is key! This website and my emails prove that I want you to feel communicated with!
- Offer to move everything off the old deck so the customer doesn't have to.
- Don't trample flowers and plants and try to have as minimal of an impact on the property as possible. At least offer to fix anything that gets damaged beyond the normal course of construction.
- Keep the job site (the customers' HOME) as neat, clean, and orderly as possible at all times.
- Have consideration for the neighbors when thinking about parking, staging materials, noise, etc.
- Do background checks on employees and do NOT bring criminals or any sort of drama to the customers' home.
But wait, there's more!
And if it's not too much trouble:
- Order extra lumber and select the best boards. Don't just use whatever junk the lumber company sent you. You can take back what you don't use (unless that's too much work, poor fella).
- Use nail patterns and demand that the details make sense and look good. Don't just nail 13 nails into one joist all willy-nilly and then 9 in the next joist or whatever "feels right". Have some standards.
- Think about what you're doing on each and every step of the project. Think about what the customer has to look at forever and do it even better than you would at your own house.
- Go the extra mile for the customer. Do something you're not getting paid for just to help out.
- Don't lie to the customer. You don't know what they know, and they could know you're lying to them about what can or can't be done or how something works. Think about a contractor lying to your mother and see how that feels.
- Don't park in the trailer parking at Lowe's if you don't have a trailer! And put your cart in the corral or back inside the store when you're done with it. I mean, you're a big strong contractor who pushed it out there loaded-down, so it stands to reason you can put it up when it's empty, right??? If you're lazy at Lowe's I'd hate to see you at your job site.
- Do not draw big, dark pencil lines all over the boards and then leave them for the paying customer to look at for however many years your deck might last.
- Learn how to actually calculate stairs instead of buying store-bought stair stringers. And when you do, please use a jigsaw to finish the cuts instead of being lazy and cutting past the lines with your skillsaw and weakening the stair stringer!
- And as far as creativity is concerned.... I get it; it varies from person to person. But at least TRY to come up with something that will make your customers want to spend their money with you. Even when someone is on a strict budget, there is some small thing you can do to make them feel like they aren't just getting the same plain rectangle everyone else gets and something that will make them feel like you listened to their needs.
So yeah, to us, these are MINIMUM standards.
From the remodeler to the restaurateur to the retailer,
this is just how we think every business should operate.
But, sadly, most don't. And you won't know they are lacking most of these qualities until it's too late. Wouldn't it be nice if they'd actually tell you a little bit about themselves? Maybe even show you?
This video is an example. This customer wanted a deck across the whole back of the house. But they also wanted to be able to get their bicycles in & out of their basement door. After we actually listened to what they wanted and seriously considered it, we then sat down to respect them enough by spending the time necessary to actually come up with a solution they would like. And we did it at a fair price - We added for the cost of the hardware, the upgrade to the lighter cedar on the panels, and a couple of extra hours of build time. That's all. We didn't gouge them. We also didn't get lazy and listen to the voice inside the head of every contractor that says "Force them to stick with simple because simple is quick and quick is where the money is!"
No. Just because you want something non-standard or "fancy" doesn't mean you should have to pay an arm & a leg for it - much less be totally denied it because someone can't do "custom".
🤠
Ya know, you really will be hard pressed to find a deck builder in Central Arkansas that is going to care more, listen more, respect you more, and be willing to do more for less money than Custom Deckworks.
We really aren't that special. As far as we're concerned, every construction company of every type should try at least as hard as we do to be the best they can be and do the right thing. How we operate is not that hard; it's just how we were raised.
Now, only if you want to, head on over to the "Competition" page to see some of the things local contractors will gladly do for you if you pay them.
