Deck Services in Philadelphia, PA

Humid summers and freeze and thaw winters are hard on brick, on flat roofs and on every joint that was never sealed properly. Philadelphia is a rowhouse city. Shared walls, flat roofs and old brick mean the work has to be done with the neighbors in mind and the water managed carefully. R&L Contractor has been handling deck services for homes in Philadelphia for more than twenty-five years, and that experience is what tells us where a house here tends to fail first.

A deck carries people. That single fact should decide how it is built, and it is the fact most often forgotten in favor of how the boards look.

R&L Contractor has been building and rebuilding decks across Philadelphia for more than twenty-five years. We have taken apart plenty of decks that looked perfectly fine from the yard and were held to the house by nails driven into sheathing. From above, nobody could tell. From below, it was a matter of time.

What Holds It Up

Footings go below the frost line, because a Philadelphia winter will lift a shallow footing and take the frame with it. The ledger board is bolted into the structure of the house and flashed so water cannot run behind it. Joists get spaced for the load and the span, hangers get the fasteners they were designed for, and posts get connected rather than simply set.

None of this is visible when the deck is finished. All of it is what makes the deck safe in ten years.

Wood or Composite

Pressure treated wood is the affordable path. It looks good, it can be stained, and it asks for maintenance every couple of years in exchange for the lower price.

Composite costs more at the start and then largely leaves you alone: no sanding, no sealing, no splinters, and colors that hold. For homeowners who want to use the deck rather than maintain it, the math usually works out.

We build both and we will give you the honest comparison, including what each one really costs across a decade rather than on the day of purchase.

Repair, Rebuild or Replace

Not every tired deck needs to be torn out. If the structure is sound and the surface has simply aged, replacing boards and railings is the right answer. If the framing is rotted or the ledger was never attached correctly, boards on a failing frame is not a repair, it is a cosmetic cover on a safety problem.

We photograph what we find underneath and show you before we recommend anything. That is how the conversation stays honest.

The Yard You Stopped Using

A good deck changes how a house is lived in from May to October. Free site visit, honest pricing in writing and a structure built to carry the people you love. Let us take a look.

Railings, Stairs and the Details

Railing height, baluster spacing and stair rise are not aesthetic choices, they are code, and they exist because people fall. We build them right, and we build them to look like they belong to the house rather than bolted onto it.

Free site visit, honest written pricing, and one licensed crew across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Permits and Paperwork in Philadelphia

When the job needs a permit, we pull it through the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections, so the work passes inspection and stays legal at resale. Free estimate, honest written pricing, and one licensed crew serving Philadelphia and the surrounding neighborhoods.